Principles for Developing Traffic Control Devices for Mixed Traffic Flow with Numerous Motor Scooters

Motor scooters and mopeds are being aggressively marketed as low-cost alternatives to the car for commuting as the gas price are increasing. However, most of the traffic infrastructure does not accommodate the safety of moped and scooter drivers. Motor scooters (called motorcycle in Taiwan) are the most common motorized vehicles and contribute the highest traffic fatalities on Taiwanese roads. In order to enhance the traffic safety, several motor scooter management strategies and regulations were implemented in Taiwan. Nevertheless, these strategies merely focus on decreasing motorcycle usage and restricting the rights of motorcyclists. Road geometry or traffic control device designs scarcely take into account the numerous motorcycles and the motorcyclists’ points of view. This study attempts to fill those gaps in road designs and traffic control devices by considering the traveling rights of motorcyclists. Motorcycle crashes and fatalities were analyzed by objects, road types and locations, as well as crash causes to identify the major contributors of crashes due to road design issues. Based on the crashes analysis results, principles for developing guidelines for road designs and traffic control devices are proposed. At unsignalized intersections, a physical and visible traffic signing or marking should be implemented to clearly assign the passing priority for approaching vehicles. At signalized intersections, supplemental sets of signal indications for motorcycles are needed to provide a clear signal indication for vehicles traveling on the road’s side lanes. On road segments, the implementation of motorcycle exclusive and priority lanes should take into account the land use of the road side. Various speed limits by lanes and supplemental markings for motorcycles to stay on tracks or lane are also recommended.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF30 Motorcycles and Mopeds.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Wang, Ming-Heng
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash analysis; Geometric design; Mopeds; Motorcyclists; Scooters; Traffic control devices; Traffic flow; Traffic safety; Vehicle mix
• Geographic Terms: Taiwan
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01516215
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-5532
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 28 2014 12:32PM