Conflicts at an intersection are different for different types of intersection.
Consider a typical four-legged intersection as shown in figure.
The number of conflicts for competing through movements are 4, while competing
right turn and through movements are 8.
The conflicts between right turn traffics are 4, and between left turn and
merging traffic is 4.
The conflicts created by pedestrians will be 8 taking into account all the four
approaches.
Diverging traffic also produces about 4 conflicts.
Therefore, a typical four legged intersection has about 32 different types of
conflicts. This is shown in figure 1.
Figure 1:
Conflicts at an intersection
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The essence of the intersection control is to resolve these conflicts at the
intersection for the safe and efficient movement of both vehicular traffic and
pedestrians.
Two methods of intersection controls are there: time sharing and space sharing.
The type of intersection control that has to be adopted depends on the traffic
volume, road geometry, cost involved, importance of the road etc.
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