Effects of Large Vehicles

By: Chris Sweryda

Dual signing usually involves placing a second sign on the left side/median of a one-way or divided road to supplement the primary sign placed on the right. This practice greatly improves sign visibility and aids drivers in the median lane who may have their sightlines obstructed by large vehicles in the curb lane. Almost all signs found in the MUTCD (traffic manual used by City of Winnipeg) are dual signed except for speed limits. Winnipeg is the only major city in western Canada that does not dual sign speed limit signs including speed reductions.

Picture shows a speed reduction (70-50 km/h) sign posted on the right only and curve signs dual signed on Kenaston SB south of Academy.

A second picture of the same location shows a truck blocking a car from seeing the speed sign. The median curve sign is still visible.

In Winnipeg, there are ninety-nine speed reductions; fifty-eight of which are found on divided roads. Of these fifty-eight, fifty-four are on truck routes. Thus large trucks will be found on these truck routes. Due to the rule of "slower traffic keep right", larger (slower) vehicles are usually found in the curb lane while smaller faster moving vehicles are in the left/median lane(s).

Most people underestimate the extent large vehicles obstruct sightlines. Some say that since there's both a speed reduction ahead and a speed sign, there's no way a driver can have their view of both signs blocked. This demonstration will show the significant effects trucks have on other motorists' ability to see the signs. Using maximum truck measurements from the Highway Traffic Act of Manitoba and sightline angles & measurements from the MUTCD, it was concluded that a large 25.00 m semi-truck can obstruct sightlines for as much as 32.14 m. This is due to the fact that a truck has width as well as length and that the other driver's sightline is on an angle. Some argue that they can see more than 40 degrees, but this is the value in the MUTCD accepted for engineering.

Not To Scale: Diagram shows that due to a truck having width and length, the sightline obstruction is longer than the actual length of the truck. At first appearance, the blind spot wouldn't appear that large, but this blind spot is rolling rather than stationary such as a billboard. Because the truck is in motion, the blind spot will always be longer dependent on the speeds of the vehicles.

Car Passing Truck - Diagram

Diagrams demonstrate how a truck is a constantly moving blind spot that will always be significantly longer than the length of the truck.

Keeping the cone of vision and the length of the truck as constants, the length of the blind spot is determined by two key variables; difference in speed between the vehicles and the speed of the car. The first variable being the difference in speed determines the time it takes for the car to pass the truck. If a car moving 95 km/h is passing a truck going 90 km/h (difference of 5 km/h), the time it takes to pass will be the same as if the car was going 5 km/h past a motionless truck. With less difference between the speeds, the passing time will be longer and will approach infinite as the speed difference approaches 0 km/h. A zero speed difference would see the vehicles not change position in reference to each other which can happen in evenly flowing traffic. The table below demonstrates how long it takes a car to pass a 32.14 m blind spot (25.00 m truck) with different speed differences. Speed Difference Time to Pass 1 km/h 120.5 sec 5 km/h 24.1 sec 10 km/h 12.0 sec 15 km/h 8.1 sec 20 km/h 6.1 sec

Since both vehicles are moving, the speed they are traveling must be considered also. With the difference in speed between the car and truck constant, the car will pass the truck over the same period of time. The faster the vehicles are going, the farther they will travel while the car is passing. The distance the car travels during that time will be the actual length of the blind spot. The higher the speed, the longer the blind spot will be. For example, if the truck is going 60 km/h and the car at 70 km/h, they will travel further while the car is passing than if the truck is going 50 km/h and the car at 60 km/h despite the speed difference being the same. The table below shows the distance the car travels during the time it is passing a truck for various speeds of the car vs. the speed difference between the car and truck. There is no 50 km/h column because this table deals with the speed when approaching a speed reduction and there are no speed reductions on Winnipeg's divided roads that reduce down from 50 km/h. For example, a car traveling 60 km/h passing a truck moving 50 km/h will travel 200.4 meters (bold text) while its sightline is obstructed by the truck. Speed Difference Between the Vehicles and the Passing Time 1 km/h (120.5 seconds) 5 km/h (24.1 seconds) 10 km/h (12.0 seconds) 15 km/h (8.1 seconds) 20 km/h (6.1 seconds) Speed of the Car 70 km/h 80 km/h 90 km/h (19.4 m/s) (22.2 m/s) (25.0 m/s) 2,337.7 m 2,675.1 m 3,012.5 m 467.5 m 535.0 m 602.5 m 232.8 m 266.4 m 300.0 m 157.1 m 179.8 m 202.5 m 118.3 m 135.4 m 152.5 m

60 km/h (16.7 m/s) 2,012.4 m 402.5 m 200.4 m 135.3 m 101.9 m

100 km/h (27.8 m/s) 3,349.9 m 670.0 m 333.6 m 225.2 m 169.6 m

The only remaining question is whether this blind spot is long enough to block out both the speed reduction ahead and the speed sign. According to the MUTCD, these two signs should be spaced between 100-250 m apart. As shown by the table, all blind spots were longer than 100 m and about half were longer than the 250 m maximum range between the signs. The extremely long distance shown for a speed difference of 1 km/h is indicative of evenly flowing traffic common to city roads. It is apparently very possible for a truck to block a car's view of both the speed reduction ahead and the speed sign. The situation is worse when it is considered that many divided roads in Winnipeg have more than two traffic lanes and there is usually more than just one large vehicle involved. As with almost every other part of the MUTCD, Winnipeg has a serious compliance issue when it comes to spacing between the signs in question. Although the minimum value is 100 m, Winnipeg has placed these signs as close together as 46 m which is less than half of the minimum and not much longer than the blind spot itself. This significantly shorter distance will greatly increase the likelihood of a truck blocking both of the signs.

Picture shows the 60-50 km/h speed reduction on Roblin Blvd WB at Chalfont Street. The signs are spaced 46 m apart which is less than 1/2 the minimum found in the MUTCD.

It is also assumed that both signs will be present but in reality, many (21) of Winnipeg's speed reduction signs are missing. Winnipeg Police still enforce these locations on the basis that if one sign is present, it is enough to expect motorists to obey it. The speed reduction ahead sign on Brookside Blvd SB entering the city has been lying in the ditch since at least June of 2011. Winnipeg Police still aggressively enforce this reduction because the speed sign is still present.

Large vehicles are much more common on our roads than realized. When a large vehicle is mentioned, most people think of the large semi-trucks commonly seen on the highways, but other vehicles that cause just as much of an obstruction are transit busses, large vans, City of Winnipeg or Manitoba Hydro vehicles and other large work trucks. Transit busses are especially common on major roads where most of these speed reductions are present. During busy times, it's not uncommon to see two or three busses travelling bumper to bumper and always in the curb lane. As lane counts get higher, the median traffic is further away from the right side sign. This creates more lanes for obstructing vehicles to be in and with the congestion commonly found on Winnipeg roads, signs become completely blocked out. The worst examples involve four lanes such as Portage Ave and Main Street

The speed reduction sign on Main Street NB at Assiniboine is not supplemented with a median sign even though there are four lanes of traffic.

Demonstrating a clear understanding of these issues, Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation always dual signs their speed reductions on divided highways. This dual signing can be found immediately outside of Winnipeg city limits including the perimeter highway. Median signing is a very cheap and effective way of dealing with sightline obstructions and ensuring that motorists observe signs. MIT speed limit reductions are all dual signed. The two lanes found at MIT reductions are less than the three to four lane roadways commonly found within the City of Winnipeg.

This analysis is also based entirely on the assumption that drivers are always paying attention to the right side of the road. In reality, there are many distractions that pull a driver's attention away from speed signs. This can include observing sights, looking for street names or even reading other signs which are posted on the median. Placing other signs on the median creates the unfair expectation that something as important as a speed reduction would also be on the median.

On Taylor EB approaching Harrow, the school zone sign posted on the median will cause median traffic to look in that direction. Meanwhile, these drivers are not observing the speed reduction sign posted only on the right.

A Winnipeg Police officer conducting a radar trap stated that if drivers don't want to risk a speeding ticket, they shouldn't drive beside large vehicles. Since speed reductions can occur at any point along a road, that means that the entire roadway can only travel as fast as the slowest moving truck just in case there is a speed reduction. As a further indication of the need for dual signing, speed enforcement is very commonly found at these types of locations. Of Winnipeg's 99 speed reductions, 26 are heavily enforced by one or more photo radar traps, intersection cameras and regular police speed traps. Of these 26 locations, 23 are on multi-lane divided roads that are also truck routes. One of the remaining three locations is a multi lane divided road that isn't a truck route and two are on undivided roads. Winnipeg's top three producing speed cameras are all on divided roads and after a speed reduction. Not dual signing is very profitable, but at a cost of safety.