Traffic Engineering Dr D K Parbat

UNIT I
FUNDAMENTALS OF TRAFFIC ENGINEERING
1.1 Traffic Engineering – Definition , Object and scope
1.2 Road user characteristics- Physical, Mental and emotional factors.
1.3 Vehicular Characteristics – Width, length, height, weight, speed, Efficiency of
breaks.
1.4 Road Characteristics – Gradient, Curve of a road, Design speed, Friction between
road and tyre surface
1.5 Reaction Time-Factors affecting reaction time, PIEV Theory.

 Traffic Engineering is an important aspect of all modes of transportation.

 Due to abundant growth in population and infrastructure development, there is urgent
need to pay the immediate attention to the certain issues like designing traffic control
device installations and modifications, including traffic signals, signs and pavement
marking.
 Also it is important for the safety of the vehicle users as well as pedestrians.
 Under traffic engineering….. The knowledge of performing various traffic surveys,
analyze and interpret the data and provide the solution in the form of traffic controlling
devices.

Definition ….
 Traffic engineering is that branch of engineering which is related with the
improvement of the traffic performance on the road network and terminals through
systematic traffic studies, scientific analysis and engineering applications.
 Traffic engineering includes planning and geometric design of roads in a systematic
manner as well as regulation and control of traffic also.
 Traffic engineering therefore deals with the application of scientific principles, tools,
techniques and findings for safe, rapid, economical and efficient movement of people
and goods

• The traffic in India and many developing countries of the world is heterogeneous in
nature.
• The available road space is occupied by different classes of vehicles with widely varying
characteristics.

The vehicles that share the same roadway space include….

a) Motorised vehicles like cars, buses, trucks, auto rikshaw, etc. and
b) Non motorised vehicles like pedal rikshaw hand carts, bullock/horse drawn vehicles

 Many of the urban roads are congested during peak hours, causing delay, accidents and
reduce travel speeds of vehicles.
 The problem becomes more complicated as the road space is shared by pedestrians also
on several roads.

 In India, unfortunately at the planning design stages, the pedestrians are not considered as
an element in road traffic.
Traffic Engineering Dr D K Parbat

 The pedestrian is often considered as intruder in the traffic stream by the drivers of
motorised traffic.
 Hence there is all significant possibility of accident with pedestrains.

Prof. Ress Blunden of California University has proposed a modified definition…….

“Traffic Engg. is the science of measuring traffic and travel, the study of the basic laws
relating to traffic flow and generation and application of this knowledge to the
professional practice of planning, designing and operating traffic systems to achieve safe
and efficient movement of persons and goods”

Objectives of Traffic Engineering:

Factual studies of traffic operations provide the foundation for developing methods for
improvement in general and for solving specific problems.
The basic objective of traffic engineering is…
1) To achieve efficient, free and rapid flow of traffic with minimum number of traffic
accidents.
2) To guide the road users in a proper and effective way during the travel
3) To maintain the proper conditions of vehicles.
4) To provide the safety to the road users.
5) To reduce the Time of Travel.
6) To improve the road side environment to have pleasure and satisfaction of travel.

SCOPE OF TRAFFIC ENGINEERING:

The study of traffic engineering may be divided into seven major areas, ….
1) Traffic characteristics
2) Traffic studies and analysis
3) Planning and analysis
4) Geometric design of roads
5) Traffic operations, regulation and control
6) Road safety aspects
7) Administration and management

Study of traffic characteristics is most essential for improvement of traffic facilities. It

varies according the road users, vehicles and psychology towards particular attention.
Traffic Studies to be carried out on the actual traffic include speed, volume, capacity,
origin and destination, parking and accidental studies
 Traffic planning is a separate phase for major highways like express ways , arterial
roads, parking facilities etc.
 All the aspects such cross section and roadway surface details, sight distance
requirement, horizontal and vertical alignment, intersections and parking facilities are
to be suitably designed for better performance.
 Traffic operations deal with regulations, control and holds the application of control
measures.
 Regulations may be in the form of laws and ordinances or other traffic regulatory
measures like speed limit.
Traffic Engineering Dr D K Parbat

 Installation of traffic control devices like signs, signals, islands and pavement
markings are common
TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS:
 ROAD USERS CHARACTRISTICS
 VEHICULAR CHARACTERISTICS
 ROAD CHARACTRISTICS

ROAD USERS CHARACTRISTICS

 The human element is involved in all actions of the road users either as pedestrian,
cyclist, cart driver or motorist.
 In this regard, physical , mental and emotional characteristics of human beings affect
their ability to operate motor vehicle safely
The various factors which affect human characteristics as road users may be classified
under four heads:
a) Physical
b) Mental
c) Psychological
d) Environmental

Physical Characteristics:
 The physical characteristics of the road users are vision, hearing, strength and the
general reaction to traffic situations.
 Vision plays the most important role of all these. These include the acuity of vision,
peripheral vision, eye movement , and depth judgment.
 Glare vision and glare recovery time of driver plays important role during the night time.
 The depth judgment is important for a driver in judging distance and speed of vehicles
and other objects ahead.
 Hearing helps the drivers in a way, though it is more important for pedestrians , cyclist
and motor cycle drivers….
 Strength is not an important factor in general, lack of strength may make parking
manoeuvres difficult, particulary for heavy vehicles…
 The reaction to traffic situations depends on the time required to perceive and
understand the traffic situation and to take the appropriate action.
 The temporary physical characteristics of the road users affecting their efficiency are
fatigue, alcohole drinking habit of driver, drugs use or illness etc.
 All this reduces alertness and increase the reaction time and also do affect the quality of
judgment in some situations.
MENTAL FACTORS
• Knowledge, skill, intelligence experience and literacy can affect the road user
characteristics.
• Knowledge of vehicle characteristics, traffic behaviour, driving practice, rules of roads
and psychology of road users will be quite useful for safe traffic operations.
• Reaction to certain traffic situations become more specific with experience.
• Understanding the traffic regulation and special instruction to road users and timely
reaction depends on intelligence and literacy.
Traffic Engineering Dr D K Parbat

Emotional Factors:
 These affect reaction to traffic situations of road users to a great extent.
 The emotional factors such as attentiveness, fear, anger superstition, impatience, general
attitude towards traffic and regulations and maturity also come under this category.
 Distractions by non-traffic events and worries reduce attentiveness to traffic situations.
 Dangerous actions are likely due to impatience.
 Some road users do not pay due regard to the traffic regulations and do not have the
right attitude towards the traffic.

VEHICULAR CHARACTERISTICS
• It is important to study the various vehicular characteristics which affect the design of
the road facilities and the traffic performance of the road….
• The vehicular characteristics affecting road design may be classified as …
1) Static Characteristics
2) Dynamic Characteristics
Static characteristics of vehicles affecting road design are the relevant dimensions,
maximum turning angle and total weight.
The height of driver seat affects the visibility distance and the height of head light affects
the head light sight distance at valley curves.
 The area of vision visible ahead to driver also depends on the design of wind shield and
the front portion of the vehicle body.
 The clearance below the chassis, approach affect the design of vertical profile of drive
way, humps and dips.
 Gross weight , axle and wheel loads of the vehicle govern the structural design of
pavement and CD works.
 The stability of vehicle and its safe movement on horizontal curves are affected by the
width of wheel base and the height of center of gravity.
 The riding comfort on vertical curves depends on the design of suspension system of the
vehicle.
 The impact characteristics on collision depend on bumper and body of vehicle.
Some of the important static and dynamic characteristics of road vehicles to be
considered in traffic engineering are …….
i) Vehicle dimensions
ii) Weight of loaded vehicles
iii) Length and width of vehicles
iv) Weight of loaded vehicles
v) Power of vehicle
vi) Speed of vehicle
vii) Braking characteristics

Vehicle dimensions:
 The dimensions of vehicle i.e. its length, width and height significantly controls the
design of highway.
 (particularly larger vehicles)
 The width of vehicle affects the width of the traffic lanes, shoulders and parking
facilities.
Traffic Engineering Dr D K Parbat

 If the width of the lanes is not sufficient due to wider vehicles , the capacity of the road
will decrease significantly.
 The length of vehicle and length of wheel base are important in the design of horizontal
alignment specially at horizontal curves, the minimum turning radius, safe overtaking
distance, capacity of the road and the parking facility
 Height of the vehicle affects the clearance to be provided under structures like over
bridges, under bridges, electric and other service lines and overhead gantries etc.
Weight of loaded vehicles :
 The maximum weight of loaded vehicle and the load on the wheels and axles affect the
design of pavement thickness and gradients.

Speed of Vehicle :
 The speed of vehicle affect the design of …. Sight distances, super elevation, length of
curve and limiting radius on horizontal curves . The speed of vehicle also affect design
gradient, capacity of traffic lane, control measures at the intersection.
Breaking Characteristics :
 The deceleration (reduction in speed) and breaking characteristics of vehicles depend on
the design and type of braking system (i.e. mechanical, fluid or air brake etc. ) and its
efficiency.
 The safety of vehicle operation, stopping distance and the spacing between the two
consecutive vehicles in a traffic system are affected by the the efficiency of the braking
system.

ROAD CHARACTERISTICS
Curves of Road:
• Horizontal curves of highways are generally designed for the specified ruling design
speed of the highway.
• If this is not possible due to site restrictions, the horizontal curves may designed
considering the specified min. design speed.
Gradient of Road:
 The natural ground or the topography may be level at some places, but may have slopes
of varying magnitudes at other locations.
 While aligning a highway it is the common practice to follow the general topography or
profile of land, keeping in view the drainage and other requirements of road.
 In order to have smooth vehicle movements on the roads, the changes in the gradient
should be smoothened out by the vertical curves.
Design Speed :
• The design speed is the main factor on which geometric design elements depends.
• These geometric elements may by sight distances, radius on horizontal curve, length of
curve, rate of superelevation, widening of pavement, length of summit and valley curve.
The design speed of roads depends on ….
i) Class of road
ii) Type of topography
The speed standards of a particular class of road thus depend on the classification of the terrain
(plain, rolling, mountainous and steep) through which it passes.
Friction between road and Tyre Surface:
Traffic Engineering Dr D K Parbat

 The pavement surface depends on the pavement type.

 The pavement surface type is decided based on the availability of materials and funds,
volume and composition of traffic, subgrade, and climatic conditions, construction
facilities and cost consideration.
 The friction or “skid resistance” between vehicle tyre and pavement surface is one of the
factors determining the operating speed and the minimum distance required for stopping
the vehicle.
 The skid resistance is important for the safety of vehicle as well as passengers.
“skid” occurs when the wheels slides without revolving or rotating or when the wheels
partially revolve. i.e., when the path travelled along the road surface is more than the
circumferential movements of the wheels due to their rotation.
• “Slip” occurs when a wheel revolves more than the corresponding longitudinal
movement along the roads.
• Slipping usually occurs in the driving wheel of a vehicle when the vehicle rapidly
accelerates from stationary position or from slow speed on pavement surface which is
either slippery or wet or when the road surface is loose with mud.

TOTAL REACTION TIME OF DRIVER

“Reaction time of the driver is the time taken from the instant the object is visible to the
driver to the instant the brakes are effectively applied.”
The actual time gap or the reaction time of the driver depends on several factors.
 During this period of time the vehicle travels a certain distance at the original speed,
which may be assumed to be the design speed of the road.
 The total reaction time, “t” may be split into two parts :
1) Perception Time
2) Brake reaction Time.
Perception Time :
• The “perception time” is the time required for a driver to realise that brakes must be
applied. It is the time instant the object comes on the line of sight of the driver to the
instant he realises that the vehicle needs to be stopped.
• The perception time varies from driver to driver and also depends on several other
factors.
Brake Reaction Time :
 The brake reaction time also depends on several factors including the skill of the driver,
the type of the problems and various other environmental factors.
 Generally total reaction time of the driver is taken together, as this is found to vary
considerably depending on several factors.

“PIEV” Theory :
According to “PIEV” theory, the total reaction time of the driver is split into four
parts….
1) Perception
2) Intellection
3) Emotion
4) Volition
Traffic Engineering Dr D K Parbat

• Perception Time is the time required for the sensations received by the eyes or ears of
the driver to be transmitted to the brain the through the nervous system and spinal cord.
In other words, it is the time required to perceive an object or situation.
• Intellection Time is the time required for the driver to understand the situation. It is also
the time required for comparing the different thoughts, regrouping and registering new
sensations.
• Emotion time is the time elapsed during emotional sensations and other mental
disturbance such as fear, anger or any other emotional feelings with reference to the
situation. It varies for different drivers.
• Volition Time is the time taken by the driver for the final action, such as brake
application. It is possible that the driver may apply brakes or take any other avoiding
action like turning, by “reflex action” without the normal thinking process.