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Abstract: Road accidents have become a major public health concern and a leading cause of death,
hence there is a need for research that focuses on reducing accidents. Vehicle speed is one of the most
important factors for road safety as it influences the severity and probability of road accidents. By the
use of traffic calming measures such as speed humps, the speed of the vehicle is controlled to a certain
limit due to the discomfort offered by the traffic calming measures (rumble strips and speed hump). An
effort is made to study the influence of geometry of rumble strip or speed hump on speed and discomfort
of different types of vehicles on urban and non-urban roads. The study is carried out in two parts,
evaluating the effectiveness of rumble strip or speed hump with different geometry for different
categories of vehicles and a statistical relationship between speed of vehicles and geometryof traffic
calming measures are developed. In the second phase, discomfort experienced by road users while
passing over the speed calming measures is measured in the form of vertical acceleration. Results have
shown that with the increase in the height of the speed hump, vehicles’ speed decreases, discomfort
increases and with the increase in width of speed hump.
Keywords: Speed hump, road safety, decision support system, traffic calming measures, vertical discomfort
1.0 Introduction
Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged between
5-29 years. Approximately, 1.3 million (WHO, 2022) people die each year as a result of road
traffic crashes. Between 20 and 50 million more people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many
incurring a disability as a result of their injury. More than half of all roadtraffic deaths are
among vulnerable road users viz., pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. 93% of the world's
fatalities on the roads occur in low- and middle-income countries, even though these countries
have approximately 60% of the world's vehicles. Road traffic crashes cost most countries 3%
of their gross domestic product (WHO, 2022). Road accidents and fatalities are more in rural
areas compared to urban areas. Accident-related deaths in 2019 were 32.9% and 67.1% in urban
and rural areas respectively (MoRT&H, 2020).
Empirical evidence from road safety literature suggests that vehicular speed is a fundamental
risk factor in the incidence and severity of road traffic crashes in both developed and
developing countries (Nilson, 1981; Yuan-Chin Cheng et. al., 1994; Evanco, 1996; Afukaar,
2003; Elvick, Christen & Amundsen, 2004; Kallberg 2004; Peden et al., 2004; SWOV, 2004;
Berner & Crundal, 2005; Fleiter & Watson, 2006). Hence, there is a great need for proper
installation of traffic calming measures (TCM) along urban and non-urban roads to control
vehicular speeds. Traffic calming measures are categorized into four types namely central
island, horizontal deflected, vertical deflected, and road narrowing (IRC:99-2015).
A speed hump is the most commonly used vertically deflected traffic calming measure used
in India. Speed humps reduce the speeds by inducing uncomfortable bumping and vibrating
effect to the vehicles while passing over the humps. The level of discomfort and driving speeds
depend primarily on the hump geometry (Khorshid et al., 2007; Koti Marg and Puram 2018).
The vibration experienced inside the vehicle enhances with the increase in the height of the
speed hump (Kırbaş & Karaşahin, 2018).
In this study, an attempt is made to develop relationships between vehicular speeds and
geometry (width and height) of the speed humps, both for urban and rural roads. These
equations are developed for different categories of vehicles. Regression equations to establish
relationship between the discomfort experienced by the drivers (m/s2) and width andheight of
the speed hump for different categories of vehicles are developed, both for rural and urban
roads.
Speed humps are enhanced road traffic safety facilities on smooth roads. They set the
deceleration zone for moving vehicles including non-motor traffic. Speed humps have
advantages of simple construction, low cost of building and quick effect. Therefore, in recent
years it has made great recognition (Lockwood 1997, Zhang et al., 2015). Speed humps are
categorized based on geometry and shape viz., circular, parabolic and trapezoidal.
A speed hump causes considerable discomfort to the road users (Zhou et al., 2021). Drivers
suddenly slow down and accelerate just before and after the speed hump (Pau, 1994). When a
vehicle gets through the deceleration zone at a high speed, severe vibration from tire will be
passed to the driver through the body and seat, producing strong physiological stimulation
(including vibration stimulation and visual stimulation) and mental stimulation. Physiological
stimulation will produce a strong discomfort, (Zhang et al., 2015). It has been observed that,
while crossing over a speed hump, as the vehicle speed increases, the vertical discomfort
experienced by the road users increases. Studies showed that geometry of speed hump (width
and height) was the most important factor influencing the discomfort and hence the passing
speeds of the vehicles (Vasudevan and Patel, 2017). The studies on effectiveness of vertical
deflected type of traffic calming measures indicate around 60% reduction in vehicular speed
over rumble strips (Rokade et al. 2017).
Analysis on three types of traffic calming measures viz., flat topped, single and double humps
in Iraq indicated 71% reduction in vehicle speed over flat topped hump on arterial roads which
was higher than single and double humps (Abdulmawjoud et. al., 2021). Trapezoidal humps
indicated increase in undesirable discomfort over 60% speed humps (Jasiuniene et al. 2018).
43% to 52% reduction in vehicular speeds was observed while crossing over the hump. Humps
with 60mm height are more effective in controlling speed than that of 80mm speed hump.
(Dinasty et. al., 2018).
3.0 Objective
Although several works on study of effectiveness of traffic calming measures are reported,
studies to understand and analyze the effectiveness of traffic calming measures on vehicular
speeds under mixed traffic flow conditions need to be explored. In this study, an attempt is
made to develop relationship between traffic calming geometry and vehicular speeds for
different categories of vehicles. Regression equations to establish relationship between the
discomfort experienced by the drivers (m/s2) and width and height of the traffic calming
measures ( rumble strips and speed humps) for different categories of vehicles are developed,
both for rural and urban roads. This work presents a framework for reference to decide the
geometry of traffic calming measures for varying vehicular speed along rural and urban roads
The objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of traffic calming measures and to
framework model for design of speed humps, for different vehicle categories.
In the second stage, vertical discomfort in terms of acceleration (m/s2) while travelling over the
speed hump is measured using an “Androsensor” mobile application. Vertical discomfort over
the hump is recorded and the corresponding speeds are noted for different categories of vehicles.
The physical/ mental unevenness experienced by the road users while crossing over the speed
hump is referred to as discomfort in this context. For the purpose of quantification, it is measured
in terms of acceleration(m/s2) using readily available mobile app called “Androsensor”.
Trapezoidal hump 3.18 1.95 3.12 2.35 3.78 2.75 4.21 2.47
Parabolic hump 3.65 2.84 3.40 2.57 4.81 2.62 3.45 2.85
Doble hump 4.05 2.80 3.51 2.36 4.89 2.67 4.20 3.12
Circular hump 4.12 2.25 3.98 2.68 5.33 3.87 5.12 3.72
Trapezoidal hump 3.83 1.95 4.13 2.60 5.98 2.85 4.21 2.32
Parabolic hump 4.47 2.00 3.40 1.97 5.58 2.64 3.91 2.55
Circular hump 4.05 2.43 3.49 2.36 5.58 2.67 4.20 2.36
Rumble strips 5.99 4.82 3.98 2.68 6.33 4.07 5.12 4.12
i. VUrban = 82.39 – 65.75 * exp (H) + 0.17 * log (W) + C… .................... equation (1)
C for bike = 21.76, C for car = 22.05, C for auto-rikshaw = 19.37, C for bus = 19.29
ii. VNon-urban = 57.75 - 32.90 * exp (H) + 0.91* log (W) + C ..................... equation (2)
C for bike = 14.37, C for car = 16.80, C for auto = 10.75, C for bus = 14.37
where,
V = Average speed of vehicles (kmph)
H = Height of speed calming measure (m)
Figure. 3: Relation between percentage speed reduction and (W/H) of speed calming
measure on urban road
Figure. 3: Relation between percentage speed reduction and (W/H) of speed calming
measure on urban road
6.3 Influence of width and height of speed calming measures on speed of vehicles and
discomfort of road users.
The relationships between variation of speed and discomfort with respect to height and width
of the speed calming measures are developed for different categories of vehicles viz., bike, car,
autoriksha and buses.
4.5
40.0
Discomfort (m/s2)
35.0
3.5
30.0
3.0
25.0
2.5
20.0 2.0
3.0 5.0 7.0 9.0 11.0 13.0 15.0
Height (cm)
Poly. (Bike avg speed vs height) Poly. (car avg speed vs Height)
Poly. (Auto avg speed vs Height) Poly. (Bus avg speed vs height)
Poly. (Bike discomfort vs Height) Poly. (Car discomfort vs Height)
Poly. (Auto discomfort vs Height) Poly. (Bus discmfort vs Height)
50.0 4.5
45.0 4.0
Discomfort (m/s2)
Average speed (Kmph)
40.0 3.5
35.0 3.0
30.0 2.5
25.0 2.0
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Height (cm)
Poly. (Bike avg speed vs height ) Poly. (Car avg speed vs height)
Poly. (Bus avg speed vs height) Poly. (Auto avg speed vs height)
Figure 6: Relation between average speed and discomfort with height of the
speed calming measure on Non- urban roads
ii. Width of speed hump with respect to speed and discomfort
iii. Width of speed calming measure with respect to speed and discomfort
Figure. 7 and Figure. 8 presents the variation of speeds and discomfort with the width of the
speed calming measure along urban and non-urban roads respectively. It is observed that the
average speed increased with the increase in width and the variation follows a parabolic curve
trend.
41.0 5.0
39.0
4.5
37.0
Average speed (Kmph)
4.0
Discomfort (m/s2)
35.0
3.5
33.0
3.0
31.0
2.5
29.0
27.0 2.0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0
Width (m)
Poly. (Bike avg speed vs Height) Poly. (Car avg speed vs Height)
Poly. (Auto avg speed vs Height) Poly. (Bus avg speed vs Height)
Poly. (Bike discomfort vs Height) Poly. (Car discomfort speed vs Height)
Poly. (Auto discomfort vs Height) Poly. (Bus discomfort vs Height)
Figure. 7: Relation between width of speed calming measure and average speed and discomfort
47.0 5.5
45.0
5.0
43.0
Average speed (Kmph)
4.5
41.0
Discomfort (m/s2)
39.0 4.0
37.0 3.5
35.0
3.0
33.0
2.5
31.0
29.0 2.0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0
Poly. (Bike avg speed vs Width) Width (m) Poly. (Car avg speed vs Width)
Poly. (Auto avg speed vs Width) Poly. (Bus avg speed vs Width)
Figure. 8: Relation between width of speed hump and average speed and
discomfort on non-urban roads
Figure. 9. Comparison between the speed values observed and calculated along urban roads
Figure. 10. Comparison between the speed values observed and calculated along non - urbanroads
7. CONCLUSIONS
The speed data and discomfort experienced by the road users are measured for different
categories of vehicles with respect width and height of speed calming measures. The
conclusions are summarized as follows:
i. Five types of speed calming measures viz., trapezoidal humps, circular humps,
parabolic humps and rumble strips are analysed for their effect on different
vehicle class for heterogenous traffic along selected urban and non- urban roads.
ii. The good correlation (greater than 0.8) was found between the average speed of
all vehicles and geometric characteristics viz., height and width of speed
calming measures.
iii. The good correlation (greater than 0.84) was found between the discomfort felt
by passengers and geometric characteristics viz., height and width of speed
calming measures.
iv. The discomfort felt by the road users while travelling over the speed calming
measure increases with increase in height of speed calming measure and
decreases with increase in width of speed calming measure.
v. The percentage of reduction in the speed of the vehicles is inversely
proportional to width of speed calming measure, if the width of the speed
calming measure increases average speed of the vehicles increases
vi. Trapezoidal humps were most effective in urban and Circular humps were more
effective in non-urban roads because both speed humps were more effective in
reducing 85th percentile speed of vehicles.
vii. For the studied stretch roads, efficiency of trapezoidal humps, Parabolic hump,
Double hump, circular hump was found to be 72.1%, 67.5%, 59.5%, 61.6%
along urban sections and 83.05%, 82.69%, 83.33% along non-urban stretch.
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