PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF TRAFFIC CALMING MEASURES

Road accidents are deaths in the world particularly among young people. Excessive speed is one of the main risk factors in road traffic safety, increasing accident probability and affecting accident severity. Various traffic calming measures were used for the controlling the vehicular speeds which includes speed breakers, rumble strips, chicanes, signals, markings, dynamic messaging boards etc. The application and performance of each type under different traffic conditions, locations is not assessed. The present research is undertaken to evaluate the performance of three traffic calming measures, speed breakers, rumble strips and chicanes. The mean speed of various vehicle types, 2W, 3W, car, LCV, HCV, BUS, bicycles, where measured on a road traveling under free flow conditions. The speed reduction due to presence of each type of traffic calming measure considered for present study are compared with respective mean speeds under free flow conditions. For this the video graphic technique is employed as it gives a larger sample of data, permanent record to cross check and consider for further studies with respect to various other factors.