BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr.

Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDY

Chapter 1
Traffic volume is ......
Traffic Flow the number of vehicles passing a given point during a specified
period of time
What you will be
TRAFFIC STUDIES learning from The importance of traffic volume study ......
this chapter
Traffic Volume For traffic planning, design & research.
Spot Speed To determine the efficiency of a traffic system.

TRAFFIC FLOW THEORY To evaluate the quality of service of a transport facility.

Traffic Flow Parameters To design roads number of lanes & pavement thickness.

Speed, Flow & Density Relationship Volume study methods ......

Manual Count Methods
CAPACITY & LEVEL OF SERVICE
Automatic Count Methods
Multilane Highway Capacity Study

1 2

BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDY MANUAL COUNT

Manual Count may be used for determining ...... Manual Count method ......
Vehicle classification Applied when small sample of data is required.
Turning movements For periods less than one (1) day.
Direction of travel Normal intervals are 5, 10 or 15 minutes.
Pedestrian movements Counts are not usually taken on Mondays, Fridays and
weekends.
Vehicle occupancy

Can anyone explain why ?

Automatic Count may be used for determining ......
Vehicle hourly patterns
Daily or seasonal variations and growth trends Manual Count recording methods ......
Annual traffic estimates Tally Sheets
Mechanical Counting Boards
Count periods ...... Electronic Counting Boards
2 hours (peak period), 4 hrs (morning & evening peaks),
6 hrs (morning, afternoon & evening peaks), 12 hrs (daytime) 3 4

BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

MANUAL COUNT AUTOMATIC COUNT

Manual counting board
Tally sheet Automatic Count method ......
Applied when large sample of data is required.
For periods more than one (1) day.
Normal intervals are 1 hour for a 24 hour period.
Counts may extend to a week, month or year.

Automatic Count recording methods ......

Portable Counters
Permanent Counters
Videotape

Electronic
counting board
5 6

BDD/BFC32302/1A 1
 BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

AUTOMATIC COUNT EXAMPLES OF TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDIES

INTERSECTION COUNT
PORTABLE COUNTERS
Intersection counts are required for
timing traffic signals
designing channelization
planning turn prohibitions

Automatic Traffic Recorder computing capacity

Vehicle Classifier System
analyzing high crash intersections
evaluating congestion
PERMANENT COUNTERS
Uses manual count method.
For simple intersections, a single observer may be sufficient.
For complex intersections, several observers may be required.

Loop Detector
7 8

BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

EXAMPLES OF TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDIES EXAMPLES OF TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDIES

PEDESTRIAN COUNT VEHICLE CLASSIFICATION COUNT
Pedestrian counts are required for Vehicle classification counts are used to
evaluating sidewalk and crosswalk needs establish structural & geometric design criteria
justifying pedestrian signals compute estimated highway user revenue
timing traffic signals compute capacity
Counts are conducted at intersection crossings, midblock Classification counts should be conducted
crossings or along sidewalks.
if the percentage of heavy trucks is high
When pedestrians are tallied, those 12 years and above are
if vehicle mix at a crash site is a contributing factor to the
classified as adults.
crash problem
Cars, MPVs, SUVs, 4WDs may be classified as passenger cars.
Intersection crossing
Heavy vehicles such as trucks and buses may be classified as
trucks.

Midblock crossing
9 10

BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

EXAMPLES OF TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDIES EXAMPLES OF TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDIES

ADT and AADT COUNT AADT volume count has the following uses:
ADT Average Daily Traffic Measuring or evaluating the present demand for service by the
roadway or facility.
Represents 24-hr count.
Developing the major or arterial roadway system.
Locating areas where new facilities or improvements to the
AADT Average Annual Daily Traffic
existing facilities are needed.
Represents the 24-hr traffic volume averaged over a full
Programming capital improvements.
365-day year.

Requires the use of an automatic counter.

Accuracy depends on existing roadway, weather and traffic

demand conditions.

11 12

BDD/BFC32302/1A 2
 BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

SPOT SPEED STUDY SPOT SPEED STUDY

Spot speed study ......
A study of speed of traffic at one point or spot on a trafficway.
Consists of a series or sample of observations of individual speeds
of vehicles approaching an intersection or passing a point at a non-
intersection.
When carrying out a spot speed study, make sure the observer and
the measuring instrument does not influence drivers speed.
The measuring instrument must be concealed from the approaching
drivers.
Recording of data should be made as inconspicuous as possible.

Used to estimate the speed distribution of an entire traffic stream Accumulation of on-lookers must be avoided.
at that location under prevailing traffic conditions.
Recommended study periods:
Spot speed studies are carried out at ...... In three parts during off-peak periods:
Trend locations straight, level, open sections of rural highways, 1 hour between 6 am 12 pm, 1 hour between 3 pm 6 pm, and 1
and midblock at urban streets. hour between 8 pm 10 pm.
Problem locations accident blackspots, and locations where traffic whereby observations must be done in an hour, or not less than 50
signals and signs are contemplated. vehicles for each period.
Representative locations for basic data surveys.
The course length of a spot speed study depends on :
Locations of before-and-after studies.
average speed of the traffic stream
13 14

BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

SPOT SPEED STUDY SPOT SPEED STUDY

Recommended course lengths:
Average speed (km/h) Course length (m)
STOPWATCH METHOD
< 40 27
40 65 54
> 65 81

Recommended sample size: at least 50, preferably 100

Like volume studies, spot speed studies are also not taken on Mondays,
Fridays and weekends.

Spot Speed Study methods ......

Stopwatch Method
Radar/Laser Meter Method
Pneumatic Road Tube Method
15 16

BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

SPOT SPEED STUDY SPOT SPEED STUDY

RADAR / LASER SPEED METER

METHOD PNEUMATIC ROAD TUBE METHOD

Recorder

Pneumatic
Road Tubes

17 18

BDD/BFC32302/1A 3
 BFC 32302 Traffic Engineering and Safety Lecturer: Dr. Basil David Daniel

EXAMPLE OF A SPOT SPEED STUDY

A spot speed study was conducted along a state road experiencing frequent
road accidents. The posted speed limit of the road is 60 km/h. The spot speed
data collected are shown in the following table:

Speed Class Number of vehicles NOTE

Vehicle class 1: Motorcycles
(km/h) Vehicle Class Total Vehicle class 2: Cars
1 2 3 4 Vehicle class 3: Vans and medium trucks
40 44 3 2 5 Vehicle class 4: Heavy trucks and buses
45 49 4 1 3 8
50 54 5 1 3 3 12
55 59 3 1 2 4 10 Analyse the spot speed
60 64 3 2 4 6 15 data and present findings
65 69 1 5 8 7 21 of this study.
70 74 6 5 5 16
75 79 1 5 3 2 11
80 84 7 2 1 10
85 89 3 1 4
90 94 5 5
95 99 3 1 4
100 104 4 1 5
105 109 1 1
110 114 3 3 19

BDD/BFC32302/1A 4