SPOT SPEED STUDIES

Speed

 The ratio of distance travelled to time of travel.

 As speed defines the distance travelled by user in a given time, and this is a vibrant in every
traffic movement. In other words speed of movement is the ratio of distance travelled to time
of travel. The actual speed of traffic flow over a given route may fluctuated widely, as because
at each time the volume of traffic varies.

Spot Speed

 The instantaneous speed of a vehicle at any specific location.

 When we measure the traffic parameter over a short distance, we generally measure the spot
speed. A spot speed is made by measuring the individual speeds of a sample of the vehicle
passing a given spot on a street or highway. Spot speed studies are used to determine the
speed distribution of a traffic stream at a specific location. The data gathered in spot speed
studies are used to determine vehicle speed percentiles, which are useful in making many
speed-related decisions. Spot speed data have a number of safety applications, including the
following:

o Speed trends
o Traffic control planning
o Accidental analysis
o Geometric design
o Research studies

METHODS OF MEASUREMENT

 Divided into two main categories: Manual & Automatic.

 May be estimated by manually measuring the time it takes a vehicle to travel between two
defined points on the roadway a known distance apart (short distance), usually less than 90m.
 Distance between two points is generally depending upon the average speed of traffic stream.
Following tables gives recommended study length (in meters) for various average stream
speed ranges (in kmph):

Stream Speed (kmph) Length (m)

below 15 30

15 -25 60

above 25 90

Following are the some methods to measure spot speed of vehicles in a traffic stream, in which first
two are manual methods and other are automatic:
Pavement Markings

Markings of pavement are placed across the road at each end of trap. Observer start and stops
the watch as vehicle passes lines. In this method, minimum two observers required to collect the data,
of which one is stand at the starting point to start and stop the stop watch and other one is stand at
end point to give indication to stop the watch when vehicle passes the end line. Advantages of this
method are that after the initial installation no set-up time is required, markings are easily renewed,
and disadvantage of this is that substantial error can be introduced, and magnitude of error may
change for substitute studies and this method is only applicable for low traffic conditions.

Enoscope or Mirror Box

Enoscope consists of a simple open housing containing a mirror mounted on a tripod at the
side of the road in such a way that an observer's line of sight turned through 90o. Advantages of this
method are that it simple and eliminate the errors due to parallax and considerable time is required
to time each vehicle, which lengthen the study period and under heavy traffic condition it may be
difficult to relate ostentatious to proper vehicle are the disadvantages of enoscope method.

Road Detector (Pressure Contact Strips)

Pressure contact strips, either pneumatic or electric, can be used to avoid error due to parallax
and due to manually starting and stopping the chronometer or stopwatch.

Doppler-Principle Meters (Radar)

This is recently developed method, it automatically records speed, employs a radar

transmitter-receiver unit. The apparatus transmits high frequency electromagnetic waves in a narrow
beam towards the moving vehicle, and reflected waves changed their length depending up on the
vehicles speed and returned to the receiving unit, through calibration gives directly spot speed of the
vehicle.

Electronic-Principle Detectors (Photography)

In this method a camera records the distance moved by a vehicle in a selected short time. In
this exposure of photograph should be in a constant time interval and the distance travelled by the
vehicle is measured by projecting the films during the exposure interval. The main advantage of
method that, it gives a permanent record with 100% sample obtained. This method is quite expensive
and generally used in developed cities. In this we can use video recorder which give more accurate
result.

DATA PRESENTATION

From the above methods, the collected data have to present into the some representable
form, this makes its calculation and analysis simpler and easier. The following methods to present the
spot speed data:

o Frequency Distribution Table

After the collection of data in the given conditions, arrange the spot speed values in order to
their magnitudes. Then select an interval speed (e.g. 5 kmph) and make grouping of data which
come under this range.

o Frequency Distribution Curve

For each speed group, the % frequency of observations within the group is plotted versus the
middle (mid-mark) speed of the group(s).

o Cumulative Frequency Distribution Curve

For each speed group, the % cumulative frequency of observations is plotted versus the higher
limit of the speed group.

DISTRIBUTION CHARACTERISTICS

Common descriptive statistics may be computed from the data in the frequency distribution
table or determined graphically from the frequency and cumulative frequency distribution curves.
These statistics are used to describe two important characteristics of the distribution:

o Measure of Central Tendency

Measure which helps to describe the approximate middle or center of the distribution.
Measures of central tendency include the average or mean speed, the median speed, the modal
speed, and the pace.
o Mean Speed

The arithmetic (or harmonic) average speed is the most frequently used speed statistics. It is
the measure of central tendency of the data. Mean calculated gives two kinds of mean speeds.

o Median Speed

The median speed is defined as the speed that divides the distribution in to equal parts (i.e.,
there are as many observations of speeds higher than the median as there are lower than the
median). It is a positional value and is not affected by the absolute value of extreme observations.
By definition, the median equally divides the distribution. Therefore, 50% of all observed speeds
should be less than the median. In the cumulative frequency curve, the 50th percentile speed is
the median of the speed distribution. Median Speed = v50

o Pace

The pace is a traffic engineering measure not commonly used for other statistical analyses. It
is defined as the 10Km/h increment in speed in which the highest percentage of drivers is
observed. It is also found graphically using the frequency distribution curve. As shown in fig 6.5.
The pace is found as follows: A 10 Km/h template is scaled from the horizontal axis. Keeping this
template horizontal, place an end on the lower left side of the curve and move slowly along the
curve. When the right side of the template intersects the right side of the curve, the pace has been
located. This procedure identifies the 10 Km/h increments that intersect the peak of the curve;
this contains the most area and, therefore, the highest percentage of vehicles.

o Modal Speed

The mode is defined as the single value of speed that is most likely to occur. As no discrete
values were recorded, the modal speed is also determined graphically from the frequency
distribution curve. A vertical line is dropped from the peak of the curve, with the result found on
the horizontal axis.
MEASURE OF DISPERSION

Measures describe the extent to which data spreads around the center of the distribution. Measures
of dispersion include the different percentile speeds i.e. 15th, 85th,etc. and the standard deviation.

o Standard Deviation

The most common statistical measure of dispersion in a distribution is the standard deviation.
It is a measure of how far data spreads around the mean value. In simple terms, the standard
deviation is the average value of the difference between individual observations and the average
value of those observations. The Standard deviation of the sample can be calculated by

DATA ANALYSIS

o Standard Error of the mean

The means of different sample taken from the same population are distributed normally about
the true mean of population with a standard deviation, is known as standard error.

o Sample Size

Generally, sample sizes of 50 to 200 vehicles are taken. In that case, standard error of mean
is usually under the acceptable limit. If precision is prior then minimum no. of sample should be
taken, that can be measured by using the following equation.

o Precision and Confidence Intervals

Confidence intervals express the range within which a result for the whole population would
occur for a particular proportion of times an experiment or test was repeated among a sample of
the population. Confidence interval is a standard way of articulate the statistical accuracy of an
experiment based assessment. If assess has a high error level, the equivalent confidence interval
will be ample, and the less confidence we can have that the experiment results depict the situation
among the whole population. When quoting confidence It is common to refer to the some
confidence interval around an experiment assessment or test result. So, the confidence interval
for estimated true mean speed can be calculated by
Example:

Using the spot speed data given in the following table, collected from a freeway site operating under
free-flow conditions: (i) Plot the frequency and cumulative frequency curves for these data; (ii) Obtain
median speed, modal speed, and pace from these plots; (iii) Compute the mean and standard
deviation of the speed distribution; (iv) The confidence bounds on the estimate of the true mean
speed of the underlying distribution with 95% confidence? With 99.7% confidence; and (v) Based on
these results, compute the sample size needed to achieve a tolerance of +_ 1.5 kmph with 95%
confidence.

Speed Range Frequency

21-25 2

26-30 6

31-35 18

36-40 25

41-45 19

46-50 16

51-55 17

56-60 12

61-65 7

66-70 4

71-75 3

76-80 1
Solution:

For the spot speed study, first draw a frequency distribution table show below.

1. Frequency Distribution Curve

2. Cumulative Frequency Distribution Curve

3. Mean is calculated by using

Standard Deviation of the Speed

4. The confidence bounds on the estimate of the true mean speed of the underlying distribution
are:

 For 95% confidence, Z= 1.96, so

 For 99.7% confidence, Z= 3.0, so

5. Sample size required for 95% confidence with acceptable error of 1.5 kmph

SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS

PARAMETER VALUE

Median speed 43 kmph

Modal speed 38 kmph

Pace 33-43 kmph

Mean speed 45.77 kmph

Standard Deviation 11.7 kmph

85th percentile speed 58 kmph

15th percentile speed 32 kmph

98th percentile Speed 72 kmph

CONFIDENCE INTERVAL

For 95%. 45.77±22.93 kmph

For 99.7% 45.77±±25.1 kmph

Required sample Size 234

 VOLUME STUDIES

Traffic Volume

o Number of vehicles passing a specific reference point on a road section within a specified
period of time.
o TYPICAL UNITS:
veh/hr (hourly traffic)
veh/day (daily traffic)
veh/year (annually traffic)

METHODS OF MEASUREMENT

Manual Method

o One or more persons manually counting observed vehicles using manual data collection or
using a counter.
o For manual, it could cover small samples only and time periods less than a day.
o Types of Manual Method: Counting and Record in Counting Form, Electronic Counting Board

Automatic Method

o Consists of two parts, a detection device and a counting that laying on road
surface/subsurface and recording device.
o Automatic Method, it could cover large samples unlike manual and time period more than a
day.
o Types of Automatic Method: Pneumatic Detector, Radar Detector

TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDIES MEASURES

Daily Volumes

o Used to document annual trends in highway usage.

o Planning activities, such as developing freeway systems or arterial street system; and selecting
best route for a new facility.
o Evaluating the present traffic flow.
o To compute accident rates.
o Establishment of traffic volume trends.

DAILY VOLUMES PARAMETERS

Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT)

o An average 24 hours traffic volume over a full year (365 days).

𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ+𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ

AADT =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑁𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑎𝑦𝑠
Average Daily Traffic (ADT)

o An average 24 hours traffic volume for some period of time less than a year.
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑠)
ADT = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ (𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠)

Annual Average Weekly Traffic (AAWT)

o The average 24-hour volume occurring on weekdays over full 365-day year.

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟

AAWT = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠

Average Weekly Traffic (AWT)

o The average 24-hour weekday volume at a given location over a defined time period less
than one year.

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑠)

AWT = 𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ (𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠)

EXAMPLE:

The following Table contains two sets of one week traffic counts data obtained using Pneumatic
detector at a point on a stretch of rural road in Malaysia. Referring to the table:

i. Compute ADT for both datasets.

ii. Compute AWT for both datasets.
iii. Estimate the AADT for the road section.

Day June 2014 (veh/day) December 2014 (veh/day)

Monday 12500 14500

Tuesday 10500 12000

Wednesday 12200 11050

Thursday 13400 13500

Friday 13000 14000

Saturday 14500 15500

Sunday 13500 15000

89600 95550
o ADT

For the month of June:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑠) 89600
ADT = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ (𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠)
= 7
= 12800 veh/day

For the month of December:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑠) 95550
ADT = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ (𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠)
= 7
= 13650 veh/day

o AWT

For the month of June:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑠) 61600

AWT = 𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ (𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠)
= 5
= 12320 veh/day

For the month of December:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑠) 65050

AWT = 𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ (𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠)
= 5
= 13010 veh/day

o AADT

For the both month:

𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ+𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ
AADT = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑁𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑎𝑦𝑠
89600+95550
= 14

AADT = 13225