SPEED AND DELAY STUDY

Introduction
 The speed and delay studies give the running speeds, overall speeds,
fluctuations in speeds and the delay between two stations of a road
spaced far apart.
 Also give information such as location, durations and causes of delay in
traffic stream.
 The results of speed and delay studies are useful in detecting the spots
of congestion, the causes of congestion and in arriving at a suitable
remedial measures.
 In general, the efficiency of the roadway may be judged from the travel
time.
 Delays
The delay or time lost by traffic during the travel period may be either
due to fixed delays or operational delays.
Fixed delays occur primarily at intersections due to traffic signals.
Operational delays are caused by the interference of traffic movements
such as turning vehicles, pedestrians etc., and by internal friction in the
traffic stream due to high traffic volume and by accidents.
 Methods of Speed and Delay Studies
There are various methods of carrying out speed and delay studies.
1. Floating car or riding check method
2. License plate or vehicle number method
3. Interview technique
4. Elevated observations
5. Video Recording
 1-Floating car or riding check method
 A vehicle is driven on the given route at the speed of the traffic stream.
 An observer is seated in the floating car with two stop watches.
 One of the stop watch is used to record the time at various control points
like intersections, bridges or any other fixed points.
 The other stop watch is used to find the duration of individual delays.
 The time, location and cause of these delays is recorded by another
observer either on suitable tabular form or by voice recording equipment.
 2- License plate or vehicle number method
 Observers are stationed at entrance and exit of the test sections where
information of travel time is required.
 The time and vehicle numbers of the selected sample are noted by the
observer.
 Travel time for each vehicle is found from the office computations
 Locations, causes and durations of delays can not be obtained in this
method
 3- Interview technique
 The work can be completed by interviewing the road users on the spot
and collecting details about travel time and delays.
 4, 5- Elevated Observations and Video
 Useful for studying short test sections like intersection etc.
ORIGIN AND DESTINATION STUDY
 Origin and Destination(O and D) Studies
 The O and D studies of vehicular traffic determine their number, their
origin and destination in each zone under study.
 The data may be supplemented by the number of passengers in each
vehicle, purpose of each trip, intermediate stops made and reasons etc.
 O and D studies are most essential in planning new highway facilities
and in improving the existing facilities.
 O and D studies provide basic data for determining the desired flow or
the desire lines.
 Methods of Collecting O and D data
1. Road side interview method
2. License plate method
3. Return post card method
4. Tag-on-car method
5. Home interview method
 1- Road side Interview Method
The vehicles are stopped at previously decided interview stations by a
group of persons and the answers to prescribed questionnaire are
collected on the spot.
 The information collected include the place and time of origin and
destination, route, location of stoppages, purpose of trip, type of vehicle
and number of passengers in each vehicle.
The traffic may be filtered through a prescribed lane and with the help
of police so that each driver of the selected sample of vehicles is
interviewed.
In this method, the data is collected quickly in short duration, the field
organization is simple and the team can be trained quickly.
The main drawback is that the vehicles are stopped for interview and
there is delay to vehicular movement.
Resentment is likely from the road users.
Until there is enough space, undue congestion may result due to stopped
vehicles.
 2- License plate method
The entire area under study is cordoned out and the observers are
stationed at all points of entry and exit on all the routes leading to and
out of the area.
Registration numbers of the vehicles along with their entering or leaving
time are noted.
Separate recording sheets are maintained for each direction of
movement for a specified time interval.
After collecting the field data, major work remains of the office
computation and analysis, by tracing each vehicle number and its time of
entering and leaving the cordoned area.
This method is quite easy and quick as far as the field work is
concerned.
The method, however, involves a lot of office computations in tracing
the trip through a network of stations.
If there is no network of stations to take observations along the route of
the vehicles, it is not possible to get accurate information of the route
followed by the vehicles.
Hence a large number of teams are required to take simultaneous
observations when a large area is to be surveyed.
This method is advantageous when the area under consideration is small
like a large intersection or a small business centre.
 3- Return Post Card Method
Pre-paid business reply post cards with return address are distributed to
the road users at some selected points along the route or the cards are
mailed to the owners of vehicles.
The questionnaire to be filled in by the road user is printed on the card ,
along with a request for co-operation and purpose of study.
The distributing stations for the cards may be selected where vehicles
have to stop as in case of toll plaza.
Only a part of road users may return the cards after filling in the desired
details properly and correctly.
 the conclusions drawn in such cases may not give a true picture.
 4- Tag On Car Method
Pre-coded card is tied on the vehicle as it enters the area under study.
When the car leaves the study area, the tag is removed and time, station,
direction of travel and other observations are recorded on the tag.
Useful where traffic is heavy and moves continuously, but the method
gives only information regarding the points of entry and exit and the
time required to traverse the area.
 5- Home Interview Method
A random sample of about 10% of population is selected and the
residences are visited by the trained personnel who collect travel data
from each member of the house.
Detailed information regarding the trips made by the members is
obtained on the spot.
Details of delays are also collected.
The entire data collected may not be so reliable.
 Presentation of O and D data
1. Origin and destination tables are prepared showing number of
trips between different zones.
2. Desire lines are plotted. These are straight lines connecting the
origin points with destinations. The width of such desire lines is
drawn proportional to the number of trips in both directions.
the desire line density map easily enables to decide the actual desire
of road users and thus helps to find the necessity of a new road
facility or improving the existing facilities.
Desire Lines

Local Farms

Village

City City

Town
Thank You