Observed Multilane Speed Distribution and the Kinetic Theory of Vehicular Traffic.

The characteristics of traffic flow on a multiple-lane highway has been the subject of active research for over 20 years. A number of models and theories have been developed to further the understanding of the various state of theoretical development and experimental results. The total derivative df/dt is the sum of the three partial derivatives and its solution gives f in terms of fo and the parameters. A solution for the steady state. i.e time independent, speed distribution for a homogeneous roadway is obtained by setting df/dt to zero. In equations 1-3, the speed distribution, f and fo, are expressed as concentrations in cars per unit length of roadway. However, for convenience f and fo will be used to denote the normalized distributions or relative frequencies in discussing the steady-state homogeneous results without loss of generality. In subsequent discussions of theoritical background and in the data analysis, the prevailing speed distribution and the desired speed distribution are defined.