There have been many reports of motorists using the lack of traffic on the roads during the Covid19 lockdown to flout the speed limits and now with more traffic back on the roads there is a danger that some may continue to drive at excessive speeds even after things are back to ‘normal’.
Behavioural Science in transportation (understanding the behaviour and motivations of transport users such as motorists and rail commuters etc) is a fascinating subject which plays a big part in the engineering and design of roads and their ‘furniture’ in an attempt to gently persuade drivers to modify their driving behaviour to something more appropriate.
There are many such psychological tactics in place to combat speeding but could we be doing more? What other engineering solutions could be implemented to stop excessive speeding? How do different countries tackle speeding on their roads? What could we learn from them?
There are many factors such as the state of the road and the braking system of the vehicle, which can affect the stopping distance of a passenger car, but usually, under normal road conditions, if you are traveling at 30 mph, your stopping distance is 45 meters. If you double the Your speed to 60 km / h, the kinetic energy of your vehicle is square, so your vehicle stopping distance is also four times (4X45 = 180). Also, keep in mind that most people, on average, take seconds to respond to a dangerous situation until the brakes are applied, so you will also need to add the distance to respond and apply the brakes. Example: If you are traveling at 60 mph, you are driving at 88 meters per second. Therefore, if it takes you one second to respond to danger and apply your brakes, you will need to add 88 meters to the above number for stopping distance (180 energy requirements Kinetic + 88 meters response time = 268 meters). Distance difference from 100 km / h (real world test) The table below shows the distance of the car from 100 km / h. These cars have been tested at different places on different days. Be careful when comparing results as test results can vary depending on many factors including the surface, how speed is measured (as different cars have different speed gauges), tire pressures, fuel load and whether the car was just a single driver or were there additional passengers
There are many factors such as the state of the road and the braking system of the vehicle, which can affect the stopping distance of a passenger car, but usually, under normal road conditions, if you are traveling at 30 mph, your stopping distance is 45 meters. If you double the Your speed to 60 km / h, the kinetic energy of your vehicle is square, so your vehicle stopping distance is also four times (4X45 = 180). Also, keep in mind that most people, on average, take seconds to respond to a dangerous situation until the brakes are applied, so you will also need to add the distance to respond and apply the brakes. Example: If you are traveling at 60 mph, you are driving at 88 meters per second. Therefore, if it takes you one second to respond to danger and apply your brakes, you will need to add 88 meters to the above number for stopping distance (180 energy requirements Kinetic + 88 meters response time = 268 meters). Distance difference from 100 km / h (real world test) The table below shows the distance of the car from 100 km / h. These cars have been tested at different places on different days. Be careful when comparing results as test results can vary depending on many factors including the surface, how speed is measured (as different cars have different speed gauges), tire pressures, fuel load and whether the car was just a single driver or were there additional passengers
