Operating Speed Based Criteria for Design Consistency Evaluation on motorways in China

Operating speed is the final presentation of vehicles influenced by integration of highway geometric alignment, road environment, vehicle performance as well as drivers' behavior; moreover, the larger speed differential between two consecutive segments is, the worse the design consistency of the section will be, where the probability of traffic accidents will be higher. In this paper, the existing operating speed based criteria for evaluation of design consistency are reviewed, however without comprehensive verification and calibration of the criteria in China, the adaptability and effectiveness of the criteria cannot be verified. The more personalized criteria for China highways are needed. The theoretical analysis of various operating speed based evaluation methods were put forward in order to decide the more localized evaluation method in China; afterwards, a traffic accident based analysis of different road sections of a motorway in northeastern China are put forward in order to verify the critical nominal road segments for road safety audit. Both of the operating speed and traffic accident resources of the verified road segments have been collected from the selected motorway. By applying graphic-arts technique and statistical analysis method, the operating speed based design consistency criteria were developed.