Faculty: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department : Department of Geotechnical and Transportation Engineering Title: SPOT SPEED

STUDY 1.0 INTRODUCTION Speed is the rate of movement of a vehicle, generally expressed in kilometers per hour. A spot speed study is a study of traffic speed at one point or spot on a traffic way. It consists of a series or a sample of observations of the individual speeds at which vehicles are approaching an intersection or passing a point at a non-intersection location. These observations are used to estimate the speed distribution of the entire traffic stream at that location, under the conditions prevailing at the time of the study. Spot speed studies can be used to study speeds at problem locations in order to determine whether speeds are too high and if complaints received are justified, for accident analysis in order to determine the relationship of speed to accidents which may help in developing corrective measures, and for before-and-after studies in order to evaluate the effect of some change in controls or conditions, In relation with this study, there has been several complaints of vehicles speeding along the UTHM-Fujitsu section of road. This poses a danger to motorists, pedestrians and cyclists as there is a lot of activity in the area. Furthermore, there is plenty of right-turning movements along this stretch of road, with no storage lanes provided for right-turners. This is dangerous because the right-turners stop on the fast lane and have no protection.

2.0

OBJECTIVE The objectives of this study are: (a) To determine the speed characteristics of traffic at the location. (b) To justify the problem of speeding at the location.

Faculty: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department : Department of Geotechnical and Transportation Title: SPOT SPEED STUDY 3.0 APPARATUS 1. 2. 3. 4. 4.0 Radar Gun Forms SS1 and SS2 Graph Paper (3 nos) Safety Vest

PROCEDURE 1. Identify the spot at which the speed data will be collected. 2. Use the radar gun to measure the speed of vehicles according to their respective vehicle class Class 1 (Motorcycles), Class 2 (Cars), Class 3 (Vans & Medium Trucks), and Class 4 (Large Trucks & Buses). [Make sure that the operator of the radar gun is not seen by the motorists] 3. Record all speed measurements in Form SS1. 4. Based on Form SS1, determine the mean, maximum and minimum speed of vehicles according to their class. Comment on your findings. 5. Transfer the data in Form SS1 to Form SS2. 6. Plot the following: (a) Frequency Histogram (Percentage of vehicles vs. Speed) (b) Frequency Distribution Curve (Percentage of vehicles vs. Speed) (c) Cumulative Frequency Distribution Curve (Cumulative percentage vs. Speed) 7. Determine the following speed characteristics: (a) Mean speed (b) Median speed (c) Mode speed (d) 85-th Percentile speed (e) Standard deviation (f) Pace 8. Comment on your findings. 9. Does your findings justify the problem of speeding at the location? If it does, what are your recommendations?

Faculty: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department : Department of Geotechnical and Transportation Title: SPOT SPEED STUDY 5.0 DATA ANALYSIS & RESULTS Form SS1 Location: _____________________________________________________________ Date: __________________ Time: _____________ Weather: _______________ Time 1 2 Spot Speed (km/h) Vehicle Class 3 4

Faculty: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department : Department of Geotechnical and Transportation Title: SPOT SPEED STUDY Form SS2 Speed Class (km/h) Class Class Midvalue, Frequency, x f (km/h) fx Percentage Cumulative in Class Percentage

Formulae Mean speed = fx n f = frequency of observations in the particular class x = mid-point of each class n = total number of observations = f
n 2 fL Median speed = L + C fm L = lower limit of the class in which the median lies n = total number of observations f L = cumulative number of observation upto the lower limit of the class in which the median lies f m = number of observations in the class in which the median lies C = speed interval of the group

Faculty: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department : Department of Geotechnical and Transportation Title: SPOT SPEED STUDY Standard Deviation =
fx 2 (fx )2 n 1 n( n 1) f = frequency of observations in the particular class x = mid-point of each class n = total number of observations = f

Terminology Pace = the 10 km/h range in speed in which the highest number of observation was recorded 85th Percentile speed = the speed at or below which 85 percent of the motorists drive on a given road unaffected by slower traffic or poor weather Calculations & Results: 1. Class 1 (Motorcycles) Mean speed: __________ km/h Maximum speed: __________ km/h Minimum speed: __________ km/h Class 2 (Cars) Mean speed: __________ km/h Maximum speed: __________ km/h Minimum speed: __________ km/h Class 3 (Vans & Medium Trucks) Mean speed: __________ km/h Maximum speed: __________ km/h Minimum speed: __________ km/h Class 4 (Heavy Trucks & Buses) Mean speed: __________ km/h Maximum speed: __________ km/h Minimum speed: __________ km/h

Faculty: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department : Department of Geotechnical and Transportation Title : SPOT SPEED STUDY Comment:

2. (a) Median speed =

(b) Mean speed =

(c) Mode speed =

(d) Standard deviation =

(e) 85th Percentile Speed =

(f) Pace =

Faculty: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department : Department of Geotechnical and Transportation Title : SPOT SPEED STUDY Comment:

6.0

DISCUSSION

7.0

CONCLUSION