SPOT SPEED AND DATA

ANALYSIS

Prepared by:

Krishna kamal sah

Civil IV/I (72049/BCE)

Submitted to

Department of civil engineering

Kathmandu engineering college

 Measurement of Spot Speed and Data Analysis
Location : kalimati,Kathmandu (near salt trading corporation)

0bjective:

 To decide the speed trends

 To study the traffic capacity
 To plan traffic control and regulation measure
 For crash study
 To compare different types of drivers and vehicles under specified condition
Theory
It is instantaneous speed of the vehicle as it passes a specified point on the highway it is estimated
from required from time required to travel a short distance. The spot speed measured at any
particular location will depend upon a number of factors such as geometric layout of the road,
volume of traffic, condition of the road, environmental influences(rain fog etc.), the human
element associated with individual driver and characteristic of vehicle

 Location for Speed Studies

Recommended base lengths for spot speed survey

Average speed (km/hr) Base length(m)

Less than 40 27
40 to 65 54
Greater than 60 81

The speed studies are accompanied for eminently logical purposes that will influence what traffic
engineering measures are implemented in any given case. The location at which speed
measurements are taken must conform to the intentional purpose of the study. The guiding
philosophy behind spot speed studies is that measurements should include drivers freely
selecting their speeds, unaffected by traffic congestion. For example if driver approaches to a toll
plaza, then he has to slow his speed, so this is not suitable location to conduct the study,
measurements should be taken at a point before drivers start to decelerate. Similarly, if excessive
speed around a curve is thought to be contributing to off-the-road accidents, speed
measurements should be taken in advance of the curve, before deceleration begins. It may also
be appropriate, however, to measure speeds at the point where accidents are occurring for
evaluation with approach speeds. This would allow the traffic engineer to assess whether the
problem is excessive approach speed or that drivers are not decelerating sufficiently through the
subject geometric element, or a combination of both. A study of intersection approach speeds
must also be taken at a point before drivers begin to decelerate. This may be a moving point,
given that queues get shorter and longer at different periods of the day.
 Methods of spot speed test

Following are the some methods to measure spot speed of vehicles in a traffic stream, in which
first two are manual methods and other are automatic:

 Pavement markings

In this method, markings of pavement are placed across the road at each end of trap. Observer
start and stops the watch as vehicle passes lines. In this method, minimum two observers
required to collect the data, of which one is stand at the starting point to start and stop the stop
watch and other one is stand at end point to give indication to stop the watch when vehicle
passes the end line. Advantages of this method are that after the initial installation no set-up
time is required, markings are easily renewed, and disadvantage of this is that substantial error
can be introduced, and magnitude of error may change for substitute studies and this method is
only applicable for low traffic conditions.

Figure 1: Pavement Marking

 Enoscope or Mirror box
Enoscope consists of a simple open housing containing a mirror mounted on a tripod at the side
of the road in such a way that an observer's line of sight turned through 90o. The observer stands
at one end of section and on the other end enoscope is placed and measure the time taken by
the vehicle to cross the section (fig 6.2). Advantages of this method are that it simple and
eliminate the errors due to parallax and considerable time is required to time each vehicle, which
lengthen the study period and under heavy traffic condition it may be difficult to relate
ostentatious to proper vehicle are the disadvantages of enoscope method.
 Figure :Enoscope Method

 Road Detector (Pressure contact strips)

Pressure contact strips, either pneumatic or electric, can be used to avoid error due to parallax
and due to manually starting and stopping the chronometer or stopwatch. This is the best
method over short distance it gives quite relevant data and if it is connected through graphical
recorder then it gives continuous data automatically.

 Doppler-Principle Meters (Radar)

This is recently developed method, it automatically records speed, employs a radar transmitter-
receiver unit. The apparatus transmits high frequency electromagnetic waves in a narrow beam
towards the moving vehicle, and reflected waves changed their length depending up on the
vehicles speed and returned to the receiving unit, through calibration gives directly spot speed
of the vehicle.

 Electronic-Principle Detectors (Photography)

In this method a camera records the distance moved by a vehicle in a selected short time. In this
exposure of photograph should be in a constant time interval and the distance travelled by the
vehicle is measured by projecting the films during the exposure interval. The main advantage of
method that, it gives a permanent record with 100% sample obtained. This method is quite
expensive and generally used in developed cities. In this we can use video recorder which give
more accurate result

Procedure

 The section of the road was selected which has free to flow of vehicle
 The base length was marked on the side of pavement
 Recording the time to travel the base line with the help of stop watch
 Time for passing base length for different types of vehicle was noted
Observation and calculation
Base length =27m
No of vehicle Time (sec) Speed (kmph)
1 4.35 22.345
2 1.76 55.227
3 2.96 32.838
4 4.39 22.141
5 4.09 23.765
6 2.45 39.673
7 3.53 27.535
8 6..19 15.703
9 5.29 18.374
10 4.75 20.463
Mean speed N=10 27.80

Initial speed of vehicle in the road section =27.80kmph

It is less than 40kmph so taking base length=27m
S.N Time(sec) VEHICLE TYPE Speed(kmlhr)
1 3.7 BUS 26.270
2 4.5 BUS 21.600
3 4.78 BUS 20.335
4 4.2 BUS 23.143
5 4.2 BUS 23.143
6 3.8 BUS 25.579
7 4.7 BUS 20.681
8 3.3 BUS 29.455
9 3.6 BUS 27.000
10 3 BUS 32.400
11 4.3 BUS 22.605
12 4.4 BUS 22.091
13 5.3 BUS 18.340
14 4 BUS 24.300
15 3.9 BUS 24.923
16 3.7 BUS 26.270
17 3.8 BUS 25.579
18 3.1 BUS 31.355
19 3.4 BUS 28.588
20 2.3 BUS 42.261
21 4 BUS 24.300
22 3.6 BUS 27.000
23 5.1 BUS 19.059
24 4 BUS 24.300
25 2 BUS 48.600
26 3.4 BUS 28.588
27 3.9 BUS 24.923
28 2.1 BUS 46.286
S.N Time(sec) VEHICLE TYPE Speed(kmlhr)
1 3.1 CAR 31.355
2 3.6 CAR 27.000
3 4.8 CAR 20.250
4 3.3 CAR 29.455
5 3.24 CAR 30.000
6 2.38 CAR 40.840
7 2.65 CAR 36.679
8 2.71 CAR 35.867
9 3.97 CAR 24.484
10 4.14 CAR 23.478
11 2.97 CAR 32.727
12 2.38 CAR 40.840
13 3.03 CAR 32.079
14 2.77 CAR 35.090
15 3.78 CAR 25.714
16 4.29 CAR 22.657
17 2.37 CAR 41.013
18 2.11 CAR 46.066
19 3.16 CAR 30.759
20 4.09 CAR 23.765
21 3.1 CAR 31.355
22 5.16 CAR 18.837
23 4.69 CAR 20.725
24 2.51 CAR 38.725
25 3.7 CAR 26.270
26 2.57 CAR 37.821
27 4.2 CAR 23.143
28 5.77 CAR 16.846
29 3.34 CAR 29.102
30 5.12 CAR 18.984
31 3.93 CAR 24.733
32 3.39 CAR 28.673
33 3.54 CAR 27.458
34 5.49 CAR 17.705
35 5.44 CAR 17.868
36 3.54 CAR 27.458
37 2.95 CAR 32.949
38 3.92 CAR 24.796
39 3.87 CAR 25.116
40 3.01 CAR 32.292
41 3.67 CAR 26.485
 42 4.07 CAR 23.882
43 3.94 CAR 24.670
44 5.5 CAR 17.673

S.N Time(sec) VEHICLE TYPE Speed(kmlhr)

1 3.69 BIKE 26.341
2 2.84 BIKE 34.225
3 3.11 BIKE 31.254
4 2.78 BIKE 34.964
5 5.07 BIKE 19.172
6 2.33 BIKE 41.717
7 3.83 BIKE 25.379
8 3.57 BIKE 27.227
9 3.09 BIKE 31.456
10 2.45 BIKE 39.673
11 2.38 BIKE 40.840
12 3.44 BIKE 28.256
13 2.44 BIKE 39.836
14 1.8 BIKE 54.000
15 2.12 BIKE 45.849
16 2.1 BIKE 46.286
17 4.54 BIKE 21.410
18 3.03 BIKE 32.079
19 2.3 BIKE 42.261
20 2.58 BIKE 37.674
21 2.12 BIKE 45.849
22 2.19 BIKE 44.384
23 2.18 BIKE 44.587
24 2.65 BIKE 36.679
25 2.57 BIKE 37.821
26 3.89 BIKE 24.987
27 2.6 BIKE 37.385
28 2.32 BIKE 41.897
29 3.29 BIKE 29.544
30 4.35 BIKE 22.345
31 2.63 BIKE 36.958
32 6.16 BIKE 15.779
33 3.27 BIKE 29.725
34 2.42 BIKE 40.165
 35 3.15 BIKE 30.857
36 3.99 BIKE 24.361
37 4.25 BIKE 22.871

𝑅
CI=
1+3.322log⁡(𝑛)
38.221
=
1+3.322log⁡(109)

=5.05

Speed(km/hr) Mean speed frequency %f cummulative f

15-20 17.5 10 9.174 9.174
20-25 22.5 28 25.688 34.862
25-30 27.5 26 23.853 58.716
30-35 32.5 15 13.761 72.477
35-40 37.5 12 11.009 83.486
40-45 42.5 11 10.092 93.578
45-50 47.5 6 5.505 99.083
50-55 52.5 1 0.917 100.000
sum 109 100.000

Cummulative speed distribution curve

120.000

100.000

80.000
cumm %f

60.000

40.000

20.000

0.000
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
speed
 spot speed frequencies distribution curves
35
30
% of vehicle observed

25
20
15
10
5
0
0.000 10.000 20.000 30.000 40.000 50.000 60.000
modal speed

From Cummulative speed distribution curve

Upper speed limit for regulation(15thpercentile speed) 19km/hr

Lower speed limit for regulation design (85thpercentile speed) 38km/hr

Speed to check geometric(998thpercentile speed) 46.km/hr
Modal speed 22.5km/hrh

Discussion and conclusion

It is instantaneous speed of the vehicle as it passes a specified point on the highway it is

estimated from required from time required to travel a short distance. From the above result
show that the maximum percentage of vehicle speed is 22.5kmph. The speed limit of this
section is porivided 30kmph.

References

 Khanna S.K., Justo C.E.G. "Highway Engineering", (1994), Nem Chand & Bros, Roorkee, 7th
Edition.
 Nptel Lectures note on spot speed analysis
 Shresthha D.K,Marsani a.”Transportation engineering vol ii”(2018).Heritage publication,3rd
edition