• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
• /
• v.22 no.3 s.74
• /
• pp.109-125
• /
• 2004

In recent decades, microscopic simulation models have become powerful tools to analyze traffic flow on highways and to assist the investigation of level of service. The existing microscopic simulation models simulate an individual vehicle's speed based on a constant free-flow speed dominantly specified by users and driver's behavior models reflecting vehicle interactions, such as car following and lane changing. They set a single free-flow speed for a single vehicle on a given link and neglect to consider the effects of highway design elements to it in their internal simulation. Due to this, the existing models are limitted to provide with identical simulation results on both curved and tangent sections of highways. This paper presents a model developed to estimate the change of free-flow speeds based on highway design elements. Nine neural network models were trained based on the field data collected from seven different freeway curve sections and three different locations at each section to capture the percent changes of free-flow speeds: 100 m upstream of the point of curve (PC) and the middle of the curve. The model employing seven highway design elements as its input variables was selected as the best : radius of curve, length of curve, superelevation, the number of lanes, grade variations, and the approaching free-flow speed on 100 m upstream of PC. Tests showed that the free-flow speeds estimated by the proposed model were statistically identical to the ones from the field at 95% confidence level at each three different locations described above. The root mean square errors at the starting and the middle of curve section were 6.68 and 10.06, and the R-squares at these points were 0.77 and 0.65, respectively. It was concluded from the study that the proposed model would be one of the potential tools introducing the effects of highway design elements to free-flow speeds in simulation.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.30 no.4D
• /
• pp.395-402
• /
• 2010

The seriousness of a traffic accident appears relatively higher on the curve sections compared with the straight sections due to a change in speed caused by a change in the driver's sight. In particular, the visual distortion phenomenon, one of the dangerous factors taking place on the curve sections, appears different according to the road's geometric design. Although it is a genuinely principal design factor which should be necessarily considered in designing a road, the previous researches on establishing the design standards for it have been insufficiently conducted. As a result, the establishment of the road design standards for the curve sections considering the sight distortion phenomenon is desperately required. This research examined the previous researches on the driver's behaviors, the driver's sight characteristics and the perceived curve radius on the curve sections, and developed the theoretical model of perceived curve radius to which a mathematical technique is applied in consideration of the visual distortion phenomenon on the two-lane curve sections in a local area. In addition, after the theoretical visual distortion was calculated on the basis of the theoretical model of perceived curve radius, the range of error on the theoretical recognition radius model formula was verified through comparing it with the previous researches' experiential visual distortion level and analyzing both of them. As a result, it was observed that as the curve radius practically increases in the theoretical recognition curve radius, the range of error tends to go down, which reflects well the characteristics of the curve sections on the road. Based on this research, it is expected that this research will be helpful to eliminate the safety defects when designing the curve sections and contribute to develop the road design standards considering human factors in the future.