The Four main components of the highway mode of

transportation are:

1) Drivers 2) Pedestrians

3) Roads 4) Vehicles

To provide efficient and safe highway transportation, a

knowledge of the characteristics and limitations of each of
theses components is essential.
 One problem that faces highway engineers is the
varying skills and perceptual abilities (see, hear) of
drivers.
Abilities may also vary under different conditions such us
influence of alcohol, fatigue and time of the day.

Therefore, the use of an average value (i.e. mean

reaction time) for design purposes may not be
adequate.
85th and 95th percentiles (higher percentile, wider range
covered)
 Actions taken by drivers on a road result from their
evaluation and reaction to information they obtained
(see or hear).
Evaluation and reactions must be carried within very
short time as the information continually changing along
the road.

Most of information received by a driver is visual

Therefore, it is essential that highway designers have the
knowledge about visual as well as hearing perception
 The principles characteristics of the eye are:
Visual acuity

Peripheral vision

Color vision

Glare vision & recovery

Depth perception
 Visual Acuity:
Is the ability to see fine details of an object
The two types of visual acuity are: static and dynamic

Static Dynamic

stationary Drivers ability to detect

Static acuity increases with an
increase in background
brightness (to a certain limit)
Optimal time required to
identify an object under normal
conditions between 0.5 and 1.0
sec.
moving objects
Line of vision
Most people have clear vision
with conical angle of 3-5 deg.
Fairly clear vision with conical
angle 10-12 deg (more blurred)
Traffic furniture
 Peripheral vision:
Is the ability of people to see objects beyond the cone of
clearest vision (up to 160 degrees)
Although objects can be seen, details not clear
Speed of vehicle, driver age and experience influence
peripheral vision
 Peripheral vision:
 Color vision:
Is the ability to differentiate one
color from another
The deficiency in this ability refers to
color blindness
Insignificance cause other ways of
recognizing traffic devices (e.g.
shape) can be used.
 Glare vision and recovery:
Bright light or specular glare (both result in a decrease in
visibility and cause discomfort to the eyes)
The time required the person to recover from the glare
effect passing the light source known as glare recovery
About 3 sec (dark to light), 6 sec (light to dark)
Depend on driver age

How to minimize
glare effect?
 Depth of perception
Ability of human eye to differentiate between objects in
term of speed, acceleration and distance.
Important on two-lane highways during passing
manoeuvres (lack of proper judgment of distance &
speed).
 Warning sounds (usually by emergency vehicles)
Engine and tyre noise
Importance?
 It is the process which a driver, pedestrian or cyclist
evaluates and reacts to a situation ahead.
It can be divided into 4 sub-processes:
By human senses (see, hear)
1) Perception See a control device, warning sign or objects in the road

2) Identification The driver understands the object or control device

The driver decide what action to take

3) Emotion For example: brake, changing lane

4) Reaction Apply the action

 The total time required for the
4 stages called perception-reaction
time or PIEV time.

PIEV time is essential in determination of braking

distance, which in turn dictates the amber phase at
signalized intersections.

Vary between individuals and for the same person

under different condition
 Factors affecting Perception-Reaction time include:

Expected
Situation Environmental on
condition Age Fatigue
complexity unexpected
situation

AASHTO stipulated PIEV time as 2.5 seconds (which

covers 90% of drivers under most highway conditions).
PIEV time increase up to 35% for the unexpected
conditions.
 By 2030 older drivers will
represent 20% of American drivers.
At this age many of their needed senses and abilities
deteriorate rapidly, which will make them more at
risk to crashes and injuries.
Reduce visual acuity, night vision, greater sensitive to
glare, higher reaction times.
Special attention must be done in road design and
furniture to give them safer environment.
 Why pedestrian facilities?
20% of road fatalities include pedestrians.
The major of road fatalities aged under 15 and over 70
years are pedestrians.

Pedestrians control devices include:

Pedestrian signals
Islands at intersections (area of 1 ped.= 0.45x0.6 m)
Pedestrian under-passed and elevated crosswalks
crosswalks
Crosswalks Pedestrian signals

Elevated Crosswalks
 Apart of the hearing and visual details, walking
characteristics play a major role in the design
Example: adequate time for pedestrian signal crossing

Walking speed between 0.9 and 2.4 m/s

Gender (male=1.5 m/s, female=1.4 m/s)
For design purposes 1.22 m/s normally used.
When percentage of elderly pedestrians is
higher than 20% a walking speed of 0.9 m/s
should be used for design.
Sometimes depends on location, How??
 Consideration should be given to handicapped pedestrians
(such as blind pedestrian).
Bell ringing, tactile surface, dropped kerb and ramps for
grade separated crosswalks.
Note their relatively lower walking speed (0.6 to 1.12 m/s).
 Determine the time required to cross a road of 10 m
wide.

A pedestrian waiting area is 3x2 m, determine the

maximum number of pedestrians that can use this
space at one time?
 Criteria for the geometric design of highways are partly
based on the static, kinematic and dynamic characteristics
of vehicles.
Nearly all highways carry both passenger and truck traffic
Therefore, design should take into account the characteristics
of different types of vehicles.
Proper design should lead to a smooth and safe operation
(passing, stopping and turning).
 Designing a highway involves the selection of
design vehicle:
Whose characteristics will
encompass of all vehicles
expected to use the highway.

Characteristics of the design

vehicle will be used then to
determine criteria for geometric
design, intersection design and
sight-distance requirement.
 Static
characteristics
size weight
Size of the design vehicle is an important factor in
determination of design standards for highway physical
components:
Such as lane width, shoulder width, length and width of
parking bays.
The weight of vehicles expected on a highway important
to determine pavement depth and maximum grades.
 Motion of the vehicle without considering the forces
act on a vehicle.
The most important element in kinematic
characteristics is Acceleration:
Acceleration capability is important in several traffic
operation such as passing manoeuvres.
Acceleration influence some element of motion such as
speed and distance.
The higher the speed, the lower capability of acceleration
 Several forces act on vehicle while moving:

Air Grade Rolling Curve

resistance resistance resistance resistance
 Air Resistance:
The force needed to overcome the resistance of air in the
front of vehicles and sides.
Related to cross-sectional area and speed
 Grade Resistance:
When moving upgrade, the weight of the vehicle acts in
an opposite direction of motion.
Therefore, vehicle tend to loose speed unless acceleration
force applied.
 Rolling Resistance: is the sum effect of
1) Forces within the vehicle itself that offer resistance to
motion (frictional effect of moving part of the vehicle).
2) frictional slip between the pavement and tires

Rolling resistance depends on speed of vehicle and type of pavement

 Curve Resistance:
External forces acting on the front wheels of a vehicle
when its manoeuvred to take a curve.
Depends on the radius of the curve, speed and the weight
of vehicle.
 Power Requirement:
The horsepower needed to overcome air, grade, curve and
friction resistance forces to put the vehicle in motion.

P= (2.91 R U) / 746

Where:
P= horsepower delivered (hp)
R= sum of resistance forces (N)
U= speed of vehicle (km/h)
 PIEV time and the resistance's (also, acceleration,
pavement coefficient of friction, centre of gravity)
determine the braking distance.

Braking distance is the horizontal component of

distance travelled during the braking
From time brakes are applied to time the vehicle comes to
rest.
 The general equation for calculating Db as follows:

Where:
Db= braking distance (m)
U= speed when brakes applied (km/h)
f= coefficient of friction between tires and pav. = a/g
a= vehicle comfort declaration rate= 3.41 m/sec2
g=acceleration of gravity= 9.81 m/sec2
G= grade (%grade/100)
Solving example 3.5 page 81
 Where:
Uu= unknown speed before applying the break (km/h)
Db= braking distance (average of skid marks) (m)
Uk= speed of trial run (km/h)
Dk= distance travelled during trial run (m)
U1= the speed at the moment of impact (km/h)
 When a vehicle is moving around circular curve,
there will be two radial forces acting on the vehicle.
Outer radial force (centrifugal force)
Inner radial force (frictional force)

At high speeds the outer radial force is greater the

inner one
Inclination of the road toward the centre of the curve
is used (called superelevation, e) to provide balance
effect between the two force components
Speed and radius should provide equilibrium
 The centrifugal force (Fc)= (W.ac)/(g)
Hence, ac= u2/R

Fc= (W. U2)/(g.R)

Where:
g= acceleration of gravity
W= weight of the vehicle
ac= acceleration for curvilinear motion
R= radius of the curve
 Acting toward the centre of the curvature
depends on weight of the vehicle, type of pavement,
an side friction (fs) between road surface an tires.

The frictional force= fs .W. cos

Where:
fs= coefficient of side friction
W= weight of the vehicle
 The use values for fs generally vary with the
design speed and superelevatoin
1) The location of the highway (urban or rural areas).
2) whether conditions (such as occurrence of snow).
Rural + good weather, e=0.1
Rural+ bad weather, e=0.08 to 0.1
Urban, e=0.08

3) The distribution of slow moving vehicles within

the traffic stream.
The low urban roads which have low speeds, these
roads are usually not superelevated
 The characteristics of the highway discussed in this
section are those related directly to the driver and
vehicle characteristics.

Geometric design of
highways will be discussed
in the next chapter.
 Sight distance is the length of the roadway a driver can
see ahead at any particular time.
 There are two types of Sight Distance (SD) as
follows:
Stopping
Sight Passing Sight
Distance Distance
(SSD)

Sight
Distance
(SD)
 It is the minimum SD required for a driver to stop a
vehicle after seeing an object in the road without
hitting the object.
Therefore, the highway should be designed such that SD
along the highway is at least equal to SSD

Perception
Reaction Braking
SSD
Process Distance
Distance
 The SSD given in Table 3.4 are usually adequate for
normal conditions (PIEV time= 2.5 sec)
however, unexpected or unusual manoeuvres required
longer SSD cause of longer PIEV time.
This longer SD is called Decision Sight Distance.

Decision Sight Distance depends on:

Road
Weather Type of location
manoeuvres
condition required (urban or
rural)
 It is the minimum SD required on a two-lane, two-way
highway that will permit a driver to complete a passing
maneuver without colliding with an apposing vehicle
and without cutting off the passed vehicle.

In determining minimum
passing sight distance,
only single passes are
consider (no multiple
passing)
 In order to determine the minimum passing sight
distance, certain assumptions have to be made as
follows:
The vehicle being passed (impeder) is travelling at uniform speed

If decision is made to pass, passing vehicle is accelerated during the passing and
the average passing speed is about 16 km/h more than the passed vehicle

A suitable clearance exists between the passing vehicle and the opposing vehicle
when the passing vehicle re-enter the right lane

These assumptions used by AASHTO to develop a model

to calculate the min. passing SD required.
 d1= distance traversed during perception-reaction time (equation 3.36)
d2= distance travelled during the time the passing vehicle is travelling on the
left lane (d2= 0.278 U.t)
d3= distance between the passing vehicle and opposing vehicle at the end of
passing maneuver (between 30 & 90 m)
d4= distance moved by opposing vehicle during two-third of the time the
passing vehicle is on the left lane (usually taken as 2/3 d2)