Effect of Longitudinal Control on Capacity

This paper focuses on what benefits a longitudinal control system can be expected to render to the present highway system.There are three major reasons why longitudinal control should be expected to improve traffic flow and to reduce accidents.(1) It may permit higher traffic densities with uniform spacing forming an even distribution with increased travel speeds and consequently higher capacity.(2) It may reduce the rate of rear-end collisions that occur on urban freeways.(3) It can provide increased stability in traffic flow (shockwaves due to human response characteristics are the main cause in limiting traffic capacity on today's freeways.)