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Speed Studies Handout - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or view presentation slides online. Speed and travel time studies were conducted to analyze vehicle speeds and delays.
This document describes a laboratory activity for a Highway Engineering course involving a running speed study. Students will use a moving vehicle technique to collect travel time and delay data along a test route. The objective is to evaluate traffic movement and delays.
Running speed is calculated by dividing the total distance by the total running time for the route. Each observer records the last three or four digits of the plate number of each car that passes, together with the time at which the car passes.
An alternative methodology for conducting a speed test run is the floating car method, i.e., following cars and recording their speeds or journey times through the study area. This method allows an assessment of a driver's free-flow speed, and not the desired speed of the person conducting the survey (as this might differ from the general ...
To calculate vehicle speed, use the predetermined study length and the elapsed time it took the vehicle to move through the course (as recorded on the stopwatch data form) in the following formula (Robertson 1994):
Spot speeds are useful to study paints of congestion, for locating traffic signals, or for enforcing speed limits. Running speeds are useful to assess the traffic capacity of highways.
These are compared from point to point along the route, and the difference in time values, through use of synchronized watches, is computed. This method requires careful and time-consuming office work and does not show locations, causes, frequency, or duration of delay. Four basic methods are:
