CHAPTER 3

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
DRIVER. THE PEDESTRIAN,
THE VEHICLE. AND THE ROAD

Prepared by: ME. Abdul Karim Pouya

Asia Higher Education Institute
INTRODUCTION
Components of highway mode of transportation
 Thefour main components of the highway
mode of transportation are the driver, the
pedestrian, the vehicle, and the road.

 Thebicycle is also becoming an important

component in the design of urban highways
and streets.
INTRODUCTION
Importance of knowledge of characteristics
 To provide efficient and safe highway transportation,
a knowledge of the characteristics and limitations of
each of these components is essential.
 It is also important to be aware of the
interrelationships that exist among these
components in order to determine the effects, if any,
that they have on each other.
 Their characteristics are also of primary importance
when traffic engineering measures such as traffic
control devices are to be used in the highway mode.
DRIVER CHARACTERISTICS
Introduction
 One problem that faces traffic and transportation
engineers is:
 the varying skills and perceptual abilities of
drivers on the highway, demonstrated by a wide range
of abilities to
➢ hear,
➢ see,
➢ evaluate, and
➢ react to information.
 Studies have shown that these abilities may also
vary in an individual under different conditions,
such as:
✓ the influence of alcohol,
✓ fatigue, and
✓ the time of day.
THE HUMAN RESPONSE PROCESS
 Actions taken by drivers on a road result from
their evaluation of and reaction to
information they obtain from certain stimuli
that they see or hear.
 However, evaluation and reaction must be
carried out within a very short time, as the
information being received along the highways
is continually changing.
 It has been suggested that most of the
information received by a driver is visual,
implying that the ability to see is of
fundamental importance in the driving task.
 VISUAL RECEPTION

 The principal characteristics of the eye are;

✓ Visual acuity

✓ Peripheral vision,

✓ Color vision,

✓ Glare vision and recovery and

✓ Depth perception ‫إ‬

VISUAL RECEPTION- VISUAL ACUITY
VISUAL RECEPTION- VISUAL ACUITY
 The driver's ability to clearly detect Static objects, depends on
the driver’s static visual acuity.

 The driver's ability to clearly detect relatively moving objects,

depends on the driver's dynamic visual acuity.

 Most people have:

 clear vision within a conical angle of 3 to 5 degrees
 and fairly clear vision within a conical angle of 10 to 12 degrees.
 Vision beyond this range is usually blurred (unclear).
 This is important when the location of traffic information
devices is considered.
 Drivers will see clearly those devices that are within the 12
degree cone, but objects outside this cone will be blurred.
 VISUAL RECEPTION- PERIPHERAL VISION

 Peripheral vision is the ability of people to see objects

beyond the cone of clearest vision.
 Although objects can be seen within this zone,
details and color are not clear.
 The cone for peripheral vision could be one
subtending up to 160 degrees; this value is affected
by the speed of the vehicle.
 Age also influences peripheral vision.
For instance, at about age 60, a significant change occurs in
a person's peripheral vision.
VISUAL RECEPTION- COLOR VISION

 Color vision is the ability to differentiate one

color from another,
 It is not of great significance in highway driving
because other ways of recognizing traffic information
devices (e.g., shape) can compensate for it.
 Combinations of black and white and black and
yellow have been shown to be those to which the
eye is most sensitive.
GLARE VISION AND RECOVERY

 Glare Vision Occurs when the image reflected by

the relatively bright light appears in the field of
vision.
 Glare result in a decrease of visibility and cause
discomfort to the eyes.
 It is also known that age has a significant effect
on the sensitivity to glare, and that at about age
40, a significant change occurs in a person's
sensitivity to glare..
GLARE VISION AND RECOVERY

 The time required by a person to recover from the

effects of glare after passing the light source is
known as glare recovery.
 Studies have shown that this time is about:
 3 seconds when moving from dark to light and
 can be 6 seconds or more when moving from light to
dark.
 Glare vision is of great importance during night
driving; it contributes to the problem of serving
older people, who see much more poorly at night.
 This phenomenon should be taken into account in
the design and location of street lighting so that
glare effects are reduced to a minimum.
 DEPTH PERCEPTION

 Depth perception affects the ability of a person to

estimate speed and distance.
 Itis particularly important on two-lane highways
during passing maneuvers, when head-on crashes
may result from a lack of proper judgment of speed
and distance.
 The human eye is not very good at estimating
absolute values of speed, distance, size, and
acceleration.
 This is why traffic control devices are standard in
size, shape, and color.
PERCEPTION-REACTION PROCESS
The process through which a driver, cyclist, or pedestrian
evaluates and reacts to a stimulus can be divided into four
sub processes and known as PIEV theory:
1. Perception: the driver sees a control device, warning sign,
or object on the road
2. Identification: the driver identifies the object or control
device and thus understands the stimulus
3. Emotion: the driver decides what action to take in
response to the stimulus;
for example, to step on the brake pedal,
to pass, to swerve,
or to change lanes
4. Reaction: (Volition) the driver actually executes the action
decided on during the emotion sub-process
PERCEPTION-REACTION PROCESS
 The researchers noted that the 85th-percentile
time to brake, obtained from several situations,
varied from 1.26 to over 3 seconds.
 The reaction time selected for design purposes
should, however, be large enough to include
reaction times for most drivers using the
highways.
 Recommendations made by the American
Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO) stipulate
2.5 seconds for stopping-sight distances.
 This encompasses the decision times for about
90 percent of drivers under most highway
conditions.
EXAMPLES
Example 3.1, A driver with a perception-reaction time of
2.5 sec is driving at 65 km/h when she observes that an
accident has blocked the road side ,determine the
distance the vehicle would move before the driver could
activate the brakes.
Solution:
65km/h = 65*1/3.6 = 18 m/s
Distance = v * t
18* 2.5 = 45m
EXAMPLES
Example 2:

A breakdown of car B occurred resulting to completely stopping of this car.

A driver in car A noticed this breakdown from a distance of 150m and decided to
brake. Do you think a collision will occur if:
a) the speed of car A was 90 km/hr
b) the speed of car A was 80 km/hr

150 m
 Examples
Example 3:
A driver in a vehicle travelling at 95 km/h, shifts her eyes from left to right
and Focuses on construction activities along the right shoulder.
Estimate the distance in meters the vehicle travels as the driver's eyes
shift and fixate.

Solution:
The range of time for moving eyes is 0.1 to 0.3 seconds assume that it is
0.2 seconds on average.

The driver also requires about one second to gain information and
another 0.2 seconds to get back to the original sight.

Total time required = 0.2 + 1 + 0.2 = 1.4 seconds.

Speed (v) = 95 km/h = 95/3.6 = 26.39 m/s
Distance travelled =v*t
= 26.39 * 1.4 = 36.94 m
PEDESTRIAN CHARACTERISTICS
• The pedestrian is the major user of the roadway when the system
fails; he/she is a major victim.
• About 28% of all traffic death are pedestrian fatalities in USA,
in urban area 7000 pedestrians are killed each year,
and about 70,000 are injured.
• The very young & the very old are most affected
• The traffic engineer is responsible for designing a safe & convenient
facilities for pedestrians
• To save: Small children, elderly, Physically handicapped and blind
Information required by the designer are:
Space requirements (needs) for pedestrians
Walking & running speeds
Traffic flow characteristics of groups of pedestrians
VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS

 Criteria for the geometric design of highways

are partly based on the static, Kinematic and
dynamic characteristics of vehicles.
 Static characteristics include the weight and
size of the vehicle.
 while kinematic characteristics involve the
motion of the vehicle without considering the
forces that cause the motion.
 Dynamic characteristics involve the forces
that cause the motion of the vehicle.
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
 The size of the design vehicle for a highway is
an important factor in the determination of
design standards for several physical
components of the highway.
 These include lane width, shoulder width,
length and width of parking bays, and lengths
of vertical curves.
 The axle weights of the vehicles expected on
the highway are important when pavement
depths and maximum grades are being
determined.
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
Table 3.1 shows some features of static characteristics for
which limits were prescribed. A range of maximum allowable
values is given for each feature.
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
 The static characteristics of vehicles expected to
use the highway are factors that influence the
selection of design criteria for the highway.
 It is therefore necessary that all vehicles be
classified so that representative static
characteristics for all vehicles within a
particular class can be provided for design
purposes.
 AASHTO has selected four general classes of
vehicles: passenger cars, buses, trucks, and
recreational vehicles.
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
 Included in the passenger-car class are
sport/utility vehicles, minivans, vans, and pick-up
trucks.
 Included in the bus class are intercity motor
coaches and city transit, school, and articulated
buses.
 Within the class of trucks are single-unit trucks,
truck tractor-semitrailer combinations, and trucks
or truck tractors with semitrailers in combination
with full trailers.
 Within the class of recreational vehicles are motor
homes, cars with camper trailers, cars with boat
trailers, and motor homes pulling cars.
 the passenger-car class (vans)
 A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or
groups of people.
 the passenger-car class (minivans)
 A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or
groups of people.
 the passenger-car class (pickup truck )
 A pickup truck (also pick-up truck, pickup.
 the Bus class (intercity motor coaches)
 A coach (also motor coach) is a large motor vehicle for
conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance
express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even
between countries.
 the Bus class (articulated bus)

 An articulated bus is a bus which is articulated,

essentially meaning it bends in the middle.
the Truck Class
the Truck Class
 the recreational vehicles class
(motor homes)
Recreational vehicle or RV is, in North America, the usual term for a Motor
vehicle or trailer equipped with living space and amenities found in a home.
the recreational vehicles class
(cars with camper trailers)
the recreational vehicles class
(motor homes pulling cars)
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS

 A total of 19 different design vehicles have been

selected to represent the different categories of
vehicles within all four classes.
 Table 3.2 shows the physical dimensions for each
of these design vehicles, and Figure 3.1 shows
examples of different types of trucks.
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
AASHTO also has suggested the following
guidelines for selecting a design vehicle:
 For a parking lot or series of parking lots, a
passenger car may be used
 For intersections on residential streets and park
roads, a single-unit truck could be considered
 For the design of intersections of state highways
and city streets that serve bus traffic but with
relatively few Large trucks, a city transit bus
may be used
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
 For the design of intersections of highways with
low-volume county and township/ local roads with
Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT, see
Chapter 4 for definition) of 400 or less, a large
school bus with a capacity of 84 passengers or a
conventional bus with a capacity of 65 passengers
may be used. The selection of the bus type
depends on the expected frequency of each of the
buses on the facility.
 For intersections of freeway ramp terminals and
arterial highways, and for intersections of state
highways and industrial streets with high traffic
volumes, or with large truck access to local
streets, the WB-20 (WB-65 or 67) may be used.
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
Minimum turning radii
 In carrying out the design of any of the
intersections referred to above, the minimum
turning radius for the selected design vehicle
traveling at a speed of 16 km/h
 should be provided.
 Minimum turning radii at low speeds (16 km /h or
less) are dependent mainly on the size of the
vehicle.
 The turning-radii requirements for single-unit
(SU) truck and the WB-20 (WB-65 and WB-67)
design vehicles are given in Figures 3.2 and 3.3
respectively.
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
3.6.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
Minimum turning radii
 When a vehicle is moving around a circular curve,
there is an inward radial force acting on the vehicle,
usually referred to as the centrifugal force. There is
also an outward radial force acting toward the center
of curvature as a result of the centripetal acceleration.
 In order to balance the effect of the centripetal
acceleration, the road is inclined toward the center of
the curve.
 The inclination of the roadway toward the center of the
curve is known as superelevation.
 The centripetal acceleration depends on the component
of the vehicle’s weight along the inclined surface of the
road and the side friction between the tires and the
roadway.
 The action of these forces on a vehicle moving around a
circular curve is shown in Figure 3.8.
 The minimum radius of a circular curve R for vehicle
traveling at u mi/h can be determined by considering the
equilibrium of the vehicle with respect to its moving up or
down the incline. If a is the angle of inclination of the
highway, the component of the weight down the incline is
Wsinα, and the frictional force also acting down the
incline is Wf cosα. The centrifugal force Fc is
• A maximum superelevation rate of 0.10 generally is used.
• For highways located in areas with snow and ice, values
ranging from 0.08 to 0.10 are used.
• For expressways in urban areas, a maximum superelevation
rate of 0.08 is used
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Several forces act on a vehicle while it is in motion:
air resistance, grade resistance, rolling resistance,
and curve resistance
Air Resistance
• A vehicle in motion has to overcome the resistance
of the air in front of it as well as the force due to
the frictional action of the air around it.
• The force required to overcome these is known as
the air resistance and is related to the cross-
sectional area of the vehicle in a direction
perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the
square of the speed of the vehicle.
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Claffey has shown that this force can be estimated
from the formula

Where:
 3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Grade Resistance
• When a vehicle moves up a grade, a component of
the weight of the vehicle acts downward, along the
plane of the highway.
• This creates a force acting in a direction opposite
that of the motion. This force is the grade
resistance.
• A vehicle traveling up a grade will therefore tend
to lose speed unless an accelerating force is
applied.
• Note:
grade resistance = weight X grade, in
decimal.
 3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Rolling Resistance
• There are forces within the vehicle itself that offer
resistance to motion.
• These forces are due mainly to frictional effect on
moving parts of the vehicle, but they also include
the frictional slip between the pavement surface
and the tires.
• The sum effect of these forces on motion is known
as rolling resistance.
• The rolling resistance depends on the speed of the
vehicle and the type of pavement.
• Rolling forces are relatively lower on smooth
pavements than on rough pavements.
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Rolling Resistance

• The rolling resistance force for

passenger cars on a smooth
pavement can be determined
from the relation

Where:
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Rolling Resistance
 3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Curve Resistance
• When a passenger car is maneuvered to take a
curve, external forces act on the front wheels of
the vehicle.
• These forces have components that have a
retarding effect on the forward motion of the
vehicle.
• The sum effect of these components constitutes
the curve resistance.
• This resistance depends on the radius of the
curve, the gross weight of the vehicle, and the
velocity at which the vehicle is moving.
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Curve Resistance
• It can be determined as:
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Power requirements

• Power is the rate at which work is done. It is

usually expressed in horsepower (a U.S. unit of
measure), where 1 horsepower is 746 W.
• The performance capability of a vehicle is
measured in terms of the horsepower the engine
can produce to overcome air, grade, curve, and
friction resistance forces and put the vehicle in
motion.
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Power requirements
Figure 3.6 shows how these forces act on the
moving vehicle.
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Power requirements
• The power delivered by the engine is:
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Solve the following question?

Example 3.4 Vehicle Horsepower Required to

Overcome Resistance Forces:
Determine the horsepower produced by a
passenger car traveling at a speed of 105 km/h on
a straight road of 5% grade with a smooth
pavement. Assume the weight of the car is 1800
kg and the cross-sectional area of the car is 3.8
m2.
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Braking distance

• The action of the forces (shown in Figure 3.6) on

the moving vehicle and the effect of perception-
reaction time are used to determine important
parameters related to the dynamic characteristics
of the vehicles.
• These include the braking distance of a vehicle
and the minimum radius of a circular curve
required for a vehicle traveling around a curve
with speed u where u > 16 km/h.
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Braking distance
• A similar equation could be developed for a vehicle
traveling uphill , in which case the following equation is
obtained.

• A general equation for the braking distance can

therefore be written as:

AASHTO recommends the coefficient of friction to be a/g

and a to be 3.414 m/s2 ( 11.2. ft /s 2 ) , then braking
distance becomes:
• Similarly, it can be shown that the horizontal distance
traveled in reducing the speed of a vehicle from U1 to U2
in km /h during a braking maneuver is given by:

• The distance traveled by a vehicle between the time the

driver observes an object in the vehicle's path and the
time the vehicle actually comes to rest is longer than the
braking distance, since it includes the distance traveled
during perception-reaction time. This distance is
referred to in this text as the stopping sight distance S
and is given as
• t is the perception-
reaction(in seconds)
• and u is the velocity in km/h at which the vehicle was
traveling when the brakes were applied.
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Solve the following questions?
3.6.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
Solve the following questions?