2024 Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 1-9
Although the road network in Japan has been almost completed in recent years, travel speeds are said to be on a low level compared to other countries. It is important to compare travel speeds in Japan and abroad when the influence of traffic volume is negligibly small, and to clarify road structures and traffic operations that result in the differences in travel speeds. Recently, it is getting possible to easily grasp travel speeds and road structures around the world through the collection and publication of location information and aerial photographs by Google Maps. The objective of this paper is to compare the off-peak travel speeds in Japan, the U.S., and Germany using Google Maps, and to analyze the factors that contribute to the differences. It was revealed that the travel speeds in Japan are lower than those in the U.S. and Germany, and that the differences in the density of signalized intersections and the speed limit settings are significant factors to them.
