SUBJECT NAME : ROAD SAFETY ENGINEERING

SUBJECT CODE : BCV755A

DEPARTMENT : CIVIL ENGINEERING

Prepared by:
Dr. Vijay B G Associate
Professor & Head
Department of Civil Engineering
SSSE, Tumakuru
TRAFFIC PLANNING AND
CHARACTERISTICS
 CONTENTS
1. Road characteristics
2. Road User characteristics
3. PIEV Theory
4. Vehicle performance characteristics
5. Fundamentals of traffic flow
6. Urban traffic problem in India
 TRAFFIC ENGINEERING
• Deals with improvement of traffic performance of Road

Networks.

• Application of Scientific principles and Techniques for

safe ,rapid, convenient &economic movement of people.

.
4
 TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS

• Road User Characteristics

• Vehicular Characteristics

5
 ROAD USER CHARACTERISTICS
• Considers the aspects of human behavior on
roads.
 PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS- Measurable
and Usually Quantifiable Characteristics
 Vision
 Hearing
 PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTCS-
More difficult to measure and quantify
 Perception
 Intellection
 Emotion
 Volition
6
 VISION

• Most important factor that affects highway design

& safety.

(a). Acute or clear vision cone-Field of clearest & acute

vision is within the cone whose angle is 3° about the

centre line of Retina.

• Helps for Distant Vision.

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 VISION
(b)Fairly clear vision cone- Vision is satisfactory when angle of

cone is 10° to 12° around the line of sight;

• color and shape can be identified in this field.

• Important for locating Traffic signs and signals.

(c) Peripheral Vision- Total Visual Field for two eyes.

• Vision is possible but without clear details and colour.

• Angle of Peripheral Vision-

• 160 ° in horizontal Direction

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• 115 ° in vertical Direction.
9
 GLARE RECOVERY
• Driver’s Ability to adapt glare and variations in lighting
conditions.
• Factors affecting Glare recovery –Age, Wearing of
eyeglasses
• Recovery time : 3-6 seconds

Prepared by:
Dr. Vijay B G
Associate Professor & Head
Department of Civil Engineering
SSSE, Tumakuru 10
 COLOUR VISION

• Most important for

identifying :
- Traffic lights
-Traffic signs
• Drivers feel difficulty to
recognize proper signals.

11
 DEPTH PERCEPTION
• Ability to judge the distance and speed of
approaching vehicles

• Important to pedestrians to cross the road.

• For Driver ,judgment of speed of other vehicles is

important.

12
 HEARING

• Very vital to road user.

• To hear SOUND OF HORNS

• Alert Pedestrians

• Important to elderly people with falling

eyesight 13
14
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

PIEV THEORY

 PERCEPTION

 INTELLECTION
Prepared by:
EMOTION Dr. Vijay B G
Associate Professor & Head
Department of Civil Engineering
VOLITION SSSE, Tumakuru

15
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
• PERCEPTION: Time required to perceive an object

• INTELLECTION: Time required for understanding the

situation.

• EMOTION: Time elapsed during emotional

sensations and disturbances.

• VOLITION: Time taken for final action

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 AGE OF DRIVER
• Problems of younger drivers
• Difficulty in judging speed, distance and reaction time

• Tend to concentrate on near objects

• Missing the important information, because its relevance is

not understood
• Having difficulty in integrating information

• Under-estimating the risk of accident involvement

• Making less effective driving decisions 17

 AGE OF DRIVER
• Problems of older drivers
Difficulties in rapid decision making
• At intersections

• Take time to absorb traffic control information

• Difficulty at night
• Lower light level

• Headlight glare

• Readily fatigued
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 VEHICULAR
CHARACTERISTICS

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 VEHICULAR CHARACTERISTICS
• Affect the design and Traffic performance.
• Vehicular characteristics consist of
• Static Characteristics
• Dynamic Characteristics
 Static Characteristics include dimensions, weight and
maximum turning angle.

• Dynamic Characteristics include Speed, Acceleration ,

braking Characteristics and some aspects of body
design. 20
 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
[Link] DIMENSIONS
a). Width : Affect width of traffic lanes, shoulders &
parking facilities .

b). Height: Affects the clearance of overhead structures.

• Clearance under over bridges, under bridges, electric &
other service lines.

• Height of driver seat –provide clear vision of the road to his

front & sides.

• Height of headlight- affects sight distances at valley curves.21

 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
(contd..)
c). Length: Important factor in design of Horizontal alignment

• Length affects

• safe overtaking distance

• Capacity of road

• Extrawidening

• minimum turning radius

• Parking Facilities
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• Design of valley curves.
 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
(contd..)

2). WEIGHT: Affects design of pavement thickness &

gradients.

• Limiting gradients are governed by weight & power

of vehicles.

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 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
(contd..)

3) . POWER: Power of heaviest and loaded weights

vehicle govern permissible and limiting gradients.
Power affects the speed and acceleration of vehicle.

4). MINIMUM TURNING RADIUS : Depends on length

of wheel base and features of steering system
• Affects design of sharp curves. 24
 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
a). SPEED: it affects
• Sight distances
• Superelevation
• Length of transition curve
• Vertical curves
• Width of pavement and shoulders
• Design gradient
• Capacity of traffic lane
• Design of intersections.

• Design speed controls most of the geometric 25

features of the highway.

 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
(contd..)

b) ACCELERATION: Governed by Vehicle transmission

system, weight and horse power.

• Maximum deceleration rate depends upon friction between

tyres and pavement.

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TRAFFIC CALMING
MEASURES
• Transportation studies to be carried out and plans for

new roads and reorganization of the existing road

network to be formulated.

• Separate lanes for different types of vehicles. This

will streamline the traffic and number of accidents

will also get reduced.

• Road pricings

• Parking restriction
Promotion of public transport system
Pedestrianization in congestion city centers
Staggering of working hours
Promotion of bi-cycle traffic
Accident Analysis
• Collection of Accident Data
• Accident Report
• Accident Records
Collection of Accident Data

General - Date, time, person involved in accident,

classification of accident like serious, minor

• Location - Description and detail of location of

accident

• Details of vehicle involved - Registration number,

description of vehicle, loading detail, vehicular defects

• Nature of accident – pedestrians or object involved,

Details of collision, damages, injury.
• Road and traffic condition - Details of road
geometry, surface characteristics, type of traffic, traffic
density etc..

• Primary causes of accident - Details of various

possible cases (already mentioned) which are the main
causes of accident.

• Accident cost - Financial losses incurred due to

property damage, personal injury and computed in
terms of rupees
Accident report
• Accident should be reported to police authorities.
• Accident report is useful in subsequent analysis,
claim for compensation , evaluation of cost, etc…
 Accident Records
• Location Files
useful to keep a check on the location of accidents and
to identify points of high accident insidence.

• Spot Maps
spot map show accident by spots, pins or symbol on
road map.
• Condition Diagrams

It is the diagram showing all the physical conditions of

an accident location to be studied.

features generally to be shown in diagram are

roadway limit, kerb lines, curves, bridges, culvert, sign
signals, obstruction to vision etc by using symbols
Condition diagram
• Collision Diagrams

This diagram shows the approximate path of vehicles

and pedestrians involved in the accidents.

this diagram is useful to compare the accident

pattern before and after the remedial measures have
been taken.
Collision diagram
Accident investigation &
Studies
• Accident investigation
• Analysis of Individual Accidents
• Statistical Analysis of Accidents
Accident investigation
• Recording general observations: partially or full break
application collision and condition diagram, environmental
condition , pavement surface condition
• Driver Tests: alcohol content, vision, reaction time, age,
distance judgment.
• Skid Resistance of Pavement Surface: skid distance ,skid
resistance, speed of the vehicle
• Vehicle Tests: age of vehicle, indicators, type, type of tyres,
mirrors, brakes, steering
• Probable causes of the accidents: type of accident, Position
of vehicle and object involved in accidents.
• Cost Analysis
 Analysis of individual
accidents
Each Road accident is to be analysed by the traffic
engineer to draw sound conclusions with reference to
the major cause of accident and other contributing
causes . A few simple type of vehicular accidents are :

1. A moving vehicle collide with the stationary object

2.A moving vehicle collide with a movable object .
3. To vehicles approaching from different directions
collide at an intersections.
[Link] end collision of two moving vehicles .
 Statistical Analysis of
• accidents
The statistical analysis of road accidents help to asses
the effectiveness of various measures to decrease the
accident rate .
• The accident rate may be expressed as no. of
accidents in a year.
• Accident prone stretches of different roads may be
assessed by finding the accident density per unit
length of the road.
Statistical Analysis of Accidents
Methods
1. Regression Analysis
2. Poisson’s distribution
3. Use of chi-squared test
4. Quality control methods
Measures for reduction in
accident rate
• Engineering
• Enforcement
• Education

Prepared by:
Dr. Vijay B G
Associate Professor & Head
Department of Civil Engineering
SSSE, Tumakuru
Engineering Measures
• Road Design
• Preventive measures of vehicles
• before and after studies
• road lighting
Enforcement
• Speed control
• Traffic control devices
• Training and supervision
• Medical check
• Special precaution for commercial vehicles
• observance of law and regulation
Education
• Education to road users
• Safety drive

Prepared by:
Dr. Vijay B G
Associate Professor & Head
Department of Civil Engineering

SSSE, Tumakuru
THE END