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CHAPTER 3

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

SIGHT DISTANCE

Sight Distance

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Sight Distance

SIGHT DISTANCE

Definition: Sight distance is the length of roadway

visible ahead to the driver of the vehicle.

For safety, roadway design should provide sight

distance of sufficient length so that drivers can
control the operation of their vehicles to avoid
striking an unexpected object in the traveled way.

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Type of Sight Distance

Ø Stopping
Ø Decision
Ø Passing
Ø Intersection

SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

• Stopping Sight Distance (SSD):
ü The minimum sight distance required for a driver to stop a
vehicle after seeing an object in road without hitting the
object.

• Decision Sight Distance (DSD)>SSD:

ü Applied in complex locations((Potential hazard/Blackspot)
ü Interchange, At-grade intersections and at ramp terminals
on through roadways
ü More safe then SSD.

• Passing Sight Distance (PSD):

ü Single vehicle passing a single vehicle in two line highway
( One line for each direction for undivided ) .
ü Site distance needed to complete pass knowing there are
no potentially conflicting vehicle ahead at the start of the
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maneuver.

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Stopping Sight Distance
• .

SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Stopping
• . Sight Distance (SSD) is the sum of two distances:

1. REACTION DISTANCE: The distance traversed by the

vehicle when the driver first perceives an object on the
road necessitating the need to make a stop and
actually applying a braking force.

2. BRAKING DISTANCE: The distance the vehicle needs to

stop after the braking force is applied.

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Calculation of Reaction time Distance

• Distance covered during the reaction time

• Reaction time distance = Vt ( if v in m/sec)

Or distance = 0.278 Vt ( if v in Km/hr)

AASHTO Recommended t = 2.5sec

SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Calculation of Braking Sight Distances
• .

Assumptions: Traveling on level roadways at the design speed.

Recommended a = 3.4m/sec (11.2 ft/sec )

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Stopping Sight Distance on a level Roadway

• Height of driver’s eye is assumed to be 1.08 m (3.5ft) and an object

height of .60 m(2.0ft) is assumed.
• For truck, driver’s eye height , averagely used 2.33 meters, but not
consider for design value.
• For Passing sight distance, Eye height = Object height = 1.08 meter
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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Braking Distance on a Grade

When a highway is on a grade, the equation for

braking distance should be modified as follow:

G is the percentage of grade divided by 100

• SSD on upgrades < on level roads
• SSD on downgrades > on level roads

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Stopping Sight Distance Factors

• Perception-reaction time.
• Driver eye height.
• Object height.
• Vehicle operating speed.
• Pavement coefficient of friction.
• Deceleration rates.
• Roadway grade.

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Perception Reaction Time (t)

• 2.5 seconds of brake reaction time is recommended by

AASHTO for use in SSD.

• 2.5 sec. Exceeds the 90th percentile of reaction time for

all drivers in somewhat complex situations.

• Longer times are required in calculating Decision Site

Distance (DSD) because these types of decision situations
are assumed to be more complex.

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Driver’s eye and Object heights

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Deceleration Rate (a)

• 11.2 ft/Sec2 deceleration rate is recommended by
AASHTO for use in SSD.

• 11.2 ft/Sec2 is below the 90th percentile of deceleration

rates for all drivers.

• Such decelerations are within his or her lane and

maintain steering control during the breaking maneuver
on wet surfaces.

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Variations for Trucks
• The recommended stopping sight distances are based
on passenger car operation and do not explicitly
consider design for truck operation.

• Trucks as a whole, especially the larger and heavier units,

need longer stopping distances for a given speed than
passenger.

• The truck driver is able to see substantially farther beyond

vertical sight obstructions because of the higher position
of the seat in the vehicle.

• Where horizontal sight restrictions occur on downgrades,

particularly at the ends of long downgrades where truck
speeds closely approach or exceed those of passenger
cars.
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TYPICAL VALUES FOR FRICTION COEFFICIENT

Values of friction vary widely with road surface type, age,

tire and weather condition. Examples:

Surface type f (or a/g)

Concrete pavement -dry 0.60 to .75
Concrete pavement – wet 0.45 to .65
Asphalt pavement 0.55 to .70
Gravel 0.40 to .70
Ice 0.05 to .20
Snow 0.30 to .60

Source: Lynn Fricke, Northwestern Univ.

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Stopping Sight Distance on Level Roadways
(Table )

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Stopping Sight Distance on Grades

(Table)

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SIGHT DISTANCE (Cont’.d..)

Example: Consider a vehicle with a speed of 50Km/h and

calculate required Stopping Sight Distance for a
safe stop.

Solution: According to recommendations of AASHTO:

t = 2.5 Sec
a = 3.4 m/Sec

SSD = 0.278 * 50 * 2.5 + 0.039 * (50)2 / 3.4 = 34.75 +

28.68 = 63.42m
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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Example: Consider a vehicle with a speed of 50Km/h and

calculate required Stopping Sight Distance (SSD)
for a safe stop.

Solution: According to recommendations of AASHTO:

t = 2.5 Sec
a = 3.4 m/Sec

SSD = 0.278 * 50 * 2.5 + 0.039 * (50)2 / 3.4 = 34.75 +

28.68 = 63.42m
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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Example 2. Available Sight distance = 430’ on a +3% grade
Find The maximum speed if perception reaction time is assumed
to be 2.5 seconds?

Solution:
430 feet = 1.47V(2.5 sec) + ________V2________
30({11.2/32.2} + 0.03)

430 feet = 3.68V + ________V2________

30(0.378)

Solving for V, V = 52.0 mph (Set speed at 50 mph)

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TYPICAL VALUES FOR FRICTION COEFFICIENT

Values of friction vary widely with road surface type, age,

tire and weather condition. Examples:

Surface type f (or a/g)

Concrete pavement -dry 0.60 to .75
Concrete pavement – wet 0.45 to .65
Asphalt pavement 0.55 to .70
Gravel 0.40 to .70
Ice 0.05 to .20
Snow 0.30 to .60

Source: Lynn Fricke, Northwestern Univ.

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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Decision Sight Distances
• Mostly, the stopping sight distance is an adequate sight
distance for roadway design. However, there are cases where
it may not be appropriate.

• The decision sight distance should be provided in those areas

that need the extra margin of safety such as intersection and
interchange, but it isn’t needed continuously in those areas
that don’t contain potential hazards
• The decision sight distance is the combination of pre-
maneuver distance( reaction distance) and braking distance

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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Decision Sight Distances
• The design engineer will decide when to use the decision
sight distance based on previous data and existing physical
topography .
• Providing the extra sight distance will probably increase the
cost of a project, but it will also increase safety.

DISTANCES, WHERE A (STOP) IS THE APPROPRIATE AVOIDANCE

MANEUVER.
• The decision sight distance is the combination of pre-
maneuver distance( reaction distance) and braking
distance.
• Among the five general categories for avoidance maneuvers
(A ,B, C, D ,E); the maneuvers Aand B include stops on rural
and urban highway respectively
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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Decision Sight Distances
DISTANCES WHERE (SPEED, PATH, AND DIRECTION) CHANGE IS
THE APPROPRIATE AVOIDANCE MANEUVER.

• Avoidance maneuvers C, D, E include speed, path, and

direction change on rural, suburban, and urban roads
respectively.

• The decision sight distance is based on the distance traveled

as the vehicle executes the required maneuver (during the
total pre-maneuver and maneuver time),

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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Note: For both condition decision and stop

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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Note: Only for decision condition

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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Example: Consider a vehicle with a speed of 30Km/h and
calculate required Decision Sight Distance for
avoidance maneuver A?

Solution: According to recommendations of AASHTO:

t = 3 Sec ………. (From Exhibit 3-3)
a = 3.4 m/Sec

DSD = 0.278 * 30 * 3 + 0.039 * (30)2 / 3.4 = 25.02 +

10.32 = 35.34m
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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Passing Sight Distances
Passing sight distance (PSD) is the distance that drivers must be
able to see along the road ahead to safely and efficiently initiate and
complete passing maneuvers of slower vehicles on two-lane, two-
way highways using the lane normally reserved for opposing traffic.

Multilane Highways, no need to consider passing sight distance on

multilane highways that have two or more traffic lanes in each
direction of travel.

Multilane roadways should have continuously adequate stopping

sight distance

AASHTO Green book (2018 and 2011) uses both the height of the
driver’s eye and the object height as 1.08 m (3.5 ft) above the road
surface

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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Passing Sight Distances
AASHTO passing sight distance requirements are based on the
following assumptions:

• Vehicle that is passed, travels at uniform speed.

• Passing vehicle accelerates during the passing maneuver and
velocity of the passing vehicle is 10mph greater that of the
passed vehicle.
• For a completed or aborted pass, the space headway between
the passing and passed vehicles is 1 s.

• The lengths of the passing and passed vehicles are 5.8 m [19 ft],
as shown for the P d esign vehicle.
• Enough distance is allowed between passing and oncoming
vehicle when passing vehicle returns to its lane
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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

DPassing = d1 + d2 + d3 + d4

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DPassing = d1 + d2 + d3 + d4

d1 = distance traveled during perception-reaction

time to point where vehicle just enters the
left lane.

d1 = 1.47 t1 (V- m + at1 /2 )

Where:
t1 = time for initial maneuver (Sec).
V = average speed of passing vehicle (mph)
a = acceleration (mph/s).
m = difference between speeds of passing
and passed vehicle. 36

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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

DPassing = d1 + d2 + d3 + d4

Acceleration Assumed:
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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

DPassing = d1 + d2 + d3 + d4

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SIGHT DISTANCE Cont’.d…

Dpassing = d1 + d2 + d3 + d4
d3 = Clearance distance varies form 30-75m.
Or 100-250ft.

d4 = distance traveled by opposing vehicle

during passing maneuver.

d4 = is usually taken as 2/3 d2

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