THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A MINIMUM SPEED LIMIT ON A TWO LANE HIGHWAY

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A MINIMUM SPEED LIMIT ON A TWO LANE HIGHWAY WAS EVALUATED. FACTORS CONSIDERED INCLUDED: MEAN SPEEDS, DISTRIBUTION AND DISPERSION OF VEHICLE SPEEDS, THE INCIDENCE OF OVERTAKING, AND ACCIDENT OCCURRENCE. FOUR BASIC TESTS WERE USED TO EVALUATE THESE FACTORS: DAY AND NIGHT SPEED OBSERVATIONS, TRAVEL TIME MEASUREMENTS, VOLUME AND ACCIDENT ANALYSIS AND ROADSIDE INTERVIEWS. THE TESTS WERE PERFORMED ON A THIRTY MILE SECTION OF THE TRANS CANADA HIGHWAY IN MANITOBA. MINIMUM SPEED SIGNS WERE ERECTED AND TRAFFIC WAS ADVISED OF AN ALTERNATE ROUTE AVAILABLE FOR SLOW MOVING VEHICLES. FOR CONTROL PURPOSES THE TESTS WERE DUPLICATED ON A NEARBY BUT SEPARATE SECTION OF THE SAME HIGHWAY. TEST RESULTS INDICATED SIMILAR DAYTIME SPEED CHANGES ON BOTH TEST AND CONTROL SPEED CHANGES ON BOTH TEST AND CONTROL SECTION WHICH COULD NOT BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE EFFECTS OF THE MINIMUM SPEED LIMIT. CHANGES IN LOW SPEEDS, MEAN SPEEDS AND NORMALITY OF DISTRIBUTION WERE DETECTED ON THE TEST SECTION AT NIGHT. ANALYSIS OF ACCIDENT OCCURRENCE WAS INCONCLUSIVE DUE TO A SHORT AFTER PERIOD BUT LITTLE EFFECT FROM THE SPEED LIMIT CHANGE WAS INDICATED. DRIVER OPINION WAS FOUND TO BE FAVOURABLE TOWARD MINIMUM SPEED LIMITS. THE PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS FROM THE TEST WERE: (1) MINIMUM SPEED LIMITS ON A TWO-LANE HIGHWAY HAVE LITTLE EFFECT ON OPERATING SPEEDS, AND (2) AN INDEX OF OVERTAKING WHICH PROVED TO BE A RELIABLE MEASURE OF PASSING ACTIVITY WAS DEVELOPED IN THIS STUDY. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • 129 Pp, 48 FIG, 19 TAB, 8 PHOT, 39 REF
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Alberta, Edmonton

  89th Avenue and 114th Street
  Edmonton, AB  Canada 
• Authors:
  • Jardine, K M
• Publication Date: 1966-10

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash investigation; Crash rates; Interviewing; Mean (Statistics); Operating speed; Passing; Regulation; Speed; Speed limits; Test sections; Traffic speed; Traffic volume; Travel time; Two lane highways; Vehicles
• Uncontrolled Terms: Observation
• Old TRIS Terms: Mean (Statistical); Minimum speed
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00225089
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: CANADIAN GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 12 2003 12:00AM