Improving methods for assessing visibility and radii on curved sections of highways in accordance with the terms of providing traffic safety

Introduction. Road safety on sections of highways is largely determined by their geometric parameters, which influence driver’s perception of road conditions. Among the most significant factors are the visibility distance of oncoming vehicles and the parameters of horizontal curves, which determine the timeliness of danger detection and the ability to perform maneuvers safely. In this regard, the studies on developing a method for the automated assessment of the described characteristics based on a minimal set of initial data are relevant.

Materials and methods. An application written in the C# programming language has been developed to process road elevation profiles, estimate the visibility of oncoming vehicles, and visualize the results. As the initial data route coordinates and elevation marks obtained from the GraphHopper route planner and applied both to construct the road profile and to determine the radii of curves in planning have been used. The methodology involves coordinate transformation, converting the data to uniform spacing along the route, calculating visibility along the line of sight, estimating local curvature based on three points, and computing radius of curves using Menger’s formula. 

Results. Based on the processing and analysis of the initial data, a methodology has been developed to assess the visibility of oncoming vehicles based on the road elevation profile and to determine the radii of curves in plan, enabling the identification of road sections, where geometric parameters affect traffic safety.

Conclusion. The obtained results confirm the validity of using the developed methodology for a comprehensive assessment of highway parameters that impact traffic safety. The proposed approach makes it possible to determine on route data the visibility conditions for oncoming vehicles and the geometric characteristics of horizontal curves in plan, providing a basis for identifying potentially dangerous sections and justifying decisions aimed at improving traffic safety.

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