The total braking time (TBT) distribution is used as an input to two important traffic safety parameters: minimum following gap and stopping sight distance. It is therefore important to accurately estimate the TBT distribution. However, the previously published results on TBT distribution vary widely and confuse practitioners. In this paper, a meta-analysis is used in an effort to investigate the sources of variation in the studies of TBT. According to the results of the meta-analysis, significant characteristics of the mean of total braking time are the awareness level of the driver and the country in which the experiment took place. In addition to these two characteristics, both the type of brake stimulus and the distance away from the brake stimulus are found to be influential characteristics on the variance of total braking time. Based on several combinations of these factors, TBT distributions are reconstructed. It is recommended that the percentile estimates of TBT used for the minimum following gap and stopping sight distance need to be adjusted. (A)
Abstract