Roadside Observations Research Articles

Infrastructure, regulation and the experiences of delivery cyclists in Australian cities

On-demand delivery has changed the way cities move. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, bicycles are the leading mode meeting growing consumer demand, particularly for food. In Australia, this has generated considerable attention, but the voice of riders is missing. Using grounded theory to reveal rider perspectives, we combined interviews (n = 52), a naturalistic study (104 hours) and roadside video observations (216 hours) to provide the first comprehensive picture of the experiences of delivery cyclists (including parcel couriers and food delivery cyclists working in both ‘gig’ and salaried roles) in Sydney and Melbourne. Concerns about safety for food delivery cyclists have prompted some to boycott the industry, yet our research shows that there is much to celebrate. Here we report what riders say are the greatest risks to their safety and how they would like these to be addressed. The changes that riders want most relate to the built environment, particularly connected, separated infrastructure and regulation for better sharing of street space. In some cases, riders are already finding ways to enact this change.

Evaluating Distraction Safety Performance Indicators in an Urban Area of a Low- or Middle-Income Country: A Case Study of Yaoundé, Cameroon

Distracted driving is a major cause of road traffic crashes in Yaoundé. This is partly due to the scarcity of enforcement and a lack of evidence and investigation using the distraction safety performance indicator (SPI), hindering evidence-based interventions. This study aimed to address this evidence gap by evaluating the distraction SPI using a proven methodology. Data on distracted driving (handheld mobile device; interaction; eating/smoking/drinking) were collected from roadside observations on 36 randomly selected road sections carefully spread to cover the city. SPIs were computed and weighted with traffic volume to ensure the representativeness of the values. A total of 41,004 drivers were observed (38,248 in cars; 1116 in vans; 977 in trucks; 663 in buses). The prevalence of distracted driving in Yaoundé is 13.69% for the three distractions type combined. The prevalence is 7.84% for interaction, 4.89% for handled mobile device usage and 0.96% for eating/smoking/drinking. Leveraging these insights, a seven year (2024–2030) fighting strategy aimed at halving the prevalence was developed. The strategy contains interventions including legislation/enforcement, which have been proven to be effective. This study, pioneered in Yaoundé, provides stakeholders with evidence of the issue and measures to implement and can also be used when developing a road safety strategy. Future research should consider investigation at national level.

The utility of telematics data for estimating the prevalence of driver handheld cellphone use, 2019–2022

Introduction: Driver distraction from handheld cellphone use contributes to fatal crashes every year but is underreported in terms of the proportion of crashes attributed to any distraction or cellphone use specifically. Existing methods to estimate the prevalence of cellphone distractions are also limited (e.g., observing drivers stopped at intersections, when crash risk is low). Our study used data from Cambridge Mobile Telematics to estimate the prevalence of drivers’ handheld calls and cellphone manipulation while driving, with “cellphone motion” based on movement recorded by the phones’ gyroscopes used as a surrogate for manipulation. Method: We compared the telematics measures with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s roadside observations of driver electronic device use, and logistic regression tested relationships between regional, legislative, and temporal factors and the odds of cellphone behaviors occurring on a trip or at a given point in time. Results: Results showed 3.5% of trips included at least one handheld phone call and 33.3% included at least an instance of cellphone motion, with handheld calls occurring during 0.78% of overall trip duration and cellphone motion during 2.4% of trip duration. Conclusions: Correspondence between trends in cellphone distractions across regional, legislative, and temporal factors suggest telematics data have considerable utility and appear to complement existing datasets.

PERFORMANCES AND SELF-DECLARED OPINIONS ON HANDHELD MOBILE PHONE USE (DISTRACTION IN TRAFFIC) IN POLAND

This article presents the Motor Transport Institute’s research to set out road safety indicators of behaviors and opinions on one of the increasingly important road traffic problems. Two types of studies on the unsafe use of mobile phones and others on board devices (distraction) by road users in Poland between 2014 and 2023 are presented. Safety Performance Indicators (SPI) on handheld mobile phone use from roadside observations and declared opinions on talking, reading messages, checking social media/news, and listening to headphones while driving, cycling, and walking are presented. Overall, 306,240 passenger car drivers observed on all road types all week long in Poland showed a dropping trend (1.8%) between before the study in 2014 SPI 4.1% distracted drivers to SPI 2.3% after the study in 2022. More drivers used mobile phones on single carriageways both in built-up and outside built-up areas. On motorways outside built-up areas, where vehicles are speeding, drivers of passenger cars rarely talk on their handheld mobiles. Results from the first European Union (EU) Baseline project to collect road indicators produced a Key Performance Indicator of 3.8% distracted passenger car (all types of roads, all weekdays and weekend) from 44,011 observed in Poland in 2021. Results from the EU project E-Survey on Road Users’ Attitude, third edition (ESRA3), showed declared opinions of mobile use while driving, cycling, and walking down the street in Poland in 2023 compared to 2018 (ESRA2). A positive trend is seen among car drivers who declared lower use of handheld mobile phones than in 2018 (a drop of 11.2%). The survey showed Polish cyclist used more often headphones to listen to music, checked news and messages than cyclists in Europe in 2023. More by 10.1% pedestrians in Europe than in Poland declared checking social media/news, reading messages/emailing while walking down the street in 2023. This lower rate in Poland can be explained by pedestrian’s legal prohibition of mobile phone use while crossing the street since 2021. There is strong support for policy measures forbidding all drivers of motorized vehicles to use handheld mobile phone use while driving in all of Europe. Enforcement measures are twice as strong in Europe than in Poland. As the number of accidents and fatalities on distraction is unknown, calculating SPI during roadside observations and questionnaire surveys gives in-depth knowledge of the problem. The authors of the paper represent the Motor Transport Institute’s (MTI’s) research institution, which systematically analyzes trends in road safety in Poland during its own, national, and international projects.

Environmental Effects of Driver Distraction at Traffic Lights: Mobile Phone Use

The transportation demands of people are increasing day by day depending on the population, and the number of vehicles in traffic is causing various problems. To meet the energy needs of vehicles, there is a huge burden on countries in terms of fossil fuels. In addition, the use of fossil fuels in vehicles has a serious impact on environmental pollution. Various studies have been carried out to prevent unnecessary fuel consumption and emissions. Behavior of drivers, who are important components of traffic, are carefully examined in the context of this subject. Driver distraction causes various environmental problems as well as traffic safety issues. In this study, the negative situations that arise as a result of drivers waiting at traffic lights dealing with their mobile phones are discussed. Roadside observations are made for drivers at considered intersections in Erzurum Province, Turkey. As a result of these observations, delays at selected intersections due to mobile phone use are calculated. Unnecessary fuel consumption and emissions due to delays are also analyzed. An annual fuel consumption of approximately 177.025 L and emissions of 0.294 (kg) NOX and 251.68 (kg) CO2 occur at only selected intersections. In addition, a second roadside observation is made in order to analyze driver behavior and the most preferred type of mobile phone usage is determined. It is seen that drivers mostly exhibit the “Talking” and “Touchscreen” action classes. Considering the economic conditions and environmental pollution sensitivities of countries, attempts have been made to raise awareness about fuel consumption and emissions at traffic lights.

Assessing Different Methods for Detection of Distracted Driving

Roadside observations provide insight into the prevalence of distracted driving on American roadways. Traditional observational studies require the use of observers stationed on the roadside who manually annotate the behavior of passing drivers, while camera-based methods allow researchers to code distracted driving from photos without an observer on the scene. The current study compared the accuracy of a traditional in-person roadside observer with a camera-based method in identifying driver distraction. Both methods distinguished cellphone distractions from other behaviors with high accuracy, although the in-person observer performed slightly better than the camera-based method across most specific behaviors. This study demonstrates that both in-person and camera-based observations are reasonably accurate approaches for measuring the prevalence of cellphone distractions on the road. Camera-based methods may provide an advantage to in-person observers by enabling observations on roadways where it is not feasible to station a human observer.

RISKY BEHAVIOURS AMONG DELIVERY RIDERS AT SIGNALIZED INTERSECTIONS IN MALAYSIA

The increasing number of food delivery riders, known as P-hailing riders, has increased the number of traffic crashes involving this group. The high demand for online orders and delivery time constraints causes the delivery riders to engage in risky riding behaviours during delivery. Thus, there is a need to study this alarming problem before it becomes more serious. This study aims to determine factors influencing risky behaviours among delivery riders at signalized intersections. A roadside observation was conducted in the month of October 2022 at Subang Jaya, Selangor. A total of 19,803 delivery riders were observed for four days observations at two signalized T- and two cross-signalized intersections. A bivariate analysis (logistic regression) was applied to determine the relationship between seven risky behaviours (unfastened helmet, not wearing shoes, incomplete set of side mirrors, red light running, mobile phone use, stopping after stop lines, and abrupt lane change) with five explanatory variables including the day of the week, time of the day, weather condition, type of intersection and approach road. The result shows that red light running, and mobile phone use is more likely to occur during the weekend. Clear weather increases risky behaviours such as red light running, using a mobile phone, and abrupt lane changes. The findings of this study are useful as input to the related authorities in developing programs to decrease the number of crashes involving food delivery riders.

Analysis of Risky Riding Behavior Characteristics of the Related Road Traffic Injuries of Electric Bicycle Riders.

Electric bicycle (EB) riders, being vulnerable road users (VRUs), are increasingly becoming victims of road traffic injuries (RTIs). This study aimed to determine the current status and epidemiological characteristics of RTIs among EB riders through a questionnaire survey and roadside observations in Shantou to provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control of electric bicycle road traffic injuries (ERTIs). A total of 2412 EB riders were surveyed, and 34,554 cyclists were observed in the study. To analyze the relationship between riding habits and injuries among EB riders, chi-square tests and multi-factor logistic regression models were employed. The findings reveal that the prevalence of ERTIs in Shantou was 4.81%, and the most affected group was children under 16 years old, accounting for 9.84%. Risky behavior was widespread among EB riders, such as the infrequent wearing of safety helmets, carrying people on EBs, riding on sidewalks, and listening to music with headphones while bicycling. Notably, over 90% of those who wore headphones while bicycling engaged in this risky behavior. The logistic regression analysis showed that honking the horn (odds ratio (OR): 2.009, 95% CI: 1.245-3.240), riding in reverse (OR: 4.210, 95% CI: 2.631-6.737), and continuing to ride after a fault was detected (OR: 2.010, 95% CI: 1.188-3.402) all significantly increased the risk of ERTIs (all p < 0.05). Risky riding behavior was significantly less observed at traffic intersections with traffic officers than at those without (all p < 0.001).

Assessing driver safety behaviour in Greece

The objective of this research is to assess drivers' road safety behavior in Greece in relation to speeding, seat-belt and helmet use and driver distraction and identify the characteristics that are associated with these behavioral patterns. Data were collected from roadside observations at randomly selected locations in all regions of Greece, in order to obtain a representative sample. The national Key Performance Indicators were calculated and Negative Binomial Regression models were developed for each indicator. 27% of Greek drivers were found to exceed the legal speed limits and 9% of drivers used a handheld mobile phone while driving. The use of helmet was found relatively high (88%), while the use of seat-belt was relatively low (65%). The results allow to evaluate drivers' behavior and can provide useful support to decision makers working for the improvement of safety in Greece.

Exploring the characteristics of a vehicle‐based temperature dataset for kilometre‐scale data assimilation

AbstractCrowdsourced vehicle‐based observations have the potential to improve forecast skill in convection‐permitting numerical weather prediction (NWP). The aim of this paper is to explore the characteristics of vehicle‐based observations of air temperature in the context of data assimilation. We describe a novel low‐precision vehicle‐based observation dataset obtained from a Met Office proof‐of‐concept trial. In this trial, observations of air temperature were obtained from built‐in vehicle air‐temperature sensors, broadcast to an application on the participant's smartphone, and uploaded, with relevant metadata, to the Met Office servers. We discuss the instrument and representation uncertainties associated with vehicle‐based observations and present a new quality‐control procedure. It is shown that, for some observations, location metadata may be inaccurate due to unsuitable smartphone application settings. The characteristics of the data that passed quality control are examined through comparison with United Kingdom variable‐resolution model data, roadside weather information station observations, and Met Office integrated data archive system observations. Our results show that the uncertainty associated with vehicle‐based observation‐minus‐model comparisons is likely to be weather‐dependent and possibly vehicle‐dependent. Despite the low precision of the data, vehicle‐based observations of air temperature could be a useful source of spatially‐dense and temporally‐frequent observations for NWP.

Application of the profile method for the estimation of urban sensible heat flux using roadside weather monitoring data and satellite imagery

This study explores the possibility of estimation of the sensible surface heat flux using satellite-derived surface temperature and road pavement temperature together with in-situ wind and air temperature measurements by the profile method. A 10-year series of data from the roadside weather observation network was used. This dataset contained wind (measured at 5.8–9.5 m above ground) and air temperature (measured at 2.6–4.8 m) together with road surface temperature. Another dataset consisted of 254 simultaneous MODIS observations. A high correlation (0.94) of the surface temperature measured by both methods was noted despite coarse pixel size. We considered satellite-derived surface temperature to determine the sensible heat flux by the profile method; these results were compared to the values obtained using road temperature measured by pavement-mounted sensors. While the overall correlation is relatively strong (0.70) and considerable systematic differences exist, the values of heat flux calculated at different locations show a high spatial coherence - either when using the in situ pavement temperature (correlation ranging from 0.84 to 0.94 for daytime and 0.63–0.84 for nighttime) or the satellite-derived temperature (correlation coefficient 0.72). In most cases, differences between the two flux estimates can be linked to local factors such as the land use structure.

Determining driver perceptions about distractions and modeling their effects on driving behavior at different age groups

This study was aimed at determining the driving distractions which are perceived most hazardous and determining the effects of these distractions and age on speed and headway. A questionnaire survey was done to find out the opinion of drivers related to the most hazardous distraction. 639 responses were collected in the survey which were used to determine the top-rated distractions for drivers in Bahrain. Roadside observations were taken to observe the speed, headway, age and type of distraction for the driver. Speed was observed for 48 drivers while headway was observed for 36 drivers along with other parameters. The most hazardous distractions, according to the participants of the questionnaire, are using mobile phones, handling children, and accidents or incidents on the road. Further, the results of the two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and regression analysis demonstrated that using mobile phones and age have a significant effect on both speed and headway. Speed tends to decrease with distraction for all age groups while decreasing the headway for young and middle-aged drivers. The effect of distraction is higher than the effect of age on speed, as well as headway. Texting has the most significant effect among distractions on headway. It is hereby recommended that policymakers should focus on increasing awareness and stringent law enforcement related to handling mobile phones and children, especially for young and middle-aged drivers.

Features of Particle-Phase Pahs from Traffic Emissions Using Tunnel Measurement and Urban Roadside Observation in China

Features of Particle-Phase Pahs from Traffic Emissions Using Tunnel Measurement and Urban Roadside Observation in China

Patterns of risk-taking behaviors among motorcyclists at signalized intersections in Taiwan

Motorcyclists1 are the fastest-moving vulnerable road users, which made them overrepresented in road injuries and fatalities. In Taiwan, motorcyclists account for approximately 60% of total road fatalities each year, but little is known about the prevalence of risk-taking behaviors among motorcyclists. In the present study, a roadside observation was carried out to examine their unsafe riding behaviors, such as secondary task engagement, helmet non-use, and traffic violations. 4030 motorcyclists were observed at three signalized intersections in Tainan, Taiwan: 593 in a residential district, 1034 in a business park, and 2403 in the city center. 7.3% of them were engaged in at least one secondary task, with phone use (3.5%) being the most common one, followed by chatting with others (1.6%). Although nearly all riders were helmeted (98.9%), the majority of the riders used non-standard helmets: 65.2% wore an open-face helmet, 21.0% half helmet, and only 12.6% full-face helmet. 5.9% of all motorcyclists were observed breaking at least one traffic rule at the intersections, and the violations that occurred the most often were turn signal neglect (2.8%) and red-light running (2.6%). These risky riding behaviors were also associated with contextual variables and rider characteristics. The likelihood of distracted riding increased at a red light, in the city center, when riders were younger, male, delivery workers, and riding with an adult passenger. Traffic violations were more frequent in the city center, in the afternoon, and on a two-lane road. Furthermore, risk-taking behaviors were more prevalent in un-helmeted riders. Observations in different weather conditions, more traffic contexts, and locations are recommended for future studies to further understand their impact on motorcyclists' adaptive riding behaviors.

Road safety situation of electric bike riders: A cross-sectional study in courier and take-out food delivery population

Objective Almost all courier and take-out food delivery riders in China use electric bikes as the main transport mode. This study aims to understand their riding behaviors and road traffic injury information of this population. Methods A cross-sectional field study focused on this population was conducted, including roadside observation and face-to-face retrospective street intercept interviews. Results Six hundred target delivery riders were observed and 480 were interviewed. The rate of overspeeding was 91.3%, and windshield use during winter was 91.2%. Traffic violation behaviors observed included riding in the motor vehicle lane (32.8%), not waiting behind the white line at a red light (23.3%), and using cell phone when riding (21.2%). Helmet use was significantly more common during the day (73.0%) than at night (64.7%; P = .028). About 46.5% of respondents rode an e-bike more than 8 h per day. In addition, 76.5% of interviewees had been involved in a traffic crash at least once. About 13.9% of crashes happened in motor vehicle lanes and 8.2% on sidewalks. Logistic regression analysis indicated that compared with uninjured riders, injured riders showed significantly greater odds ratios of unsafe behaviors for running red lights (odds ratio [OR] = 1.75) and protective factors for wearing a helmet (OR = 0.56). Conclusions The courier and take-out food delivery population is a vulnerable occupational group and road traffic injuries related to e-bike use require more attention.

A home-based approach to understanding the effect of spatial autocorrelation on seat belt non-use

Roadside observations indicate that seat belt use rates are often spatially correlated with nearby areas. However, very few studies have examined the effects of spatial autocorrelation on seat belt use. This study used exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) to explore spatial autocorrelation in Tennessee, which has a lower seat belt use than the United States national average. We geocoded home-addresses of vehicle occupants involved in traffic crashes between 2014 and 16 (n = 1,251,901) and projected them to the census tract corresponding to their home address. This projection reveals information about the spatial distribution of seat belt non-use and socioeconomics of the areas surrounding the crash victim's home. The presence of highly spatially correlated observations (i.e., a significant positive Moran’s I) suggests that seat belt non-use is not produced solely by the internal structural factors represented in the non-spatial models. ESDA reveals a distinctive regional imprint for spatial autocorrelation, in which Southern-metropolitan areas’ (Southern-MPOs) in Tennessee census tracts have higher than average seat belt non-use compared to Non-Southern-MPOs (16% vs. 9%). The spatial error model was suitable for Non-Southern-MPOs, whereas the spatial lag model was more suitable for Southern MPOs. Comparison of the estimated models indicates that in the Non-Southern MPOs, percentage of the White population, percentage of the population with Bachelor's degree, median household income, vehicle ownership, and population density are significant predictors of seat belt non-use. On the other hand, median household income, vehicle ownership, and percentage of population aged between 16 and 42 years old predict seat belt non-use in Southern MPOs. The study results could be used to identify seat belt non-use clusters at the state level and identify seat belt non-use hot zones. Furthermore, this analysis indicates that the relationship between demographic variables and seat belt non-use varies across regimes. Failing to consider the spatial regimes in the analysis would lead to falsely prioritizing groups prone to seat belt non-use.

ASSESSMENT OF MOTORISTS’ COMPLIANCE TO SEAT BELT REGULATION IN NIGERIA

The work is an attempt to assess the level of compliance by motorists to seat belt regulation in Nigeria. Specifically it evaluates the seat belts usage rates along Enugu- Port Harcourt, ENUPHC and Port Harcourt- Enugu, PHC-ENU traffic corridors based on vehicle type and front seat occupants. Data was collected from two sites at Osisioma junction in Aba Abia state, Nigeria by direct observations at designated points. The findings of the observation were treated with percentage analysis where each category of vehicle is treated separately with percentage table analysis. Results on the road side observation survey of seat belt use revealed that wearing seat belt along Enugu- Port Harcourt, ENU-PHC and Port Harcourt- Enugu, PHC-ENU traffic corridor is very low. The overall wearing rate for the aforementioned routes was 24.8%, 26.0% and 23.8% for all occupants, drivers and front seat passengers respectively. It is concluded that the overall wearing rates were consistently higher for drivers than for front seat passengers in most vehicle categories and routes sampled. Thus we recommend that the enforcement officials pay close attention to taxis, buses, luxury buses, pickup/vans, trucks and articulated vehicle occupants who tend to significantly show lower seat belt use since this can save more lives when these types of vehicles get involved in traffic crashes.

Prevalence of mobile phone use among drivers: direct observation in Udine (Northern Italy)

to measure the prevalence of hand-held mobile phone use among drivers in Udine, Italy. Such behaviour is prohibited by law. direct roadside observation of car drivers. groups of nursing students on the roadside observed car drivers either waiting at red traffic lights or driving in selected major urban streets of the city of Udine and of two smaller neighboring towns, in one-hour time slots in different days in November and December 2018, for a total of 24 hours of observation. prevalence of use of handheld mobile phone either for calling or for activities implying visuo-manual interaction (texting or social media browsing), both among drivers waiting at red traffic lights and among those driving along the streets. overall, 8,240 observations of vehicles were carried out. The prevalence of mobile phone use was 9.9% among drivers waiting at red traffic lights and 6.5% among those moving along the streets in Udine; the prevalence was higher in the smaller neighboring towns. Among 6,116 drivers, the type of use has also been recorded: prevalence of texting was 7.2% at traffic lights and 5.0% in moving vehicles; prevalence of phone calls was 3.3% and 3.6%, respectively. Texting represented 68.4% of mobile phone use among drivers waiting at traffic lights and 57.8% among moving drivers. Behaviors of female and male drivers were similar. the use of mobile phones among drivers is very common in Udine, particularly for activities involving both the hands and the eyes. Since the increased risk of road accidents caused by this type of distraction from driving activities is well known, interventions discouraging the use of mobile phones among drivers are needed.

Exposure to unsafe mobility: Traveling in the cargo area of pickup trucks in three Mexican cities

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of pickup trucks transporting people in the cargo area and to identify factors associated to this behavior in three Mexican cities.Methods: Eight rounds of roadside observations of randomly selected pickup trucks were conducted from August 2012 to November 2014 in three Mexican cities: Guadalajara-Zapopan, León and Cuernavaca.Results: Overall, 4.03% of the 4,611 pickup trucks observed were transporting people in the cargo area (95% CI: 3.48 - 4.64%). This implies that a total of 427 passengers were traveling unsafely in the cargo area of pickup trucks; of all them 22.01% were children and 82.20% were male. Prevalence of exposure to this risky behavior was higher in León (5.77%, 95% CI: 4.73 - 6.97%) than in Cuernavaca (3.73%, 95% CI: 2.49 - 5.35%) and Guadalajara-Zapopan (2.70%, 95% CI: 2.05 - 3.48%). According to this data, exposure to this risk factor has decreased in time. Male drivers, not using seatbelt correctly carried passengers in the cargo area more frequently.Conclusions: Results support the importance of improving and enforcing current legislation and evaluating strategies directed to prevent exposure to this risky behavior with the potential of contributing to lowering the high burden that road traffic injuries imposed in Mexican public health.

Turn signal use among car drivers and motorcyclists at intersections: a case study of Da Nang, Vietnam

Turn signal neglect is a major cause of traffic crashes, particularly rear-end collisions. However, little research has investigated the use of turn signals among motorists, particularly in developing countries with high levels of motorcycle use. This research aimed to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with turn signal use at intersections among car drivers and motorcyclists in Da Nang, Vietnam. Cross-sectional roadside observations were undertaken at 24 sites across Da Nang City during weekday and weekend periods. A total of 17,142 vehicles were observed, including 2392 cars and 14,750 motorcycles. Turn signal use among car drivers (68.27%) was found to be significantly higher than motorcyclists (40.13%). Binary logistic regression modelling showed that turn signal neglect at intersections was associated with making a right turn, not carrying passengers, travelling outside of the city centre, travelling on weekdays, and the absence of separate car lanes, pedestrian crossings and traffic lights. Despite national legislation regulating turn signal use in Vietnam, the use of turn signals is relatively low compared with developed countries. The findings highlight the need for both greater and more targeted enforcement of existing legislation combined with extensive road safety education.