Operational Characteristics of Inline Skaters

摘要

Inline skating is considered to be the fastest growing sport in the United Statesover the last ten years. Many people view inline skating as a new mode of transportation. Over 30 million people in the United States are participating in inline skating, out of which more than a million are Floridians. Some inline skaters believe that they should be allowed to access the roadway with the same rights as bicyclists. But, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) cannot make an informed decision on the desirability of allowing skaters on the roadway without knowledge on the operating characteristics of inline skaters. The main purpose of the project was to measure the operational characteristics so that FDOT can use the information for the design of trail geometrics. For this reason, over the last year, the Transportation Program of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida worked on a research project which focused on determining operating speeds, operating space (sweep width), stopping techniques, stopping distance and stopping width for inline skaters both on road facilities and trails.