HGT Speed Management

SPEED MANAGEMENT
Speed is at the core of the road traffic injury problem. More particularly, excessive or inappropriate
speed is a key risk factor for road traffic collisions, deaths and injuries. Excessive speed is when a
vehicle exceeds the posted limit for the particular type of road. Inappropriate speed is when a
vehicle travels in a speed that is unsuitable for the prevailing road, weather and/or traffic conditions,
but within the speed limits. Speed Management is the most important aspect of promoting Road
Safety. A 10% reduction in the average speed results in almost 40% of fatalities on rural roads and a
little less in urban roads. While those travelling in vehicles are much more likely to be injured in
both frontal and side impact collisions when travelling at high speeds, the relationship between
speed and injury severity is particularly critical for road users who are “vulnerable”, i.e. pedestrians,
cyclists and motorcyclists, as well as for children and the elderly.
The higher the speed of a vehicle the greater the stopping distance required, and hence the
increased risk of a road traffic crash. For instance, when travelling at 80 km/h on a dry road, it takes
around 21 metres to react to an event (the distance travelled during a reaction time of
approximately 1 second) and a total of 96 metres to come to a standstill, while at 50 km/h, it takes
around 15 metres to react to an event, and a total of 53 metres to come to a standstill (see Figure ).
The latter speed would allow a vehicle to stop in time, successfully avoiding a crash.
DRIVING TASK MODEL:

Driving comprises many sub-tasks, some of which must be performed simultaneously. The three
major sub-tasks are:
1. Control: Keeping the vehicle at a desired speed and heading within the lane;
2. Guidance: Interacting with other vehicles (following, passing, merging, etc.) by maintaining a
safe following distance and by following markings, traffic control signs, and signals; and,
3. Navigation: Following a path from origin to destination by reading guide signs and using
landmarks.
Each of these major sub-tasks involves observing different information sources and various levels of
decision-making. The hierarchical relationship is based on the complexity and primacy of each
subtask to the overall driving task. The navigation task is the most complex of the subtasks, while the
control sub-task forms the basis for conducting the other driving tasks. The nature of complexity and
primacy of the Driving Task Model is illustrated below:
Driver attention and ability to process information is limited. These limitations can create difficulties
because driving requires the division of attention between control tasks, guidance tasks, and
navigational tasks. While attention can be switched rapidly from one information source to another,
drivers only attend well to one source at a time. For example, drivers can only extract a small
proportion of the available information from the road scene. It has been estimated that more than
one billion units of information, each equivalent to the answer to a single yes or no question, are
directed at the sensory system in one second. On average, humans are expected to consciously
recognize only 16 units of information in one second. To account for limited information processing
capacity while driving, drivers subconsciously determine acceptable information loads they can
manage. When drivers’ acceptable incoming information load is exceeded, they tend to neglect
other information based on level of importance. As with decision making of any sort, error is
possible during this process. A driver may neglect a piece of information that turns out to be critical,
while another less-important piece of information was retained.
As is clear from this discussion, perception-reaction time is not a fixed value. It is dependent on
driver vision, conspicuity of a traffic control device or objects ahead, the complexity of the response
required, and the urgency of that response. A central aspect of traffic safety is driver speed choice.
While speed limits influence driver speed choice, these are not the only or the most important
influences. Drivers select speed using perceptual and “road message” cues. Understanding these
cues can help establish self-regulating speeds with minimal or no enforcement.
STRATEGIES FOR THE SPEED MANAGEMENT:

Speed management needs to employ a range of strategies which include setting and enforcing
appropriate laws, modifying roadways and adapting vehicles, etc. for speed management:
 i. Building or modifying roads to include features that calm traffic;

 ii. Establishing speed limits appropriate to the function of each road;
 iii. Enforcing speed limits;
 iv. Installing in-vehicle technologies;
 v. Raising awareness about the dangers of speeding; and
 Vi. Traffic control and operational elements.
i. Building or modifying roads to include features that calm traffic: “Traffic

Calming” refers to a combination of network planning and engineering measures
for ensuring road safety. Calming means low speeds, primarily 30 km/hour. Best
practice suggests that when motorized traffic mixes with pedestrians and
cyclists, travelling speeds should be under 30 km/hour. Speeds higher than this
should be permitted only when the roadsides are safe, median separation exists,
intersections are designed appropriately and different road users are separated.
ii. Establishing speed limits appropriate to the function of each road: The safe
speed for the roads with intersections where side-on collisions between vehicles
are very much possible could be arrived as 50 km/hour. In addition, drivers
should be informed of limits through sign-posting the legal speed limit on roads
and rigorously enforcing the law.
iii. Enforcing speed limits: Manual speed control usually involves a stationary
observation unit (a marked or unmarked police car) equipped with a speed
measurement device, and, further down the road, another police unit tasked
with stopping the speeding vehicle and issuing a fine to the driver. Automated
speed control uses fixed and mobile cameras which may either be visible (overt)
or hidden (covert). Evidence has shown that enforcement through the use of
automated speed control is most effective at reducing speeds.
iv. Installing in-vehicle technologies: Intelligent speed assistance (ISA) can help
improve drivers’ compliance with speed limits by alerting them when they are
travelling above the posted speed limit. The standard ISA system uses an in-
vehicle digital road map onto which speed limits have been coded, combined
with a satellite positioning system. ISA is part of the ‘second wave’ of active
safety measures – using cutting-edge technology such as on-board sensors,
radar, cameras, GPS and lasers – that is being fitted to passenger cars. Active
safety technology can prevent accidents from happening altogether or at least
actively help the driver to reduce the impact of an emergency situation. Active
systems give the driver more control in dangerous situations. To that end,
various safety systems constantly monitor the performance and surroundings of
a vehicle. It should be noted that the variant of ISA that is going to be mandatory
in the European Union as of 2022 can be switched off and is overridable.
v. Raising awareness about the dangers of speeding: Together with other

‘behavioural’ measures (e.g., law enforcement, education, training, and even
infrastructure to some extent) road safety campaigns are used as a means of
influencing the public to behave more safely in traffic. Road safety campaigns
can be defined as purposeful attempts to inform, persuade, and motivate a
population (or sub-group of a population) to change its attitudes and/or
behaviours to improve road safety, using organised communications involving
specific media channels within a given time period. It can have many and
multiple purposes, such as informing the public of new or little known traffic
rules, increasing problem awareness or convincing people to refrain from
hazardous behaviours and adopting safe ones instead.
vi. Traffic control and operational elements: Provision of advance static warning
signs, warning flashers, warning beacons, additional pedestrian signs and
modification of pavement color for bicycle crossings, construction of speed
humps and installation of rumble strips could limit the speed of vehicle to
certain extent. Transverse rumble strips have been used as part of traffic
calming or speed management programs, in work zones, and in advance of toll
plazas, intersections, railroad-highway grade crossings, bridges and tunnels.

HGT Speed Management

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

HGT Speed Management

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

HGT Speed Management

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

SPEED MANAGEMENT

DRIVING TASK MODEL:

STRATEGIES FOR THE SPEED MANAGEMENT:

 i. Building or modifying roads to include features that calm traffic;

 iii. Enforcing speed limits;

 iv. Installing in-vehicle technologies;

 v. Raising awareness about the dangers of speeding; and

 Vi. Traffic control and operational elements.

i. Building or modifying roads to include features that calm traffic: “Traffic

v. Raising awareness about the dangers of speeding: Together with other

You might also like