ITE Traffic Bowl Fundamentals and Engineering Practice Test

Occupancy is the fraction of time a fixed point on the roadway is occupied by vehicles. In practice, a sensor at that point is considered "occupied" whenever a vehicle passes over or covers the detector. So occupancy equals the total time the point is blocked by vehicles divided by the total observation time, often expressed as a percentage. This measure rises when traffic flows are heavier, vehicles are longer, or speeds are slower, since each vehicle blocks the point for a longer portion of time. It’s a time-based indicator of how congested a location is, distinct from demand (how many vehicles want to use the road), phase (signal timing for intersections), or weaving sections (where lanes merge or cross).