UNIT II ROAD USER AND VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS

Agenda
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Road User Characteristics: Diversity Road User

Human & Vehicle Characteristics

Factors Affecting Road Traffic Methods of measurements Concept of PCU for mixed traffic flow

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Agenda
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Road User Characteristics: Diversity Road User

Human & Vehicle Characteristics

Factors Affecting Road Traffic Methods of measurements Concept of PCU for mixed traffic flow

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Review of Traffic System Components

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Roadways

Road users

Vehicles
Pedestrian Passenger

General Environment

Control Devices
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Bicyclist

Driver

Dealing With Diversity (behavior)

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Drivers & other road users-widely varying characteristics. Traffic controls could be easily designed if all drivers reacted to them in exactly the same way. Safety could be more easily achieved if all vehicles had uniform dimensions, weights, & operating characteristics. Why complex ?? No two road users are the same The traffic engineer must deal with elderly drivers as well as 18-year-olds, aggressive drivers and timid drivers, and drivers subject to myriad distractions both inside and outside their vehicles.
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Most concerned one. Most design practices follows normal distribution & not average characteristics.

A normal distribution defines the proportions of the population expected to fall into these ranges. Because of variation, it is not practical to design a system for average characteristics. If a signal is timed, for eg., to accommodate the average speed of crossing pedestrians, about half of all pedestrians would walk at a slower rate and be exposed to unacceptable risks. 12 CTM/CTE-11

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Most standards are geared to the 85th percentile or 15th percentile characteristics. Speed limit -85th percentile speed Pedestrian walking speed -15th percentile speed Why walking speed is 15th percentile??

A percentile is a measure used in statistics indicating the value at or below which a given percentage of observations in a group of observations fall. In terms of walking speed, safety demands to accommodate slower walkers, as only 15 % of the population walks lesser than this value. Considering driver reaction time, 85th percentile is used, as 85% of population has a reaction time which12 isCTM/CTE-11 equal to or lesser than this.

Diversity (Vehicles)
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Highways must be designed to accommodate motorcycles, the full range of automobiles, and a wide range of commercial vehicles (double and triple-back tractor-trailer combinations). Thus, lane widths, for example, must accommodate the largest vehicles expected to use the facility.

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Addressing Diversity through Uniformity

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Agenda
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Road User Characteristics: Diversity Road User

Human & Vehicle Characteristics

Factors Affecting Road Traffic Methods of measurements Concept of PCU for mixed traffic flow

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Human Factors affecting Road User Behavior (Driver Characteristics)

Physiological Factors
Permanent
Temporary

Mental Characteristics Psychological Factors Environmental Factors

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1. Physiological Factors
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Measurable & usually quantifiable Permanent

Vision Hearing Physical

Strength Perception- Reaction Process (reaction to traffic stimulus)

Temporary
Factors

which affect road users efficiency (effect of alcohol, drugs, fatigue and illness)
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(I) Vision
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The most important characteristic of drivers is their ability to see!! Evaluate the object size, shape, color Estimate distances and speed of bodies Complexity of Vision Light rays from objects refracted through lensbrought to focus on retina image formed on retina- transmitted to brain through optic nerves Research has shown that approximately 90% of the information that a driver receives is visual
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(a) Vision Factors Visual Acuity

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Visual Acuity- ability to see fine details of an object

Static visual acuity

ability

to identify an object when both object and driver are stationary.

Eg:

Chart Reading Exercise

to clearly detect relatively moving objects the drivers direct line of vision
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Dynamic visual acuity

ability not necessarily in Eg:

Traffic sign reading while moving

Visual Acuity- Normal Vision

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Visual Acuity : 20/D in foot system

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Normal vision is taken to mean that in a well lit environment a person can recognize a letter of about 1/3 inch in height at a distance of 20 ft then the visual acuity of the person is 20/20. Normal visual acuity : referred to as 20/20 vision, the metric equivalent of which is 6/6 vision. A vision of 20/40 is half as good as nominal performance. A vision of 20/10 is twice as good as nominal performance. If a person has 20/40 visual acuity means, he can see the object at a distance of 20 ft (wrong vision) when a distance of 40 ft is sufficient for normal vision. From a distance of 20 ft he can have normal vision by providing the object twice as large as the previous one.
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Solve!!!
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A driver with 20/20 vision can read a sign from a distance of 90 ft.

(a) If the letter size is 2 inch, how close would a person with 20/50 vision have to be in order to read same sign?? (b) For the given definition of normal vision, calculate height of lettering that a driver with 20/60 vision can read from a distance of 90 ft and 36 ft.

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(b) Vision Factors Field of Vision

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Acute vision or clear vision cone 3 to 10 around the line of sight; legend can be read only within this narrow field of vision. Fairly clear vision cone 10 to 12 around the line of sight; Satisfactory Vision color and shape can be identified (locating traffic signs & signal)

Peripheral vision 160 in horizontal direction and 115 in vertical direction movement of objects can be detected For detailed attention driver has to turns his head, to make object in clear vision cone

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Field of Vision Ref: Roger P Roess, Traffic Engineering Text book

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LECTURE 3
UNIT 2, Road User Characteristics

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Average Citation Index

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Effect of speed on visual AcuityLateral Displacement

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Driver moves away from objects on the side of the road Want to maintain a comfort zone between car and objects Closer objects is to pavement edge, the more lateral displacement Can calculate Critical rate of change in visual angle

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Solve!!!!
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A vehicle traveling 18m/s was observed to displace laterally when it was 91.5m away from a bridge abutment placed at a distance of 1.83 to the right of his path. At what longitudinal distance from the same abutment would you expect the same driver to displace laterally when traveling at a speed of 26.82 m/s?

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(c) Vision Factors Glare Vision and Recovery

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Glare Vision - decrease ability for a driver to see and causes discomfort for the driver. Glare Recovery - time it takes for a driver to recover from the effects of glare after passing a light source. Research has shown that the time to recover from dark to light conditions is 3 seconds and 6 seconds to recover from light to dark conditions. Glare Vision is a problem for older people who drive at night. Glare effects can be minimized by reducing the brightness of lights and positioning lights further from the roadway and increasing the height of the lights.
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(d) Vision Factors Colour Blindness

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It is the ability to differentiate one color from another. The deficiency in this ability is referred as color blindness. most common forms of color blindness involves the inability to discern the difference between red and green. With age, color blindness increases.

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(e) Vision Factors Depth Perception

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Depth Perception affects the ability of a driver to estimate speed and distance. Extremely important on two-lane highways when a vehicle is passing another vehicle with traffic approaching the passing vehicle. The ability of a driver to estimate speed, distance, size and acceleration is generally not very accurate. Traffic control devices are standard in size, shape & colour provides a wide range of drivers sufficient information to make important decisions.
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(II) Hearing Perception

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Hearing is an aid to the road-user which can at times be very vital. The sound of a horn or the sound of the nearing vehicle itself can alert a pedestrian to safety. Typically hearing is only important when emergency vehicles are sounding a warning to get out of their way. Loss of hearing ability is not a serious problem, since it can normally be corrected by a hearing aid.

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(III) Perception- Reaction Process

The process through which a driver evaluates & reacts to a stimulus. The time it takes to go through this process is called a PIEV time.

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PIEV or PRT
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Detection: In this phase, an object or condition of concern enters the drivers field of vision, and the driver becomes consciously aware that something requiring a response is present. Identification. In this phase, the driver acquires sufficient information concerning the object or condition to allow the consideration of an appropriate response. Decision. Once identification of the object or condition is sufficiently completed, the driver must analyze the information and make a decision about how to respond. Response. After a decision has been reached, the response is now physically implemented by the driver.
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..Continued
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Factors Affecting PRT Physiological Factors Psychological Factors Complexity of Reactions (Type of problem, may vary from .5 s to 4s) Environmental Condition Temporary Factors (Presence of Drugs or Alcohol, fatigue) AASHTO Recommendations (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) For braking reactions on Highways:

PRT: 2.5 seconds (90th percentile) PRT: 1.0 Second (85th percentile)
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For reaction time to traffic signal

Reaction Distance
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critical impact of PRT - is the distance the vehicle travels while the driver goes through the process. driver aware of event.apply foot on brake During PRT- vehicle travels in its initial speed

Reaction Dist.= Initial Speed PRT (sec) d = 0.278 S.t

d = reaction distance(m), t = reaction time (s), S = initial speed of vehicle, km/h 12 CTM/CTE-11

Reaction Distance
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Example : Is this frog in crisis?

S=65 m/s, t=2.5s

Soln: Speed =65 Distance traveled during PIEV = 65*2.5 = 162.5 m> 80 m Deceleration begins only when the brake is engaged- only after perception-reaction process has completed
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80 m away

1 (b) Temporary Physiological Factors

Impact of drugs and alcohol on road users
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Prevalence of alcohol related RTIs in South Asia Hospital based studies.

Ref: Road Traffic Injuries, (2004). R. G. Gururaj, National Institute of Mental Health 12 CTM/CTE-11 and Neuro Sciences; Bangalore

Who are the victims???

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Every time you drink alcohol or take drugs and then drive you risk causing death or serious injury to yourself and other road users.

Blood Alcohol Concentration [BAC]

Effect on alcohol/drugs
What does the law say???

Indian practice of law- need to be changed????

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B.A.C [Blood Alcohol Concentration]

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amount of alcohol in the blood stream [Ref: Kadiyali Text Book]

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FACTORS AFFECTING BAC

Amount consumed Persons body weight Kind of alcohol Time Spent Drinking Gender Food (empty stomach or not)

Alcohol and Mental Abilities

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Acts like an anesthetic on the brain, slowing down activity

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Psychological Effects
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o Attention o Memory o Emotions o Aggression o Tolerance

o Driver effected by alcohol has decreased ability to

reason and make sound judgments

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Impaired Vision
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Side Vision

Visual Acuity
Color vision

Eye Focus
Double Vision Distance Judgment
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Alcohol and Space Management

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After drinking, the driver may tend to stare at the center line.

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Reaction Time and Coordination

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Risk-Taking Problem

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Drugs and Driving

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Perception Judgment Coordination Vision Mood

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What does the law says??

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which measures micrograms of alcohol (mcg) per litre of breath

Breathalyzer: Breath testing

is over 400 micrograms per litre of breath - charged with EBA (excess breath alcohol)

Evidential breath test-reading

number of milligrams of alcohol (mg) per 100 millitres (ml) of blood or whether drugs are in your system.

Blood test- measure the

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Comparison of law in other countries

BAC limit in different countries

USA: 100 mg/100 ml (legal offence)

Sweden: 50 mg/ml U.K: 100 mg/ml

Norway: 50 mg/ml
India: is there any limit????? - fine of Rs. 2000 - 6 months imprisonment - both
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India: Motor Vehicle Act (1972): BAC more than 0.08%

2. Mental Characteristics
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Knowledge, skill, intelligence experience & literacy Knowledge of vehicle characteristics, traffic behavior, driving practice, road rules and psychology of road users - safe traffic operations.

Reactions to certain traffic situations become more spontaneous with experience.

Understanding the traffic regulation and special instruction and timely action depends on intelligence and literacy.

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3.Psychological Factors
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difficult to measure and to quantify a) Personality of a person b) Emotional Factors Attentiveness Fear Anger Impatience Attitude towards traffic rules & regulations maturity How to consider psychological factors in design??? -only through enforcement 12 (licensing CTM/CTE-11 procedure)

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Psychological factors affecting on road users

Having the physical ability to operate a motor vehicle is really only half the picture

Being in the right psychological and emotional state - having the right attitudes, traits, and motivation is also essential to driving safely, being courteous, and avoiding accidents and traffic citations.

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Driver Behavior Controlling Emotions

Driving experience
alcohol / drug consumption inexperience in identifying and handling hazardous situations over-confidence in abilities personality structure poor judgment excessive speed attitudinal factors such as risk-taking propensity.
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Improvement measures
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Road Rage- who lose control of themselves & react violently, improperly and dangerously!!!!! Improvement measures

Vigorous enforcement
Education programs

Medical Helps
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4. Environmental Factors
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Traffic stream characteristics

Mixed or heavy traffic Adoptability to different traffic stream Time, place and route

Facilities to the traffic

Time- distance economy Comfort and safety

Locality

Shopping centre, highly congested place

Weather visibility Atmospheric Conditions

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Lecture 4
Pedestrian &Vehicle Characteristics

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Surprise Test No.1

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A driver with a perception-reaction time of 2.5 seconds is driving at a constant speed of 75 mph when he observes that an accident has blocked the road ahead. Compute the distance the vehicle would travel before the driver could activate the brakes.

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Pedestrian Characteristics
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.continued
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4.0 feet per second (ft/s) = 1.2 meters per second (m/s)
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Gap Acceptance
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THANK YOU

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