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Stopping Distance
Stopping sight distance is one of several types of sight distance used in road design. It is a near worst-case distance a vehicle driver needs to be able to see in order to have room to stop before colliding with something in the roadway, such as a pedestrian in a crosswalk, a stopped vehicle, or road debris. Insufficient sight distance can adversely affect the safety or operations of a roadway or intersection. Stopping sight distance is the distance traveled during the two phases of stopping a vehicle: perception-reaction time (PRT), and maneuver time (MT).American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (1994) ''A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets'' (pp. 117–118) Perception-reaction time is the time it takes for a road user to realize that a reaction is needed due to a road condition, decide what maneuver is appropriate (in this case, stopping the vehicle), and start the maneuver (taking the foot off the accelerator and depressing the br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Braking Distance
A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background Most brakes commonly use friction between two surfaces pressed together to convert the kinetic energy of the moving object into heat, though other methods of energy conversion may be employed. For example, regenerative braking converts much of the energy to electrical energy, which may be stored for later use. Other methods convert kinetic energy into potential energy in such stored forms as pressurized air or pressurized oil. Eddy current brakes use magnetic fields to convert kinetic energy into electric current in the brake disc, fin, or rail, which is converted into heat. Still other braking methods even transform kinetic energy into different forms, for example by transferring the energy to a rotating flywheel. Brakes are generally a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geometric Design Of Roads
The geometric design of roads is the branch of highway engineering concerned with the positioning of the physical elements of the roadway according to standards and constraints. The basic objectives in geometric design are to optimize efficiency and safety while minimizing cost and environmental damage. Geometric design also affects an emerging fifth objective called "livability", which is defined as designing roads to foster broader community goals, including providing access to employment, schools, businesses and residences, accommodate a range of travel modes such as walking, bicycling, transit, and automobiles, and minimizing fuel use, emissions and environmental damage. Geometric roadway design can be broken into three main parts: alignment, profile, and cross-section. Combined, they provide a three-dimensional layout for a roadway. * The alignment is the route of the road, defined as a series of horizontal tangents and curves. * The profile is the vertical aspect of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Road Debris
Road debris, a form of road hazard, is debris that accumulates on or off a road. Road debris includes substances, materials, and objects that are foreign to the normal roadway environment. Debris may be produced by vehicular or non-vehicular sources, although in all cases it is considered litter, a form of solid waste., AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety press release o"The Safety Impact of Vehicle-Related Road Debris" Gerry Forbes and John Robinson, June 2004 Debris may tend to collect in areas where vehicles do not drive, such as on the edges (shoulder), around traffic islands, and junctions. Road spray or tire kickup is road debris (usually liquid water) that has been kicked up, pushed out, or sprayed out from, a tire. In 2004, a AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study revealed that vehicle-related road debris caused 25,000 accidents and nearly 100 deaths a year. Causes Road debris can be caused by various factors, including objects falling off vehicles or natural disaster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Road Traffic Safety
Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures, such as traffic calming, to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, Driving, motorists, passengers of vehicles, and passengers of on-road public transport, mainly buses and trams. Best practices in modern road safety strategy: As sustainable solutions for classes of road safety have not been identified, particularly low-traffic rural and remote roads, a hierarchy of control should be applied, similar to classifications used to improve occupational safety and health. At the highest level is sustainable prevention of serious injury and death crashes, with sustainable requiring all key result areas to be considered. At the second level is real-time risk reduction, which involves providing users at severe risk with a specific warning to enable them to take mitigating action. The third level is about reducing the crash risk which involves applying the road ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mental Chronometry
Mental chronometry is the scientific study of processing speed or reaction time on cognitive tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of mental operations. Reaction time (RT; also referred to as "response time") is measured by the elapsed time between stimulus onset and an individual's response on elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs), which are relatively simple perceptual-motor tasks typically administered in a laboratory setting. Mental chronometry is one of the core methodological paradigms of human experimental, cognitive, and differential psychology, but is also commonly analyzed in psychophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, and behavioral neuroscience to help elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying perception, attention, and decision-making in humans and other species. Mental chronometry uses measurements of elapsed time between sensory stimulus onsets and subsequent behavioral responses to study the time course of information processing in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Braking Distance
A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background Most brakes commonly use friction between two surfaces pressed together to convert the kinetic energy of the moving object into heat, though other methods of energy conversion may be employed. For example, regenerative braking converts much of the energy to electrical energy, which may be stored for later use. Other methods convert kinetic energy into potential energy in such stored forms as pressurized air or pressurized oil. Eddy current brakes use magnetic fields to convert kinetic energy into electric current in the brake disc, fin, or rail, which is converted into heat. Still other braking methods even transform kinetic energy into different forms, for example by transferring the energy to a rotating flywheel. Brakes are generally a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Association Of State Highway And Transportation Officials
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ... design and construction throughout the United States. Despite its name, the association represents not only highways but air, rail, water, and public transportation as well. Although AASHTO sets transportation standards and policy for the United States as a whole, AASHTO is not an agency of the federal government; rather it is an organization of the states themselves. Policies of AASHTO are not federal laws or policies, but rather are ways to coordinate state laws and policies in the field of transportation. Purpose The American Ass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inclined Plane
An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six classical simple machines defined by Renaissance scientists. Inclined planes are used to move heavy loads over vertical obstacles. Examples vary from a ramp used to load goods into a truck, to a person walking up a pedestrian ramp, to an automobile or railroad train climbing a grade. Moving an object up an inclined plane requires less force than lifting it straight up, at a cost of an increase in the distance moved. The mechanical advantage of an inclined plane, the factor by which the force is reduced, is equal to the ratio of the length of the sloped surface to the height it spans. Owing to conservation of energy, the same amount of mechanical energy (work (physics), work) is required to lift a given object by a given vertical distance, disr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Road Slipperiness
Road slipperiness is a condition of low Skid (automobile), skid resistance due to insufficient road friction. It is a result of snow, ice, water, road debris, loose material and the Texture (roads), texture of the Pavement (material), road surface on the traction (engineering), traction produced by the wheels of a vehicle. Road slipperiness can be measured either in terms of the friction between a freely-spinning wheel and the ground, or the braking distance of a braking vehicle, and is related to the coefficient of friction between the tyre and the road surface. Public works agencies spend a sizeable portion of their budget measuring and reducing road slipperiness. Even a small increase in slipperiness of a section of road can increase the accident rate of the section of road tenfold. Maintenance activities affecting slipperiness include drainage repair, snow removal and street sweeper, street sweeping. More intensive measures may include diamond grinding of pavement, grinding or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assured Clear Distance Ahead
In legal terminology, the assured clear distance ahead (ACDA) is the distance ahead of any terrestrial locomotive device such as a land vehicle, typically an automobile, or watercraft, within which they should be able to bring the device to a halt. It is one of the most fundamental principles governing ordinary care and the duty of care for all methods of conveyance, and is frequently used to determine if a driver is in proper control and is a nearly universally implicit consideration in vehicular accident liability. The rule is a precautionary trivial burden required to avert the great probable gravity of precious life loss and momentous damage. Satisfying the ACDA rule is necessary but not sufficient to comply with the more generalized basic speed law, and accordingly, it may be used as both a layman's criterion and judicial test for courts to use in determining if a particular speed is negligent, but not to prove it is safe. As a spatial standard of care, it also serves as r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Design Speed
The design speed is a tool used to determine geometric features of a new road or street during road design. Contrary to the word's implication, the design speed of the road or street is not necessarily its vehicle speed limit or maximum safe speed; that can be higher or lower. Choosing a design speed means finding a balance between several interests which compete for priority, such as high vehicle speeds to allow drivers to travel to their destinations quickly versus low vehicle speeds for the safety of people outside the vehicle (such as pedestrians and cyclists), or quick movement of peak traffic ( traffic engineering) versus maximising the economic development potential of the street (urban planning). Geometric features The design speed chosen for a high-speed roadway is a major factor in choosing superelevation rates and radii of curves, sight distance, and the lengths of crest and sag vertical curves. Roads with higher design speeds require wider lanes, sweeping c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reaction Time
Mental chronometry is the scientific study of processing speed or reaction time on cognitive tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of mental operations. Reaction time (RT; also referred to as "response time") is measured by the elapsed time between stimulus onset and an individual's response on elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs), which are relatively simple perceptual-motor tasks typically administered in a laboratory setting. Mental chronometry is one of the core methodological paradigms of human experimental, cognitive, and differential psychology, but is also commonly analyzed in psychophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, and behavioral neuroscience to help elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying perception, attention, and decision-making in humans and other species. Mental chronometry uses measurements of elapsed time between sensory stimulus onsets and subsequent behavioral responses to study the time course of information processing in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
