Abstract
Free speeds are defined as the speeds pedestrians like to walk with when they are not hindered by other pedestrians.
Since pedestrians have different characteristics influencing their choices, free speeds will differ among individuals. These pedestrian characteristics are often not taken into account explicitly, which makes it necessary to describe free speeds as a stochastic variable with a distribution. Moreover, (free) speeds will be influenced by the characteristics of the walking infrastructure, such as grade, length, width, the type of pedestrian facility, and weather and other external conditions.
Free speeds and their distribution play an important role in many traffic flow models, but are also relevant in other applications.
The aim of this research is to derive free speed distributions for a number of traffic flow conditions. The data on which the distributions are estimated come from large-scale laboratory walking experiments. In these experiments different traffic conditions are simulated, such as unidirectional flows, opposite flows, and crossing flows.
Free speeds are highest in unidirectional flows (1.54 m/s), somewhat lower for opposite flows (1.41 m/s), and lowest for crossing flows (1.35 m/s). Reduction of this free speed is due to the interaction with other flows. For opposite flows, this interaction is reduced by lane formation (effect of self-organisation). For crossing flows however, this interaction cannot be reduced, since the flows have to interact during the crossing.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
D. Helbing: A Fluid Dynamic Model for the Movement of Pedestrians, Complex Systems 6, pp. 391–415 (1992).
S.P. Hoogendoorn and P.H.L. Bovy: Gas-kinetic Modelling and Simulation of Pedestrian Flows, Transportation Research Record 1710, pp. 28–36 (2000).
U. Weidmann: Transporttechnik der Fußgänger, Report Schriftenreihe Ivt-Berichte 90, ETH Zürich, (in German) (1993).
J.J. Fruin: Pedestrian Planning and Design, Metropolitan association of urban designers and environmental planners, New York (1971).
CROW, ASVV: Recommendations for Traffic Provisions in Built-up Areas, Report 15, CROW (1998).
P.N. Daly, F. McGrath, and T.J. Annesley: Pedestrian Speed/Flow Relationships for Underground Stations, Traffic Engineering and Control 32(2), pp.75–78 (1991).
FHWA, Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, US Department of Transportation (1988).
B.D. Hankin and R.A. Wright: Passenger Flow in Subways, Operational Research Quarterly 9(2), pp. 81–88 (1958).
L.F. Henderson: The Statistics of Crowd Fluids, Nature 229, pp. 381–383 (1971).
L.A. Hoel, Pedestrian Travel Rates in Central Business Districts, Traffic Engineering 38, pp. 10–13 (1968).
Institute of Transportation Engineers, Transportation and Traffic Engineering Handbook, Prentice Hall Inc., New Jersey (1969).
H. Knoflacher: Fußgeher und Fahrradverkehr: Planungsprinzipien, Böhlau Verlag, Vienna, (in German) (1995).
P.M. Koushki: Walking Characteristics in Central Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Journal of Transportation Engineering 114(6), pp. 735–744 (1988).
H.K. Lam, J.F. Morrall, and H. Ho: Pedestrian flow characteristics in Hong Kong, Transportation Research Record 1487, pp. 56–62 (1995).
J.F. Morrall, L.L. Ratnayake, and P.N. Seneviratne: Comparison of Central Business District Pedestrian Characteristics in Canada and Sri Lanka, Transportation Research Record 1294, pp. 57–61 (1991).
F.P.D. Navin and R.J. Wheeler: Pedestrian Flow Characteristics, Traffic Engineering 39, pp. 30–36 (1969).
C.A. O’Flaherty and M.H. Parkinson: Movement on a City Centre Footway, Traffic Engineering and Control 13, pp. 434–438 (1972).
S.J. Older: Movement of Pedestrians on Footways in Shopping Streets, Traffic Engineering and Control 10(4), pp. 160–163 (1968).
J. Pauls: Calculating Evacuation Times for tall Buildings, Fire Safety Journal 12, pp. 213–236 (1987).
M. Roddin: A Manual to Determine Benefits of Separating Pedestrians and Vehicles, Report 240, Transportation Research Board (1981).
A.K. Sarkar and K.S.V.S. Janardhan: A Study on Pedestrian Flow Characteristics, In: Cd-rom with Proceedings, Transportation Research Board, Washington (1997).
R.B. Sleight: The Pedestrian: Human Factors in Highway Traffic Safety Research, Wiley-Interscience (1972).
Y. Tanariboon, S.S. Hwa, and C.H. Chor: Pedestrian Characteristics Study in Singapore, Journal of Transportation Engineering, ASCE 112(3), pp. 229–235 (1986).
Y. Tanariboon and J.A. Guyano: Analysis of Pedestrian Movements in Bangkok, Transportation Research Record 1294, pp. 52–56 (1991).
P.R. Tregenza: The Design of Interior Circulation, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York (1976).
M.R. Virkler and S. Elayadath: Pedestrian Speed-flow-Density Relationships, Transportation Research Record 1438, pp. 51–58 (1994).
S.B. Young: Evaluation of Pedestrian Walking Speeds in Airport Terminals, Transportation Research Record 1674, pp. 20–26 (1999).
W. Daamen: Modelling Passenger Flows in Public Transport Facilities, PhD Thesis, Delft University of Technology, Delft (2004).
W. Daamen and S.P. Hoogendoorn: Experimental Research of Pedestrian Walking Behaviour, Transportation Research Record 1828, pp. 20–30 (2003).
S.P. Hoogendoorn and W. Daamen: Extracting Microscopic Pedestrian Characteristics from Video Data, In Cdrom with Proceedings, Transportation Research Board, Washington (2002).
H. Botma: The Free Speed Distribution of Drivers: Estimation Approaches, In: P. Bovy (Ed.), Five years ‘Crossroads of theory and practice’, Delft University Press, Delft, pp. 1–22 (1999).
Highway Research Board, Highway Capacity Manual 2000, Special Report (2000).
C.J. Hoban: Overtaking Lanes on two-lane Rural Highways, PhD thesis, Monash University (1980).
S. Erlander: A Mathematical Model for Traffic on a two-lane Road with some Empirical Results, Transportation Research 5, pp. 149–175 (1971).
S.P. Hoogendoorn: Unified Approach to Estimating Free Speed Distributions, Transportation Research Part B 39, pp. 709–727 (2005).
W. Nelson: Applied Life Time Analysis, Wiley, New York (1982).
D. Buckley: A Semi-Poisson Model of Traffic Flow, Transportation Science 2(2), pp. 107–132 (1968).
P. Wasielewski: Car-Following Headways on Freeways Interpreted by the Semi-Poisson Headway Distribution Model, Transportation Science 13 (1978).
E. Kaplan and P. Meier: Non-Parametric Estimation for Incomplete Observations, Journal of the American Statistical Association 53, pp. 457–481 (1958).
S.P. Hoogendoorn and W. Daamen: Pedestrian Behaviour at Bottlenecks, Transportation Science 39(2), pp. 147–159 (2005).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Daamen, W., Hoogendoorn, S.P. (2007). Free speed distributions — Based on empirical data in different traffic conditions. In: Waldau, N., Gattermann, P., Knoflacher, H., Schreckenberg, M. (eds) Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics 2005. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-47064-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-47064-9_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-47062-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47064-9
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)