JP2010009373A - Merging point traffic control system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a merging point traffic control system, can prevent congestion at a merging point where a phenomenon in which the traffic volume is exchanged between a main road and a merging road from hour to hour occurs. <P>SOLUTION: The merging point traffic control system 10 includes a traffic flow sensor 11 for measuring traffic conditions in a section just before a merging point 4 of a first road 2 and/or a second road 3; a roadside processor 16 which determines an operation state of lanes of the first road 2 and/or the second road 3 based on the traffic conditions; and lane regulation means (information providing device 18 and a physical lane regulation device 23) for regulating, based on instructions from the roadside processor 16, the lanes of the first road 2 and/or the second road 3 just before the merging point 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a junction traffic control system for controlling traffic at a junction where a first route and a second route merge.

  There are many traffic jams on expressways and exclusive roads at junctions such as interchanges and junctions. For example, when the merging line is confined to one lane before the merging part at the merging part where the main line (main line) and the merging line (following line) each having two lanes merge, the traffic volume of the main line is two lanes When the traffic volume of the merge line is within the traffic capacity of one lane within the traffic capacity of the minute, there will be no traffic congestion due to this lane operation.

  However, since the traffic volume of each lane is not always constant, the traffic volume of the main line is within the traffic capacity of one lane and the traffic volume of the merging line exceeds the traffic capacity of one lane and May be within 2 lanes of traffic capacity. In this case, the merge line is narrowed down to one lane, causing traffic jams. This is the same even when the main line is confined to one lane at the junction of the main line and the merge line each having two lanes. Therefore, there is a demand for suppressing traffic congestion at a junction where a phenomenon occurs in which the amount of traffic between the main line and the junction line changes over time.

  By the way, various proposals for performing merging support for suppressing congestion at the merging portion have been made to the driver (Patent Documents 1 to 4). The proposal of these literatures is that the driver of each vehicle implement | achieves the safe and smooth joining in a junction part by making a vehicle drive according to the driving | running | working position instruct | indicated with respect to the own vehicle. .

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-6498 Japanese Patent No. 3392724 JP 2002-170199 A JP 2008-40892 A

  However, the proposals in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 to 4 do not take into consideration the phenomenon that the amount of traffic changes between the main line and the merging line, and suppress congestion at the merging part where such a phenomenon occurs. It is not possible.

  This invention is made in view of said subject, and provides the junction traffic control system which can suppress the traffic jam in the junction which the phenomenon in which the amount of traffic changes with a main line and a junction is produced by time. The task is to do.

In order to solve the above problems, the junction traffic control system of the present invention employs the following technical means.
(1) A merging section traffic control system for controlling traffic in a merging section where a first route and a second route each having a plurality of lanes merge, before the merging section of the first route and / or the second route A traffic flow sensor for measuring the traffic situation in the section, a roadside processing device for determining the operation mode of the lanes of the first route and / or the second route based on the traffic situation, and a command from the roadside processing device And a lane regulating means for regulating the lanes of the first route and / or the second route before the junction.

  According to the present invention described above, the operation mode of the lane of each route is determined based on the traffic volume of the first route (for example, main line) and the second route (for example, merged line), and both the first route and the second route are determined. Or restrict one lane. As a result, the lane of each route is switched according to the amount of traffic that is confluent with the main line, so it is possible to suppress the occurrence of traffic congestion by giving priority to the number of lanes on the route with the higher traffic volume. it can. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to suppress a traffic jam in a junction where a phenomenon occurs in which the amount of traffic is switched between the main line and the merge line depending on time.

(2) In the junction traffic control system according to (1), the lane restriction means is an information providing device that provides lane restriction information to a vehicle traveling on the first route and / or the second route.

  According to the above configuration, the driver who drives the vehicle can know that the lane is restricted by receiving the provision of the lane restriction information, and prompts the driver who is required to change the lane to change the lane. it can. In this case, the information providing device can be configured by a communication device that transmits information to the vehicle-mounted device mounted on the vehicle or a display board that displays lane regulation information.

(3) In the junction traffic control system according to (1), the lane restriction means is a physical lane restriction device that physically restricts the lanes of the first route and / or the second route.

  According to the above configuration, since the lane is physically restricted, it is possible to reliably notify the driver who is required to change the lane of the lane.

(4) In the junction traffic control system according to any one of the above (1) to (3), the roadside processing device is configured to perform the first operation when there is a predetermined difference in traffic volume between the first route and the second route. The lane regulating means is controlled so as to reduce the lane with the least traffic volume between the route and the second route.

According to said structure, the friction in a junction can be reduced by narrowing down a route with few traffic volumes.
For example, if the main line and the merging line are two lanes and the lane after the merging is two lanes, and the traffic volume of the main line is overwhelmingly higher than the traffic volume of the merging line, the lane of the merging line is narrowed down to one lane Thus, the vehicle running on the main line side can be made smooth. Conversely, if the main line and the merging line are each two lanes, and the lane after the merging is two lanes, if the traffic on the merging line is overwhelmingly higher than the traffic on the main line, the lane on the main line will be narrowed down to one lane. Thus, the vehicles from the merge line can be smoothly merged.

(5) In the junction traffic control system according to any one of (1) to (3), the roadside processing device is configured such that the first route when the traffic volume on the first route and the second route are both equal to or less than a predetermined value. The lane regulating means is controlled so that the total number of lanes on both routes coincides with the number of lanes after merging.

  According to the above configuration, when the traffic volume of each route is small, by narrowing down the lanes of both routes, weaving at the merge portion can be eliminated and the merge can be performed safely.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the traffic congestion in the junction part in which the phenomenon in which the amount of traffic of a main line and a merge line interchange with time can be suppressed.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the common part in each figure, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a junction traffic control system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The junction traffic control system 10 controls the traffic of the junction 4 where the first route 2 and the second route 3 each having a plurality of lanes merge. The first route 2 and the second route 3 are a highway on which the vehicle 6 travels, a vehicle exclusive road, and the like. Here, the “vehicle” refers to an automobile or a motorcycle.

  In FIG. 1, the first route 2 and the second route 3 are both two lanes. However, the number of lanes in each route is not limited to two, and may be three or more lanes. The number of lanes may be different between the first route 2 and the second route 3. In the following description, it is assumed that the first line 2 is a main line (main line) and the second line 3 is a merged line (secondary line).

  As shown in FIG. 1, the junction traffic control system 10 includes a traffic flow sensor 11, a roadside processing device 16, and lane regulating means (an information providing device 18 and a physical lane regulating device 23).

  The traffic flow sensor 11 is a detector for measuring the traffic situation in the section of the main line 2 and / or the merge line 3 before the junction 4. In the present embodiment, the traffic flow sensor 11 includes a first traffic flow sensor 12 that measures the traffic situation in the section on the front side of the merge section 4 of the merge line 3 and a traffic in the section on the front side of the merge section 4 on the main line 2. It has the 2nd traffic flow sensor 13 which measures a condition, and the 3rd traffic flow sensor 14 which measures the traffic condition after joining. The traffic situation includes information such as the average speed of the vehicle 6 and the average traffic volume.

  As the traffic flow sensor 11, a three-dimensional laser radar or a camera can be applied. In the case of a three-dimensional laser radar, the position of each vehicle 6 is determined by three-dimensionally scanning the pulse laser beam with respect to the vehicle 6 traveling in a predetermined section and measuring the feedback time of the pulse laser beam reflected by the vehicle 6. The average speed and the average traffic volume can be calculated based on the calculation. In the case of a camera, it is possible to image a predetermined section and identify the vehicle 6 traveling there by image processing, calculate the position of each vehicle 6, and calculate the average speed and average traffic volume based on this.

  Further, the traffic flow sensor 11 may be a traffic sensor provided in each lane. The traffic sensor is composed of a pair of coils embedded at intervals in the traveling direction, detects the vehicle 6 passing over it from the magnetic change, and simultaneously detects the speed of the vehicle 6 passing through the detection time difference.

  The roadside processing device 16 determines the operation mode of the lanes of the main line 2 and / or the merge line 3 based on the traffic situation. In the present embodiment, the roadside processing device 16 refers to past traffic volume data and the like based on the measured traffic conditions, predicts future traffic changes, determines the operation mode of the lane, and uses this operation mode. Corresponding lane restriction information is created, and information provision and physical lane restriction timings are determined.

  The roadside processing device 16 is capable of wired communication or wireless communication with the traffic flow sensor 11 and the lane control means (the information providing device 18 and the physical lane control device 23), receives data from the traffic flow sensor 11, The lane control means is controlled.

  Here, the operation mode of the lane is that the main line 2 is restricted to two lanes and the merge line 3 is restricted to one lane in the section before the merging section, and the main line 2 is restricted to one lane in the section before the merging section. This refers to the form of lane use for each route, such as 3 as 2 lanes, or the main line 2 and the merge line 3 are both restricted to one lane in the section 4 before the junction.

  The lane regulating means (18, 23) regulates the lanes of the main line 2 and / or the merging line 3 in front of the merging unit 4 based on a command from the roadside processing device 16. In the present embodiment, the lane restriction means includes an information providing device 18 and a physical lane restriction device 23.

  The information providing device 18 provides lane regulation information to the vehicle 6 traveling on the first route 2 and / or the second route 3. In the configuration example of FIG. 1, the main line 2 side and the merging line 3 side are provided. Each of them has display boards 19 and 21 and communication devices 20 and 22. The display boards 19 and 21 are, for example, electric display devices, and display the lane restriction information created by the roadside processing device 16 as characters. The communication devices 20 and 22 transmit lane regulation information created by the roadside processing device 16 to the vehicle 6 equipped with the vehicle-mounted device. For example, the communication device 20 and 22 is a known system such as a 5.8 GHz band (millimeter wave). Narrow band dedicated communication (DSRC) can be applied.

  The lane restriction information on the vehicle-mounted device may use both character display and voice output, or may be either one. The vehicle-mounted device only needs to be mounted on the vehicle 6 at a certain rate, and need not be mounted on all the vehicles 6.

  The physical lane regulation device 23 physically regulates the lanes of the first route 2 and / or the second route 3, and in the configuration example of FIG. 1, the road surface that switches the lane regulation state depending on the lighting and extinguishing states. This is a marking device 23A. Such a road marking device 23A can be constituted by a light-emitting roadway. The road marking device 23 </ b> A is laid in a predetermined section in front of the junction 4 on the main line 2 and the junction 3.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the road marking device 23A configured as described above turns off the light on the main line 2 side and lights on the merge line 3 side, so that the main line 2 becomes two-lane traffic and the merge line 3 becomes one lane. Can be regulated. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, by turning on the main line 2 side and turning off the merge line 3 side, the main line 2 can be restricted to one lane and the merge line 3 can be made to travel in two lanes.

Next, operation | movement of the junction part traffic control system 10 comprised as mentioned above is demonstrated.
When the traffic volume between the main line 2 and the merging line 3 is more than a predetermined difference, the roadside processing device 16 reduces the lane of the main line 2 and the merging line 3 with the smaller traffic volume so as to reduce the lane regulating means (18, 23) is controlled.

  Specifically, when the traffic volume of the main line 2 is overwhelmingly higher than the traffic volume of the merge line 3, the lane operation form is adopted in which the lane of the merge line 3 is narrowed down to one lane, and lane regulation information corresponding to this is adopted. Create Then, the physical lane regulating device 23 is controlled in accordance with the determined operation mode of the lane, and the lane of the merge line 3 is regulated to one lane as shown in FIG. Thus, since the lane is physically restricted, it is possible to reliably notify the driver who is required to change the lane of the lane.

In addition, the roadside processing device 16 sends a signal corresponding to the lane restriction information to the information providing device 18, and the lane restriction information is displayed on the display board 19 as, for example, “Furthermore, the lane will decrease. Information is displayed. In providing information to the vehicle-mounted device via the communication device 20, the same information as that on the display board is displayed in characters or output as voice. Accordingly, the driver can know that the lane is restricted by receiving the provision of the lane restriction information, and can prompt the driver who is required to change the lane to change the lane.
By such lane operation, as shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 6 on the main line 2 side can smoothly travel.

  Contrary to FIG. 1, when the traffic volume of the merge line 3 is overwhelmingly larger than the traffic volume of the main line 2, the roadside processing device 16 adopts a lane operation form in which the lane of the main line 2 is narrowed down to one lane, Lane control information corresponding to this is created. Then, the physical lane regulating device 23 is controlled according to the determined operation mode of the lane, and the lane of the main line 2 is restricted to one lane as shown in FIG.

In addition, the roadside processing device 16 sends a signal corresponding to the lane restriction information to the information providing device 18, and the lane restriction information is displayed on the display board 21 as, for example, “Furthermore, the lane will decrease. Display such information. In providing information to the vehicle-mounted device via the communication device 22, the same information as that on the display board is displayed in characters or output as voice.
By such lane operation, the vehicle 6 from the merging line 3 can be smoothly merged as shown in FIG.

  Further, the roadside processing device 16 reduces both the number of lanes of the main line 2 and the merge line 3 as shown in FIG. The lane regulating means (the information providing device 18 and the physical lane regulating device 23) is controlled so that the total number of lanes matches the number of lanes after merging. In the example of FIG. 3, since both the main line 2 and the merge line 3 are two lanes, both are narrowed down to one lane. According to such lane operation, weaving at the junction 4 can be eliminated and the merge can be performed safely.

  If the third traffic flow sensor 14 that measures the traffic situation after merging determines that the traffic is congested after merging, the lane operation is stopped and the lane operation is resumed when the congested traffic is resolved. can do. Control of lane operation in this case is performed by the roadside processing device 16.

  Even if the third traffic flow sensor 14 that measures the traffic situation after merging determines that the traffic is congested after the merging, the traffic jam extends after the merging depending on the traffic volume of the merged line and the main line after the merging. It is possible to change the lane operation by determining whether the vehicle is extending to the main line. For example, when traffic jams extend only to the main line, it is possible to prioritize the main line and narrow down the merge line. Control of lane operation in this case is performed by the roadside processing device 16.

  According to the present invention, the operation mode of the lanes of each route is determined based on the traffic volume of the main line 2 and the merge line 3, and both or one of the main line 2 and the merge line 3 are regulated. Thereby, according to the traffic volume of the main line 2 and the merge line 3, switching of the lane of each route and giving priority to the number of lanes of the route with the larger traffic volume can suppress the occurrence of traffic congestion. . Therefore, it is possible to suppress the traffic jam at the junction 4 where the main line 2 and the merge line 3 cause a phenomenon in which the amount of traffic is changed over time.

In the above configuration, the information providing device 18 and the physical lane regulating device 23 are used together as the lane regulating means, but an operation using only one of them may be performed.
In the above configuration, the display boards 19 and 21 and the communication devices 20 and 22 are used in combination as the information providing device 18. However, only one of them may be used.

  If there is a lot of traffic on one route (eg main line 2) but the traffic on the other route (eg merge line 3) is always low, the other route is restricted to one lane, It is good also as the operation which switches the number of lanes according to the amount of traffic only about this route. In this case, the traffic flow sensor 11 and the information providing device 18 on the other route side may be omitted.

  The physical lane regulating device 23 is not limited to the road marking device 23A described above, and may be configured by a movable plate device 23B as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the movable plate device 23 </ b> B includes movable plates 24 that are installed at intervals in the vehicle traveling direction on each route. Each movable plate 24 is configured to be able to rotate between a restriction position that prevents the vehicle 6 from moving and a non-restriction position that does not prevent the vehicle 6 from moving. In FIG. 4, the movable plate 24 on the main line 2 side is in the non-restricted position, and the movable plate 24 on the merge line 3 side is in the restricted position. The movable plate device 23B configured in this way can change the number of lanes in each of the main line 2 and the merge line 3. The movable plate 24 may be configured to move back and forth linearly.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the embodiments of the present invention disclosed above are merely examples, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the description of the scope of claims, and further includes meanings equivalent to the description of the scope of claims and all modifications within the scope.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the junction part traffic control system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is another figure which shows the structure of the junction part traffic control system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is another figure which shows the structure of the junction part traffic control system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows another structure of the junction part traffic control system concerning embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

2 First route (main line)
3 Second route (merging line)
4 Junction unit 6 Vehicle 10 Junction unit traffic control system 11 Traffic flow sensor 12 First traffic flow sensor 13 Second traffic flow sensor 14 Third traffic flow sensor 16 Roadside processing device 18 Information providing device 19, 21 Display board 20, 22 Communication Device 23 Physical lane control device 23A Road marking device 23B Movable plate device 24 Movable plate

Claims (5)

A junction traffic control system for controlling traffic at a junction where a first route and a second route each having a plurality of lanes merge,
A traffic flow sensor for measuring the traffic situation in the section before the junction of the first route and / or the second route;
A roadside processing device that determines the operation mode of the lane of the first route and / or the second route based on the traffic situation;
A junction traffic control system comprising: lane regulating means for regulating the lanes of the first route and / or the second route in front of the junction portion based on a command from the roadside processing device.   The junction traffic control system according to claim 1, wherein the lane restriction means is an information providing device that provides lane restriction information to a vehicle traveling on the first route and / or the second route.   The junction traffic control system according to claim 1, wherein the lane restriction means is a physical lane restriction device that physically restricts the lanes of the first route and / or the second route.   The road-side processing device is configured to reduce the lane of the first route and the second route having a smaller traffic volume when the traffic amount between the first route and the second route has a predetermined difference or more. The merging section traffic control system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control is performed.   The roadside processing device reduces the number of lanes on both the first and second routes when the traffic volume on both the first and second routes is less than or equal to a predetermined amount, and the total number of lanes on both routes is The merging part traffic control system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the lane regulating means is controlled to coincide with the number of lanes.

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