ROAD USER AND VEHICLE

CHARACTERISTICS

CVL 742: Traffic Engineering

K. Ramachandra Rao
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi
 OUTLINE
¢ Road Users
— Visual characteristics
— Perception reaction time

¢ Vehicles
— Dimensions – static and dynamic characteristics
¢ Roadway characteristics
¢ Sight distance and applications
— Stopping and overtaking
— Dilemma zones at traffic signals

Road User
 ELEMENTS OF TRAFFIC SYSTEM
¢ Users (drivers, pedestrians, etc.)
¢ Vehicles (private, commercial)

¢ Roadways

¢ Controls

¢ General environment (weather, enforcement, etc.)

Road User
DIVERSITY
¢ Traffic engineering – simpler if the various components of the traffic
system had uniform characteristics
¢ Drivers and road users – widely varying characteristics
¢ Most human characteristics follow normal distribution – strong central
tendency
¢ A normal distribution defines the population (say pedestrian walk
speeds) to fall into a range (say 0.9 – 1.5 m/s)
¢ It is not possible to design facilities for average characteristics
¢ Most standards are geared to 85th percentile (or 15th percentile)
characteristic

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 DIVERSITY
¢ Percentile is a value in a distribution for which the stated %ge of
population has a characteristic that is less than or equal to the specified
value
— Walking speed: Pedestrian safety demands us to accommodate slow walkers,
15%ile walk speed is used (only 15% of the population walks slower than this
speed!)
— Driver reaction time: 85%ile value is used because 85% of the population has a
reaction time that is numerically equal to or less than this value.
¢ Highway designs: must be able to accommodate variety of vehicle types
that would use the roads
¢ Vehicle: control over road users and vehicles through licensing authority
(RTA), and standards to be followed (BIS for vehicle specs, IRC for road
standards, MV act for vehicle operating characteristics)
¢ Addressing diversity through uniformity, avoiding surprise

Road User
 ROAD USER
¢ Two important human factors on traffic engineering:
— Visual Acuity: the ability to see
— Reaction process
¢ Human being as active component of traffic system, distinguishes it
from virtually all other engineering fields.
¢ Component highly variable and unpredictable in capabilities and
characteristics.
¢ Physiological – Measurable and usually quantifiable

¢ Psychological – Much more difficult to measure and quantify

Road User
ROAD USER

¢ Psychological:
— desired speeds and
— desired safety distances

¢ Physical:
— Perception/reaction limits
— Imperfect vehicle/throttle control
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Road User
 VISUAL ACUITY
¢ Static Visual Acuity
¢ The test administered is a standard chart-reading exercise that
measures static visual acuity-that is, the ability to see small
stationary details clearly.
¢ Dynamic Visual Acuity
¢ A driver with good static visual acuity could have poor dynamic
visual acuity, poor depth perception, partial or complete colour
blindness or other negative factors
¢ Visual deficits
¢ Cataracts, glaucoma, peripheral vision deficits, ocular muscle imbalance,
depth perception deficits, and colour blindness
¢ Colour blindness
¢ involves the inability to discern the difference between red and
green
¢ some blue pigment has been added to green lights and
¢ some yellow pigment has been added to red lights, making them
easier to discern by colourblind drivers.
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Visual Factors in the Driving Task

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 VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS
¢ Visual acuity is quantifiable measure of the ability to identify black symbols on white
background at a standardized distance
¢ 20/20 vision refers to the distance of 20 ft from which a person can recognize a 1/3
in ht letter or objects separated by 1 arc minute can be distinguished as separate
objects (Metric equivalent: 6/6)
¢ Acute or clear vision cone (3° - 10°): around the line of sight
¢ Fairly clear vision cone (10°- 12° ): around the line of sight, provides shape and
colour but not legend
¢ Peripheral vision (120°- 180° ): 90° left/right, 60° up/ 70° below: allows motion
detection, at times critical in the drivers estimation of speed
¢ Traffic Signs:
— Location and Height
— Shapes
— Colors

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VISUAL ACUITY AND DRIVING

¢ Visual features on roads get

blurred at high speeds, why?
¢ With modern virtual reality
techniques it is also possible to
show that, at 120 km/h, the paved
area and median across a 30
metre wide freeway makes up
thirty per cent of the visual field,
the roadside about fifteen
percent, and the sky dominates at
fifty five
percent.
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WALKING
¢ Every road user is a pedestrian at some point
¢ Pedestrian traffic along footpaths, sidewalks, crosswalks, safety
zones, islands, and over and under passes should be considered
¢ Pedestrian walk speeds
— 0.9 – 1.5 m/s; 1 to 1.2 m/s for 85%
¢ Parking spaces and facilities like signals, bus stops, and over and
under passes are to be located and designed according to the
maximum distance to which a user will be willing walk
¢ Walk trips dominate in total trips made every day in most Indian
cities
— As high as 50% in small sized cities
— Mumbai: 27%, Bengaluru: 26%, Ahmedabad: 22% and Delhi: 21%
(Journeys, 2011) 12

Road User
PEDESTRIAN CHARACTERISTICS
¢ One of the most critical safety problems in any highway
and street system involves the interactions of vehicles and
pedestrians.
¢ Gap Acceptance
— Distance between the pedestrian and the approaching vehicle
at the time pedestrian begins his/her crossing
— 85th percentile gap is 38 m
¢ Pedestrian Comprehension of Controls
— General poor understanding and poor adherence to the control
devices
— Pedestrian-actuation buttons

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Road User
PERCEPTION REACTION TIME (PRT)
¢ The second critical driver characteristic is perception-reaction time (PRT)
¢ Detection. In this phase, an object or condition of concern enters the driver’s 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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Road User
PERCEPTION REACTION TIME (PRT)
¢ Perception of cue or stimulus
¢ Interpretation
¢ Evaluation of appropriate response (i.e., decision)
¢ Volition or physical response (i.e., reaction)
¢ AASHTO Recommendations:
— For braking reactions on Highways: Perception and Reaction Time:
2.5 seconds (90th percentile)
— For reaction time to traffic signal: Perception and Reaction Time:
1.0 Second (85th percentile)
¢ IRC: 2.5 s as reaction time
¢ Reaction Distance During PRT (PIEV)
— dr = vt
— where dr is reaction distance, v is speed, and t is reaction time
¢ Broken down truck on a curve 15

Road User
PERCEPTION REACTION TIME (PRT)-RECOMMENDATIONS
(AASHTO, ITE)
Situation Recommended
PRT
Normal stop at a traffic light 1.0 s
Normal stop on a highway 2.5 s
Avoidance maneuver - stop on a highway 3.0 s
Avoidance maneuver - stop on an urban 9.1 s
road
Avoidance maneuver – speed/path 10.2 – 11.2 s
direction change on a rural road

Avoidance maneuver – speed/path 12.1 – 12.9 s

direction change on suburban road
Avoidance maneuver – speed/path 14.0 – 14.5 s
direction change on an urban road 16
EXPECTANCY
¢ The concept of expectancy is important to the driving task and has significant
impact on the PRT process
¢ People react quicker to situations they expect to encounter as opposed to those
they do not expect to encounter.
¢ The PRT under “expected” situation is 0.5 seconds faster then the “unexpected”
situation.
¢ Different types of expectancy
— Continuity
— Event
— Temporal
¢ Factors Affecting PRT
— Age
— Fatigue
— Complexity of Cues
— Presence of Drugs or Alcohol 17

Road User
 18
Comparison ofpermission
(Source: Used with Perception–Reaction
of the Transportation Times
Research
Between Expected
Board, National and Unexpected
Research Council, Events
Olson, P., et al., “Parameters
Affecting Stopping Sight Distance,” NCHRP Report 270,
OTHER IMPACT FACTORS ROAD USERS
¢ Alcohol and drugs:
— Significant contributor to traffic
fatalities and accidents
— Blood alcohol concentration (BAC)
limits 0.08%, impairment of driver
functions begins at levels well below
legal limits
— Impaired driver leads to poor
judgement, longer PRT times, and
actions that can and do cause
accidents
— BAC Units: g/dL (grams per 100 ml (deci
litre) or % (gms per 1000 gms of blood)

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Road User
OTHER IMPACT FACTORS ROAD USERS
¢ BAC limits:
0.08% - USA, Canada, Mexico and UK
0.05% - Germany, Argentina, Australia and Italy
30 mg/dL – India, 25 mg/dL – Spain (Same as 0.03% and 0.025%
respectively)
20 mg/dL – Sweden, Norway, Russia and Poland
¢ Aging: many visual acuity factors deteriorate with age
— Licensing standards
— Alternate travel modes for aging drivers
— Education
¢ Psychological, personality and related factors
— Aggressive drivers
— Road rage 20

Road User
DO THESE CHARACTERISTICS MATTER NOW!

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Road User
ARRB (2019)
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 DO THESE CHARACTERISTICS MATTER NOW!

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Tesla- Autopilot

Six reported fatal crashes (indicative only)

• Mar 2018 – California, USA, Tesla- Model X - Semi autonomous driving system in
the car – autopilot hitting the concrete barrier – driver killed (Level 2)
• Mar 2018 – Tempe, Arizona, USA – Uber - Driverless car crashes into a pedestrian
fatally (Level 3)
• Sep 2019 – Osceola, Florida, USA, Tesla (Autopilot)-Model 3 – Driver fatally (Level
2)
• On average, there are 9.1 self-driving car accidents per million miles driven, while
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the same rate is 4.1 crashes per million miles for regular vehicles.

Road User
VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS
¢ Number of registered vehicles in India (Mar 2019: 295 million;
Mar 2015: 210 million) Statistical Year Book India 2018 (Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation, Govt. of India)
— The actual number of motor vehicles in the country may be 20-30% lower, as
registration procedures do not remove many of the out-of-service vehicles from the
records (Mohan et al 2009)
¢ For what type of vehicle should a particular facility be designed
— AASHTO Green Book defines vehicles with their dimensions, including overhangs,
wheel bases and key distances from the hitch points of the trucks, and articulated
vehicles
— Classification: Passenger cars, trucks, buses, recreational vehicles
— IRC: 3-1983 Dimensions & Weights of Road Design Vehicles
¢ The basic dimensions of vehicles allow minimum turning radii to be established

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Road User
 VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS
¢ There are a number of critical vehicle characteristics
— Braking and deceleration
— Acceleration
— Low-speed turning characteristics
— High-speed turning characteristics
— Size
— Weight
¢ Concept of design vehicle
— AASHTO defines 20 design vehicles
— Passenger car, P: 1.3 m (H), 2.1 m (W), 5.8 m (L), 7.3 m (min turn radius),
4.2 m (min inside radius)
— Single unit Truck, SU: 4.1 m (H), 2.44 m (W), 9.14 m (L), 12.8 m (min turn
radius), 8.5 m (min inside radius) 25

Road User
 VEHICLE DIMENSIONS, (AASHTO, 2011) IN METERS
Table 2-1a. Design Vehicle Dimensions (SI Units)
Dimensions (m)
Overall Overhang
Typical Kingpin to Center
Design Vehicle Type Symbol Height Width Length Front Rear WB1 WB2 S T WB3 WB4 of Rear Tandem Axle
Passenger Car P 1.30 2.13 5. 79 0.91 1.52 3. 35 — — — — — —
Single-Unit Truck SU-9 3.35–4.11 2.44 9. 14 1.22 1.83 6.10 — — — — — —
Single-Unit Truck (three-axle) SU-12 3.35–4.11 2.44 12.04 1.22 3.20 7.62 — — — — — —
Buses
BUS-12 3.66 2.59 12.36 1.93 2.73a 7.70 — — — — — —
Intercity Bus (Motor Coaches)
BUS-14 3.66 2.59 13.86 1.89 2.73b 8.69 — — — — — —
City Transit Bus CITY-BUS 3.20 2.59 12.19 2.13 2.44 7.62 — — — — — —
Conven onal School Bus (65 pass.) S-BUS 11 3.20 2.44 10.91 0.79 3.66 6.49 — — — — — —
Large School Bus (84 pass.) S-BUS 12 3.20 2.44 12.19 2.13 3.96 6.10 — — — — — —
Ar culated Bus A-BUS 3.35 2.59 18.29 2.62 3.05 6.71 5.91 1. 89b 4.02b — — —
Combina on Trucks
Intermediate Semitrailer WB-12 4.11 2.44 13.87 0.91 1.37a 3.81 7.77 — — — — 7.77
Interstate Semitrailer WB-19* 4.11 2.59 21.03 1.22 1.37a 5.94 12.50 — — — — 12.50
Interstate Semitrailer WB-20** 4.11 2.59 22.40 1.22 1.37a 5.94 13.87 — — — — 13.87
“Double-Bo om” Semitrailer/Trailer WB-20D 4.11 2.59 22.04 0.71 0.91 3.35 7.01 0.91c 2.13c 6.86 — 7.01
Rocky Mountain Double-Semitrailer/Trailer WB-28D 4.11 2.59 29.67 0.71 0.91 5.33 12.19 1.37 2.13 6.86 — 12.34
Triple-Semitrailer/Trailers WB-30T 4.11 2.59 31.94 0.71 0.91 3.35 6.86 0.91d 2.13d 6.86 6.86 7.01
Turnpike Double-Semitrailer/Trailer WB-33D* 4.11 2.59 34.75 0.71 1.37a 3.72 12.19 1.37e 3.05e 12.19 — 12.34
Recrea onal Vehicles
Motor Home MH 3.66 2.44 9.14 1.22 1.83 6.10 — — — — — —
Car and Camper Trailer P/T 3.05 2.44 14.84 0.91 3.66 3.35 — 1.52 5.39 — — —
Car and Boat Trailer P/B — 2.44 12.80 0.91 2.44 3.35 — 1.52 4.57 — — —
Motor Home and Boat Trailer MH/B 3.66 2.44 16.15 1.22 2.44 6.10 — 1.83 4.57 — — —

Chapter 2—Design Controls and Criteria

Note: Since vehicles are manufactured using U.S. Customary dimensions, and to provide only one physical size for each design vehicle, the metric values shown in the design vehicle drawings have been so converted
from the values listed in feet and then rounded to the nearest hundredth of a meter.
* Design vehicle with 14.63-m trailer as adopted in 1982 Surface Transporta on Assistance Act (STAA).
** Design vehicle with 16.15-m trailer as grandfathered in with 1982 Surface Transporta on Assistance Act (STAA).
a This is the length of the overhang from the back axle of the tandem axle assembly.
b Combined dimension is 5.91 m and ar cula ng sec on is 1.22 m wide.
c Combined dimension is typically 3.05 m.
d Combined dimension is typically 3.05 m.
e

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Combined dimension is typically 3.81 m.
• WB1, WB2, WB3, and WB4 are the e ec ve vehicle wheelbases, or distances between axle groups, star ng at the front and working towards the back of each unit.
• S is the distance from the rear e ec ve axle to the hitch point or point of ar cula on.
• T is the distance from the hitch point or point of ar cula on measured back to the center of the next axle or the center of the tandem axle assembly.

Road User

2-3
AASHTO VEHICLE DIMENSIONS (FT)
Overall

Designer Vehicle Type Symbol Height Width Length

Passenger Car P 4.25 7 19
Single Unit Truck SU 11-13.5 8.0 30
Buses

Inter-city Bus(Motor Coaches) BUS-40 12.0 8.5 40

BUS-45 12.0 8.5 45
City transit Bus CITY-BUS
10.5 8.5 40

S-BUS36 10.5 8.0 35.8

Conventional School Bus (65 Pass)

Large School Bus (84 Pass) S-BUS40 8.0 40

10.5

Articulated Bus A-BUS 11.0 8.5 60

Trucks

Intermediate Semitrailer WB-40 13.5 8.0 45.5

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8.5 55
Intermediate Semitrailer WB-50 13.5
 Overall
Designer Vehicle Type Symbol
Height Width Length

Trucks

Interstate Semitrailer WB-62 13.5 8.5 68.5

Intermediate Semitrailer WB-65 or

13.5 8.5 73.5
WB-67

“Double -Bottom” Semi Trailer/Trailer WB-67D 13.5 8.5 73.3

Triple-semitrailer/Trailers WB-100T 13.5 8.5 104.8

Turnpike Double Semitrailer/Trailer WB-109D 13.5 8.5 114

Recreational Vehicles

Motor Home MH 12 8 30

Car & Camper Trailer P/T 10 8 48.7

Car & Boat Trailer P/B __ 8 42

Motor Home & Boat Trailer MH/B 12 8 53

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Farm Tractor TR 10 8-10 16
 TURNING CHARACTERISTICS OF VEHICLES

Minimum turning path intermediate

semitrailer [WB-12 (WB40)] design vehicle

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Road User
 TURNING CHARACTERISTICS OF VEHICLES

¢ Low speed turns £ 15 km/h

¢ At higher speeds, the minimum radius is
controlled by the dynamics of the situation,
not turning capability of the vehicles
¢ Turning templates
¢ Turning radii
— Maruti swift (Hatch back) - 4.7 m
— Honda City (Sedan) - 5.3 m
— Renault Duster (SUV) - 5.2 m !

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Road User
VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS –INDIA (IRC: 3-1983

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IRC-3:1983: Classification of
Road User vehicles
 VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS –INDIA (IRC: 3-1983; NOTE
1996 - MORTH
¢ Maximum Width: 2.5 m
¢ Height: 3.8 m

¢ (exception: Freight: 4.2 m; Double-decker bus: 4.75 m)

¢ Length: 11 m (type -2/3 truck, excluding front and rear bumpers); 12

m (bus); 16 m (2-S1); 18 m (2-S2)
¢ Weight

¢ Two axle GVW : 9 t (FA: 1 tyre - 3t; RA: 2 tyres - 6 t)

— GVW: Gross Vehicle Weight; FA: Front Axle; RA: Rear Axle
¢ Two axle GVW: 12 t (FA and RA: 2 tyres – 6 t each)
¢ Two axle GVW: 16.2 t (FA: 2 tyres – 6 t; RA: 4 tyres- 10.2t)

¢ Max. Load on rear axle (2 dual wheels) 10.2 t 32

¢ Max. Load on rear tandem axle (4 dual wheels) 19 t

Road User
VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS: SLOW MOVING VEHICLES
¢ Slow moving vehicles in India consist of
— Bicycles
— Cycle Rickshaw
— Animal drawn carts
¢ Bullock
¢ Horse

— Cycle Push Carts

¢ Features of the slow moving vehicles
Vehicle type Length, m Mean speed
(km/h)
Bicycle 1.91 15

Cycle Rickshaw 2.59 - 33

Road User
HIGH SPEED TURNS
¢ Centripetal forces of momentum are exerted on the vehicle to continue in
straight path
¢ Forces opposing this are, side friction and super elevation
— (0.01e+fs)/(1-0.01efs) = v2/gR
— R = v2/g(0.01e+fs)

Table: Co-efficient of Side Friction(f) for Wet Pavements at various speeds

Speed
(km/h) 48 64 80 96 112

fs 0.16 0.15 0.14 0.12 0.10

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Road User
BRAKING CHARACTERISTICS
¢ Critical characteristic of vehicle is
their ability to stop once the brakes
have been applied
db = (vi2-vf2)/2g(f±0.01G)
+ve for upgrade and –ve for
downgrade

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Road User
WEIGHT/POWER RATIOS: ACCELERATION
CHARACTERISTICS
¢ Power is proportional to force that an engine applies to an
vehicle
— Power µ mass*acceleration or
— Power µ weight*acceleration
— hence weight/power µ 1/acceleration
¢ Higher the W/P ratio lower is the acceleration
¢ Passenger cars (weight = 1,000 kg) can accelerate faster than
trucks (gross wt = 10,000 kg)
¢ Further, Motorcycles (weight = 0.15 t) can accelerate faster
than cars
¢ Weight to power ratio is the key here
¢ Thus (W/P) of trucks, cars and motorcycles decreases in that
order, accordingly the accelerations are increasing in the
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same order
Road User
ACCELERATION CHARACTERISTICS
¢ Also acceleration is highest at low speeds and decreases with increasing speed
— Acceleration distance,
da = v2/2a

Table: Acceleration characteristics of a Typical car versus a typical Truck on Level Terrain

Acceleration Rate
Acceleration (m/s(ft/s²)
2) for:

Speed Range
(km/h) Typical car Typical Truck
(18 kg/kW) (122 kg/kW)
0-32 2.3 0.5
32-48 2.0 0.4
48-64 1.8 0.2
64-80 1.6 0.2
80-96 1.4 0.1 37

Road User
 VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS
Type Length, m Max Max Max. Jerk,
Speed, Accel, comfortable m/s3
km/h m/s2 decel, m/s2
Car 4.2 120 3 2.4 – 3.0* 2.1
(seated
passengers)
Truck 10.5 120 1.5
Trailer 15.9 107.2 0.9
Truck
Double- 19.2 97.6 0.6
trailer
Bus 12 104 1.5 1.2-1.5*
(standing
passengers)
Train Varies 0.7
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* Papacostas and Prevedouros (2002)

TOTAL STOPPING DISTANCE
¢ Total stopping distance =
reaction distance + braking
distance
d = dr + db
dr = vit
db = (vi2-vf2)/2g(f±0.01G)

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Road User
SAFE STOPPING DISTANCE
¢ One of the most fundamental principles of highway design is
that the driver must be able to see far enough to avoid a
potential hazard or collision.
¢ Thus, on all roadway sections, the driver must have a sight
distance that is at least equivalent to the total stopping
distance required at the design speed

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Road User
STOPPING DISTANCE ON RURAL HIGHWAYS
IRC-66:1976 Recommended Practice of Sight distance on rural
highways
Perception & Brake Braking Safe stopping sight
Reaction distance (meters)
Speed
(km/h) Time Distance Coefficient Of Distance Calculated Rounded
(Seconds) (meters) Longitudinal (meters) Values off Values
fraction for Design

20 2.5 14 0.40 4 18 20
25 2.5 18 0.40 6 24 25
30 2.5 21 0.40 9 30 30
40 2.5 28 0.38 17 45 45
50 2.5 35 0.37 27 62 60
60 2.5 42 0.36 39 81 80
65 2.5 45 0.36 46 91 90
80 2.5 56 0.35 72 118 120
100 2.5 70 0.35 112 182 180 41
DECISION SIGHT DISTANCE
¢ There are some sections that should provide greater sight
distance to allow drivers to react to potentially more complex
situations than a simple stop
¢ AASHTO recommends that decision sight distance be
provided at interchanges or intersection locations where
unusual or unexpected manoeuvres are required;
¢ changes in cross-section such as lane drops and additions,
toll plazas, and intense-demand areas where there is
substantial “visual noise” from competing information (e.g.,
control devices, advertising, roadway elements)
— d = (tr + tm)vi
— d = Decision Sight Distance, m
— tr = reaction time for appropriate avoidance maneuver, s
— tm = manoeuvre time, s
— vi = initial speed of vehicle, m/s
¢ Other sight distances: passing or overtaking sight distance,
and intersection sight distance 42

Road User
 DECISION SIGHT DISTANCE
Decision Sight Distance for Avoidance Maneuver
(m)
Design
Speed
(km/h) Reaction Time, A B C D E
tr (s) ® 3 9.1 11.2 12.9 14.5
Assumed
Maneuver
Time, tm (s) ¯
48 4.5 65.7 146.4 207.6 230.1 251.4
64 4.5 99 206.4 276.9 306.9 335.1
80 4.0 138 272.4 335.1 372.6 408
96 4.0 182.7 344.1 402.3 447.3 492.6
112 3.5 233.4 421.8 453.9 506.4 555.6
128 3.5 289.8 504.9 518.7 578.7 635.1

A: Stop on a rural road

B: Stop on a urban road
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C: Speed/path/direction change on a rural road
D: Speed/path/direction change on a sub-urban road
E: Speed/path/direction change on an urban road
 CHANGE (YELLOW) AND CLEARANCE
SIGHT (ALL RED) INTERVALS
¢ Yellow interval of a traffic signal
is designed to allow a vehicle
that cannot comfortably stop
when green is withdrawn to
enter the intersection legally
— d = safe stopping distance
¢ A vehicle may legally enter the
intersection on yellow
¢ On entry legally, the all-red
period must allow the vehicle to
Timing yellow and All Red Intervals at a Signal
cross the intersection with (W)
and clear the back end of the
vehicle (L) past the far
intersection line
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Road User
DILEMMA ZONE AT TRAFFIC LIGHT
¢ A high accident potential exists at high-speed signalized intersections
(approach speeds are
56 km/h or higher) where an area close to an intersection
¢ This is known as dilemma zone (also known as decision zone) –
treated as deterministic (Type I)
¢ The driver is exposed to TWO potentially hazardous situations
— a rear end accident may occur if (s)he stops abruptly during the yellow period
— an angle accident if he attempts to cross the intersection at the onset of the red
interval

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Road User
 DILEMMA ZONE (SELF STUDY)
¢ A properly selected yellow
duration that incorporates the
motion of the vehicle during
driver perception-reaction time
can eliminate this problem

Intersection geometry showing

distances to be covered by a vehicle
of length, L in two alternative cases
of going through and stopping at the 46
junction (Gazis et.al., 1960)
Road User
DILEMMA ZONE - CASES

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ACCELERATION/DECELERATION REQUIREMENTS

(Gazis et.al., 1960)

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 WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
¢ Properly selected values of
— Vehicle length
— Human factors (comfortable deceleration rate and perception-
reaction time)
— Speed limit

a1

Acceleration requirements for clearing

(xa , a1*)

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x
x0 xa
REFERENCES
1. Roess, R.P., Prassas, E.S., and McShane, W.R. Traffic
Engineering (4th Edition), Pearson, 2009
2. Slinn, M., Matthews, P., and Guest, P. Traffic
Engineering Design (2nd Edition), Elsevier, 2005
3. Kadiyali, L.R. Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning
(6th Edition), Khanna Publishers, 1997
4. Liu, H., CE4211 Traffic Engineering, University of
Minnesota, http://www.ce.umn.edu/~liu/ce4211/
Accessed in Sep 2008
5. Gazis, D., Herman, R., Maradudin, A. The problem of
the amber traffic signal light in traffic flow, Operations
Research, 80, 112-132, 1960
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6. Papacostas, C.S., Prevedourous, P.D., Transportation
Engineering and Planning, Prentice-Hall India, 2001
Road User