Reduction In Accident Rate Research Articles

Contributions of vehicle inspection operations to traffic system in Abuja, Nigeria

The general view about the routine vehicle inspection operations is to ensure that vehicles are road worthy and meet safety requirements. This is done to enhance safe and clean transport within urban centres since the nature and condition of vehicles on roads can be associated with the efficiency of traffic system. This study examines the contributions of the routinevehicle inspection operations tothe overall traffic systemin Abuja, Nigeria. The study made use of secondary data collected from the records of the Directorates of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) on the number of vehicles inspected from 2007 – 2014 in Abuja. The study undertakes respondents’ perception on the contributions of vehicle inspection operations to transport system using questionnaire designed to elicit information to achieve the objective of the study. A total of 142 respondents who were commercial taxi and bus drivers in Abuja were randomly sampled for the study. The study employed simple descriptive statistics and a combination of correlation and factor analysis as techniques for data analysis. The correlation analysis showed that the variables for considerations have positive relationships with one another except reduction in accident rates. The result of the factor loadings identified increased safety level (80.2%) and reduction in the number of vehicles with poor parts (67.6%) as the most significant contributions of the routine vehicle inspection operations to the overall transport system in Abuja. It concludes that vehicle inspection operations have other significant contributions to transportation system of urban centres aside ensuring road worthiness of vehicles.Keywords: Vehicle Inspection, Transport System, Safety standards, Vehicle Road Worthiness

Case study: performance effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses of open-graded friction course pavements in Tennessee

The effectiveness and cost-benefit of Open-Graded Friction Course (OGFC) pavements were analysed in this study by investigating the cost, field performance, short- and long-term effectiveness, and accident rate of OGFC projects in Tennessee. Paired sample t-tests were conducted to compare if there was significant difference between OGFC and non-OGFC sections. Investigation on the performance effectiveness showed that OGFC sections provided comparable performance level as traditional dense mix overlays and were effective in improving pavement performance and repairing deterioration except for rutting potential. However, no severe pavement deterioration was observed on the OGFC sections after more than four or five years of service, indicating sufficient durability of the OGFC used in Tennessee where mild freeze-thaw cycles are experienced annually. Although the unit cost ($/m3) of OGFC was about 42% higher than the cost of traditional dense mix overlays, it was observed that the accident rate was significantly reduced especially in rainy days after the OGFC treatment. The cost-benefit analyses based on the ratio of accident rate reduction over cost demonstrated that OGFC was significantly more cost-beneficial in improving driving safety and reducing accident rate in rainy days.

A97 New metro line in Turin: an analysis of the impacts on local mobility and road traffic accidents

Abstract Background Several studies have analysed impacts of new metro lines in dense urban areas. This transport mode is able to move travellers from private car to a more efficient and less time-consuming solution. This shift determines lower traffic congestion rates, leading to reduced traffic accidents. Few studies have also applied an equity lens, to understand who is really benefitting from these improvements: results show that ethnic minorities, economically disadvantaged, children and women are the most exposed to injuries. Methods We analyse impacts of the construction of the last metro section in Turin (Italy), highlighting effects during the construction phase, and after the opening. We analyse data on road traffic injuries in relation to the improved accessibility offered by the metro line, and how impacts are distributed among the population. We considered an impact area of 500 m around subway stations. Time series (2004-2013) of road traffic accidents in the whole city has been compared to the one of accidents occurred in the selected area (pre-during-post intervention). A Bayesian change-point (BCP) approach has been used to identify where each time series undergoes sudden changes. Finally, a Poisson regression analysis has been performed in order to verify if road accidents in the subway area have a significantly greater reduction than the ones occurred in the whole city. Results BCP algorithm shows that the trend of road traffic accidents in the subway area had an increase in august 2006, and then decreased at the beginning of 2008. Taking the whole city as comparison, we can notice a reduction in the beginning of 2008 but no significant change around 2006. Moreover, the Poisson regression showed no significant reduction of accident rates in the area when compared to the whole city in the period 2004-2013. When considering only the main street of the subway line (via Nizza), the model showed a more marked reduction, accompanied by a car traffic reduction of 3%. Conclusions While the opening in 2006 of the first section of the Turin metro significantly reduced injuries from road accidents on the corresponding area, preliminary results for this last section seem to indicate a modest impact. The increase of accidents in the subway area from august 2006 can be related to the opening of working sites, and consequent traffic deviations. Shift of travellers from private car to underground has not been wide as expected. The missing interconnection with other transport modes could partly explain this.

Traffic accidents: day versus night

A comparison of accidents during daylight and darkness was made for both rural and urban roads. Accident rates on all types of rural roads were higher during darkness than during daylight. Critical accident rates during darkness for various types of roads were calculated. In urban areas, a larger percentage of accidents occurred on wet pavements during darkness than during daylight, but there were no significant differences for rural roads. No significant difference was found between average speeds during conditions of daylight and darkness. On rural roads, imposition of the 55-mph (24.6-m/s) speed limit resulted in a reduction in accident rates for both daylight and darkess. However, there were changes in the percentages of wet-pavement accidents on rural roads. For the entire rural system, there was a decrease in the percentages of wet-pavement accidents during daylight and in increase during darkness. /Author/

Modeling injury rates as a function of industrialized versus on-site construction techniques

It is often predicted that the industrialization of building activities will lead to a reduction of accident rates in the construction sector, particularly as a result of switching activities from building sites to factories. However, to date no scientific research has provided objective quantitative results to back up this claim. The aim of this paper is to evaluate how industrialization affects the accident rate in different industrialized building systems in Spain. Our results revealed that the industrialized steel modular system presents the lowest accident rate, while the highest accident rate was recorded in the construction method with cast-in-place concrete. The lightweight construction system also presents a high accident rate. Accordingly, industrialized building systems cannot claim to be safer than traditional ones. The different types of “on-site work” seem to be the main variable which would explain the accident rates recorded in industrialized construction systems.

Identification and prioritization of hazardous material transportation strategies using DEA method

Article history: Received June 20, 2012 Received in Revised form August, 20, 2012 Accepted 25 August 2012 Available online 3 September 2012 Development of industries needs expansion of public transportation and, consequently, heavy transportation increases hazardous and dangerous transportation too. Therefore, we need to consider some strategies to reduce bad effects of transportation of hazardous materials such as road accidents. Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Treats (SWOT) analysis is an applicable method for designing strategies in this area. However, SWOT analysis does not provide specific strategies and it does not consider the efficiency and performance of each strategy. Applying a hybrid method of analyzing the strategies and their performance evaluation help decision makers select the best strategies based on the current limitations. In this paper, different strategies for hazardous transportation risk reduction are designed and relative efficiencies of all alternatives are compared using DEA method. The proposed model of this paper uses three inputs including implementation costs, operation and maintenance cost and operational and four outputs including accident rate reduction, fuel consumption reduction, employment rate increment and deaths number reduction. The results of the implementation using seven different strategies have yielded two important strategies including continuous improvement of vehicle standards, driving skills, transportation system quality, and loading methods and expansion of petroleum pipe network. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing the long term benefit of banning the use of hand-held wireless devices while driving

An increasing number of legislative efforts have been undertaken to prohibit the use of hand-held wireless devices while driving. As of July 2012, ten states and the District of Columbia enforce laws banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have banned text messaging while driving. Recent studies of driver behavior suggest that hand-held wireless device usage negatively impacts driver performance. However few studies at the aggregate level address the plausible link between the use of hand-held wireless devices while driving, increased risk of automobile accidents, and government legislative efforts to reduce such risk. This paper analyzes data at the aggregate level and builds a regression model to estimate the long term accident rate reduction due to a hand-held ban. This model differs from previous studies, which consider short term accident rate reduction, by considering time trends in the accident rate due to the ban. Additionally, counties considered in this analysis are placed into groups based on driver density, defined by the number of licensed drivers per centerline mile of roadway, and a separate analysis is performed within these groups. This approach allows one to better quantify the effect of hand-held bans in counties of different driver densities. Results from this paper suggest that bans on hand-held wireless device use while driving reduce the rate of personal injury accidents in counties with high levels of driver density, but may increase accident rates in counties with low driver density levels. These results can inform transportation policymakers interested in reducing automobile-accident-risk attributable to the use of hand-held wireless devices while driving.

Assessment of safety performance in Indian industries using fuzzy approach

This paper presents an artificial intelligence approach for prediction of different types of accidents (fatal to minor) in an uncertain environment. Likelihood of occurrence of accidents in the work place is a random phenomenon but judicious investment in various attribute such as expenses in health care, safety training, up-gradation of tools and machinery, and expenses on safety equipment and tools may lead to reduction in accident rate. The relationship between type of accidents and investment is difficult to establish because they do not follow any predictable rule rather associate in a non-linear manner. In such situation, fuzzy logic helps to map inputs and outputs in an efficient manner for building the inference engine so that various types of accidents can be predicted. Prediction of various types of accidents helps the managers to formulate organizational policies for improving safety performance.

Allocation of patrolmen in urban areas – a case study

In this paper, a Goal Programming model was proposed for optimal deployment of patrolmen in urban areas. To demonstrate the model, we focus on Visakhapatnam city as a case study, for allocating the patrolmen to various road segments in different shifts within the patrolling region. The city road segments were divided into (a) city-link road segments; (b) intra-city road segments; and (c) by-pass road segments. In this study, different goals such as total patrolmen, minimum shift requirement, total budget, estimated accident reduction and accident rate reduction in high accident-prone areas are considered. By considering these goals, four cases are formulated to allocate the patrolmen in each road segment and to each shift. In case 1, minimisation of all these goals is considered. Allocation of patrolmen in high accident-prone areas and accident rate reduction goals are minimised in case 2. Minimum shift requirement goal is considered in case 3. In case 4 total budget goal is considered.

A decision analytic approach for technology portfolio prioritization: aviation safety applications

A decision analytic approach for evaluating new aviation safety products and technologies is developed and demonstrated to consolidate five existing program assessment metrics to develop a unified metric that simultaneously considers the relative importance and contribution of each. This allows for a meaningful and objective evaluation and comparison of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) advanced aeronautical products and technologies. The resulting decision model is referred to as the Composite Program Assessment Score (CPAS). The CPAS includes the five existing metrics; technical development risk, implementation risk, fatal accident rate reduction, safety benefits and cost, and safety risk reduction, which are each defined and quantified by different sources. The CPAS involves the scaling and combination of these individual metrics. In this paper, two alternative combinatorial modeling approaches to calculate the CPAS are presented. The weighted sum model and an additive value theory model are compared and contrasted. The resulting CPAS metrics allow an overall comparison of all 48 of the NASA AvSP products and technologies. Currently CPAS is based on preliminary weight measures from subject matter experts to reflect the relative importance of each metric. Actual case studies of both linear and non‐linear value functions are demonstrated.

The effect of a collision warning system on the driving performance of young drivers at intersections

This study investigated the manner in which the driving performance of young people was affected by a collision warning system when they encountered a driver running a red light at an intersection. Furthermore, the causal relationship among driving performance, traffic factors and intersection accidents was examined using Path Analysis. Participants drove a driving simulator with an intersection collision warning system (ICWS) in a simulated urban area. The driving performance measures recorded were reaction time, speed, lateral position deviation and crash events. Experimental results indicated that drivers who drove a vehicle with an ICWS audio signal at an intersection had a shorter reaction time, a lower speed and a reduced accident rate than those observed while driving a vehicle without ICWS audio signal. Furthermore, Path Analysis showed that the ICWS had an indirect effect on accident rate reduction through improved driving performance. The location of intersection accident had both direct and indirect effects on the accident rate. The number of driving days per week had a direct effect on accident rate reduction.

Impact of Active Speed Limiters on Traffic Flow and Safety

Speed limiters, which control the maximum speeds of vehicles so equipped, have been proposed in recent years as speed management tools. A simulation-based evaluation is described of the impact of a wide installation of speed limiters on traffic flow characteristics and on safety. Microscopic traffic simulation is used; it models the driving behavior of individual vehicles in detail and so captures not only the impact of speed limiters on equipped vehicles but also the interaction between equipped and unequipped vehicles and the resulting impact on the latter. In the experiment, the impact is evaluated of preset speed limiters for two limiter-set speeds, 100 km/h and 120 km/h, at various desired speed distributions and congestion levels. The simulation results show that speed limiters can reduce average traffic speeds up to 10% and that the variability of traffic speeds may also be lowered. Consequently, a significant reduction in accident rates might be achieved.

Standard and Nonstandard Roadway Lighting Compared with Darkness at Rural Intersections

This report evaluates the safety aspects of roadway lighting at rural and near-urban three-way and four-way junctions by comparing unlit intersections with those lit with two different types of lighting: ( a) standard intersection lighting provided by the Ministère des Transports du Québec, Canada, and ( b) nonstandard lighting provided by the local municipalities. A night–day accident rate ratio was used to estimate the accident rate reduction for three categories of severity: fatal and personal injury accidents, property damage only accidents, and all accidents. Sites were selected with two sampling modes. The objective mode selected sites according to the accident thresholds, and the arbitrary mode systematically selected all sites with standard lighting. The night–day accident rate ratio was measured for 376 sites by dividing the annual average number of accidents (6,546) with an annual average traffic flow (760 billion vehicles), calculated for both night and day. The accident rate reduction, expressed as a percentage, was tested for validity with the Student's t-test at the 5% p-level. The results were split into 49 categories with 20 variables to ensure that no significant variation existed in the accident rate reduction related to a specific roadway condition or environment. Rural lighting of an intersection significantly reduced the night accident rate by 29% for nonstandard lighting and by 39% for standard lighting, in comparison with darkness. When the two sampling modes were compared, standard lighting reduced the night accident rate of nonstandard lighting by 29%, significant at the 5% p-level, when only objective data in the sampling were used.

Standard and Nonstandard Roadway Lighting Compared with Darkness at Rural Intersections

This report evaluates the Safety aspects of roadway lighting at rural and near-urban three-way and four-way junctions by comparing unlit intersections with those lit with two different types of lighting: (a) standard intersection lighting provided by the Ministere des Transports du Quebec, Canada, and (b) nonstandard lighting provided by the local municipalities. A night-day accident rate ratio was used to estimate the accident rate reduction for three categories of severity: fatal and personal injury accidents, property damage only accidents, and all accidents. Sites were selected with two sampling modes. The objective mode selected sites according to the accident thresholds, and the arbitrary mode Systematically selected all sites with standard lighting. The night-day accident rate ratio was measured for 376 sites by dividing the annual average number of accidents (6,546) with an annual average traffic flow (760 billion vehicles), calculated for both night and day. The accident rate reduction, expressed...

Effects on road safety of new urban arterial roads

This paper presents an evaluation of the effects on road safety of new urban arterial roads in Oslo, Norway, and a synthesis of evidence from similar studies that have evaluated the safety effects of new urban arterial roads in other cities. A before-and-after study was made of four urban arterial road projects in Oslo. The study controlled for general accident trends in Oslo and for regression-to-the-mean. A statistically non-significant reduction of 9% in the number of injury accidents was found for all four projects combined. The effects on safety of new urban arterial roads were found to vary, depending on whether a new arterial road was built, or an existing arterial road upgraded by means of lane additions and reconstruction of junctions to interchanges. New arterial roads tend to induce more traffic, which tends to offset the benefits of a lower accident rate on the new roads. The results for other cities are very consistent with those for Oslo. For a total of seven cases in which new arterial roads were built, a statistically non-significant reduction of 1% in the number of injury accidents was found. Two cases that involved lane additions and converting at-grade junctions to interchanges resulted in a mean accident reduction of 51%, which was highly significant. On the average, the nine arterial road projects from which evidence was summarised resulted in a net induced traffic of 16%, and a net reduction in accident rate (accidents per million vehicle kilometres) of 18%. These effects almost cancel each other, leading to a very small net change in the expected number of accidents.

Age-related accident risks: longitudinal study of Swedish iron ore miners.

The study investigated whether occupational accident risks were equally distributed across age categories over time in the context of production reorganization and work rationalization in a Swedish iron ore mine between 1980 and 1993. Three phases of reorganization, defined by productivity levels, and four age categories were related to age-related accident risk ratios using the Poisson-regression method. Accident risk ratios (ARRs) were found systematically to be higher during the two first phases and also for younger workers, in the cases of both nonspecific and specific accident risks. The steady reduction in accident rates observed did not favor all age groups of workers to the same extent. For two accident patterns out of five, workers in their thirties and forties recorded higher ARRs than those in their fifties.

Factors influencing glide path control in carrier landing.

The carrier landing process involves the interaction of ship motions, the optical landing system, the pilot/air craft combination, air wake disturbances, and the Landing Signal Officer. Mathematical models for these elements are discussed, and methods are presented for determining operational performance indices from terminal landing error dispersion data. A new concept is described for stabilizing the optical landing system against carrier deck motions, which represent one of the most significant obstacles to safe aircraft recovery. Termed compensated-meatball stabilization, this technique considers the dynamics of the carrier landing system elements and optimizes the Fresnel lens logic scheme for increased landing performance. Simulator experiments were performed to determine the potential accident rate reduction with this stabilization method, and the major results are presented. A significant interaction exists between an aircraft design parameter, related to the lift curve slope, and the optical landing system stabilization. The fundamental factors limiting terminal landing performance are described and several basic solutions to the problem are presented.