Spot Speed Study

Before anything else

Read the manual carefully. It is your
homework
What is covered in the following slides
is just general
General
The data is to be used for assessing
general speed trends and for setting
speed limits.
The equipment for our data collection
procedure is a hand-held radar.
Radar usage
Radar checkout
Data Collection
Name of the safety officer
Choose section of road
Not close to intersection
Off-peak period during daylight hours
on a typical weekday
Hide
I will contact Police to cover you
Data collection form
Data analysis
What should you do with the collected
speeds?
What else, statistical analysis!
Remember that old stuff: Mean,
standard deviation,
Plus a few more things
Speed Statistics
Average Speed data
speed Grouped Not grouped
u = uj/N

Standard Speed data

deviation Grouped Not grouped

s= f(ui u)2
N-1

Variance s2
Types of Speed Measurements
Median speed The speed at the middle value in a series of spot
speeds. Or, 50th-percentile speed

Modal speed The speed value that occurs most frequently in a

sample of speeds

ith-percentile The spot speed below which i percent of the

speed vehicles travel, e.g. 85th-percentile speed

Pace The range of speed that has the greatest number

of observations; usually 10-mph range

85%
50%
Frequency histogram example
Northbound Frequency Histogram

35

30
Modal Speed = 31 mph Modal Speed = 33 mph
25
Frequency (f i)

20

15

10

0
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
Speed Class (mph)
Frequency distribution curve
Frequency Distribution

12.00

10.00
Frequency (%)

8.00

6.00

4.00
Pace
28-34 mph
2.00

0.00
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Speed (mph)
 Cumulative frequency
distribution curve
Cumulative Frequency Curve

110.00
100.00
90.00
P85 = 35.5 mph
80.00
Frequency (%)

70.00
60.00
50.00
Median Speed=P 50= 31 mph
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Speed Class (mph)

Helping calculation table
Interpret and conclude
Answer questions in manual
Prepare your presentation