Traffic Engineering

&
Pavement Design
Prof. Dr. Naeem Aziz Memon
Introduction
Traffic Engineering Studies
Traffic Characteristics
Design Controls
Factors which control the visible features of the Highway
• Design driver
• Design vehicle
• Design speed
• Design volume
• Sight distance
• Highway classification……….

5
Road User and Driver Characteristics
 Design Driver Characteristics
• Design Driver: driver most expected to use
facility (familiar or unfamiliar?)
– Accommodated in design, signing, etc.

7
Design Driver Characteristics Cont.
• Physical characteristics
• Processing ability of a driver
• Tolerable
Accelerations/Decelerations
– Longitudinal (along roadway )
– Lateral (around curves)
– Vertical (comfort)

8
Design Driver Characteristics Cont.

• Others?: age, gender, physical

condition (alcohol, etc.), mental
capabilities, skill (self perception –)

• Two others related to design:

perception-reaction time
• expectancy

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 Design Driver
• Wide range of system users
• What range of drivers use the system?
– Ages: 16 year old to 80 year old
– Different mental and physical states
– Physical (sight, hearing, etc)
– experience
• Design Driver: driver most expected to use facility

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 Percent of Driving Population

0
2
4
6
8
10
12

< 20

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59
Age Groups

60-64

65-69

70-74

75-79

80-84

> 84
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 Visual Reception
• Visual Acuity: Ability to see fine details
• Static (stationary objects):
– Depends on brightness
– Increases with increasing brightness up to ~ 3
candles (cd/sq ft) -- remains constant after
that
– Contrast
– Time (0.5 to 1.0 second)
• Dynamic (ability to detect moving objects)
– Clear vision within a conical angle 3 to 5º
– Fairly clear within 10 to 12º
– Key criteria in determining placement of
traffic signs

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 Visual Reception
• Peripheral Vision: Ability to see objects
beyond the cone of clearest vision (160
degrees)
– Age dependent
– Objects seen but details and color are not
clear

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 Visual Reception
• Color Vision: Ability to differentiate
one color from another
– Lack of ability = color blindness
– Combinations to which the eye is the
most sensitive
• Black and white
• Black and yellow

Key in determining traffic signs colors

14
 Visual Reception
• Depth perception
– Ability to estimate speed and distance
•Passing on two-lane roads
•Signs are standardized to aid in
perceiving distance

15
 Hearing Reception
Hearing perception
– Ability to detect warning sounds
– Sirens, horns

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Perception/Reaction
Time

17
 Perception/Reaction Applications
• Stopping sight distance
• Passing sight distance
• Placement of signs/traffic control devices
• Design of horizontal/vertical curves

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Perception-Reaction Process

• Perception
• Identification

• Emotion
• Reaction (volition)
PIEV
Used for Signal Design and Braking Distance 19
Perception-Reaction Process
• Perception
– Sees or hears situation (sees deer)
• Identification
– Identify situation (realizes deer is in
road)
• Emotion
– Decides on course of action (swerve,
stop, change lanes, etc)
• Reaction (volition)
– Acts (time to start events in motion
but not actually do action)
• Foot begins to hit brake, not actual
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deceleration
 Typical Perception-Reaction
time range is:
0.5 to 7 seconds
Affected by a number of
factors.
What are they?
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Perception-Reaction Time Factors
• Environment:
• Urban vs. Rural
• Night vs. Day
• Wet vs. Dry
• Age
• Physical Condition:
• Fatigue
• Drugs/Alcohol
• Distractions

22
 Perception-Reaction Time Factors
• medical condition
• visual acuity
• ability to see (lighting conditions, presence of fog, snow,
etc)
• complexity of situation (more complex = more time)
• complexity of necessary response
• expected versus unexpected situation (traffic light turning
red vs. dog darting into road)

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Age

• Older drivers
– May perceive something as a hazard but
not act quickly enough

– More difficulty seeing, hearing, reacting

– Drive slower

25
Counter Measures to reduce Problems of Older Drivers

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 Human Factors - Perception and Reaction
by Joseph E. Badger. [email protected]

Age
• Younger drivers
– May be able to act quickly but not have
experience to recognize things as a hazard
or be able to decide what to do
– Drive faster
– Are unfamiliar with driving experience
– Are less apt to drive safely after a few
drinks
– Are easily distracted by conversation and
others inside the vehicle
– May be more likely to operate faulty
equipment
– Poorly developed risk perception
– Feel invincible, the "Superman Syndrome” 27
 Alcohol
• Affects each person differently
• Slows reaction time
• Increases risk taking
• Dulls judgment
• Slows decision-making
• Presents peripheral vision difficulties

28
Human Factors - Perception and Reaction
by Joseph E. Badger. [email protected]
 29
From: Driver Characteristics and Impairment at Various BACs
H. Moskowitz, M. Burns, D. Fiorentino, A. Smiley, P. Zador
Understanding of Design Driver

Flashing
DON’T
WALK

30
Understanding
Count down
signal

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32
 Understanding

• Most people do not reduce speed

in a work zone until they actually
see activity
• Only 78% of drivers in a study
understood what “Lane Ends”
mean
• Many people, especially older
drivers, don’t understand meaning
of left turn displays
33
Human Factors - Perception and Reaction
by Joseph E. Badger. [email protected]
 Fatigue
• Increases perception/reaction
time
• Study by American
Automobile Association found
that in 221 truck accidents
only 18.4% of the drivers had
been driving less than nine
hours.
• 41% of truck accidents
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Human Factors - Perception and Reaction
by Joseph E. Badger. [email protected]
Dp = 1.47(V)(t)
where:
Dp = Distance traveled during PIEV process (feet)
V = velocity (mph)
t = perception-reaction time = 2.5s

35
 Example
How much longer does it take an impaired driver to
perceive/react than an unimpaired one at 65 mph?
Unimpaired has P/R time of 2.5 seconds
Dp = 1.47(V)(t) =
1.47(65 mph)(2.5 sec.) ~ 240 feet
Impaired Driver has P/R time of 4 seconds
Dp = 1.47(65 mph)(4 sec) ~ 380 feet

Difference is 380 – 240 = 140 feet

Difference is safety and economic problem!
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 Driver Expectancy
• Expectancy (def) – an inclination based
on previous experience to respond in a
set manner to a roadway, traffic, or
information situation
• Types
– A Priori – long-term (based on
collective past experience) PRT =
0.6s avg., some 2.0s
– Ad Hoc – short-term (based on site-
specific practices/situations
encountered during a particular trip
on a particular roadway, PRT = 1.0s 37
avg., some 2.7s
 Driver Expectancy
• Driver Expectancies (what do we
expect as drivers?)
– Specific colors (red = stop)
– Driver ahead not to decelerate rapidly
– Slower drivers in right lane
– Work zone signs = people working
– Lane size
– Etc.

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Selection of Design
Driver

39
Design criteria must
be based on the
capabilities and
limitations of most
drivers and
pedestrians
40
The 85th percentile is generally
used to select Design Criteria

The 95th percentile or higher is

used where the consequences
of failure are severe

AASHTO recommends 2.6

seconds for stopping sight
distance (90th) 41
 Role of Transportation
Engineer
• allow proper sight distance
in design, sign placement
• avoid hitting driver with
too much info at once
– one sign at a time
• clarity (sign size, color,
reflectivity)

42
 Driver Activities in Selection of Path
• Control (overt actions)
– Road Edge
– Avoid a Car
• Guidance (decisions)
– Lane Placement
– Car Following
– Passing

43
 Driver Activities in Selection of Path Cont.
• Navigation Level (planning)
– Maps
– Observe a directional sign

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Vehicular Characteristics
Design Vehicle
A design vehicle represents an individual class in a conservative
manner.
• passenger cars (compact, subcompact, light delivery trucks),
• trucks (single-unit, tractor-semitrailer combinations, trucks with full
trailers),
• buses/recreational vehicles (single-unit, articulated, school buses,
motor homes, passenger cars pulling trailers or boats).
Design Vehicle
• Design Vehicle – largest (slowest, loudest?) vehicle likely
to use a facility with considerable frequency
• Three characteristics that affect almost all aspects of
highway design
• Physical
• Operating
• Environmental

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Physical Characteristics
• Type (GB defines 20 design vehicle types)
• Passenger Car P
• Buses B
• Trucks SU, WB
• RVs
• Farm tractor

• Size
• Length
• Height
• Weight
• Width
• Height of driver’s eye (car: 3.5’ – avg., truck: 7.6’ – high side)
• Center of mass

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 Minimum Turning Path
Passenger Car

Minimum turning path is

defined by the outer trace
of the front overhang and
the path of the inner rear
wheel.
Minimum
Turning Path
Double-Trailer
Combination