Influence of Honking on the Road Traffic Noise Generated at Urban Rotaries for Heterogeneous Traffic

Abstract

This paper presents a study conducted at major rotaries for quantifying the traffic noise levels by considering the vehicle volume and their respective honking as governing parameters for heterogeneous traffic. Traffic volume and traffic noise data was collected using a digital video camera and a class 1 sound level meter, respectively. The traffic noise data was analysed using noise tools for identifying the noise level variation. The data collected was subjected to statistical analysis for light, medium and heavy vehicles, and their contribution towards noise levels is proven to be effective with the forthright fact that, heavy vehicles and their corresponding honking were majorly affecting the equivalent noise level compared to other vehicular proportion. An equivalent noise level [LAeq (dB)] rise of 2 to 6 dB (A) is solely caused by heavy vehicles, which is an important observation to be considered for traffic noise analysis at the rotaries. Based on the obtained results from one of the rotaries, noise prediction model is developed for estimating the LAeq (dB), which is able to predict the noise levels with good precision when validated with the data collected at second rotary intersection for different vehicle volumes.

Keywords

• heavy vehicles
• heterogeneous traffic
• honking
• rotary
• traffic noise