Abstract
The battery-electric taxis have the features of larger mass, low operating noise, and great speed, and the drivers of battery-electric taxis have various driving behaviors and low safety awareness, which leads to higher safety risks. In the paper, the driving and speed characteristics of battery-electric taxis, conventional taxis, and private cars are compared and analyzed through conducting a GPS trajectory survey and a cross-section traffic flow parameter survey. An evaluation index system that is based on the spatio-temporal speed parameters is proposed, and a MEW-VIKOR method is developed for the operatiing safety evaluation of the battery-electric taxi. The results show that the operating speed of battery-electric taxis is significantly higher than that of conventional taxis on weekdays and weekends, and there is a relatively common speeding phenomenon on urban local roads. The proposed safety evaluation index system that is based on the spatio-temporal speed parameters and the MEW-VIKOR evaluation method can effectively evaluate the operatiing safety of battery-electric taxis. In addition, the ranking results show that, according to the spatio-temporal speed parameters, the operating safety of battery-electric taxis is lower than that of conventional taxis and private cars. The research provides theoretical insights for strategies and policies making to reduce the unsafe driving behaviors of battery-electric taxis.
Highlights
In 2012, “The Development Plan for Energy Conservation and New Energy Automobile Industry (2012–2020)” was issued by the Chinese government, which clearly defines the new energy battery-electric vehicles as one of the ten strategic emerging industries and a strategic direction for the transformation of the automotive industry
Assume that the contact time between the person and the battery-electric taxi is 0.2 s and that the person will fly out at 20 km/h after being hit; Table 4 shows the comparative analysis of the external impact (KN) of an adult man with m = 75 kg
An evaluation index system based on spatio-temporal speed parameters is proposed, and the MEW-VIKOR safety evaluation method for the operating safety of battery-electric taxis is developed
Summary
In 2012, “The Development Plan for Energy Conservation and New Energy Automobile Industry (2012–2020)” was issued by the Chinese government, which clearly defines the new energy battery-electric vehicles as one of the ten strategic emerging industries and a strategic direction for the transformation of the automotive industry. A huge number of battery-electric vehicles and their unique traffic characteristics pose a great challenge to traffic managers, and the electric vehicles’. The lack of engine noise to warn people of oncoming electric or hybrid vehicles leads to safety issues for pedestrians and cyclists [6,7]. Statistics on road traffic accidents in recent years show that the number of traffic accidents and fatalities related to battery-electric vehicles have increased to a certain degree [9,10]. The frequent occurrences of traffic accidents involving battery-electric vehicles, especially battery-electric taxis, are caused by multiple factors. In addition to their increasing entry onto the market, battery-electric taxis have different speed parameter distribution
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