This paper, being a country report on highway capacity research in South Africa, provides an overview of traffic characteristics, some findings of local research, directions for the future and the names of organisations currently active in the field of highway capacity research. The principles of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) are widely accepted in South Africa and local emphasis has been to determine values for speed/flow relationships, saturation flows, car following and gap acceptance characteristics, vehicle characteristics and driver behaviour. It is concluded that there are considerable differences in the nature of the vehicle population, driver behaviour and also rules of the road between South Africa and the USA and therefore certain values in the Highway Capacity Manual need to be adjusted for local application. Research on these issues is rather ad hoc and a need exists for directing and co-ordinating the local research effort. (A)
Samenvatting