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INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DELHI

HAUS KHAS, NEW DELHI-110016

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Course Number: CEL 742
Traffic Engineering

REPORT
Lab 1: Spot Speed Study

Submitted To:
Dr. Kalaga Ramchandra Rao
(Associate Professor)
Civil Engineering Department, IIT Delhi

Submitted By:
Mohit Kohli
2015CEP2096
M Tech Transportation Engineering, Semester-I (2016-2017)
 LAB-1: Spot Speed Study

Objectives: To conduct spot speed study and develop cumulative speed distribution curve to obtain 15 th, 50th,
85thand 95th percentile speed.

Need for the Study: One of the key elements in recording travel time characteristics is SPEED. Speed of
travel on road is used to classify routes as freeways, highways, arterials, collectors and local streets. Level of
service based on speed is an indicator of quality of traffic flow or mobility.

General Overview: Speed is defined as the ratio of total distance to total time taken; SI unit of speed is
meter per second, but kilometer per hour is most commonly used unit. Speeds vary for both traffic volume and
road. Some factor affecting speed are lane width and sight distance. As the traffic volume increases, speed
decreases. Traffic volume is defined as the number of vehicles that pass a point along a roadway or traffic lane
per unit time.

Study Components: Measures of speed area as follows :

a) Spot Speed
b) Running Speed
c) Journey Speed
d) Time Mean Speed and
e) Space Mean Speed

1) Spot Speed
Spot speed is the instantaneous speed of a vehicle passing a fixed point along a section of
roadway at a specific location. Spot Speed can be used to design geometry of road, location & design
of signal, safe speed and also speed zone determination. Spot speed studies are conducted to draw
speed distribution curve along a roadway.

2) Running Speed
The average speed maintained by a vehicle over a particular course. It is calculated by diving
the length of the course by the time duration the vehicle was in motion. It will always be more than
journey speed as delays are not considered in the calculation.

3) Time Mean Speed

It is defined as the average speed of all vehicles passing a point on a highway over some
specified time period.
 4) Space Mean Speed
It is defined as the average speed of all the vehicles occupying a given section of highway over
some specified time period.

Some important terms:

Mean Speed: Sum of all speeds divided by the number of observations
Median: Speed that equally divide the distribution.
Speed Variance: It is the difference in travel speed for vehicles on the road.
85th Percentile Speed: The speed at or below which 85 percent of a sample of free flowing vehicles is
travelling.
95th Percentile Speed: The speed at or below which 85 percent of a sample of free flowing vehicles is
travelling.

Field Work and Data Collection:

Several methods are used to record spot speed. The most commonly used are machine recorder,
photographic method, and speed radar guns. Speed gun was used to obtain spot speed of vehicles in this lab.
Jia Sarai foot-over bridge (FOB) was selected as the site to do spot speed study. The road over which the FOB
is constructed has 4 lanes each of 3m approximately. Speed is measured for one way traffic only with the help
of speed gun. Vehicles were spotted and the readings were taken. The vehicles targeted for spot speed were in
free flow traffic. The recorded readings are tabulated in the excel sheet attached.
 WORK SHEET: LAB 1
DATE: 01-08-2015 DAY: MONDAY WEATHER: SUNNY

STUDENT NAME: MOHIT KOHLI ENTRY NUMBER: 2015CEP2096

ORIGIN: JIA SARAI FOB DESTINATION: JIA SARAI FOB

STARTING TIME: 12.15PM ENDING TIME: 1PM

Result:
Results and distribution curves are enclosed in the attached excel file.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

1. Null hypothesis is expected as the observed value is less than critical value from the
2 table.

2. The cumulative distribution curves indicate that all most all types of vehicles
are travelling at the same speed group.

Reference:

1. D.May, Adolf Traffic Flow Fundamentals.

2. The Chi Square Statistics http://math.hws.edu/javamath/ryan/ChiSquare.html