Effect of horizontal alignment on driver speed behaviour on different road classifications

The operating speed method has proved highly effective in achieving consistent alignments on the highway facility. Accordingly tremendous research efforts have been drawn to operating speed prediction worldwide over the past decades. However, most of the previous research concentrated on two-lane rural highways only, and there has been little study conducted on other road types. Some prediction models are questionable due to the bias or human errors induced by manual speed measurements. Driver speed behaviour may be misinterpreted because of the limited and discrete observation points on the study site. This research proposed a field experiment to analyze driver speed behaviour on the most common road types in Eastern Ontario, including freeway interchanges. Speed prediction models were firstly developed, using real driving data for two-lane rural highways and urban/suburban roads, respectively. The models consider driver speed behaviour when negotiating horizontal curves. Driver behaviour on freeway interchanges was also investigated.