OPTIMAL MOTORWAY SPEED AND SOME VALUATIONS OF TIME AND LIFE

In this paper the relationships between speed, accidents and petrol consumption are analysed in an attempt to reveal some of the trade-offs made by individuals and governments in their choice of speed and speed limits. In Section I a model is presented from which a general formula for optimal average speed is derived. In Section II the model is applied to calculate the optimal speed on British motorways, given the technical relationships between speed and accidents, speed and fuel consumption and given values of life and time. In Section III the model is used to calculate the shadow prices for life and for time, implied by a particular chosen average speed. /TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Manchester University, England

  School of Economics and Social Studies
  Manchester M60 1QD,   England 
• Authors:
  • GHOSH, D
  • Lees, D
  • Seal, W
• Publication Date: 1975-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 134-143
• Serial:
  • Publication of: Manchester University, England
  • Publisher: Manchester University, England

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Crashes; Federal government; Freeways; Fuel consumption; Human factors; Mathematical models; Optimization; Speed; Speed limits; Time; Traffic speed
• Uncontrolled Terms: Optimum; Selection
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• Old TRIS Terms: Optimum speed; Overall travel speed
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 224: Cost; 232: Fuel consumption; 183: Government (national); 2257: Human factor; 6473: Mathematical model; 2752: Motorway; 9072: Selection; 5408: Speed; 624: Speed limit; 5414: Time; 8119: United Kingdom
• Subject Areas: Energy; Finance; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00128292
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: No. 2
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 7 1976 12:00AM