Road Safety Auditing of Koratty Intersection

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e ISSN: 2395 0056

Volume: 09 Issue: 05 | May 2022 www.irjet.net p ISSN: 2395 0072

Road Safety Auditing of Koratty Intersection

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, SCMS School of Engineering and Technology, Kerala, India1 B.Tech student, Department of Civil Engineering, SCMS School of Engineering and Technology, Kerala, India2 ***

Abstract Road safety audit is done on existing roads and proposed roads. Main objective of this audit is to determine the deficiencies of each road and suggest the methods to overcome those deficiencies. Accident study has to be carried out at the selected intersection and the probable reason for accidents and remedial measure to avoid accidents in future has to be suggested. Various road furnitures have to be identified and the observed data has to be compared with the standard data given by Indian Roads Congress (IRC). The aim of this study was to carry out road safety audit at Koratty intersection located on NH544. Accident data, spot speed data and other road geometry data were collected and suitable conclusions drawn. Traffic volume count was taken for three days and traffic flow diagram was plotted.

Key Words: Road Safety Audit, Accidents, Road Geometry, Spot Speed Data, Road deficiencies

1. INTRODUCTION

Roadsafetyauditisa processofsafetycheck fornewand existingroadswhichcameintopracticein1980s.Objective ofroadsafetyauditistoensurethatalltheproposedroads can operate safely. Safety has to be considered at various stagesoftheprojectlikedesign,construction,operationand maintenanceoftheroad.Roadsafetyisveryimportantasit directly affects the road users which include pedestrians, cyclists,motorcyclists,publictransportusers,truckdrivers, bus drivers, etc. Road safety audit aims at identifying the roaddeficienciesandrecommendingstepstocorrectthose deficiencies.Roadsafetyauditcanbecarriedoutonnewand existingroadsalsoasexistingroadsmayalsobeoperating withlesssafety.

For a new road, road safety audit is carried out during feasibility study, completion of preliminary design, completionofdetaileddesign,duringconstructionstageand completion of construction. Road inventory, classified volumecount,speedsurvey,firstinvestigationreportfrom policestationscanbeusedtocarryoutheroadsafetyaudit onexistingroads.

CurrentstudywascarriedoutatKorattyintersectionwhich isapartofNH544fromSalemtoKochiwhichis350kmlong. Itisanimportantintersectiononthathighwayasitisnearto differentimportantdestinationslikeKorattymuthyShrineSt. Mary’sForanechurchwhichisanimportantpilgrimplaceat 600mdistancefromthejunction,MarAugustineMemorial High School which is just 250m from the junction and

Koratty Infopark which is just 700m from the junction. Kinfraindustrialparkisalsonearthisjunctionjust1300m away.HenceRSAisdoneonthisparticularjunctionasitis near school, industrial park and infopark which results in hightrafficflowduringpeakhours.

Themainobjectivesoftheworkincludes:

Tostudytheroadgeometricsofselectedsection

To examine the safety measures adopted and deficienciesintheroadnetwork

To study the traffic volume passing through the intersection

To identify the speed of vehicles approaching the intersection

Tostudytheaccidentrecordsandsuggestremedial measures

2. METHODOLOGY

Numberoflanes,widthofthelane,widthoffootpath,width ofmedian,positionofpedestriancrossing,presenceofhand rail,heightofhandrail,distancebetweenintersectionand busstoparethemaindatathathastobecollectedfromthe study location. Traffic volume that enters and leaves the intersection has to be noted and the suitability of traffic signals also has to be ensured. Standard values to be followedfordifferentfeaturesasperIRCisgivenbelow:

Minimum width of footpath for residential area 1.8m

Minimum clear width of footpath for commercial area 2.5m

Lanewidth 3.5m

Widthofmedian 2.5m

Widthofshoulder 2.5m

Guard rail height 1100 mm high from median level

Pedestriancrossingwidth 2to4m

Busstops 75mfromthejunction

Classified traffic volume count has to be taken at the intersection. Spot speed study can be carried out by measuring the time needed for a vehicle to travel on the selectedroadstretchof25m.Positionofsignposts,presence ofroadmarkingscanalsobelookedintosincetheyhavea seriousimpactontheefficienttrafficflow.

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e ISSN: 2395 0056

Volume: 09 Issue: 05 | May 2022 www.irjet.net p ISSN: 2395 0072

2.1 Layout of the Junction

Widthofdifferentroadsandmediansweretakenwiththe helpofameasuringtapeandfollowingresultsobtained.The distanceofthebusstopfromthejunctionwasalsomeasured usingatape.ThebusstoptoNalukettuwasatadistanceof 20mfromthejunctionandthebusstoptoErnakulumwasat adistanceof27mfromthejunction.

Fig-1: Layout

2.2 Traffic Volume Count

Traffic volume count was taken for three different days: Sunday,MondayandWednesday. Number of vehicles enteringandleavingthejunctionwasfoundout.Thecount wastakenatthreedifferenttimethatismorningfrom7.30 amto10.30am,at noonfrom12.00pmto2.00pm and at eveningfrom3.30pmto6.30pm.Theobtainednumberof vehicles were classified as mentioned in IRC: SP: 41 1994 Guidelines for the design of at grade intersections in rural andurbanareas.Thevehiclecountobtainedwasrepresented inpassengercarunit(PCU)fordesignpurpose.Thisisdone by multiplying the obtained number of vehicle with equivalency factors obtained from IRC: SP: 41 1994 Vehicular traffic was maximum on Monday followed by Wednesday and the least on Sunday. It follows the usual pattern.Trafficflowismoreduringthemorningandevening peakhoursandlessduringtheoff peakhours.

Fig 2: TrafficVolumeonSunday

Fig 3: TrafficVolumeonMonday

Fig 4: TrafficVolumeonWednesday

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e ISSN: 2395 0056

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2.3 Spot Speed Study

Spot speed study was carried out at the midblock section away from the influence of intersection. A road stretch of 50mlengthwasmarkedandtwoobserverswerepostedat the end points of that stretch. When a vehicle crosses the firstobserver,hesignalstheotherobserverandnotesthe timewhenthevehiclehaspassedhisspot,Secondobserver alsonotesthetimewhenthesamevehiclecrosseshisspot whichis50mapartfromthefirstspot.Sothetimetakento travel 50m is known and speed of the vehicle while travellingthatstretchcanbeeasilycalculated.Spotspeed studywascarriedoutontwowheelers,fourwheelersand heavyvehicles.

Table 1: Spotspeeddata

Vehicle type Time (sec) Speed (km/h)

Bike1 2.45 73.47

Bike2 2.38 75.63

Bike3 2.27 79.29

Car1 2.28 78.95

Car2 2.41 74.69

Car3 2.35 76.60

Truck1 2.72 66.18

Truck2 2.70 66.67

Truck3 2.59 69.50

Averagespeedofbikewasfoundtobe76.13kmph,ofcaris 76.84kmphandthatofatruckwasfoundtobe67.45kmph.

2.4 Observations on Road

Pavement edges are not well maintained. Median has sufficient width but the plants grown on the median are projectingtothetrafficlaneadjacenttothemedianwhich forcesmorevehiclestomovetoleftlane.Pavementfailures like cracks and edge break are seen in many spots. Hoardings and flex boards are placed even on the traffic signalpostswhichaffectthevisibilityofthedriver.Busstops arelocatedneartotheintersectionwhichaffectthetraffic flowespeciallywhengreensignalisgiventothetraffic.Road markings are not clear on many of the road stretches. Pedestriancrossingisabsentatmainpointsalso.Footpath isnotprovidedonbothsidesoftheroad.Signpostsarealso missingatsomeimportantlocations.Directionboardsand speedlimitboardsarenotmaintainedproperly.

Fig 5: RoadObservations

2.5 Accident Rates

Accident data for past10 yearsthatisfrom2011to2020 werecollectedfromKorattypolicestationandwasclassified into fatal, grievous and minor accidents. Fatal means that deathofapersonduetotheaccident.Grievousmeansthe

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e ISSN: 2395 0056

Volume: 09 Issue: 05 | May 2022 www.irjet.net p ISSN: 2395 0072

120

100

80

60

40

20

personinvolvedintheaccidenthasgotsomeseriousinjury including fracture of bones and damage to teeth. Minor standsforaccidentinvolvingpersonswithminorscratchand injury.Itwasalsofoundthatmoreaccidentsoccurredatday timewhencomparedtonight. 0

Rate fatal grievous minor Fig-6 : Accidentclassification

Accident

2.6 Road Geometry

Lanewidth,medianwidthandshoulderwidthwerefoundto be greater than the minimum value specified by IRC. FootpathwasnarrowerthanthestandardwidthgiveninIRC code. Bus stop location was also another issue as it was located at a distance less than 75m from the intersection. Bus stop to one direction was at a distance of 20m and anotheronewas27mfromtheintersection.

Table 2: RoadGeometry

Parameter Measured value(m) Standard value (m)

Lanewidth 6.8 3.5 Medianwidth 4.66 2.5 Shoulderwidth 8.36 2.5 Footpathwidth 1.26 2.5 Busstop 20,27 45

3. Conclusion

OneofthebiggestcausesofaccidentsinourCountryisroad accidents. That shows the importance of road safety and safetyawarenessprogrammes.Roadsafetyauditdataplays animportantroleinidentifyingthedeficienciesondifferent roadsandremedialmeasurestocorrectthosedeficiencies. Numberofvehiclesontheroadisincreasingdaybydaybut

theroadinfrastructureisnotdevelopinginthatsamepace. Fromtheroadsafetyauditconducted,itcanbeconcluded that the bus stops in the mentioned junction has to be relocated.Presenceofbusstopsclosetotheintersectionwill hindertheuninterruptedflowofthroughtrafficandthiswill sometimes waste the green signal time provided for that traffic also. Foot path width has to be increased and hand rails have to be installed on the footpaths. Proper sign boards have to be placed at appropriate locations. Pedestrian crossing marking has to be made more visible andpavementconditionhastobeimproved.Moreaccidents occur in that intersection during day time and this can be closely monitored by appointing police patrol during day time.Spotspeedstudiesshowthattwowheelersandheavy vehicles are moving at a speed greater than speed limit prescribedforthatvehicleclass.

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