Game Analysis of Standards for Setting Traffic Signal Lights at Road Intersection

Abstract:

The relationship between conflicting traffic streams at road intersection is essentially a game,thus game theory is applicable in analysis of standards for setting traffic signal lights at road intersection.The competitions between auto streams,and that between auto stream and pedestrian stream were modeled respectively as twoparty symmetrical and twoparty asymmetrical chicken games.Mixed strategies Nash equilibrium for the chicken games were deducted and proved to be lower in social efficiency than that of pure strategy Nash equilibrium,signifying the necessity for introduction of traffic signal lights.Replicator dynamics in rationally bounded evolutionary game was applied to deducing the evolutional stable strategies (ESS) for the chicken games.The ESS analysis proved reasonableness of the mixed strategies of the games.The accident rates and their corresponding annual accident numbers from the games may be used as standards for setting traffic signal lights.A case study was conducted on standards for setting traffic signal lights in Shanghai.Finally,practical significance of parameters change of the chicken games was investigated.

Key words:traffic safety; standard for installing traffic signal lights; game theory; road intersection; chicken game model