Promising Areas of Research for Developing Single Approaches to Assessing the Quality, Dependability and Efficiency of Traffic Management

Abstract

The article provides proposals for improving the efficiency of traffic management using geoinformation data. The objective of the research is to identify promising areas of research to develop single approaches to assessing quality, dependability, and efficiency of traffic management using relevant criteria.The authors reviewed these criteria from the point of view of regulatory documentation and noted the possibility of using models of urban road networks to find optimal modes of managing traffic at minimal cost. Since previous studies showed the lack of single approaches and clear criteria for optimising traffic management, it was proposed to comprehensively consider the possibility of assessing traffic not only from a technical point of view, but also from the point of view of approaches used in management theory.As a tool of assessment of the efficiency indicators of traffic management, a time cost function was proposed, which is the sum of the time costs for all the road users. Increasing the efficiency of traffic management is achieved by minimising this function. It is also noted that when the time cost function is reduced, the material costs of road users, such as fuel costs, are reduced.Having examined the principles of functioning of road traffic in other countries, the authors identified two approaches to management of traffic on the road network: mechanistic and organic ones. Mechanistic approach presupposes strict respect of the rules by all the road users, while organic one presupposes the ability to deviate from the rules. The authors presented examples of selforganisation of traffic on sections of the road network of the city of Irkutsk, which is an example of application of an organic approach to organising traffic in Russia.The article results in development of several promising areas of research, due to which uniformity of approaches to selection and formation of requirements for indicators of depedability, quality and efficiency of traffic management can be achieved.