CHAPTER – THREE

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING STUDIES

1. Spot Speed Studies
2. Traffic Volume Studies
3. Travel Time and Delay Studies
4. Parking Studies
5. Road Traffic Accident Studies

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TE. (MSc)
 TRAFFIC ENGINEERING STUDIES
 Traffic studies may be grouped into three main categories:
­ Inventories: provides a list or graphic display of existing information, such
as street widths, parking spaces, transit routes, traffic regulations …
­ Administrative studies: use existing engineering records, available in
government agencies and department.
­ Dynamic studies: involves the collection of data under operational
conditions and include studies of speed, traffic volume, travel time and delay,
parking and crash.

NB: dynamic studies are carried out by the traffic engineer to evaluate
current conditions and develop solutions.
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 1. SPOT SPEEF STUDIES
 Spot Speed
– The instantaneous speed of a vehicle at a specified section or
location.
– Speed of traffic at one point or spot on a traffic way
(instantaneous speed).
– Conducted to estimate the distribution of speeds of vehicles
in a stream of traffic at a particular location on a highway.

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 Spot Speed Studies (Cont...)
 Speed characteristics determined from spot speed study may be
used to:
– Establish parameters for traffic operations and control (e.g. speed zones,
speed limits (85th%), and passing restrictions)
– Evaluate the effectiveness of traffic control devices, such as variable
message signs at work zone.
– Establishing speed trends at the local, state and national level to assess
effectiveness of speed limit policy.
– Evaluate or determine adequacy of highway geometric characteristics
(e.g. to determine safe speeds at curves)
– Evaluate the effect of speed on highway safety: to determine speeds at the
problem locations; to validate whether speeds are too high

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 Spot Speed Studies (Cont...)

 Speed characteristics study may be used to:

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 Spot speed studies (Cont...)
 Location for spot speed studies
– Depend on the anticipated use of the result ( e.g.: at points where the
installation of traffic signals facility may be necessary)

 Time of day and duration of spot speed studies

– Depends on the purpose of the study

 Sample size for spot speed studies

– The calculated mean (average) speed is used to represent the true
mean value of all vehicle speeds at that location.
– The accuracy of this result depends on the number of vehicles in the
sample

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 Sample Size
• The minimum sample size depends on the precision level desired
– Precision level – degree of confidence – α (level of significance)
– Commonly used confidence level for speed count is 95%
• The minimum sample size (N) for an acceptable error (d) of is given by:

Constant Confidence
(Z) Level %
1.00 68. 3
1.50 86.6
Where : 1.64 90.0
N = minimum sample size 1.96 95.0
Z = number of standard deviation corresponding 2.00 95.5
to the required confidence level (= 1.96 for 95% CI) 2.50 98.8
σ = standard deviation 2.58 99.0
d = limit of acceptable error in the average speed estimate 3.00 99.7

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 Term definition
• Significant values that are needed to describe speed characteristics
are listed as follows
1. Average speed: arithmetic mean of all observed vehicle speeds OR is
the sum of all spot speeds divided by the number of recorded speed.

Where: ū = arithmetic mean

fi = number of observation in each speed group
ui = midvalue for the ith speed group

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 Term definition
2. Median speed: speed at the middle value in a series of spot speeds. It is also called
50th percentage speed (P50)
3. Modal speed: speed value that occurs most frequently in the sample of spot speeds
4. The ith percentile spot speed: spot speed value below which i-percent of vehicles
travel; (for example, 85th-percentile spot speed is the speed below which 85% of the
vehicles travel & above which 15% of vehicles travel)
5. Pace: The range of speed (usually 10 km/h interval) that has the greatest number of
observations.
6. Standard deviation of speeds: measure of the spread of the individual speeds.

S = Standard Deviation , ū = arithmetic mean, fi = number

of observation in each speed group, ui = mid-value for
the ith speed group, N = number of observed values. 9
 Presentation & Analysis of Spot Speed Data
 Steps to prepare frequency distribution table:
1. Select number of classes (# of velocity ranges): usually between 8 – 20
(Another technique: determine range for a class size of 8, then determine
range for a class size of 20, by dividing the difference between max and
min speeds by 8 then by 20, then selecting a range between these max and
min ranges).
2. The mid value for each class is used as a speed value for that class
3. Plot frequency histogram (speed mid values vs frequency)
4. Frequency distribution curve (speed mid values vs percentage of frequency
in each class).
5. Cumulative distribution (upper limits of speed classes vs cumulative
percentage of frequency)
 Methods For Conducting Spot Speed Studies
 Generally can be divided into two main catagories
1. Manual
2. Automatic
 The automatic devices can be grouped into three main catagories
i. Those that use road detectors
ii. Those that use doppler principle meters (radar type)
iii. Those that use the principles of electronics

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 Road detectors
• Classified into two general categories
– Pneumatic road tubes
– Induction loops

• These devices can be used to collect data on speeds at the same time as
volume data are being collected.

• Advantage : reduce human error considerably

• Disadvantage: expensive, pneumatic tubes are conspicuous and
may,therefore, affect driver behavior, resulting in a destortion of the
speed distribution.
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 Pneumatic Road Tube
• Laid across the lane in
which data are to be
collected.
• When a moving vehicle
passes over the tube, an air
impulse is transmitted Pneumatic tube
through the tube to the
counter.

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 Inductive Loops
• Rectangular wire loop buried
under the roadway surface.
induction loop
• It operates on the principle that a
disturbance in the electrical field
is created when a motor vehicle
passes acros it.

• This cuases a change in potential

that is amplified, resulting in an
impulse being sent to the
counter.
induction loop (vehicle classification by length &
chassis profile)

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Cont...

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 Doppler-principle meters
• Doppler meters work on the principle that when a signal is transmitted onto a
moving vehicle, the change in frequency between the transmitted signal and the
reflected signal is proportional to the speed of the moving vehicle.
• The difference between the frequency of the transmitted signal and that of the
reflected signal is measured by the equipment and the converted into speed.
• Advantage:
• if the equipment can be located at an inconspicuous position, the influence on
driver behavior is considerably reduced.
• used for enforcement
• Disadvantage: error of instalation

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 Speed Meter

Laser speed gun 17

 Electronic principle detectors
• The presence of vehicles is detected through electronic means, and
informationon these vehicles is obtained, from which traffic characteristics
such as speed, volume, queues and headways are computed.

• Advantage: it is not necessary to physically install loops or any other type of

detector on the road.

• The most promising technology using electronics is video image processing,

sometimes refferred to as a machine-vision system.
• One of such system is the autoscope.

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 2. VOLUME STUDIES
• Conducted to collect data on the number of vehicles or pedestrians
that pass a point on a highway facilily during a specified time
period.

• The data collected may also be put into subcalsses which may
include directional movement, vehicle classification & pedestrian
age.

• Traffic volume is used as a quantity measure of flow, commonly

used units are vehicles per day and vehicles per hours.

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 Volume Studies (Cont...)
• The objective and uses of traffic volume studies:
– Used in planning, traffic operation and control of existing facilities and
also for planning and design of new facilities.
– Classified volume study is useful in structural design of pavements, in
geometric design and in computing roadway capacity.
– Turning movement study is used in the design of intersections, in
planning signal timings, channelization and other control devices.
– Pedestrian traffic volume study is used for planning sidewalks, cross
walks subways and pedestrian signals.
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 Volume Studies (Cont...)
 Traffic volume studies are usually conducted when certain volume
characteristics are needed, some of which follow:
1. Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT)
– the average of the 24-hr counts collected every day in the year.
– used in several traffic and transportation analysis.
­ computation of accident rate
­ development of improvement and maintenance program
­ evaluation of the economic feasibility of highway projects

Procedures followed to determine AADT -- Refer ERA(2002) Manual

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 Volume Studies (Cont...)
2. Average Daily Traffic (ADT) 3. Peak Hour Volume (PHV)
• The average of 24-hr counts • The maximum number of vehicles that
collected over a number of days pass a point on a highway during a period
greater than 1 but less than a year. of 60 consecutive minutes.

• PHVs are used for:

• ADTs may be used for:
– – functional classification of highways
planning of highway activities
– measurment of current demand – design of the geometric characteristics of a
– highway, for example, number of lanes,
evalution of existing traffic flow
intersection signalization and
channelization
– capacity analysis
– development of parking regulations 22
 Volume Studies (Cont...)
4. Vehicle Classification (VC)
• records volume with respect of the type of vehicles, for example, passenger
cars, trucks etc....
• VC is used in
– design of geometric characteristics (turning radii, grade, lane)
– capacity analysis, with respect to passenger car equivalents of truck
– structural design of highway pavement, bridges and so forth

5. Vehicle Miles of Travel (VMT)

• a measure of travel along a section of road.
• it is the product of the traffic volume (that is, average weekday volume or
ADT) and the length of roadway in miles to which the volume is applicable.
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 Methods of Conducting Volume Counts
 Conducted using two basic methods:
– Manual
– Automatic
• Manual method: involves one or more persons recording observed
vehicles using a counter
– Main disadvantage
­ It is labor-intensive and can therefore be expensive
­ It is subject to the limitations of human factors
­ It cannot be used for long periods of counting

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Manual Method

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 Automatic Method

• Counting method that involves

– Laying of surface detectors (such as pneumatic road tube)
– Subsurface detectors (such as magnetic or electronic contact
devices)

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 3. TRAVEL TIME AND DELAY STUDIES

• A travel time study determines the amount of time required to travel

from one point to another on a given route.
• Information may also be collected on the locations, durations and
cause of delays.
• Data obtained from travel time and delay studies give a good
indication of the level of service on the study section.
• Aid the traffic engineer in identifying problem location.

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 Definition of Terms E
• Travel Time: time taken by a vehicle to traverse a given section of a highway.
• Running Time: the time a vehicle is actually in motion while traversing a given
section of a highway.
• Delay: time lost by a vehicle due to causes beyond the control of the driver.
• Operational Delay: part of the delay caused by the impedance of other traffic.
• Stopped Time Delay: part of delay during which the vehicle is at rest
• Fixed Delay: part of the delay caused by control devices such as traffic signal.

• Travel Time Delay: the difference b/n the actual travel time and the travel time
obtained by assuming the vehicle traverses the study section at an average speed
@ uncongested traffic flow.
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 Application of Travel Time and Delay Data

 The data may be used for:

– Determination of the efficiency of a route with respect to its ability
to carry traffic.
– Identification of locations with relatively high delays and the
causes for those delays.
– Performance of before-and-after study
– Determination of travel times on specific links for use in
trip(traffic) assignment model.

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Methods for Conducting Travel Time and Delay Studies
 Grouped in to two general categories

1. Those using a test vehicle: Involves three possible techniques:

i. Floating car
ii. Average speed
iii. Moving vehicle

2. Those not requiring a test vehicle: Includes:

i. License plate method
ii. Interview method

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 4. PARKING STUDIES

• Any vehicle traveling on a highway will at one time or another be

parked for either a relatively short time or a much longer time,
depending on the reason for parking.

• The provision of parking facilities is therefore an essential element

of the highway mode of transportation.

• Parking studies are used to determine the demand and supply of

parking facilities in an area, the projection of the demand, and how
best to solve the problem.

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 Types of Parking Facilities
 Divided into two main groups
2) Off-street parking
1) On-street parking facilities facilities
­ Also known as curb facilities ­ These facilities may be
­ Parking bays are provided privately or publicly owned:
alongside the curb on one or both they include surface lots and
side of the street. garages.
­ Types
 Parallel parking
 Surface car parking
 Angle parking
 Multistory car parking
 Roof parking
 Mechanical car parking
 Underground car parking 32
Types of Parking Facilities (Cont...)

Parallel

Angled
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Types of Parking Facilities (Cont...)

On street Parking Facilities 34

 Types of Parking Facilities (Cont...)

Underground Car Parks

Surface Car Parks Mechanical Car Parks 35

 Types of Parking Facilities (Cont...)

Multi-storey Car Parks Roof Car Parks 36

 Definitions of Parking Terms
• Space-hour: a unit of parking that defines the use of a single parking space for a
period of 1 hr.
• Parking volume: the total number of vehicles that park in a study area during a
specific length of time, usually a day.
• Parking accumulation: the number of parked vehicles in a study area at any
specified time.
• Parking load: the area under the accumulation curve b/n two specific times. It is
usually given as the number of space-hours used during the specified period of time.
• Parking duration: the length of time a vehicle is parked at a parking bay.
• Parking turnover: the rate of use of a parking space. It is obtained by dividing the
parking volume for a specified period by the number of parking spaces.
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 Methodology of Parking Studies
 A comprehensive parking study usually involves
– Inventory of existing parking facilities
– Collection of data on parking accumulation
– Parking turnover and parking duration
– Identification of parking generators
– Collection of information on parking demand

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5. ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT STUDIES

Why?
How?

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 Road Traffic System and Safety
• Road traffic: A system in which the human, the vehicle, road & its environment
interact each other.
• Efficiency and safety of road traffic depends on the performances and interactions
of these components.

• A road traffic accident can be defined as “a rare, random, multiple factor event,
always preceded by a situation in which the contributing factors generally fall into
failures in one or more of the components of the traffic system.”

• It is a rare and random event from time and space aspects. In other words, it is
impossible to predict accurately where and when the next accident occur.

• Every accident is a unique event precedded by a chain of unique multiple factors.

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 Cont...
• The contributing factors generally fall in to three components of the road
traffic system:
i. Road users’ errors
ii. Vehicle defects
iii. Deficiencies in the road and its environment
• Human error is the prominent of all factors out of which drivers’ error take the
majority of the blames, in
Could result from
­Driving too fast,
• Aggressive or irresponsible behavior,
­Failing to give way,
• Deficient action due to poor driving knowledge,
­Improper overtaking,
skill ,
­Following too close
• Perceptual errors or impairments.

• Vehicle defects which lead significantly to accidents include defective tires, lighting
system, defective brakes ... 41
 Cont... E
• The road and its invironments contributes to TA due to bad or negligent
planning & design of roads and associated facilities including absence of
information and putting misleading or unclear information.

• Furthermore, road traffic accident risk is a function of four elements:

– Exposure (the amount of movement or travel within the system)
– Probablity of a traffic accident given a particular exposure
– The probablity of injury given an accident
– The outcome of the injury (death, serious or slight injury)

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 Road Traffic System and Safety
System Components: Cuase of Road Accident

Analysis
Human Vehicle Human deficiency

Vehicle deficiency

Road & environment

Road and
deficiency
Environment

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Causes of crashes (Denmark) Causes of crashes
(USA)

Causes of crashes (Ethiopia) - ??

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 Police –reported road traffic Fatalities by road user types in
crashes in Ethiopia (2005-2010) Ethiopia

Drivers
 Vehicle population in Ethiopia: 500,000
7%
 Road network: 85,000 kilometres <13%
 Over six year period
 14,542 fatalities(Deaths)
 51,573 injuries 39
54
Pedestrians %
Passengers
%

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 Road Traffic System and Safety
Human Factor

• Road users include

­ Drivers
­ Passengers
­ Pedestrians
­ Motor cyclists
­ Bicyclists

• The main controlling element, the driver, plays a major role in

determining the successes or failure of road traffic system.

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 Road Traffic System and Safety
Human Deficiency

• Mentally Competent
• Driving Competent
• Alcohol Level In Blood
• Drug Usage And Stimulant
• Driving Behavior
• Driving Experience
• Using Mobile Phone

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 Road Traffic System and Safety
Road and Environment Deficiency
• Sight Distance
• Traffic Control
• Road Surface Condition
• Road Side Obstruction

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 Road Traffic System and Safety
Vehicle Deficiency

• Defective Equipment
– Break System
– Wheel and Tire
• Illegal Loading (Overload)
• Modification

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 Road Traffic System and Safety
Vehicle Deficiency
• Defect in vehicles is one of the main cuases of traffic accidents.
• Manufacturers and suppliers of vehicles have to satisfy the safety
standards in their respective countries.
• The common safety devices in vehicle include
– Brake system
– Steering system
– Suspension and vehicle stability
– Seat belts
– Infant seats
– Audible seat belt remainders
– Airbags
– Crash helments
– Tyres 50
 Accident Reporting and Database
• Traffic accident data is a prerequisite for any traffic accident reduction and
prevention measures.
• Generally, road accident database is a vital source of factual information for:
– Researchers
– Politicians and administrators
– Traffic and road engineers
– Organizations engaged in driver training
– The police who makes the accident reports

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 Recommended Contents of Accident Report Format
General details Road type Environmental features Precise location
Unique accident Class of road/road Light conditions Map reference
reference No. No. Road lighting X-Y coordinate
Time/date/month/year Carriage type/ no. Road surface condition (dry, Node or link
Region/state of lanes wet) Kilometer post
Collision type/severity Road width Road surface quality Plain language
Number of vehicles Road shoulder Weather location description
involved width Type of traffic control Accident
Number of casualties Speed limit Road geometry description
Contributary factors Junction type Road works
Vehicle details Driver details Casualty details Pedestrian location
Vehicle type Driver age Type of road user Pedestrian
Vehicle manoeuvery Driver sex Age movement
Vehicle defects License number Sex School
Vehicle damage Driving experiences Severity of injury Cyclist location
Length of skid marks Alcohol/drug Passenger location Cyclist movement
Plate No. influnce
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Accident Investigation E

• An in-depth study is a systematic

approach to discover the cause of a
tragedy like a fatal accident.

• Information from many different

sources is compiled to provide a
picture of the chain of events.
• What happened before, during and
after the accident?
 Accident Investigation (Cont...) E
Accident Investigation gives Accident Investigation Units
answers to these questions  Highway Engineering
What?  Traffic and Transport Engineering Road
 Where?
 When?  Automotive Engineering
 How? Vehicle
 Dynamic Engineering
 Who?
 Why?  Behaviorist
 Doctor/Epidemiologist Human
 What can be done at Black
spot?
 What can we learn from this Accident investigation instrument
– Office Instrument
project? – Survey Instrument
 Office Instruments
Communication device

Computer

Other office Instrument

Survey Instrument Survey Instruments

Instrument for Road Survey

Instrument for Vehicle Survey

Safety Instrument

First Aid

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 Accident Investigation Process
Investigation Process

Accident Site Survey After Accident

Information Process Process
Step 1: Primary evaluation of crash • Geometric and physical
Step 2: Inform Accident Investigation survey
• Evidence and trace survey
Accident is Reported Staff to the Officer • Road safety audit
to the nearest Step 3: Setting up of warning sign & • Road user behavior at black
spot area study
investigation unit all necessary equipment • Vehicle condition check
Step 4: Site Data collection • Injury data / Death
assumption
Step 5: In-dept data collection of • Witness interview
vehicle condition
Step 6: Medical Evaluation of Injury
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 Accident Black Spot
• Road section that have an • Accordingly, this work may be divided into
abnormal high number of crashes a number of phases:
are described as black spot site. – Identification of black spots
– Ranking of sites
• Black spot safety work can be – Analysis of accident
described as the task of improving – Site inspection
road safety through alterations of – Site measurments
the geometrical & environmental – Determine alternative remedial measures
characterstics of the problematic – Prioritization of measures
sites in the existing road network. × B/n sites (which is to be improved first?)
× B/n alternatives at a site
– Evaluation of measures

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 Speed and Traffic Safety
• Driving is a self regulating process
• Choice of speed is most important possibility for the driver to
regulate accident risk
• Factors influencing drivers choice of speed
­ Driver characteristics: age, gender, experience .....
­ Traffic condition: traffic density, percentage of heavy vehicle.....
­ Journey: purpose of journey, length of journey, passengers....
­ Environment: road geometry, speed limit, traffic signal and sign,
weather and road condition

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 Speed and Traffic Safety
 The relation between speed and  Speed reducing measures
– Bumps (circular, modified
number of accidents
circular, trapezoidal)
• Lower speed will give – Speed cushions (shock
– Short braking distance absorbers)
– Wider field of view – Narrowing
– Better estimates of speed and – Side shifting
distance to other vehicles – Roundabouts
– Less centrifugal force in curves – Rumble strips
– Less deformations if accident – Gateway (to a village or town)
happens

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Example Problems

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Thank You.
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