CVE 363

Highway Design
Spring 2024
Human factors and Highway elements in roadway design

Reading: Text Book: Chp3

Driver Activities (in order of complexity)

Control (least complex)

 Steering
 Speed control

Guidance (more complex)

 Road/lane following
Safe path maintenance

Navigation (most complex)

 Trip planning
 Route Following
Characteristics of the Driver

Problem faced by designers:

 Varying skills and perceptual abilities of drivers on the highway
 Variation of abilities of individual drivers under different conditions (alcohol,
fatigue, time-of-day)

Typical design driver

 Use of average driver may not be adequate for a large number of persons
 Design driver typically selected as a driver that correspond to either the 85th or
95th percentile

Important driver characteristics for design purposes

 Since most of the information received by a driver is visual, ability to see is of
fundamental importance in the driving task
 Ability to hear important only to detect warning sounds
 Process by which drivers react to the information they received is as important as
the ability to see
Elements of Visual Perception

Visual acuity  Ability to see fine details

 Affecting parameters:
 Contrast and brightness of the object
 Level of illumination
 Relative motion between observer and object

 Two types of visual acuity:

 Static acuity: ability to identify stationary objects
 Dynamic acuity: Ability to identify objects that are moving

 Relation to cone of vision

 Clear vision in a conical angle of 3-5o
 Fairly clear vision within conical angle of 10-12o

Peripheral vision  Ability to see objects beyond the cone of clear vision
 Affecting parameters
 Speed (tunnel vision effect at high speeds)
 Age
 Relation to cone of vision
Provide ability to see objects, although not in great details, in a cone of up to 160o
angle
Example
A speed limit sign can be seen (i.e., letter sized are large enough to be read)
clearly from a distance of 500 ft. The sign is placed 20 ft off the edge of the 12-
ft right travel lane (which is considered a safe distance away from the road). Is
the placement of the sign appropriate? If not, what do you suggest.
Perception-Reaction Time
Definition

Process by which a driver evaluates and reacts to a stimulus

Can be divided into four sub-processes

 Perception: Driver sees an object
 Identification: Driver identifies object and understand the stimulus
 Emotion: Driver decides what to do
 Reaction: Driver actually executes the action decided on
Perception-Reaction Time
Typical Values

Reaction time varies among

individual drivers

Reaction time function of

 Age
 Medical condition
 Alcohol / drug consumption
 Fatique / sleep deprivation
 Emotional condition
Perception-Reaction Time
Typical Values

Reaction time also depends on how

complicated the situation is
 85th percentile brake time varying from
1.0 to 5.0 seconds
 Unexpected events can increase
reaction time by 35%.

Reaction time function of

 Complexity of stimulus
 Complexity of response
Perception-Reaction Time
Impact on Design

During a breaking maneuver, a vehicle continue moving forward for the

duration of perception-reaction time

Obstacle Brake Vehicle stops

perception application moving

Distance traveled Distance traveled

during perception while breaking
reaction
Total braking distance

This creates a need to consider perception-reaction time in highway

design and traffic operations

Typical design values

 Perception-reaction time corresponding to 85th-95th percentile of driver population
 AASHTO reaction time for stopping-sight distances  2.5 seconds
Perception-Reaction Time
Example
|

At which distance an obstacle was perceived by a driver if he stopped

his vehicle 30 m from it while traveling at an initial speed of 80 km/h on a
road with a 5% downhill

Obstacle Brake Vehicle stops

perception application moving

Distance traveled Distance traveled 30 m

during perception while breaking
reaction (x2)
(x1) total breaking distance
---------------------------------------|
|

t  2.5 sec x1  v o t vo 2  vf2 X  30  x1  x2

________ 
x2 = 
f  0.3 x1  22.22 m/s  2.5 sec 2g(f  G) X  30  100.8  55.6
G  0.05 x1  55.56 m 22.22  02 X  186.4 m
x2 
vo 80 km/h 2(9.8)(0.3 0.05)
 22.22 m/s x 2  100.8 m
vf = 0 km/h
Example
A driver with a normal vision can read a sign from a distance of 200 ft. Determine
how far away from an exit ramp a directional sign should be located to allow a
safe reduction of speed from 60 to 30 mph. The perception-reaction time is 1.5
sec. and the coefficient of friction is 0.3. The freeway section is level. What
difference does it make if the freeway section has a downward (downhill) slope
of 5%?
Characteristics of the Pedestrian

Pedestrian characteristics include driver characteristics described earlier

 Elements of visual perception
 Perception-reaction process

However, walking characteristics play a major role in design of

pedestrian facilities
 Range of observed walking speeds
 From 3.0 to 8.0 ft/sec
 Average walking speed:
 4.63 ft/sec (Women) to 4.93 ft/sec (Men)
 Design walking speed (Highway Capacity Manual):
 General population: 4.00 ft/sec
 When elderly account for more than 20%: 3.30 ft/sec

Considerations should also be given where appropriate to

characteristics of handicapped pedestrians
 Blind pedestrians
 Pedestrian on wheelchairs
Summary: Main human factors impacts on road design
Vehicle Characteristics
Kinematic Characteristics:
 Deals with the acceleration capabilities of the vehicle
 These are not covered in this course
Dynamic Characteristics:
 The major forces affecting the vehicle, while it is in motion are:
 Power produced by the engine (P)
 Resistance forces, which are:
– Air resistance (Ra)
– Rolling resistance (Rr)
– Grade resistance (Rg)
– Curve resistance (Rc)
 When the vehicle travels at constant speed:
P = Ra +Rr + Rg +Rc
Vehicle Characteristics
Air resistance:
Vehicle Characteristics
Rolling resistance:
 Frictional effects on the moving parts of the vehicle and frictional
slip between the tires and the pavement. The rolling resistance
can be calculated for passenger cars as:
Vehicle Characteristics
Grade resistance:
Vehicle Characteristics
Curve resistance:
 When vehicles travel over a curve, they experience a curve
resistance (Rc):
Vehicle Characteristics
Power Requirements:
 The power (P), in horsepower (hp), required for a vehicle to
maintain speed (u) is given as:

P = Horsepower delivered (hp)

R = Sum of resistance forces (lb)
u = Vehicle speed (mph)
Vehicle Characteristics
Example:
Determine horsepower by passenger car traveling at a speed of 70mph on
a curve that has a radius of curvature of 2000ft. The slope on this section
of the road is 3%. Assume the gross weight of the car is 3000lb and the
cross section area of the car is 40ft2.

Solution:
Air resistance

Grade resistance
Vehicle Characteristics
Rolling resistance

Curve resistance

Total resistance= 200.5+90+56.4+245.4= 592.3 lb.

Required horsepower
Design Vehicles
The physical characteristics of vehicles directly affect the
required characteristics of the roadways on which they are
driven.
Jurisdictions evaluate their vehicle fleet populations and
establish a grouping of vehicles on which roadway design can
be based.
Roadway features such as: (a) intersection corner radii, (b)
overpass clearances, (c) ramp widths, and (d) lane widths; are
all directly affected by the size and shapes of the vehicles using
a facility.
Design vehicles have representative dimensions and operating
characteristics and are used to establish highway design
controls.
Four Design Vehicle Classes
Passenger Vehicles
 passenger vehicle class includes compact, small, medium, and large passenger
vehicles, including pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, and vans

Buses
 include all single unit buses, all articulated buses and intercity busses

Trucks
 include single-unit trucks, tractor-trailers, and semi-tractor trailer combinations

Recreational Vehicles
 vehicles with long wheel bases that have tracking characteristics are similar to
single-unit buses

In the design of any highway facility, the designer should consider

the largest design vehicle likely to use that facility with considerable
frequency.
Examples of Selecting a Design Vehicle
Traffic Volume
ADT – Average daily traffic

30HV – 30th highest hourly volume of the year

DHV – design hourly volume (both directions)

DDHV – directional design hourly volume