DRIVER PERFORMANCE ON HORIZONTAL CURVES

LOCATIONS WERE STUDIED ON TWO-LANE HIGHWAYS PRIMARILY IN NEW YORK AND MARYLAND, TO DETERMINE THE PERFORMANCE OF PASSENGER CARS ON HORIZONTAL CURVES HAVING A RANGE IN MINIMUM SIGHT DISTANCES FROM 200 TO 655 FEET AND A CURVATURE FROM 3 TO 29 DEGREES. A TOTAL OF 8,400 FREE-MOVING PASSENGER CAR SPEEDS WERE OBSERVED ON THE INSIDE LANES OF 55 DIFFERENT CURVES AND ON THE OUTSIDE LANES OF 33 OF THESE CURVES. THE ANALYSES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INVESTIGATIONS: COEFFICIENT OF SIDE FRICTION THAT VEHICLES ACTUALLY DEVELOPED IN TRAVERSING HORIZONTAL CURVES, THE EFFECT OF SUPERELEVATION ON DRIVER BEHAVIOR, SIGHT DISTANCE AS RELATED TO CURVATURE, SPEED AS RELATED TO SIGHT DISTANCE AND CURVATURE, AND PASSENGER-CAR SPEEDS AS COMPARED TO VARIOUS STANDARDS FOR SAFE SPEEDS AS BASED ON STOPPING DISTANCES. FROM THESE STUDIES IT APPEARS THAT SIGHT DISTANCES SHOULD BE AT LEAST 400 FEET (IF MEASURED FROM A HEIGHT OF 4-1/2 FEET TO 4 INCHES) ON HORIZONTAL CURVES ON MAIN RURAL HIGHWAYS IF DRIVERS ARE TO BE EXPECTED TO STOP WHEN AN OBJECT SUDDENLY APPEARS IN THEIR LANE.

• Record URL:
  https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrbproceedings/33/33-036.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 33, pp 446-466, 20 FIG, 8 TAB. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Taragin, A
  • Leisch, L E
• Publication Date: 1954

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board, Washington, D.C., January 12-15, 1954
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Proceedings
  • Volume: 33
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobiles; Behavior; Curves (Geometry); Driver performance; Drivers; Highway safety; Personnel performance; Rural highways; Sight distance; Speed; Stopping distances; Superelevation; Traffic flow; Two lane highways
• Uncontrolled Terms: Horizontal curvature
• Old TRIS Terms: Side friction /traffic flow/
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00222775
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Oct 14 1994 12:00AM