1.

This experiment was conducted in order to collect and analyze the traffic pattern west-

bound along Woody Hayes Dr. from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

2. The experiment was conducted using one person as a flagger, another person using a

stopwatch for the timer, another person as the safety engineer, and the last person

recording the speed range that each car timed fell into. The flagger would make some

kind indication, like dropping their hand, when a car would pass the entry point of the

176 feet long speed trap. The timer would start the stop watch at this point and stop it

when the same car exited the speed trap. The timer would relay to the recorder what the

time recorded was and then the recorder would place mark in the box that corresponded

to the appropriate time. The data sheet provided also had the speed equivalent for each

time range. And this was repeated until the end of the hour. During this time, the safety

engineer would make sure that each person in the group was acting in a safe and

appropriate manner.

3. The experiment was conducted on Thursday, October 4, 2007 from 2:00PM to 3:00PM

on Woody Hayes Dr., on the overpass over Olentangy River Rd. The temperature was

around 85F and sunny. The experiment was conducted by Andrew Grunenwald, Jordan

Powell, Adam Collier, and Jon Krebs, with each of them rotating between each of the

jobs.

4. Table 1: Spot Speed Study Data

Middle Speed Number of Vehicles in Group Cumulative Vehicles

Speed Group
(mph) Vehicles (%) (%)

Lower Limit Upper Limit (mph)

 (mph)

16 18 17 1 0.8% 0.8%

18 20 19 1 0.8% 1.7%

20 22 21 0 0.0% 1.6%

22 24 23 6 2.5% 4.2%

24 26 25 6 5.9% 10.1%

26 28 27 11 8.4% 18.5%

28 30 29 12 10.9% 29.4%

30 32 31 17 9.2% 38.7%

32 34 33 10 7.6% 46.2%

34 36 35 9 8.4% 54.6%

36 38 37 11 14.3% 68.9%

38 40 39 13 10.1% 79.0%

40 42 41 10 9.2% 88.2%

42 44 43 7 5.0% 93.3%

44 46 45 3 5.0% 98.3%

46 48 47 0 0.0% 98.3%

48 50 49 1 0.8% 99.2%

50 52 51 1 0.8% 100.0%

5. See Figure 1 attached at end of worksheet.

6. See Figure 1 attached at end of worksheet.

7. See Figure 2 attached at end of worksheet.

8. Table 2: Calculated Values

Mode 31 MPH

50th Percentile Speed 34.0 MPH

10 MPH Pace 28.4 MPH - 38.4 MPH

Percent of Vehicles in Pace 64%

15th Percentile Speed 26.8 MPH

85th Percentile Speed 37.6 MPH

Average Speed 33.62 MPH

Estimated Standard Deviation 5.4 MPH

Calculated Standard Deviation 6.57 MPH

9. Central tendency has to do with the average value within a set of data. In this experiment,

the central tendencies would be the average speed of traffic, the mode of the data, and the

median of the data. Cars in traffic tend to the around the same speed or around central

tendencies. People can only drive their car as fast as the person in front of them so their

speed is restricted by the speed of the people ahead of them in traffic and also by the

speed limit. Thus, these restrictions create central tendencies within the data.
10. Measures of dispersion define the extent to which the data received spreads around the

center. In this experiment, the measures of dispersion would be the pace of data, the

percentage of vehicles within the pace, the calculated value of standard deviation, and the

15th and 85th percentiles found. The reason that there is dispersion in this experiment is

that not every person drives the same speed on a road, the time of day, and the traffic that

the recorded car is traveling in. For example, the dispersion of data at the Indy 500 would

be rather small because there are consistent conditions every time a car passes a certain

point on the track. On the other hand, traffic on High Street on a Saturday evening in the

fall with moderate pedestrian traffic and many stop lights would have quite a large

dispersion because of the numerous variables that could effect each recorded car in the

experiment.

11. There could have been a few different accuracy problems that would have caused

deviations in the data. The timer and flagger could have been using different reference

points on the car and this would have caused higher or lower speeds for certain cars.

People were rotated through the positions and this would cause some inconsistencies in

the gathering of the data. Lastly, the general inconsistency of human reaction times would

cause the timing to end at different reference points on the car and this would cause a

slight inaccuracy in the data gathered.

12. The best way to improve the inconsistencies from rotating members of the group between

positions would be to not rotate the members of the group between the various jobs.

Before the experiment begins, the flagger and timer should clarify what part on the car

will be the reference point for starting and stopping the stop watch. To lessen the problem
 with human reaction time, using multiple stop watches would create a smaller chance for

error. If $200 was given to purchase items to improve the experiment, a radar gun should

be purchased which would eliminate most of the problems present in the experiment.

There would be very little chance for error due to human reaction time and reference

points on cars.

13. The average velocity of all the cars surveyed was 33.62 MPH. The mode of the data was

31 MPH and the median of the data was 34 MPH. The pace of the data 28.4 MPH to 38.4

MPH and 64% of the vehicles where in the pace. The calculated standard deviation for

the data was 6.57 MPH. From the data recorded, about 90% of the cars recorded were

traveling faster than the posted speed limit of 25 MPH. We had an uncharacteristic steep

decline in the number of cars for the next few speed groups after the mode of 31 MPH.

There seemed to be a little inconsistency with the data that we recorded, seeing that very

few of the plotted points were on the best fit line for the relative frequency graph. From

the data collected, pedestrians seem to be in quite a bit of danger seeing that only 10% of

the cars surveyed travel at or below the speed limit. In order to fix this problem, there

should be an increased presence of campus police patrolling for speeders on Woody

Hayes Dr. There is quite a large amount of pedestrian traffic along Woody Hayes Dr. and

car traffic should follow the posted speed limit in order to protect the safety of

pedestrians on that part of campus.