Mobile Application to Assist Traffic Officers in Managing Congestion

Peak-time traffic congestion on high-level roads has persisted for decades, significantly affecting the environment, drivers’ health, and the countries' economy. During peak hours, traffic officers can be seen managing traffic flow in congested areas, making significant contributions to alleviating congestion hotspots. Despite, numerous research findings on traffic congestion, few have addressed the specific role played by traffic officers. Therefore, the study aims to introduce an application to aid traffic officers in alleviating congestion on High–Level Road by proposing appropriate solutions. Initially, a structured questionnaire was distributed physically among 51 police officers stationed at 3 randomly selected locations along High-Level Road. Survey data analysis at a 95% confidence interval, revealed majority of officers identified the morning peak hour period as 6:00 am to 9:00 am, Furthermore, officers expressed a need for manual confirmation and selection of all duty points, push notifications, projected traffic for 15 min intervals, three modes of traffic data presentation (layer, chart, text) and sorting options for traffic details based on the nature of traffic. Following Agile methodologies, a prototype application was meticulously developed for this purpose utilizing daily backup traffic data from Google Maps, and APIs to predict traffic conditions. This study aims to enhance congestion management decision–making by furnishing real-time suggestions to officers.