OPERATING SPEED AND ACCIDENTS AT HORIZONTAL CURVES: INSIGHTS FROM TWO-LANE RURAL HIGHWAY IN MIXED TRAFFIC OPERATION

Drivers' behavior in a two-lane highway is more unprecedented as they tend to overtake at a higher speed due to undivided lanes.Also, often there are significant changes in driving speed along the horizontal curves because of the opposing traffic flow.Such variation in speed increases the likelihood of accidents on a two-lane road.In addition to that, the mix of different vehicle class often influences risky overtaking at the horizontal curves even in the absence of adequate sight distance.Keeping that in mind, the primary aim of this research was framed to obtain insight about the influence of road geometric features on operating speed and impact of speed dispersion on accidents along the horizontal curves in mixed traffic operation.The study indicates that beside road geometric features, operating speed along the horizontal curves is also influenced by traffic composition.Interestingly, it was observed that different vehicle class reacted differently while traversing a horizontal curve.Moreover, it was observed that the dispersion of speed had a significant impact on the accident counts at the horizontal curves.The insights from the study could be useful for designing of appropriate countermeasures to control the speed and reduce severe accident at horizontal curves.