Developing Mathematical Model for Operating Speed on Horizontal Curves of Arterial Roads

Abstract

The world today faces a greater developmental issue, which is road safety. Minimal road safety has become the leading cause of accidents resulting in a higher number of injuries and deaths. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 10% of the world’s fatal accidents are from India. This may be attributed to the geometric characteristics of the road not meeting the expectations of vehicle drivers which in turn affects the vehicular operating speed. The present study aims to understand the dependency of the operating speed of various classes of vehicles on different road geometric characteristics at the curves. An arterial road stretch of length 15 km in the city of Mysore, Karnataka is selected for the study. A linear regression model is developed considering the most latent variables affecting the operating speed of vehicles on curved sections of the selected road stretch. MS Excel software is used to develop the regression model. It was found that the operating speed is minimal at the midpoint of the curve. Also, the operating speed depends on the radius of the curve, deflection angle, and length of the curve, superelevation, extra widening and available sight distance. Further studies may be carried out for the whole stretch as a global approach considering both curved and straight sections of the road. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.