Congestion and incident management using the SCOOT UTC system

Traffic congestion is an increasing problem in many cities today. The main cause of congestion is over-saturation of the networks but the situation is made worse by the occurrence of incidents. This paper describes recent research to enhance SCOOT to improve its congestion and incident management facilities. These have been incorporated into an experimental system which has been tested both by simulation and in on-street trials in Kingston, London. The work has been carried out as part of the European Union, DGXIII 4th Framework project, COSMOS, with additional funding from the DETR (Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions)