Average speed dynamics on urban roads and highways: Influence of traffic infrastructure, vehicle and road characteristics on driving behavior

Vehicle speed control is important for road safety, directly influencing the frequency and severity of traffic accidents. Proper speed management can significantly reduce the number of accidents and save lives, and is an essential strategy in public road safety policies. The study of driver speed is a pervasive theme in scientific studies, as well as the consequences of high speeds. However, few of them correlate drivers’ behavior with traffic infrastructure and road characteristics. This study aimed to analyzed what can be learned from the radar data about driving behavior related to speeding on urban roads and highways in Brazil, by using average speeds. To do that, it was adopted an observational approach, using data collected from radars with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) operated by traffic agencies on different types of urban roads and highways in the Federal District, Brazil. The results indicated that while OCR radars are effective in reducing the average speed at specific points, challenges persist due to adaptive driver behaviors, such as the “kangaroo jump”, where drivers slow down before the radars and accelerate after passing through them and sometimes the driver’s speed is reduced traffic infrastructure and road characteristics. Another result was that vehicle power is not the main factor for speeding and that drivers are the ones who want to accelerate more, regardless of where they are. This study, of zero cost and replicable on a large scale, suggests that cooperation between traffic agencies for data sharing can enhance efforts in speed moderation, contributing to a safer road environment.