Guidelines for Speed Reduction in Towns Along Rural Highways

Details

• Creators:
  Shrestha, Pramen P. ; Said, Aly ; Tian, Ying ; Shrestha, Krishna
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction
• Corporate Contributors:
  Nevada. Dept. of Transportation
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  85th Percentile Speed Accident Analysis Best Practices Fatalities Guidelines Rural Highways Speed Control Speed Limits Speed Zones Towns
• Publication/ Report Number:
  Report No. 255-11-803
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Nevada
• TRIS Online Accession Number:
  01651144
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Nevada. Dept. of Transportation
• Abstract:
  This report presents the results of the study undertaken to develop a guideline for setting up speed limit in towns along rural highways of Nevada. Generally, speed zones are provided in towns along rural highways to reduce speed-related crashes. However, a guideline is necessary for a consistent procedure to set up speed zones throughout the state. The main objectives of this study are to determine factors associated with crashes and to identify the best practices for setting up speed zones in towns along rural highways. The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) Technical Advisor Panel (TAP) identified 11 towns along rural highways of Nevada for crash data analysis. Ten years of crash data for these towns were collected and analyzed. The results showed that the percentage of fatal crashes in these towns was 0.89% of the total crashes. For all the rural areas in Nevada, the percentage of fatal crashes in 2010 was 2.00% of the total crashes occurred in Nevada. Regression analyses showed a strong correlation between the number of crashes and the percentage of vehicles exceeding posted speed limits in these towns. Based on state DOT traffic engineers' survey data and various state DOT speed limit guidelines, the 85th percentile speed was the most important factor for determining the speed limit for a speed zone. Other factors, such as crash history and road characteristics, also should be considered while determining the speed limit. The review of literature showed that if proper enforcement is ensured, speed zones can be effective to reduce the number of speed-related crashes in towns along rural highways. Guidelines for setting up speed zones in towns along rural highways are included in this report.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  P255-11-803
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:5d6b6b33be526b397df62d8daecc6c08d2ec826dd4c5ea97fca244115cfed91d
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/34249/dot_34249_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 9.72 MB ]