Citation

Jarvis JR, Giummarra G. Road Transp. Res. 1992; 1(4): 32-47.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, Australian Road Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Local Government authorities often propose the installation of devices such as road humps or raised pavements as part of Local Area Traffic Management (LATM) schemes introduced to control the speed and volume of vehicles in local streets. By their very nature, many of the streets requiring some form of speed control are also those which carry route service buses through the local area. Some traditional road hump designs (e.g. Watts Profile derivatives) affect bus operations, driver stress and passenger comfort. The paper examines, in detail, the effect of selected raised pavement designs on a range of buses and a representative passenger car. Since a successful design must also adequately control car speeds, an inservice examination is also made of the effect of devices on the crossing speeds of passenger cars. The paper also discusses the competing requirements of, and negotiations between, bus operators, unions and local government. All raised pavements studied had a platform length of eight metres and height 100 mm. It was found that those with ramp lengths of both 2000 mm and 2500 mm produce similar acceptable crossing characteristics for buses, up to 24 km/h. However, high crossing speeds of light traffic for devices with 2500 mm ramps were found to be excessive for the control of speeds on non-arterial roads. It was therefore concluded that raised pavements with 2000 mm ramps might be considered a reasonable balance between the requirement for control of passenger vehicle speeds while satisfying the need for bus occupant (both driver and passenger) comfort.

Language: en