Threshold value of skid resistance and texture depth for Malaysia road

Abstract

Skid resistance is an important pavement characteristic for roads, which determines the friction between the road surface and vehicle tyres. The level of friction is largely influenced by the pavement surface aggregates micro texture, macro texture, and drainage attributes. The objective of this paper is to present the findings of the research and analysis conducted on Skid Resistance Value (SRV), Mean Texture Depth (MTD) and Skid Number (SN) obtained from the data collected on federal roads over the years since 2008. This research also attempted to determine the appropriate limiting values for SRV (microtexture), MTD (macrotexture) and SN for the federal roads. The result of analysis indicated that the average value of SRV at the locations of wet surface accident is 52.31 + 8.54. While for MTD, the accident risk is higher when MTD value is below the average of 0.45 + 0.025. The SRV and MTD results were correlated to each other and it can be concluded that accident risk increases significantly when SN value is below the average value of 31.49 + 7.87. Based on these findings, it is concluded that the minimum desirable values for SRV and SN for Malaysia’s Federal roads to be 55 and 30 respectively.