# Human and Environmental Factors Analysis in Traffic Using Agent-Based Simulation
## 5 Discussion and Analysis of the Contribution with Respect to the State of the Art  
The agent-based simulation allows the representation of traffic based on the analysis of a wide set of factors: human and vehicle characteristics, weather, pavement and animals on the road. In addition, it represents the situations of waiting at signals and obstructions on the road as a queuing system. The model can obtain its parameters from external systems or be configured by the traffic analyst interacting with the simulation tool.  
Previous research has developed other simulation models to represent traffic. An advantage of the proposed model over some of this research is the use of agent-based simulation. Due to the complexity of modeling social behaviors, this type of simulation offers better results due to the autonomous, proactive and social nature of the agents. Although, there are other agent-based models for traffic modeling [33,46? ], they do not include simultaneously the actions of drivers and pedestrians.  
Among the models studied are interactions of parameters that influence traffic, but are always oriented to a particular type of parameter. For instance, in [3] they studied the human factors that have a greater influence on traffic accidents and showed that the most influential is driver distraction, although they may include other factors such as age, gender, and familiarity with the road. These factors are all considered in our model.  
In [34] the simulations performed to demonstrate the impact that weather conditions have on the behavior of the vehicular flow. They also incorporate some behaviors of the vehicles as part of the simulation and the interactions between them. These behaviors are also included in the model presented. On the other hand, the authors of [7] present an integration between several external parameters such as pavement and weather. The importance of these and their influence on traffic is demonstrated. However, it is not possible to have a realistic approach to the road if human behavior is not observed.  
Finally, in addition to the parameters included in the simulation model, we have developed a detailed system based on queuing theory, which represents, in the form of a mathematical model, the traffic performance and quantifies the interactions and influences of the incorporated factors. This is considered an advantage with respect to the simulation models previously developed since in addition to determining the influence of the factors, it allows quantitatively establishing comparisons and priorities among them.  
The limitations of this research are the fact that it has been only applied to experimentation with instances belonging to Cuba since the simulation model is based on Cuban traffic laws. In future versions of the simulation tool, the parameters associated with the laws should be configurable in order to eliminate this limitation. On the other hand, future studies should experiment with larger instances, which could include a wider region of the map or entire cities.  
Figure 12: Waiting time distribution by signal cause.