AiS Challenge Team Interim Report

Team Number: 056

School Name: Moriarty High School

Area of Science: Physics

Project Title: Road Rage and Tailgating



Project Definition

Our project will investigate road rage during and after a red light. We are assuming that roadrage occurs when the flow of the traffic is slowed down and when drivers have to wait at an intersection after the light turns green. We will try to answer the question. "After stopping at a red light, what is the fastest yet safest speed limit? How does the timing of the red light help to prevent and avoid tailgating and road rage?" Our first goal is to write a C++ program that will control traffic flow by determing a safe speed. Our second goal is to find the correct light timing. Our third goal is to combine goal one and goal two into a single C++ program to simulate traffic patterns that will answer our problem questions.

Plan for Solving Problem Computationally

The plan for solving our first goal is to implement the following equations in a C++ program. Where:
c = length of the car
d = distance between two cars

For our second goal of simulating the flow of a single line of traffic through one set of traffic lights, we will make the following assumptions:

This, too, will be implemented in a C++ program with the following steps: for every 10 second interval: For our third goal, we will implement our flow rate into the number of cars that pass through the light.

Progress to Date

To date we have done alot of research. We have worked at developing our of math models. We have found a resource to help us with our second goal in a fortran 90 program on traffic simulation. This program is in the book Fortran 90 for Scientists & Engineers by Brian D Hahn.

Expected Results

We will find the right distance between the cars and the best timing for the lights. This will keep traffic moving and minimize the time drivers have to wait at lights. These two things together will help keep road rage down.

Team Members

Team Mail

Sponsoring Teacher(s)

Project Mentor(s)