Road design guideline provides the directions on how to design a road alignment based on design speed, and this guideline has a design expectation in that design speed is supposed to be equal to the operating speed of drivers. Horizontal curve design is also based on design speed, and minimum radius is derived based on the drivers comfort while negotiating the curve. However, side friction reflecting drivers comfort is lower than a physical friction measured on wet road surface, therefore, it is reasonable to regard the criterion on minimum radius has a safety margin. Futhermore, the practical preference of choosing the larger radius than minimum leads to a noticeable gap between design speed and operating speed, so links to the violation of design expectation implicated in the guideline. In order to review this assumption, friction and operating speed at rural roads was measured and observed. As the results, a safety margin brought out by the gap between comfort-based friction and measured friction is qualitatively derived. Also, the gap between design speed and operating speed presumably caused by the safety margin and practical preference is analysed. By this, it is suggested that current design guideline should provides not only the minimum radius but also the management of road alignment design to minimize the gap between the design speed and operating speed.