1 - Spot Speed Studies

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1: Spot Speed Studies

CE 17: Principles of Transportation Engineering

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Locations for Spot Speed Studies

Time of Day and Duration of Spot Speed Studies

Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies


Outline Methods for Conducting Spot Speed Studies

Presentation and Analysis of Spot Speed Data

Comparison of Mean Speeds

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The availability of highway transportation
has provided several advantages that
contribute to a high standard of living.
However, several problems related to the
highway mode of transportation exist.
Traffic
Engineering To reduce the negative impact of highways, it
Studies is necessary to adequately collect
information that describes the extent of the
problems and identifies their locations, such
as organizing and conducting traffic surveys
and studies.

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Traffic Engineering Studies
Inventories provide a list or graphic display
of existing information, such as street
widths, parking spaces, transit routes,
traffic regulations, etc.
Inventories

Administrative Administrative studies use existing


Traffic Studies engineering records to prepare an
Studies inventory of the relevant data, such as
results of surveys and/or aerial
photography.
Dynamic
Studies
Dynamic studies involve the collection of
data under operational conditions and
include studies of speed, traffic volume,
travel time and delay, parking, and crashes.
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Spot Speed Studies

01 02 03
Spot speed studies are The speed of a vehicle is Speed characteristics
conducted to estimate the defined as the rate of identified by such a study
distribution of speeds of movement of the vehicle; will be valid only for the
vehicles in a stream of it is usually expressed in traffic and environmental
traffic at a particular kilometers per hour (kph) conditions that exist at the
location on a highway. or miles per hour (mph). time of the study.

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Spot Speed Studies

Speed Establish Evaluate Monitor

Speed characteristics Establish parameters Evaluate the Monitor the effect of


from a spot speed for traffic operation effectiveness of speed enforcement
study may be used and control, such as traffic control programs, such as
to: speed zones, speed devices, such as the use of drone
limits, and passing variable message radar and the use of
restrictions. signs at work zones. differential speed
limits for passenger
cars and trucks.

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Spot Speed Studies

Evaluate Evaluate Determine Determine


Evaluate and/or Evaluate the effect Determine speed Determine whether
determine the of speed on trends. complaints about
adequacy of highway safety speeding are valid.
highway geometric through the
characteristics, analysis of crash
such as radii of data for different
horizontal curves speed
and lengths of characteristics.
vertical curves.

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Location for Spot Speed Studies
The following locations generally are used for the
different applications listed:

Basic data collection Speed trend analyses Specific traffic engineering


problem
Locations that represent different traffic Mid-blocks of urban highways and Any location may be used for the
conditions on a highway or highways straight, level sections of rural highways solution

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Location for Spot Speed Studies

It is important that Equipment should be


unbiased data be obtained. concealed from the drivers
This requires that drivers and observers conducting
be unaware that such a the study be
study is being conducted. inconspicuous.

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The time of day for conducting a speed study
Time of Day depends on the purpose of the study.
and Duration For example, for studies of posting speed limits or
to collect basic data, it is recommended that the
for Spot study be conducted when traffic is free-flowing,
usually during off-peak hours. If the study is
Speed conducted in response to citizen complaints, it is
useful if the time period selected for the study
Studies reflects the nature of the complaints.

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Time of Day and Duration for Spot Speed Studies

The duration of the study


should be such that the
minimum number of vehicle
speeds required for statistical
analysis is recorded.
Typically, the duration is at
least 1 hour and the sample
size is at least 30 vehicles.

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The calculated mean/average speed is used to
represent the true mean value of all vehicle speeds
Sample Size at that location.
for Spot The larger the sample size, the greater the
probability that the estimated mean is not
Speed significantly different from the true mean.
It is therefore necessary to select a sample size
Studies that will give an estimated mean within acceptable
error limits.

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Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies

A. Average speed is the arithmetic mean of all observed vehicle speeds.


Σ𝑢𝑖
𝑢ത =
𝑁
Where ui is the speed of the ith vehicle, N is the number of observed values.

For grouped observations,


Σ𝑓𝑖 𝑢𝑖
𝑢ത =
Σ𝑓𝑖
Where fi is the number of observations in each speed group, ui is the mid-value for the ith
speed group.

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Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies

B. Median speed is the speed at the middle value in a series of spot speeds
that are arranged in ascending order.

Fifty percent of the speed values will be greater than the median; 50% will
be less than the median.

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Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies

C. Modal speed is the speed value that occurs most frequently in a sample of
spot speeds.

D. The ith-percentile spot speed is the speed value below which i percent of
the vehicles travel. For example, the 85th percentile spot speed is the speed
below which 85% of the vehicles travel and above which 15% of the vehicles
travel.

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Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies

E. Pace is the range of speed (usually taken at 10-kph intervals) that has the
greatest number of observations.
For example, if the set of speed data includes speeds between 30-60kph, the
speed intervals will be 30-40kph, 40-50kph and 50-60kph. The pace is 40-
50kph if this range of speed has the highest number of observations.

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F. Standard deviation of speeds is the measure of the spread
of individual speeds.
2
Σ 𝑢𝑗 − 𝑢ത
𝑆=
Sample Size 𝑁−1
Where: S is the standard deviation, uj is the jth observation.
for Spot
Speed For grouped observations, standard deviation can be
computed as:
Studies 𝑆=
Σ𝑓𝑖 𝑢𝑖 − 𝑢ത 2

𝑁−1
Where: ui is the mid-value of speed class i, fi is the frequency
of speed class i

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Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies

G. The minimum sample size depends on the precision level, or degree of


confidence that the sampling error of a produced estimate will fall within a
desired fixed range.
For a precision level of 90-10, there is a 90% probability (confidence level)
that the error of an estimate will not be greater than 10% of its true value.
Level of significance α = 100 – confidence level
The commonly used confidence level for speed counts is 95%.

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Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies

The basic assumption made in


determining minimum sample
size for spot speed studies is
assuming that speed
distribution follows a normal
distribution:
𝑓 𝑥
1 − 𝑥−𝜇 2
= exp
2𝜋𝜎 2 2𝜎 2

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Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies
Properties of the normal
distribution:
1. The normal distribution is
symmetrical about the mean.
2. The total area under the
normal distribution curve is
equal to 1 or 100%.
3. The area under the curve
between the following are as
follows:
a) 𝜇 + 𝜎 and 𝜇 − 𝜎: 0.6827 For example, if the true mean of the
b) 𝜇 + 1.96𝜎 and 𝜇 − 1.96𝜎: speeds in a section of highway is 50kph,
0.9500 and the true std. is 4.5kph, it can be
c) 𝜇 + 2𝜎 and 𝜇 − 2𝜎: 0.9545 concluded that 95% of all vehicle speeds
d) 𝜇 + 3𝜎 and 𝜇 − 3𝜎: 0.9971 will be between (50±1.96*4.5) =
e) 𝜇 + ∞ and 𝜇 − ∞: 1.000 41.2kph and 58.8kph respectively.
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Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies

From this, the formula to Confidence Level (%) Z-score


calculate sample size is: 68.3 1.00
𝑍𝜎 2
𝑁= 86.6 1.50
𝑑 90.0 1.64
Where: N is the sample size, Z is
95.0 1.96
the number of std. corresponding
to required confidence level (Z = 95.5 2.00

1.96 for 95% CL), σ is the std., and 98.8 2.50

d is the limit of acceptable error 99.0 2.58


in the average speed estimate. 99.7 3.00

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Example

As part of a class project, a group Confidence Level (%) Z-score


of students collected a total of 68.3 1.00
120 spot speed samples at a
86.6 1.50
location and from this data, the
std. was ±5kph. If the project 90.0 1.64
required that the confidence level 95.0 1.96
be 95% and the limit of 95.5 2.00
acceptable error was ±6kph,
determine whether these 98.8 2.50
students satisfied the project 99.0 2.58
requirement. 99.7 3.00

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Methods for Conducting Spot Speed Studies

Manual Road
Spot Speed Method Detectors
Studies Automatic Radar-
Method based

Electronics

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Road Detectors

Road detectors can be used to collect data on speeds at the same time as volume
are being collected.

The advantage of the detectors is that human errors are reduced. However, these
devices tend to be rather expensive and are conspicuous, and may therefore affect
driver behavior, resulting in a distortion of the speed distribution.

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Road Detectors
• Pneumatic road tubes are laid
across the lane in which data are
to be collected.
• When a moving vehicle passes
over the tube, an air impulse is
transmitted through the tube to
the counter.
• When used for speed
measurements, two tubes are
placed across the lane, usually
about 2m apart.
Road Detectors
• Induction loop is a rectangular
wire loop buried under the
roadway surface, usually serves as
the detector of a resonant circuit.
• This operates on the principle
that the disturbance in the
electrical field is created when a
motor vehicle passes across it.
Radar-Based Sensors
Radar-based sensors work on the
principle that when a signal is
transmitted onto a moving vehicle,
the change in frequency between
the transmitted and the reflected
signal is proportional to the speed
of the moving vehicle.
• The data collected in spot speed studies are
usually taken only from a sample of vehicles but
these are used to determine the speed
Presentation characteristics of the whole population of
vehicles.
and Analysis • The presentation most commonly used is the
frequency distribution table.
of Spot • Selection of number of classes (number of
velocity ranges), usually between 8 to 20.
Speed Data • Find the difference between the maximum
and minimum speeds in the data and divide
this number by 8 and then by 20 to give the
maximum and minimum ranges in each class.

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• The data can also be presented in the form
of frequency histogram, a chart showing the
Presentation mid-value for each class as the abscissa and
the observed frequency for the
and Analysis corresponding class as ordinate.
of Spot • Another presentation is through a
cumulative frequency distribution curve, a
Speed Data plot of the frequency cumulative percentage
against the upper limit of each
corresponding speed class.

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Frequency distribution table

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Example
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a. Arithmetic mean speed = 49.5 mph
b. Standard deviation
Σ𝑓𝑖 𝑢𝑖 − 𝑢ത 2 3632
𝑆= = = ±6.5𝑚𝑝ℎ
𝑁−1 85
c. Median speed = 49mph, the 50th
Example percentile speed
d. Pace = from the frequency distribution
curve, 45 to 55 mph
e. Mode or modal speed = 49mph from
frequency histogram
f. 85th percentile speed = from cumulative
frequency distribution curve, 54mph

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If it is necessary to determine whether there
is a significant difference between the mean
speeds of two spot studies, the absolute
Comparison difference between the sample mean
speeds should be compared against the
of Mean product of the std. of the difference in
means and the z-score for a given
Speeds confidence level. If the absolute difference
between the sample means is greater, then
there is a significant difference in sample
means at that confidence level.

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This is given by the formula,
𝑆12 𝑆22
𝑆𝑑 = +
𝑛1 𝑛2
Comparison Where n are the sample size for studies, Sd is
of Mean the square root of the variance of the
difference in means, and S2 is the variance
Speeds about the mean for the studies.
If 𝑢1 − 𝑢2 > 𝑍𝑆𝑑 , then the mean speeds
are significantly different at the confidence
level corresponding to Z.

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Speed data were collected at a section of
highway during and after utility
maintenance work. The speed
characteristics are given below. Determine
whether there was any significant difference
Example between the average speeds at the 95%
confidence level.
𝑢1 = 35.5kph 𝑢2 = 38.7kph
𝑆1 = 7.5kph 𝑆2 = 7.4kph
𝑛1 = 250 𝑛2 = 280

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