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The Effect of Posted Speed Limit on the Dispersion of Traffic Flow Speed

Author

Listed:
  • Chao Gao

    (School of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China)

  • Jinliang Xu

    (School of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China)

  • Qunshan Li

    (Qinghai Province Traffic Construction Project Cost Management Station, Xining, Qinghai 810003, China)

  • Jie Yang

    (School of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China)

Abstract

Speed dispersion is an important indicator to portray the quality of traffic flow and is closely related to the road safety operation level. In order to clarify the influence of posted speed limits on the dispersion of traffic flow speed, three sections with speed limits of 80 km/h, 100 km/h and 120 km/h on the same expressway were selected for observation, and traffic volume, speed and other parameters were collected. The characteristic speeds, such as average speed, V 15 and V 85 , were evaluation indicators, where V 15 and V 85 are the speeds of the 15th and 85th percentiles measured at the feature points of the road when the traffic is in a free-flow state and the weather is good. The relationship between different posted speed limit values and the above indicators was analyzed using the statistical analysis software, SPSS. The results show that the speed limit has a high correlation with the average speed of traffic flow, V 15 and V 85 in free-flow state, with the coefficient of determination being as high as 0.84, 0.85 and 0.92, respectively. In the restricted flow state, the factors affecting the driver’s driving speed are mainly the decrease in driving freedom caused by the increase of traffic volume rather than the speed limit value. In a free-flow state, when the posted speed limit is increased and the average speed and the V 85 also increased by approximately the same magnitude. The posted speed limit values of 80 km/h, 100 km/h and 120 km/h correspond to the 90, 88 and 97 percentile speeds of the traffic flow, respectively. The higher the speed limit is, the larger the speed difference between V 15 and V 85 becomes. The results of the study are very useful for rationally determining the speed limit scheme under different traffic flows.

Suggested Citation

  • Chao Gao & Jinliang Xu & Qunshan Li & Jie Yang, 2019. "The Effect of Posted Speed Limit on the Dispersion of Traffic Flow Speed," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:13:p:3594-:d:244229
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jan Kunkler & Maximilian Braun & Florian Kellner, 2021. "Speed Limit Induced CO 2 Reduction on Motorways: Enhancing Discussion Transparency through Data Enrichment of Road Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-22, January.
    2. Krešimir Kušić & Edouard Ivanjko & Filip Vrbanić & Martin Gregurić & Ivana Dusparic, 2021. "Spatial-Temporal Traffic Flow Control on Motorways Using Distributed Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(23), pages 1-28, November.

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