Traffic

Engineering
Chapter-1
TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS

Prepared By: Ankit N Patel

1

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2

What is
TRANSPORTATIO
N?

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 3 Transportation System

Definition of Transportation Modes

A transportation system is an infrastructure that
serves to move people and goods efficiently.
Efficient = safe, rapid, comfortable, convenient,
economical, environmentally compatible.

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 4 Transportation System
Major transportation subsystems
Land transportation: highway, rail
Air transportation: domestic, international
Water transportation: inland, coastal, ocean
Pipelines: oil, gas, other

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5 Transportation

A B

Movement of persons and goods

over space

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 Study of Traffic Engineering
6 engineering is a comparatively new branch of engineering and
Traffic
has grown with the increase in traffic in recent years. As vehicular
traffic began to increase, the congestion on the streets began to
hamper the safe and efficient movement of traffic. More and more
accidents were caused, and serious problems of parking and
environmental pollution began to felt. It was therefore necessary to
give increasing attention to the operational characteristics of highway
transportation and study the need for better geometric design ,
capacity intersections traffic regulations, signals traffic signs,
roadway markings, parking facilities and street lightning.

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 Introduction to Traffic
7
Engineering
Traffic Engineering
Traffic engineering is that branch of engineering which deals with
planning and geometric design of streets, highway, and
operating traffic systems to achieve safe, economical,
convenient and efficient movement of persons and goods.
Object of Traffic Engineering:
The basic object of traffic engineering is to achieve efficient, free
and rapid flow of traffic with least number of traffic accident.
Factors affecting Traffic:
The Road user
The Vehicle
The Roadway
The environment
Drivers of various types of vehicles and pedestrians are known as
road user. They are human being, hence affected by so many factors.
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 Traffic Characteristics
First8of the most important scientific study is the study
of the traffic characteristics. Traffic can be classified into
two classes:
Road Users.
Vehicular traffic.
Road user characteristics
Human beings performing different roles in the traffic
are most important elements of the traffic and so we
have to study their characteristics and behavior. Various
roles of human are such as driver, pedestrians, cyclists
etc. The physical, mental and emotional characteristics
of human beings affect their ability to operate motor
vehicle safely or to service as a pedestrian. Hence it is
important for a traffic engineer to study the
characteristics and limitations of the road users. BITS Edu
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 Roaduser Characteristics

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 Traffic Characteristics
The various factors which affect road user characteristics may
10 be classified under four heads:
broadly
Physical
Mental
Psychological
Environmental
Physical characteristics:The permanent physical
characteristics of the driver are vision, hearing, strength and the
general reaction to the traffic situations.
Visioninclude the acuity of vision, peripheral vision and eye
movement; glare vision, glare recovery and depth judgment.
Field of accurate, clear vision is about a 3 degrees cone
however the vision is fairly satisfactory up to 10 degrees in
general and 20 degrees in horizontal plane. In vertical plane the
vision may be limited to 2/3 of that in horizontal plane.
Hearingis helpful for drivers but of more important for the
pedestrians and cyclists.
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 Traffic Characteristics
Mental
11 Characteristics:Knowledge, skill, intelligence,
experience and literacy can affect the road user characteristics.
Knowledge of vehicle characteristics, traffic behavior, driving
practice, rules of roads and psychology of road users will be
quite useful for safe traffic operations.
Psychological factors:These effect reaction to traffic
situations of road users to a great extent. Attentiveness, anger,
fear, anxiety, phobias, superstition, and impatience may effect
the traffic performance to great extent.
Environment factors:The various environmental conditions
affecting the behavior of road user are traffic stream
characteristics, facilities to the traffic, atmospheric conditions
and locality. The traffic stream may consist of mixed traffic or
heavy traffic whereas facilities to overtake to the faster vehicles
may be limited. The behavior of the driver varies from one traffic
stream to another.
Similarly the facilities of the traffic separators, multi-lanes etc
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will effect the performance. Surrounding environment effect
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performance of the traffic because one will get slower at the

 What is PIEv Theory ?
Acc. To PIEV theory the total reaction time of the driver is
split into four parts .

Perception time

Intellection
time

Emotion time

Volition time

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 1) Perception time :
It is the time required for the sensations received by the eyes
or ears to be transmitted to the brain through the nervous
system .

2) Intellection time :
It is the time required for understanding the situation.

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 http://www.arrivealive.co.za/images/stoppingdistance
.jpg
https://m2.behance.net/rendition/pm/703187/disp/859cc9a079eca4
b5556af04b3aa6215c.png
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 3) Emotion time :
it is time elapsed during emotional sensations & Disturbance
such as fear , anger ,etc. with reference to the situation .

4) Volition time :
volition time is the time taken for the final action.
Total reaction time of driver may be vary from 0.5
sec to 4 sec
Lag distance = v * t

Where, v = speed of vehicle in m/s

t = total reaction time (s) [ as per IRC t = 2.5 s ]

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 Lag distance
Definition : The distance travelled by the vehicle during
the total reaction time is known as lag distance .

Reaction time of the driver is the time taken from the

instant the object is visible to the driver to the instant the
brakes are effectively applied.

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 Vehicular Characteristics

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 Traffic Survey
It is quite important to study the various vehicular
characteristics which affect the design and traffic
performance, because it is possible to design, a road for
any vehicle but not for an indefinite vehicle. It will not be
economically feasible to keep on increasing the geometric
standards and thickness of pavement from time to time to
meet the needs of a few vehicles whose weight and
dimensions are increased.
Traffic studies are carried out to analyse the traffic
characteristics to decide geometric features and traffic
control for safe and efficient movements.
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 Traffic Characteristics
A knowledge
19 of these characteristic is necessary for
proper
geometric design and traffic control systems allowing for
safe and smooth operations.
Static: include the weight and size of vehicles.
Dynamic: involve the forces that cause the motion of
vehicle

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 Traffic Characteristics
Static
20 Characteristics
Design vehicle: the selected representative vehicle for
the geometric design and control systems
Its dimensions are important for the determination of
design standards for several physical components of the
highway:
lane width, shoulder width, parking bays length and
width,
and lengths of vertical curves.
Vehicle weight is important for the determination of
pavement depths and maximum grades.

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 Traffic Characteristics
21
Dynamics characteristics of vehicles affecting road design are
speed, acceleration and braking characteristics and some aspects
of vehicle design. The speed and acceleration depends upon the
power of the engine and the resistant to be overcome and are
important in all geometric design elements.
The deceleration and braking characteristics guide safe vehicle
operation. The stability of vehicle and its safe movement of
horizontal curves are affected by the width of wheel base. The
riding comfort on vertical curves depends on the design of
suspension system of vehicles.

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 Traffic Characteristics
22
Power of vehicle
The power of the heaviest vehicles and their loaded weights
govern the permissible and limiting values of gradient on roads.
From the total hauling capacity and power required to overcome
the total tractive resistance it is possible to determine the speed
and acceleration of the vehicle which in turn useful in traffic
regulation, planning and design.
Braking characteristics
The deceleration and braking characteristics of vehicles depend
on design and type of breaking system and its efficiency. The
safety of vehicle operation, stopping distance, and the spacing
between two consecutive vehicle in a traffic stream is affected by
the braking capacity. Thus the highway capacity and overtaking
sight distance requirements also get indirectly affected.
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23

THANK
YOU
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