Road User and Vehicle

Characteristics

Traffic System
Components

Road users-drivers, pedestrians,

bicyclists, and passengers
Vehicles- private and commercial
Streets and highways
Traffic control devices
The general environment

Four components affecting the traffic system

Drivers

Vehicles

General Environment

Pedestrians

Roads

Control Devices

Road Users
PhysiologicalMeasurable and Usually
Quantifiable
PsychologicalMuch more difficult to
measure and quantify
Psychological:
x Desired speeds
x Desired safety distances
Physiological:
x Perception-Reaction time
x Visual factors

The human response process

Vision: is an important factors that affect almost all aspect of highway design and
safety
The eye is the sensory organ that enable to see and evaluate the size,
shape, and color of object and estimate distance and speed of moving
Ability to see:
Static visual acuity
element.
Dynamic visual acuity
Depth and distance perception
Glare vision & recovery ( 3-6 sec)
Color vision
Peripheral vision (115o V-180o H)

Clear
vision cone

Fairly clear (10-12 deg)

(3-5 deg)
Hearing: is an aid to identify/perceive alert towards safety

Perception-Reaction Process
PRT = Perception + Reaction
= (Detection + Identification + Decision making)

+
(Time needed to initiate the physical response)
PIER/PIEV = Perception + Intellection/Identification +
Emotion + Reaction (or volition)

PIER = f (Complexity of the task,

Level of expectancy,
Variability of the drivers)

PIEV Process:
Perception: Is a process of perceiving the sensations
received through organs.
Intellection: is the identification of stimuli by the
development of new thoughts and ideas,
which can be different from the simple
recognition by past experience.
Time- depends on comparing the deferent ideas, regrouping and registering the
new sensations.

Emotion: is the personal behavior that govern his

decision making process.
Volition: is the time required to take action.