Analysis of the traffic characteristics during the month of Ramadan for rural highways

Abstract EN

Ramadan holds immense sacred and cultural significance within the Islamic world, profoundly impacting various aspects of daily life.

this study delves into the distinct characteristics of traffic during Ramadan.

several researchers have investigated the traffic accident rate during Ramadan and compared them to the rates outside of Ramadan, however little attention has been given to the underlying traffic behavior causing these fluctuations.

this study aims to investigate the traffic characteristics before, during, and after Ramadan, by analyzing the traffic data, to reveal how the traffic behavior differs.

the work focuses on the Shubra-Banha freeway, for which the traffic volume and speed were extracted from speed enforcement radar (SER) and radar for classification and counting (RCC), for before, during, and after Ramadan.

findings reveal that despite similar daily traffic volumes, Ramadan witnesses a significant disparity in hourly distribution.

notably, average speeds are higher during Ramadan, marked by increased standard deviations, enhancing accident risks.

the investigation suggests the potential to predict normal traffic patterns based on Ramadan traffic data.