9/5/2020 Sight Distances
Sight Distances
Lecture Notes in Transportation Systems Engineering
Prof. Tom V. Mathew
Contents
1 Overview
2 Types of sight distance
3 Stopping sight distance
4 Overtaking sight distance
4.0.1 Overtaking zones
5 Sight distance at intersections
6 Summary
7 Problems
Exercises
References
Acknowledgments
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1 Overview
The safe and efficient operation of vehicles on the road depends very much on the
visibility of the road ahead of the driver. Thus the geometric design of the road
should be done such that any obstruction on the road length could be visible to the
driver from some distance ahead . This distance is said to be the sight distance.
2 Types of sight distance
Sight distance available from a point is the actual distance along the road surface,
over which a driver from a specified height above the carriage way has visibility of
stationary or moving objects. Three sight distance situations are considered for
design:
1. Stopping sight distance (SSD) or the absolute minimum sight distance
2. Intermediate sight distance (ISD) is defined as twice SSD
3. Overtaking sight distance (OSD) for safe overtaking operation
4. Head light sight distance is the distance visible to a driver during night driving
under the illumination of head lights
5. Safe sight distance to enter into an intersiection.
The most important consideration in all these is that at all times the driver traveling
at the design speed of the highway must have sufficient carriageway distance within
his line of vision to allow him to stop his vehicle before colliding with a slowly moving
or stationary object appearing suddenly in his own traffic lane.
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The computation of sight distance depends on:
1. Reaction time of the driver
Reaction time of a driver is the time taken from the instant the object is visible to
the driver to the instant when the brakes are applied. The total reaction time
may be split up into four components based on PIEV theory. In practice, all
these times are usually combined into a total perception-reaction time suitable
for design purposes as well as for easy measurement. Many of the studies
shows that drivers require about 1.5 to 2 secs under normal conditions.
However, taking into consideration the variability of driver characteristics, a
higher value is normally used in design. For example, IRC suggests a reaction
time of 2.5 secs.
2. Speed of the vehicle
The speed of the vehicle very much affects the sight distance. Higher the
speed, more time will be required to stop the vehicle. Hence it is evident that, as
the speed increases, sight distance also increases.
3. Efficiency of brakes
The efficiency of the brakes depends upon the age of the vehicle, vehicle
characteristics etc. If the brake efficiency is 100%, the vehicle will stop the
moment the brakes are applied. But practically, it is not possible to achieve
100% brake efficiency. Therefore the sight distance required will be more when
the efficiency of brakes are less. Also for safe geometric design, we assume
that the vehicles have only 50% brake efficiency.
4. Frictional resistance between the tyre and the road
The frictional resistance between the tyre and road plays an important role to
bring the vehicle to stop. When the frictional resistance is more, the vehicles
stop immediately. Thus sight required will be less. No separate provision for
brake efficiency is provided while computing the sight distance. This is taken
into account along with the factor of longitudinal friction. IRC has specified the
value of longitudinal friction in between 0.35 to 0.4.
5. Gradient of the road.
Gradient of the road also affects the sight distance. While climbing up a
gradient, the vehicle can stop immediately. Therefore sight distance required is
less. While descending a gradient, gravity also comes into action and more time
will be required to stop the vehicle. Sight distance required will be more in this
case.
3 Stopping sight distance
Stopping sight distance (SSD) is the minimum sight distance available on a highway
at any spot having sufficient length to enable the driver to stop a vehicle traveling at
design speed, safely without collision with any other obstruction.
There is a term called safe stopping distance and is one of the important
measures in traffic engineering. It is the distance a vehicle travels from the point at
which a situation is first perceived to the time the deceleration is complete. Drivers
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must have adequate time if they are to suddenly respond to a situation. Thus in
highway design, sight distance atleast equal to the safe stopping distance should be
provided. The stopping sight distance is the sum of lag distance and the braking
distance. Lag distance is the distance the vehicle traveled during the reaction time t
and is given by vt, where v is the velocity in m⁄sec2. Braking distance is the distance
traveled by the vehicle during braking operation. For a level road this is obtained by
equating the work done in stopping the vehicle and the kinetic energy of the vehicle.
If F is the maximum frictional force developed and the braking distance is l, then
work done against friction in stopping the vehicle is Fl = fWl where W is the total
weight of the vehicle. The kinetic energy at the design speed is
Therefore, the SSD = lag distance + braking distance and given by:
(1)
where v is the design speed in m⁄sec2, t is the reaction time in sec, g is the
acceleration due to gravity and f is the coefficient of friction. The coefficient of friction
f is given below for various design speed.
Table 1: Coefficient of longitudinal friction
Speed, kmph <30 40 50 60 >80
f 0.40 0.38 0.37 0.36 0.35
When there is an ascending gradient of say +n%, the component of gravity adds
to braking action and hence braking distance is decreased. The component of
gravity acting parallel to the surface which adds to the the braking force is equal to
W sin α ≈ W tan α = Wn⁄100. Equating kinetic energy and work done:
Similarly the braking distance can be derived for a descending gradient. Therefore
the general equation is given by Equation 2.
(2)
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4 Overtaking sight distance
Figure 1: Time-space diagram: Illustration of overtaking sight distance
The overtaking sight distance is the minimum distance open to the vision of the
driver of a vehicle intending to overtake the slow vehicle ahead safely against the
traffic in the opposite direction. The overtaking sight distance or passing sight
distance is measured along the center line of the road over which a driver with his
eye level 1.2 m above the road surface can see the top of an object 1.2 m above the
road surface.
The factors that affect the OSD are:
1. Velocities of the overtaking vehicle, overtaken vehicle and of the vehicle coming
in the opposite direction.
2. Spacing between vehicles, which in-turn depends on the speed
3. Skill and reaction time of the driver
4. Rate of acceleration of overtaking vehicle
5. Gradient of the road
The dynamics of the overtaking operation is given in the figure which is a time-
space diagram. The x-axis denotes the time and y-axis shows the distance traveled
by the vehicles. The trajectory of the slow moving vehicle (B) is shown as a straight
line which indicates that it is traveling at a constant speed. A fast moving vehicle (A)
is traveling behind the vehicle B. The trajectory of the vehicle is shown initially with a
steeper slope. The dotted line indicates the path of the vehicle A if B was absent.
The vehicle A slows down to follow the vehicle B as shown in the figure with same
slope from t0 to t1. Then it overtakes the vehicle B and occupies the left lane at time
t3. The time duration T = t3 - t1 is the actual duration of the overtaking operation. The
snapshots of the road at time t0,t1, and t3 are shown on the left side of the figure.
From the Figure 1, the overtaking sight distance consists of three parts.
1. d1 the distance traveled by overtaking vehicle A during the reaction time t = t1 -
t0
2. d2 the distance traveled by the vehicle during the actual overtaking operation T
= t3-t1
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3. d3 is the distance traveled by on-coming vehicle C during the overtaking
operation (T).
Therefore:
It is assumed that the vehicle A is forced to reduce its speed to vb, the speed of the
slow moving vehicle B and travels behind it during the reaction time t of the driver.
So d1 is given by:
Then the vehicle A starts to accelerate, shifts the lane, overtake and shift back to the
original lane. The vehicle A maintains the spacing s before and after overtaking. The
spacing s in m is given by:
Let T be the duration of actual overtaking. The distance traveled by B during the
overtaking operation is 2s + vbT. Also, during this time, vehicle A accelerated from
initial velocity vb and overtaking is completed while reaching final velocity v. Hence
the distance traveled is given by:
The distance traveled by the vehicle C moving at design speed v m⁄sec during
overtaking operation is given by:
The the overtaking sight distance is (Figure 1)
(8)
where vb is the velocity of the slow moving vehicle in m⁄sec2, t the reaction time of
the driver in sec, s is the spacing between the two vehicle in m given by equation 5
and a is the overtaking vehicles acceleration in m⁄sec2. In case the speed of the
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overtaken vehicle is not given, it can be assumed that it moves 16 kmph slower the
the design speed.
The acceleration values of the fast vehicle depends on its speed and given in
Table 2.
Table 2: Maximum overtaking acceleration at different speeds
Speed Maximum overtaking
(kmph) acceleration (m/sec2)
25 1.41
30 1.30
40 1.24
50 1.11
65 0.92
80 0.72
100 0.53
Note that:
1. On divided highways, d3 need not be considered
2. On divided highways with four or more lanes, IRC suggests that it is not
necessary to provide the OSD, but only SSD is sufficient.
4.0.1 Overtaking zones
Overtaking zones are provided when OSD cannot be provided throughout the length
of the highway. These are zones dedicated for overtaking operation, marked with
wide roads. The desirable length of overtaking zones is 5 time OSD and the
minimum is three times OSD (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Overtaking zones
5 Sight distance at intersections
At intersections where two or more roads meet, visibility should be provided for the
drivers approaching the intersection from either sides. They should be able to
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perceive a hazard and stop the vehicle if required. Stopping sight distance for each
road can be computed from the design speed. The sight distance should be
provided such that the drivers on either side should be able to see each other. This
is illustrated in the figure 3.
Figure 3: Sight distance at intersections
Design of sight distance at intersections may be used on three possible
conditions:
1. Enabling approaching vehicle to change the speed
2. Enabling approaching vehicle to stop
3. Enabling stopped vehicle to cross a main road
6 Summary
One of the key factors for the safe and efficient operation of vehicles on the road is
sight distance. Sight distances ensure overtaking and stopping operations at the
right time. Different types of sight distances and the equations to find each of these
had been discussed here.
7 Problems
1. Calculate SSD for V =50kmph for (a) two-way traffic in a two lane road (b) two-
way traffic in single lane road. (Hint: f=0.37, t=2.5) [Ans: (a)61.4 m (b) 122.8 m].
Given: V =50km/hr = 13.9m/s f=0.37 t= 2.5 sec stopping distance=lag distance
+ braking distance
Stopping Distance = 61.4 m. Stopping sight distance when there are two lanes
= stopping distance= 61.4m. Stopping sight distance for a two way traffic for a
single lane = 2[stopping distance]=122.8m
2. Find minimum sight distance to avoid head-on collision of two cars approaching
at 90 kmph and 60 kmph. Given t=2.5sec, f=0.7 and brake efficiency of 50
percent in either case. (Hint: brake efficiency reduces the coefficient of friction
by 50 percent). [Ans: SD=153.6+82.2=235.8m] Given: V 1 =90 Km/hr. V 2 = 60
Km/hr. t = 2.5sec. Braking efficiency=50%. f=.7. Stopping distance for one of
the cars
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Coefficient of friction due to braking efficiency of 50% = 0.5*0.7=0.35. Stopping
sight distance of first car= SD1= 153.6m. Stopping sight distance of second car=
SD2= 82.2m. Stopping sight distance to avoid head on collision of the two
approaching cars SD1+ SD2=235.8m.
3. Find SSD for a descending gradient of 2% for V=80kmph. [Ans: 132m]. Given:
Gradient(n) = -2V = 80 Km/hr.
SSD on road with gradient = 132m.
4. Find head light sight distance and intermediate sight distance for V=65 kmph.
(Hint: f=0.36, t=2.5 s, HSD=SSD, ISD=2*SSD) [Ans: 91.4 and 182.8 m] Given:
V =65km/hr f=0.36 t= 2.5 sec
Headlight Sight distance = 91.4m. Intermediate Sight distance= 2[SSD]=
182.8m.
5. Overtaking and overtaken vehicles are at 70 and 40 kmph respectively. find (i)
OSD (ii) min. and desirable length of overtaking zone (iii) show the sketch of
overtaking zone with location of sign post (hint: a=0.99 m/sec2) [Ans: (i) 278 m
(ii) 834 m/1390]
6. Calculate OSD for V=96 kmph. Assume all other data. (Hint: Vb=96-16kmph.
a=0.72, t=2.5s) [Ans: OSD one way 342m, OSD two way 646m]
Exercises
1. Not Available
References
1. L R Kadiyali. Traffic Engineering and Transportation Planning. Khanna
Publishers, New Delhi, 1987.
2. S K Khanna and C E G Justo. Highway Engineering. Nemchand Bros.,,
Roorkee, 1991.
3. William R McShane, Roger P Roess, and Elena S Prassas. Traffic Engineering.
Prentice-Hall, Inc, Upper Saddle River, New Jesery, 1998.
4. C. S Papacostas. Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering. Prentice-Hall,
New Delhi, 1987.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank several of my students and staff of NPTEL for their contribution in this
lecture. I also appreciate your constructive feedback which may be sent to
[email protected]
Prof. Tom V. Mathew
Department of Civil Engineering
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Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India
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Thu Jan 10 12:41:42 IST 2019
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