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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| REPORT |
| This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
 |
| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-17-098 Date: January 2018 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-17-098 Date: January 2018 |
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Each year, more than 13,000 people are killed in speeding-related crashes. The majority of speeding-related crashes occur on roads that are not part of the interstate system. Local streets and collector roads have the highest speeding-related fatality rate on the basis of miles driven per vehicle. A self-enforcing road (sometimes referred to as a “self-explaining roadway”) is a roadway that is planned and designed to encourage drivers to select operating speeds in harmony with the posted speed limit. Properly designed self-enforcing roadways can be effective in producing speed compliance and may contribute to less severe crash outcomes.
The purpose of this report is to provide guidance on how to produce self-enforcing roadways. The concepts can be applied to planned and existing roadways. This report should be useful to transportation professionals, State departments of transportation, and researchers interested in designing and/or retrofitting roadways to induce drivers to drive at more appropriate speeds.
Monique R. Evans, P.E.
Director, Office of Safety
Research and Development
Notice
This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document.
The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.
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| 1. Report No. FHWA-HRT-17-098 |
2. Government Accession No. | 3. Recipients Catalog No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4. Title and Subtitle Self-Enforcing Roadways: A Guidance Report |
5. Report Date January 2018 |
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| 6. Performing Organization Code | |||||
| 7. Author(s) Eric Donnell, Kristin Kersavage, and Lisa Fontana Tierney |
8. Performing Organization Report No. | ||||
| 9. Performing Organization Name and Address Institute of Transportation Engineers 1627 Eye Street NW, Suite 600 Washington, DC 20006 Penn State University 212 Sackett Building University Park, PA 16802 |
10. Work Unit No. | ||||
| 11. Contract or Grant No. DTFH61-13-D-00026/0007 |
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| 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center 6300 Georgetown Pike McLean, VA 22101 |
13. Type of Report and Period Covered Final Report; July 2015-November 2017 |
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| 14. Sponsoring Agency Code: | |||||
| 15. Supplementary Notes The Task Order Manager for this report is Abdul Zineddin (HRDS-10). |
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| 16. Abstract The objective of this project was to develop a guidance report to identify methods that may produce self-enforcing, or self-explaining, roadways during the geometric design process. While safety performance associated with these methods is not well understood yet, an implied outcome of effective speed management is that less severe crashes will result via the application of self-enforcing, or self-explaining, road design principles. Six self-enforcing road concepts and the processes needed to implement the concepts when designing or evaluating existing two-lane rural highways are identified and described in this document. It is anticipated that the concepts may be used to design roadways that produce operating speeds consistent with the desired operating speeds of the roadway. The six methods include: (1) the speed feedback loop process, (2) the inferred design speed approach, (3) design consistency methods, (4) applying geometric design criteria, (5) using a combination of signs and pavement markings, and (6) setting rational speed limits. |
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| 17. Key Words Self-enforcing road, self-explaining road, two-lane rural highway, operating speed, speed limit, design speed, speed management, safety |
18. Distribution Statement No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161.http://www.ntis.gov |
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| 19. Security Classif. (of this report) Unclassified |
20. Security Classif. (of this page) Unclassified |
21. No. of Pages: 118 |
22. Price | ||
Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed pages authorized.
SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors
| AADT | annual average daily traffic (vehicles per day) |
|---|---|
| AASHTO | American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials |
| DCM | Design Consistency Module |
| EB | empirical Bayes |
| FHWA | Federal Highway Administration |
| HSM | Highway Safety Manual |
| HSO | horizontal sight line offset |
| IHSDM | Interactive Highway Safety Design Model |
| ITE | Institute of Transportation Engineers |
| MUTCD | Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices |
| NHTSA | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |
| OLS | ordinary least squares |
| SHRP2 | Second Strategic Highway Research Program |
| SSD | stopping sight distance |
| TAC | Transportation Association of Canada |
| TRB | Transportation Research Board |
