CIE 128: Principles of Transportation Engineering

Student Activity Sheet #4

Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Class number: ________

Section: ____________ Schedule: _________________________________________________ Date: _________________

Lesson title: Stopping Sight Distance for Horizontal Surfaces Materials:

Learning Targets: Calculator, Pen, Paper
At the end of the module, students will be able to:
1. Illustrate the stopping sight distance. References:
2. Distinguish between reaction distance and braking Mannering, F.L. Principles of Highway
distance. Engineering and Traffic Analysis. USA: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
O’Flaherty, C.A. (1997). Transport Planning
and Traffic Engineering. Burlington, Canada:
Elsevier Ltd

A. LESSON PREVIEW/REVIEW
1) Introduction

Hello! We are already done with the introduction of transportation engineering. Now, you will be taught
aboutsight distance. Have you ever tried driving a vehicle? The length of roadway visible to you is what
we call the sight distance. Sight distances are particularly important in areas where pedestrians and
bicyclists are known tocross the road. Specifically, we will focus on stopping sight distance for today’s
lesson.
2) Activity 1: What I Know Chart, Part 1

What I Know Questions What I Learned (Activity 4)

1. What is stopping sight

distance?

2. Why is it important to
solve for the stopping
sight distance?

B. MAIN LESSON
1) Activity 2: Content Notes
Insufficient sight distance and limited forward visibility can adversely affect safety and increases the risk
of acollision by reducing reaction and stopping distances. Adequate sight distance provides drivers with
sufficient time to identify and appropriately react to all elements of the road environment, including other
road users and hazards. Sight distances are particularly important in areas where pedestrians and
bicyclists are known to crossthe road.

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 CIE 128: Principles of Transportation Engineering
Student Activity Sheet #4

Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Class number: ________

Section: ____________ Schedule: _________________________________________________ Date: _________________

Sight Distance – is the length of roadway visible to the driver.

Stopping Sight Distance (SSD) – is the minimum sight distance available on a highway at any spot
having sufficient length to enable the driver to stop a vehicle traveling at design speed, safely without
collision with anyother obstruction.

Factors affecting Stopping Sight Distance (SSD):

• Total reaction time of driver

• Speed of vehicle
• Efficiency of Brakes
• Frictional resistance between road and tire.
• Gradient of road

Total reaction time of driver - it is the time taken from the instant the object is visible to the driver to
the instant the brake is effectively applied, it divided into two types:
1. Perception Reaction Time
- It is the time from the instant the object comes on the line of sight of the driver to the instant
he realizes that the vehicle needs to be stopped.
2. Brake Reaction Time
- The brake reaction depends on several factor including the skill of the driver, the type of the
problems and various other environment factor.

PIEV Theory was proposed to provide detailed account of driver’s reaction. PIEV is the amount of time
it takes a driver to react to a hazard. Total reaction time of driver is split into four parts:
1. Perception
- Is the time required for the sensations received by the eyes or ears of the driver to be
transmitted to the brain through the nervous system and spinal cord or it is the time
requiredto perceive an object or situation.
2. Intellection
- Is the time required for the driver to understand the situation, it is also the time required
for comparing the different thoughts.
3. Emotion
- Is the time elapsed during emotional sensational and other mental disturbance such as
fear, anger or any other emotional feeling superstition.
4. Volition
- Is the time taken by the driver for the final action such as brake application.

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 CIE 128: Principles of Transportation Engineering
Student Activity Sheet #4

Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Class number: ________

Section: ____________ Schedule: _________________________________________________ Date: _________________

Stopping Sight Distance for Horizontal Surfaces

𝐻𝑎𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑑

𝑉𝑡
2𝑔(𝑓 + 𝐺)

𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 𝑉𝑡

𝑉2
𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 =
2𝑔(𝑓 + 𝐺)

where,
𝑉 = velocity in meters/sec.
𝑡 = perception-reaction time
𝑓 = coefficient of friction between tires and pavements
𝐺 = average grade of roadway

Reaction Distance
- The distance a vehicle travels from the moment a driver sees the object until the driver applies brakes.

Braking Distance
- The distance a vehicle travels from the moment the brakes are applied until the vehicle come to a
complete stop.

Note: Usually 2.5 seconds is used as Brake Reaction Time or Perception-Reaction Time.

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 CIE 128: Principles of Transportation Engineering
Student Activity Sheet #4

Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Class number: ________

Section: ____________ Schedule: _________________________________________________ Date: _________________

Sample Problems:

Problem 1
Determine the minimum stopping sight distance on a -3.5% grade for a design speed of 110 kph. Coefficientof
friction between tires and pavement is 0.28. Driver’s reaction time (including perception time) is 2.5 sec.

Solution:

110
𝑉= = 30.56 m/s
3.6
(30.56)2
𝑆 = 30.56(2.5) +
2(9.81)(0.28 − 0.035)

𝑺 = 𝟐𝟕𝟎. 𝟔𝟗 𝐦

Problem 2
While descending a -7% grade at a speed of 90 km/h, George notices a large object in the roadway ahead of
him. Without thinking about any alternatives, George stabs his brakes and begins to slow down. Assuming that
George is so paralyzed with fear that won’t engage in an avoidance maneuver, calculate the minimum distance
at which George must have seen the object in order to avoid colliding with it. You can assume that theroadway
surface is concrete and that the surface is wet (coefficient of friction is 0.29). You can also assume that George
has a brake reaction time of 0.9 seconds because he is always alert on this stretch of the road.

Solution:

90
𝑉= = 25 m/s
3.6
(25)2
𝑆 = 25(0.9) +
2(9.81)(0.29 − 0.07)

𝑺 = 𝟏𝟔𝟕. 𝟐𝟗𝟕 𝐦

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 CIE 128: Principles of Transportation Engineering
Student Activity Sheet #4

Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Class number: ________

Section: ____________ Schedule: _________________________________________________ Date: _________________

2) Activity 3: Skill-building Activities

Problem 1
A car traveling at 70 kph requires 48 m to stop after the brakes have been applied. What average
coefficient of friction was developed between the tires and the pavement.

Problem 2
A vehicle moving at 80 kph up a 4% incline was stopped by applying brakes. If the coefficient of
friction between the tires and the pavement is 0.30, compute the distance traveled by the vehicle before
it stopped.

Problem 3
Vehicles often travel city streets adjacent to parking lanes at 56 kph or faster. At his speed and setting
detection through response-initiation time for an alert driver at 2 sec and f = 0.50, how far must the
driver be away from a suddenly opened car door to avoid striking it?

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 CIE 128: Principles of Transportation Engineering
Student Activity Sheet #4

Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Class number: ________

Section: ____________ Schedule: _________________________________________________ Date: _________________

3) Activity 4: What I Know Chart, Part 2

Proceed to What I Know Chart for this part.

4) Activity 5: Check for Understanding

What are the factors that affect stopping sight distance?

C. LESSON WRAP-UP
1) Activity 6: Thinking about Learning

A. Work Tracker

You are done with this session! Let’s track your progress. Shade the session number you just
completed.
P1 P2 P3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

KEY TO CORRECTIONS:
Activity 3
1. 0.40
2. 74.01 m
3. 55.80 m

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