Road Safety Programs Research Articles

Evaluation of a five-year Bloomberg Global Road Safety Program in Turkey

ObjectiveTurkey was included in the Bloomberg Philanthropies funded Global Road Safety Program (2010–14) with Ankara and Afyonkarahisar (Afyon) selected for interventions to manage speed and encourage seat-belt use. The objectives of this study are to present the monitoring and evaluation findings of seat-belt use and speed in Afyon and Ankara over the five years and to assess overall impact of the program on road traffic injury, and death rates in Turkey. Study designQuasi-experimental before after without comparison. MethodsIn collaboration with the Middle East Technical University, roadside observations and interviews were coupled with secondary data to monitor changes in risk factors and outcomes at the two intervention sites. ResultsThe percentage of seat-belt use among drivers and front-seat passengers in Afyon and Ankara increased significantly between 2010 and 2014 with increased self-reported use and preceded by an increase in tickets (fines) for not using seat belts. There were uneven improvements in speed reduction. In Afyon, the average speed increased significantly from 46.3 km/h in 2012 to about 52.7 km/h in 2014 on roads where the speed limits were 50 km/h. In Ankara, the average speed remained less than 55 km/h during the program period (range: 50–54 km/h; P < 0.005) for roads where the speed limits were 50 km/h; however, the average speed on roads with speed limits of 70 km/h decreased significantly from 80.6 km/h in 2012 to 68.44 km/h in 2014 (P < 0.005). ConclusionThe program contributed to increase in seat-belt use in Afyon and Ankara and by drawing political attention to the issue can contribute to improvements in road safety. We are optimistic that the visible motivation within Turkey to substantially reduce road traffic injuries will lead to increased program implementation matched with a robust evaluation program, with suitable controls.

Conditions and capacity for implementing Poland’s vision zero

Since 1991 Poland has been systematically reducing its traffic hazard. Despite considerable progress Poland is still among the most dangerous countries in the European Union. The key types of actions that help to reduce fatalities include enhancement of pedestrian safety, reducing the number of speeding drivers and eliminating or reducing hazard on the road. The paper presents a brief diagnosis of the state of road safety in Poland and a synthetic evaluation of the implementation of further national road safety programmes. It proposes measures necessary for achieving Vision Zero until 2050 (adopted by the EU) and an assessment of their effectiveness.

Application of RISC for Road Safety Program Development

Abstract A review of the crash history has identified that the run-off-road crash is one of key crash types in Queensland, Australia. Hazards on both sides of a carriageway are identified a potential risk exposed to road users. As such, a proper roadside design plays an indispensable role to ensure a more forgiving road environment in order to reduce the likelihood and severity of run-off-road crashes. To assist road engineering practitioners in roadside design, the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) developed a software application - the Roadside Impact Severity Calculator (RISC), however the applicability of RISC for developing the road safety improvement program needs to be evaluated through gaining a greater understanding of the correlation between the severity index and the crash reduction factor. Accordingly a desktop study is conducted to investigate safety barrier options with assistance of RISC.

A Novel Approach to Estimating the Demand Value of Road Safety

We estimate the demand value of road safety improvements in Switzerland from survey data using a novel elicitation approach. Individuals’ responses to questions about how much public spending on road safety should be increased are combined with observations of income, tax rate, and road usage to estimate the economic value of a statistical accident avoided. Information obtained from a risk-risk tradeoff elicitation allows us to distinguish willingness-to-pay values for various degrees of accident severity. Our most comprehensive estimate of the value of a statistical accident avoided amounts to CHF 11.0 million ($11.6 million); the corresponding value per statistical life is close to CHF 4.2 million ($4.5 million). We explore the sensitivity of these estimates to anchoring and other framing effects and find that the popularity of specific road safety programs is influenced by both the availability of different choice options and the provision of partisan cues expressing political endorsement or opposition.

Assessment &amp;amp; Improvement of Children Road Safety: A Pyramid &amp;amp; Honeycomb Structure Approach

In this research, a 4 hierarchical pyramid structure approach is proposed to assess children road safety. The first is referred to as the road safety pyramid representing children road safety components and levels including root, at accident and post accident levels and factors. The second, referred to as the children road safety assessment pyramid, includes 3 cornerstones that are required to represent a detailed methodological children road safety diagnostics. These 3 cornerstones include children safety culture, safety indicators and accident data analysis. The third pyramid, referred to as the children road safety indicators, shows the levels and types of indicators that when computed can be used for in depth analysis and historical comparison of children road safety. The core of the paper is the development of a conceptual model of factors affecting the road behavior of children including traffic exposure and experience, cognitive skills and abilities, perceptual skills, knowledge and attitude. Towards this end, the paper presents the fourth pyramid, referred to as the children road safety behavior pyramid. This includes a 7-level hierarchal structure starting from exposure leading to experience and then skills/abilities, to knowledge to perception to attitudes and eventually culminating into children road safety behavior. The paper concludes by developing a generic integrated children road safety package of policies, measures, initiatives. The package is composed of 18 fields of action. In pursuing such integrated safety package this research also enhanced the classical 3Es concept (Engineering—Education—Enforcement) and introduced instead the 14Es honeycomb structure including (Engineer-ing—Education—Environment—Enforcement—Egalitarianism—Exposure—Ethics—Emergency—Ergonomics—Encouragement—Empowerment—Enabling—Economics—Evaluation). All in all this is meant to act as a generic benchmark guide/checklist for countries in compiling and tailoring children road safety programmes.

Road Traffic Crash Data: An Overview on Sources, Problems, and Collection Methods

Road traffic crash data are useful tools to support the development, implementation, and assessment of highway safety programs that tend to reduce road traffic crashes. Collecting road traffic crash data aims at gaining a better understanding of road traffic operational problems, locating hazardous road sections, identifying risk factors, developing accurate diagnosis and remedial measures, and evaluating the effectiveness of road safety programs. Furthermore, they can be used by many agencies and businesses such as: law enforcements to identify persons at fault in road traffic crashes; insurers seeking facts about traffic crash claims; road safety researchers to access traffic crash reliable database; decision makers to develop long-term, statewide strategic plans for traffic and highway safety; and highway safety administrators to help educate the public. Given the practical importance of vehicle crash data, this paper presents an overview of the sources, trends and problems associated with road traffic crash data.

The Incidence of Money Collected by the Ghana Police from Drivers during Routine Traffic Stops and Ad Hoc Road Blocks

It is often said the Ghana Police force is corrupt without collaborating evidence. There is very little attempt to differentiate specific branches of the force from each other. There are those, whose Standard Operating Procedures involves road traffic duties, and those whose SOPs do not expose them to driver inducement to bribes. We conducted baseline, cross-sectional nation-wide study to determine the incidence of the police collecting money from drivers to support or rebut the perception and the reality of police corruption with specific attention to only traffic related corrupt practices. This study therefore relates only to the narrow issue of traffic-stop-driver-Police-bribery-and-corruption. The High Police such as the Bureau of National Investigation and the Economic and Organized Crime Office, were excluded as not forming an intrinsic part of the police force engaged in mundane road traffic police functions. We found evidence that supported the research question: That the Ghana Police engages in active intimidation of drivers, extract and demand for money from drivers of all classifications for cause and without cause. The traffic Police conduct these activities in the most blatant and public manner. These activities have contributed to the lessening of respect for the profession, the rule of law, and the general public belief that justice in Ghana correlates to size of expenditure to bribe law enforcement operatives. Road traffic corruption undermines road safety programs, national efforts to reduce money laundering or cross-border movement of terrorists and narcotics drug smuggling cells. This may have a linkage to the rising road traffic fatalities in significant ways. National action to arrest the diminishing respect for the Police is also needed.

Injury risks for on-road farm equipment and horse and buggy crashes in Pennsylvania: 2010–2013

ABSTRACTObjective: The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics associated with farm equipment and horse and buggy roadway crashes in relation to person, incident, and injury characteristics to identify appropriate points for injury incident prevention.Methods: Information on crashes occurring on public roads during the years 2010–2013 was obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and analyzed.Results: There were 344 farm equipment and 246 horse and buggy crashes during the 4-year study period. These crashes involved 666 and 504 vehicles and 780 and 838 people, respectively. In incidents with farm equipment, the non-farm equipment drivers had an almost 2 times greater injury risk than farm equipment operators. Horse and buggy crashes were almost 3 times more injurious to the horse and buggy drivers than the drivers of the other vehicles.Conclusions: The average crash rate for farm equipment was 198.4 crashes per 100,000 farm population and for horse and buggy the crash rate was calculated as 89.4 crashes per 100,000 Amish population per year. This study suggests that road safety and public health programs should focus not only on farm equipment operators and horse and buggy drivers but on other motorists sharing the roadway with them.

도로안전시설의 사고감소효과 메타분석 : 신호교차로를 대상으로

교차로에서 발생한 교통사고건수는 최근 10년간 지속적으로 증가하였고, 2014년 전체 교통사고의 44%를 차지하면서 교차로는 교통안전에 취약한 도로형태로 주목되고 있다. 특히 선정된 사고다발지점 대다수가 신호교차로를 포함하고 있어, 신호교차로의 안전개선 노력이 우선적으로 필요한 실정이다. 이에 정부는 주로 도로안전시설 개선사업을 시행하여 주어진 예산 내에서 단기간에 높은 효과를 얻을 수 있는 안전개선사업을 수행하고자 한다. 이를 위하여 도로안전시설의 사고감소효과를 확인하는 연구가 지속적으로 등장하고 있으나 독립적으로 수행된 연구별 특성은 종합하기 어렵고, 각 연구결과가 대표성을 갖는데 한계가 있기 때문에 여전히 한정된 예산과 불확실한 도로안전시설 설치효과로 인해 선뜻 안전개선사업을 진행하지 못하고 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 메타분석을 통해 기존의 신호교차로 교통사고발생에 영향을 미치는 변인을 활용한 여러 사고예측연구 결과를 종합적으로 검토하고, 각 변인이 대표할 수 있는 개선효과를 도출하고자 하였다. 본 연구에서는 신호교차로 전체 사고건수를 종속변수로 하는 연구 중 19건의 논문을 선정하고 8개 변인에 대한 34개의 개별효과크기(effect size)를 산출하였다. 메타분석 결과, 도로안전시설 설치와 신호교차로 교통사고의 관계는 좌회전 전용차로를 제외하고는 모두 통계적으로 유의하게 감소한 사고영향을 나타내어, 도로안전시설이 사고감소에 영향을 준다는 통계적인 결과자료를 도출하였다. 그 중 도류화설치의 효과크기가 가장 높았으며, 좌회전차로 가속구간, 조명시설, 횡단보도, 우회전 전용차로, 중앙분리대 순으로 효과가 높은 것으로 나타났다. The number of traffic accidents at intersections has been increased over the past decade, and in 2014, accounted for 44% of the total traffic accidents. In addition, since most of road accident black spots include signalized intersections, the improvement of safety on signalized intersection is top priority for national road safety program in Korea. For the decision of most effective action plan for the safety of signalized intersection, this study conducted meta-analyses to assess the effects of various road safety facilities at signalized intersection on traffic accidents. We selected 19 articles regarding the prediction of traffic accidents at signalized intersection and calculated 34 individual effect sizes on 8 variables included in the articles. The results found that there was a statistically significant negative relationship between the occurrence of traffic accident and the presence of all of road safety facilities except an exclusive left turn bay. It shows that most of the road safety facilities could prevent traffic accidents, and intersection channelization has the most effective on the reduction of traffic accidents followed by left-turn acceleration lane, lightning, crosswalk, exclusive right-turn lane and median barrier.

Effects of the built environment on automobile-involved pedestrian crash frequency and risk

Abstract This area-based study explores the relationship between automobile-involved pedestrian crash frequency versus risk and various built environment factors such as road network and land use. The methodology involves the use of Bayesian hierarchical intrinsic conditional autoregressive model, which accounts for unobserved heterogeneities and spatial autocorrelations. The city of Seattle is selected for this empirical study, and the geospatial unit of analysis is traffic analysis zone. The primary data were obtained from collision profiles available at the Seattle Department of Transportation. The major findings of this study include: (1) the densities of 4-way intersections and more than 5-way intersections and land use mixture are positively correlated with the pedestrian crash frequency and risk; (2) sidewalk density and the proportion of steep areas are negatively associated with the pedestrian crash frequency and risk; (3) areas with a higher bus stop density are likely to have more pedestrian crashes; (4) areas with a greater proportion of industrial land use have lower pedestrian crash frequency; (5) areas with an averagely higher posted speed limit has higher pedestrian crash risk; (6) areas with a higher employment density has lower pedestrian crash risk; (7) the mode share of walking and the total number of trips are positively correlated with the pedestrian crash frequency, and the total number of trips is negatively correlated with the pedestrian crash risk. These findings provide support for planning policy-making and road safety programs. Local authorities should improve walkability by providing more sidewalks and separate travel lanes for motorized traffic and pedestrians in areas with different land use purposes. Compact development should be encouraged to support building a safe walking environment.

Official government statistics of road traffic deaths in India under-represent pedestrians and motorised two wheeler riders

BackgroundReliable data on traffic deaths are important for planning road safety programmes and evaluating progress. Although pedestrians comprise approximately 40% of traffic deaths in low-income and middle-income countries, official government...

A risk-based methodology to assess run-off-road crashes on austrian motorways – The Riskant Project

Run-off-road (ROR) crashes are extremely severe road accidents that often result in serious injuries or fatalities. On Austrian motorways, about 40% of all injury accidents are ROR crashes, which account for more than 60% of the fatalities on the primary road network. This is one of the reasons why the Austrian highway operator (ASFINAG) postulates in its road safety program till 2020 that new safety strategies and new road safety measures have to be developed to prevent vehicles from running off the road and (in a worst case scenario) collide with stationary obstacles on the roadside. RISKANT is a research project funded within the 2011 Call “Transportation Infrastructure Research (VIF)” of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) in conjunction with ASFINAG. The main objective of RISKANT was to develop a risk model for crashes with stationary obstacles along the roadside. In order to achieve this goal, a so-called accident prediction model was used to estimate the probabilities of ROR crashes due to the characteristics of the road and the road environment. Furthermore, Finite element simulation studies were conducted to incorporate the severity of injuries due to collisions with different stationary obstacles. Two indices, the Acceleration Severity Index (ASI) and Theoretical Head Impact Velocity (THIV) were used to evaluate the injury risk level for vehicle occupants.

Experiences with the implementation of measures and tools for road safety improvement

The paper presents an overview on the road safety measures implemented in the framework of the “SOL – Save our lives” project. It contains summarization of general knowledge regarding the efficiency of the measures applied and conclusions from the analyses of developed strategies and action plans, including common issues, strengths and weaknesses of developed tools and puts these in the context of wider European Road Safety strategies. The purpose of the paper is to provide recommendations for an effective professional development of road safety programs at community level in the context of sustainable mobility. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.2555

Exploring walking gait features for the automated recognition of distracted pedestrians

The current study examines the possibility of automatically detecting distracted pedestrians on crosswalks using their gait parameters. The methodology utilises recent findings in health science concerning the relationship between walking gait behaviour and cognitive abilities. Walking speed and gait variability are shown to be affected by the complexity of tasks (e.g. texting) that are performed during walking. Experiments are performed on a video data set from Surrey, British Columbia. The analysis relies on automated video-based data collection using computer vision. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to assess the quality of the selected features in improving the accuracy of the classification. Classification results show that the proposed approach is promising with around 80% correct detection rate. This research can benefit applications in several transportation related fields such as pedestrian facility planning, pedestrian simulation models as well as road safety programmes and legislative studies.

Road Safety Investments and Interventions in South East Europe

Countries of South-East Europe show relatively low road safety performance among the EU Members. The objective of this paper is the exploration of a number of potential investments and interventions for the improvement of road safety in South-East European regions with regard to relative legislation, policy and institutional capacity. For the identification of the most appropriate road safety investments and interventions, a three step methodology was followed. Firstly, results of the, EU co-funded, ROSEE project concerning several aspects of road safety legislation, policy and institutional capacity in South-East European regions were exploited to identify the particular issues on which the proposed investments and interventions should focus. Then, relevant proposals and recommendations from the international bibliography were taken into account. Finally, original work was carried out by assessing and ranking selected road safety measures, programs, and policies. Specific road safety interventions were assessed and ranked based on three criteria, the estimated safety benefit related to the measure, the implementation cost and the implementation time needed for benefit. The overall results show that road safety legislation, policy and institutional capacity related investments and interventions are generally considered very effective for the improvement of road safety. On the other hand, it seems that most such investment proposals are considered relatively expensive to implement and effective on the long-term. These results were expected and are meaningful given that, based on international literature, the legislation, policy and institutional capacity are strategic aspects of road safety which, if taken into account at national level and in long-term, are considered highly effective. Specifically, the overall results show that investments and interventions considered to provide high safety benefit at low cost, in most partner countries, are the legislation for infrastructure safety management and the legislation for efficient enforcement. However, both types of investments need time to show their effect on the improvement of road safety. The analysis of the assessment results per country revealed important differences among South-East European regions that may be attributed to particular local characteristics and conditions.

Role of Helmet in Preventing Head Injury among Two Wheeler Occupants in Fatal Road Traffic Injuries

ndia, and its cities and towns are experiencing an unprecedented and unparalleled motorization in recent times. The motorization pattern in India indicates that nearly three fourths of the total registered vehicles are motorized two wheelers. Even though a significant increase is seen in urban areas, there is a noticeable increase in rural areas also. Road deaths and injuries are increasing at a rapid pace in Bengaluru and other parts of India and are likely to increase if systematic and scientific road safety policies and programmes do not accompany this change. Helmets form an important protective gear in protecting the head among two wheeler riders/pillion riders in fatal road traffic injuries. The present study was performed to study the effectiveness of Helmet as a protective gear in preventing fatal Head Injury among Two Wheeler Riders/Pillion Riders in Road Traffic Injuries. In this study, we studied the usage of Helmet among Two Wheeler Rider/Pillion Riders, type of Helmet they wore during the fatal day, Head Injury pattern in them among others to find out the effectiveness of Helmet. A total number of 220 cases were included in the study for a period of 3 years. Statistically significant observations were made in the study which proved that a standard ISI standard full face Helmet is very effective in reducing the fatal Head Injury in two wheeler accidents. Language: en

Pedestrian Protection, Speed Enforcement and Road Network Structure the key Action for Implementing Poland's Vision Zero

Since 1991 Poland's road safety has been systematically improving with a 60% reduction in road deaths. Despite the progress Poland continues to be one of the European Union’ worst performing countries. The country's main road safety problems remain unchanged: dangerous behaviour of road users, underdeveloped system of road safety management and low quality of road infrastructure. This is why subsequent road safety programmes (implemented over the 20 years) were designed to improve pedestrian safety, reduce speeding and treat sources of roadside hazards. The article gives a short diagnosis of Poland's road safety, evaluates its subsequent road safety programmes called GAMBIT 1996, GAMBIT 2000 and GAMBIT 2005 with its far-reaching Vision Zero just as in a number of countries. The main road safety problems that Poland must solve are identified. A risk-based road safety management method is outlined. An overview is given of a method for estimating fatalities in Poland as a road safety management tool. At its strategic level, the fatality estimation method uses models built on an analysis of 60 countries worldwide and calibrates them to Polish conditions. It puts special emphasis on pedestrian safety, speed management and the design and construction of safety road infrastructure. Finally, selected examples are presented to show the effectiveness of the measures and recommended actions to reduce Poland's road deaths.

CHILDREN ROAD SAFETY AWARENESS: DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A ROAD SAFETY APPLICATION

Road safety campaigns and programs have been extensively introduced and implemented in Malaysia. However, their effectiveness is still being debated. Children especially will become the unfortunate victims of road accidents if they are unaware of the danger and precaution actions to be safe on the road. In response to that, this paper introduces an application as an alternative that inculcates road safety awareness to further support existing related programs and campaigns. Particularly, an interactive web application incorporating interactive multimedia elements has been designed and evaluated. Results on the usability test indicate a promising success and highlight aspects and issues that can be further focused for improvement and enhancement.

Innovative strategies to reduce traffic related injuries and deaths in youth

Introduction: Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people, aged 15-29 years (1). It is generally accepted that the high rate of adolescent injuries may be due to a variety of factors. Studies have shown young drivers are more likely to underestimate the probability of specific risks caused by traffic situations, as well as to overestimate their own driving skills making them more vulnerable to trauma. It has also been hypothesized that adolescents are more prone to motor vehicle collisions due to their risk-taking attitudes (2). There is consensus among experts in the field of road safety that the best road safety strategies and programs are based on research-driven and psycho-social theories of behavior (3). The P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth) Program is one of those programs. Developed in 1986, P.A.R.T.Y. is a one day, in hospital injury awareness and prevention program for youth aged 15 and older. The goal is to provide young people with information about trauma that will enable them to recognize their injury risks, make prevention-oriented choices and adopt behaviours that minimize unnecessary risks through vivid clinical reality. Attitudes towards risk taking in traffic have been correlated with aggressive driving behavior, speeding, and intention to commit traffic law violations. Thus, an effective intervention to increase road safety may be to change the attitudes that influence the driving behavior of adolescents. This is consistent with the cognitive dissonance theory, which states that changing the beliefs that underlie certain behaviors can cause a behavioral change (2). From these theories, one can expect that changing the risk taking attitudes of adolescents can lead to a decrease in the probability of collisions. A recent meta-analysis suggested interventions aimed at influencing attitudes might be the most effective measure to improve safety on the roads (2). Methods: Several research studies have been undertaken to determine effectiveness and changes in attitudinal risk behavior from youth attending the P.A.R.T.Y. A ten-year longitudinal study was conducted to determine whether students who attended P.A.R.T.Y. had a reduction in injuries compared with a matched control group of students based on age, gender and geographic area who did not attend the program. Students follow the course of injury from occurrence through transport, treatment, rehabilitation and community re-integration phases. Additionally by augmenting a didactic format through a technologically innovative approach including but not limited to vivid clinical reality, social media, interactive websites and simulators we see attitudinal and behavioural changes. Results: The 10 year longitudinal study showed P.A.R.T.Y. participants had a lower incidence of traumatic injuries than a control group of non-P.A.R.T.Y. participants of the same age, gender, residential area, and initial year in database, during the 10-year study (4). Conclusion: Research-driven, psycho-social theories of behavior and technologically innovative approaches have proven it is possible to influence behavior through the delivery of well-designed and well-executed road safety strategies, programs and campaigns. Providing students with real-life education to depict the vivid clinical reality of injuries was shown to be a compelling and effective method of education.

Identification of the demographic, temporal and geographical risk factors for road traffic injuries (RTIs) in the State of Qatar: An analysis of health sector (ambulance, emergency and trauma) data on RTIs

The 1.2 million deaths per annum globally caused by road traffic injuries (RTIs) have been likened to a plane crashing every day (1). Nevertheless, RTIs are a neglected public health concern. There were 247 road traffic fatalities in Qatar in 2010, a rate of 14.4 deaths per 100,000 people. Even though recent progress has been made, this remains three times higher than Western European countries. It is akin to a plane crash every year for Qatar. This study builds on previous analyses of death rates from RTIs in Qatar (2). However, deaths represent less than 3% of all RTIs. This study uses the much larger sample size of all RTIs for 2014. It triangulates three important sources of health sector data: ambulance, emergency department and trauma registry. It analyses 13,000 patient episodes and deconstructs in more detail than heretofore the epidemiology of RTIs in Qatar. The results identify the key demographic, temporal and geographical features of this public health emergency. Qatari males aged 15-19 have a relative risk of RTI 8-11 times higher than the general population and those aged 20-24 have a relative risk 6-9 times higher (see chart for illustration). RTIs in those aged 25 and above are overwhelmingly in non-Qataris and vary substantially in type of road use between the other Arabic and South Asian resident populations. The results also identify the temporal and seasonal effects associated with RTIs and a “heat map” of the accident “hot spots” by geographical zone. It is possible to identify with a high degree of probability which road users are most at risk of harm, when and where. Using recent insights into how predictive data is used by the insurance industry, health policy makers may be able to more effectively target regulatory, technological and behavioural interventions to those most at risk.