Safe Road Research Articles

Influence of road investment and maintenance expenses on injured traffic crashes in European roads

This study analyses the influence of economic resources invested in road infrastructures, both in construction and maintenance, upon injured traffic crashes. Furthermore, a set of control variables related to diverse factors was added: infrastructure, socioeconomics, meteorology and legislation. Consistent with this, a panel data model for the inter-urban network of 20 European countries was built, thus contributing to the literature with a study covering different countries and taking into account the possible effect of traffic regulation changes and alcohol consumption. As significant results, an inverse relationship with the injured traffic crashes has been obtained for the variables of maintenance expenditure, unemployment rate, per capita income and demerit point system, and a direct relationship for investment in construction and alcohol consumption. All things considered, allocating economic resources to road maintenance may be an effective tool to develop of a more sustainable and safer road transport system.

Determination of pedestrian accessibility for urban public transport stops

Introduction. This article is devoted to the problem of determining the territorial (pedestrian) accessibility of stopping points in large cities, which is one of the indicators of the quality of transport services for the population.The aim of the study is to develop a methodology for determining the territorial (pedestrian) accessibility of stopping points of a large city with a thousand or more stopping points, based on publicly available data. The cause of the study was the dificulty of solving this problem, due to the large number of both stopping points and residential facilities, the straightforwardness of the shortest pedestrian approach, the lack of detailed instructions for performing calculations, etc. Based on the review of Russian and foreign scientific sources, approaches to determining the territorial accessibility of stopping points were considered, taking into account various additional parameters, such as the number of routes passing through a stopping point, the intensity of passenger exchange, the availability of socially significant objects, etc. The existing difficulties and peculiarities in determining the availability of stopping points for individual and multi-apartment residential buildings are given. In the framework of the System-wide measures for the development of road facilities federal project and the Safe and high-quality roads national project when preparing an application for the purchase of passenger transport rolling stock for Omsk, the authors carried out scientific and practical work, as a result, a methodology has been developed to overcome some difficulties in determining the transport accessibility of stopping points in a large city by using a partially automated approach at its individual stages.Materials and methods. In particular, tools such as Yandex Map Designer, Table Excel Editor, Xtools Add-in for Excel, QGIS program, Macro in Excel using JavaScript API and HTTP geocoder were used.Results. The calculation of territorial accessibility of stopping points using the developed methodology was carried out for Omsk. The application of this technique allows to reduce labour intensity of calculations up to 10 times. Discussion. The discussion of the results presented guidelines for further improvement of the developed methodology

Preparation of Action plan for elimination of Accident at black spot (A Case Study)

The number of traffic accidents globally is increasing as the world's population expands and cars become more widespread. Improved geometric design, congestion management tactics, and greater driver education and enforcement are all traditional ways to prevent collisions. While these procedures are often beneficial, they are frequently impractical or prohibitively expensive to put in place. Many factors play a role in traffic accidents, and some of them have a significant impact on one another, making it impossible for transportation safety engineers to use just one parameter to adequately explain the severity of traffic accidents. The number of traffic crashes can be reduced by studying parameters involved in traffic crashes utilizing combined contemporary models that include the interplay of input and output variables. Road and traffic accidents are a leading source of death and disability around the world. A collision between a conveyance and another conveyance, a person, or other items is referred to as a road contingency. In rapidly developing metropolitan agglomerations, road traffic accidents are a big concern. There is a substantial body of research literature that sheds light on the scope of the problem and the remedies that are required. Road traffic accidents are the third leading cause of unnatural death among all deaths. Transportation engineers and academics have attempted to construct safe roads that adhere to suitable design standards, yet traffic accidents are inescapable. If an accident occurs, the reasons that caused it must be identified, and suitable corrective measures must be established and implemented as soon as possible. The goal of this study is to gain a better knowledge of the problem of road traffic accidents and identification of black spot-on BG Road in Sivasagar City and ends at Sapekhati and the factors that may contribute to the high accident rates.

Road Safety Evaluation Framework for Accessing Park Green Space Using Active Travel

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a burgeoning demand for active travel (walking or cycling), which is a healthy, pollution-free, and affordable daily transportation mode. Park green space (PGS), as an open natural landscape, have become a popular destination for active travel trips in metropolitan areas. Pedestrians and cyclists are often at high crash risk when exposed to complicated traffic environments in urban areas. Therefore, this study aims to propose a safety assessment framework for evaluating active travel traffic safety (ATTS) near PGS from the perspective of urban planning and exploring the effect of the point-of-interest (POI) aggregation phenomenon on ATTS. First, links between ATTS and the environment variables were investigated and integrated into the framework using the catastrophe model. Second, the relationship between the POI density and ATTS was investigated using three spatial regression models. Results in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area as a case study have shown that (1) the population density, road density, nighttime brightness, and vegetation situation near PGS have pronounced effects on ATTS; (2) pedestrians near PGS enjoy safer road facilities than cyclists. Active travel traffic near PGS requires more attention than non-park neighborhoods; (3) among four park categories, using active travel to access theme parks is the safest; and (4) SEM has the best fit for POI cluster research. Increases in leisure facility density and residence density may lead to deterioration and improvement in ATTS safety levels near PGSs, respectively. The safety framework can be applied in other regions because the selected environment indicators are common and accessible. The findings offer appropriate traffic planning strategies to improve the safety of active travel users when accessing PGS.

Smart Road Damage Detection and Warning using Machine Learning

We present a neural network topology, as well as training and prediction algorithms, in this research. To create a safe road environment, we present a deep neural network technique to detect road surface deterioration conditions. For training and testing, we provide an image dataset as input. Various sorts of road anxiety are depicted in the photographs. The suggested approach is compared to a variety of deep learning models from different disciplines. The findings of this study are expected to play a significant role in guaranteeing safe driving in the future by effectively detecting poor road conditions.

Speed-Flow-Geometric Relationship for Urban Roads Network

Speed on the urban roads is significantly affected by the surrounding geometric and traffic parameters. Based on this fact, we ascertained the impact of the geometric and traffic parameters on the average travel speed of the urban roads network. Herein, 197 urban road segments in Johor (Malaysia) with diverse features were randomly selected. The average travel speed and volume of the traffic on these road segments were measured using the moving observer method (MOM). Meanwhile, these roads’ features were recorded via the direct visual inspection. Various geometric (density of the traffic calming speed, right-turn driveway, access, and right-turn) and cross-sectional (median, number of lanes, and side friction) parameters were considered. First, 14 multilinear models constructed via multilinear regression analysis were developed for traffic volume scenarios (in veh/h and pcu/h). Then, 10 models were adopted to evaluate the geometric parameters’ influence on the average travel speed for the selected roads. The results revealed a considerable impact of some geometric and traffic parameters on the average travel speed for the studied urban roads. Furthermore, the density of traffic calming speed, driveway, and intersection per 1 km of urban road segment one for each parameter was found to reduce the speed of the vehicles from 1.3 to 0.22 km/h. The combination of the road cross-section features such as median, number of lanes, and side friction strongly affected the observed speed variation. It is asserted that the developed model may facilitate the Malaysian urban roads network management to provide better traffic performance with higher mobility and safer roads design and planning, thereby offering a gateway toward sustainability.

Road mortality in Hazel Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius): first evidences for this species and implications for road mortality research

Roads are considered major movement barriers for the Hazel Dormouse, a strictly arboreal mammal. Recent evidence shows that they inhabit roadside habitats and can safely cross roads, but no evidence of road mortality has been documented so far. In our study we investigate the occurrence of safe road crossings and roadkills using direct observation during optimal activity of Hazel Dormice, by surveying 35 km of national and local roads transects in Romania. The transect crossed a representative landscape with forests, pastures, arable land and small villages. We encountered Hazel Dormice on roads on 21 occasions, out of which 10 were roadkills, 8 were safe crossings and 3 were individuals standing by the side of the road. Our study gives direct evidence that safe crossings do occur, but also documents road mortality in this species for the first time. We explored the habitat context around the roads to understand the determinants of road crossings. We found that woody and shrubby vegetation elements in the vicinity of the roads are important, especially in arable dominated landscapes. Factors influencing road crossing behaviour and the ways mortality impacts the dormouse population are still largely unknown. Understanding these can improve mitigation actions.

Differences in the Assessment of Safe and Risky Driving Behaviors: Pedestrians Versus Drivers

Interactions between pedestrians and drivers are an important traffic safety issue. Psycho-social factors such as thoughts, perceptions and attitudes toward other people can be reliable predictors of riskier or safer behaviors among road users. The aim of this study was to assess how frequently participants perceive that drivers perform safe and risky road behaviors through drivers’ self-reported behavior and pedestrians and other drivers’ external perceptions. The results show that pedestrians assess the road behaviors of drivers in a seriously negative way. Meanwhile, drivers perceive their own behaviors as more appropriate than those performed by the rest of drivers. Women attribute more favorable assessments to other users’ road behavior. Similarly, older drivers do the same, and consider themselves “safer” users. On the contrary, younger drivers report a higher frequency of self-rated unsafe behaviors. The study highlights the importance of working on the awareness of self-rated road behaviors. Road safety interventions and programs in Spain must consider the differences related to gender and age.

Analysis and Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Safety Systems at Railroad Crossings in Poland

The number of vehicles on the road is growing every year and each year too many people lose their lives and health on Polish roads. The number of accidents, including at level crossings, is very high. Despite the construction of new, safer roads, the number of collisions continues to grow and about three thousand accident participants die each year. The main causes of accidents are inadequate speed to the prevailing road conditions or regulations, driving under the influence of alcohol and random events. For this reason, the article analyzes the safety at railroad crossings in Poland. In the next stage, an exemplary system improving safety at railroad crossings is presented. The new solution was analysed using a survey. The research results presented may be applicable to other countries.

The Ultimate Safe System: Redefining the Safe System Approach for Road Safety

The Safe System approach to road safety has been adopted in many countries, but it has been adopted pervasively to a substantially constrained extent. This paper argues that effective adoption is hampered by two weaknesses in strategies for the implementation of Safe System: (1) interpretations of the shared responsibility principle and (2) Safe System adoption presented as simply requiring the use of multiple pillars of action. The typical description of shared responsibility includes responsibility by road users to obey the rules. This absolves accountability for road safety by the system owners and operators, facilitating victim blaming and reliance on road users who are acknowledged to be fallible. Thus, the system cannot be fully safe, and the vision of zero road trauma cannot be achieved. The extent to which road users are responsible for road safety via their actions is precisely the extent to which those responsible for the system have failed to deliver a safe road system. The assessment of road safety plans as Safe System because it includes multiple pillars of action fails to distinguish a system approach from a Safe System approach. Through these inclusions and interpretations, road safety advocates inadvertently obviate the responsibility of system owners and operators to provide a safe road system and prevent the achievement of zero road trauma, which nonetheless remains the vision described in Safe System strategies and plans. The Ultimate Safe System approach is proposed with a definition that genuinely drives the delivery of a truly Safe System and thus zero road trauma. Practical implications are considered.

Message Authentication and Network Anomalies Detection in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Intelligent transport systems are the future in matters of safe roads and comfortable driving. Integration of vehicles into a unified intelligent network leads to all kinds of security issues and cyber threats common to conventional networks. Rapid development of mobile ad hoc networks and machine learning methods allows us to ensure security of intelligent transport systems. In this paper, we design an authentication scheme that can be used to ensure message integrity and preserve conditional privacy for the vehicle user. The proposed authentication scheme is designed with lightweight cryptography methods, so that it only brings little computational and communication overhead. We also conduct experiments on vehicular ad hoc network segment traffic generation in OMNeT++ tool and apply up-to-date machine learning methods to detect malicious behavior in a given simulated environment. The results of the study show high accuracy in distributed denial-of-service attack detection.

Convolution neural networks for pothole detection of critical road infrastructure

A well developed and maintained highway infrastructure is essential for the economic and social prosperity of modern societies. Highway maintenance poses significant challenges pertaining to the ever-increasing ongoing traffic, insufficient budget allocations and lack of resources. Road potholes detection and timely repair is a major contributing factor to sustaining a safe and resilient critical road infrastructure. Current pothole detection methods require laborious manual inspection of roads and lack in terms of accuracy and inference speed. This paper proposes a novel application of Convolutional Neural Networks on accelerometer data for pothole detection. Data is collected using an iOS smartphone installed on the dashboard of a car, running a dedicated application. The experimental results show that the proposed CNN approach has a significant advantage over the existing solutions, with respect to accuracy and computational complexity in pothole detection.

New Deal in Road Safety: Why we need NGOs

Road safety has been receiving increasing global attention, for example: the inclusion of road safety in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adoption of resolution 74/299 “Improving global road safety”; Stockholm Declaration (2020) reflecting the recommendations of the Academic Expert Group of the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. Recognising that the target to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 50% was not met in the First Decade of Action for Road Safety (Decade of Action) 2011–2020, the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development made a pledge in September 2019 to make the new decade one of action and delivery. On 28 October 2021, the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030 (the Global Plan) was launched to guide Member States in the implementation of key actions to improve road safety with the target to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50% by 2030 (WHO & UN Regional Commissions, 2021). The Global Plan calls on governmental agencies as the primary responsibility holder in delivering a safe road transport system and implementing the required road safety actions to achieve the global target of 50% reduction in deaths and injuries by 2030. The Global Plan also calls on other actors — nongovernment organisations (NGOs), academia, youth, funders, private sector and UN agencies — as important contributors. NGOs are groups organised independently from governments at a local, national or international level to serve a certain cause such as road safety. NGOs exist to drive actions and bring improvements on a societal issue, and, in the field of road safety, NGOs drive road safety actions to protect people from being killed or seriously injured in our ubiquitous use of the road transport system.

APPLICATION OF RSA PRINCIPLES TO IMPROVE THE BIM IN THE ROAD DESIGN PROCESS WITH FOCUS ON THE ROAD RESTRAINT SYSTEMS

Abstract. Sustainability is one of the main scientific and public topics of today. This includes the sustainable transport and infrastructure. One of the ways how to achieve higher level of sustainability is through the implementation of BIM (Building Information Modelling) into the road design process. However, to create a safe road network, which is also necessary for achievable sustainability, it is essential to consider the Road Safety Audit (RSA) principles throughout the BIM applications. The paper discusses the possibilities of involving the RSA in the process road design in I-BIM (Infrastructures Building Information Modelling). Within the individual phases of the preparation of a transport project and the application of the safety audit tools in BIM applications, it is possible to achieve a significant increase in the level of safety. This approach is shown within the paper on the implementation and use of supplementary road safety devices, specifically the road restraint systems. Currently, the individual components are defined by their main parameters in specific libraries. However, their definition is only as a general object where many of the supplementary parameters or fundamental design characteristics, such as working width or minimal length, are not included. This may lead to potential design flaws or safety hazards which have to be subsequently corrected in further phases. The objective of the paper is to identify the current deficiencies, primarily the missing road safety perspective within the BIM process. The aim is to enable appropriate selection of safety equipment during the design or to provide sufficient information for the mandatory RSA.

Chloride removal capacity and salinity tolerance in wetland plants

Deicing with sodium chloride maintains safe roads in the winter, but results in stormwater runoff with high chloride (Cl−) content that causes various downstream problems. Chloride-rich water risks contaminating groundwater, shortening the lifespan of concrete and metal constructions, and being toxic to aquatic organisms. Current stormwater treatment methods are unable to remove Cl−, but wetland plants with high chloride uptake capacity have potential to decrease Cl− concentrations in water. The aim was to identify suitable plant species for removing Cl− from water for future studies on phytodesalination of water, by comparing 34 wetland plant species native to Sweden in a short-term screening. Additionally, Carex pseudocyperus, C. riparia, and Phalaris arundinacea was further compared as to their salinity tolerance and tissue Cl− concentration properties. Results show that Cl− removal capacity, tissue accumulation, and tolerance varied between the investigated species. Removal capacity correlated with biomass, dry:fresh biomass ratio, water uptake, and transpiration. The three tested species tolerated Cl− levels of up to 50–350 mg Cl− L−1 and accumulated up to 10 mg Cl− g−1 biomass. Carex riparia was the most Cl-tolerant species, able to maintain growth and transpiration at 500 mg Cl− L−1 during 4 weeks of exposure and with a medium removal capacity. Due to a large shoot:plant biomass ratio and high transpiration, C. riparia also had high shoot accumulation of Cl−, which may facilitate harvesting. Phalaris arundinacea had the highest removal capacity of the investigated species, but displayed decreased growth above 50 mg Cl− L−1. From this study we estimate that wetland plants can remove up to 7 kg Cl− m−2 from water if grown hydroponically, and conclude that C. riparia and P. arundinacea, which have high tolerance, large biomass, and high accumulation, are suitable candidates for further phytodesalination studies.

СРАВНИТЕЛЬНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ ДОРОЖНО-ТРАНСПОРТНЫХ ПРОИСШЕСТВИЙ В ИРКУТСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ И РОССИИ

The article analyzes the indicators of road traffic accidents for 2020 in the Irkutsk region and Russia. The main reasons for the implementation of road accidents are identified. The current state of road safety has been analyzed within the framework of the Safe and High-Quality Roads Project. An excess of the actual values of social and transport risks was established by 1.19 and 1.38 times the corresponding Russian indicators

A simplified skid resistance predicting model for a freeway network to be used in a pavement management system

ABSTRACT The available skid resistance, or friction, in a pavement surface is a vital parameter for functional evaluations of roads due to its relation with crashes. Therefore, highway administrations must collect friction data on their road network to provide safe roads to users. Additionally, a prediction model that can forecast the available skid resistance in each road segment is necessary for an efficient pavement management system (PMS). The aim of this paper is to develop a skid resistance prediction model for the bituminous pavements of the motorway network of federal state of Bavaria, in Germany, with information that is typically available in a PMS: the Annual Average Daily Traffic , the Annual Average Daily Heavy Traffic , and the number of lanes in each segment. Despite its simplicity, with 6410 road segments of 2 and 3 lanes of the Bavarian motorway network, the model achieves a determination coefficient (R2 ) of 0.405. If information about the surface layer material is added, R2 increases to 0.480. Consequently, apart from predicting the minimum available friction in each lane in a motorway, the study underlines the necessity that a PMS should contain the recommended elements and additional surface layer material, because the quality of the prediction improves.

Analysis of traffic rule violations among bike riders. A structural equation model

Bikes are becoming an increasingly popular and reliable mode of transportation in developing countries because of their efficiency and ability to navigate through rough terrain and narrow roadways. Bikes are more vulnerable to road accidents and their riders’ safety is the main concern at present days. Hence, it is essential to reduce the possibility of accidents caused by bike riders. The main reason for bike accidents is bike rider behaviours in the form of traffic rules violations. The paper’s main aim is to categorize the importance of seven attributes on traffic rules violations, including bike rider behaviours, road features, ambient conditions, driving skills, type of license, bike age/tenure and riding without a safety device (helmet). Bike riders’ violations that can lead to an accident and the impact of attributes have been analyzed using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. To analyze these attributes, 450 bike riders have been interviewed in Bhubaneswar, India. It has been concluded that bike rider behaviours are the most significant attribute of violations. Since most bike riders are young, with low income and education, paying more attention to their training and education before issuing a driving license is necessary. In addition, those who do not use safety devices (helmets) are more susceptible to committing violations. This relates to the lack of enough control and enforcement in developing cities. Also, it shows that the current traffic fines for not using safety devices (helmets) are not enforced enough. Finally, considering this research’s outcomes can help minimize traffic rules violations among bike riders, which is a step towards safer roads.

Transport accessibility as institutional barriers of territory budgeting

In the context of interest of state policy in expanding the ways of interplay between the state authorities and citi-zens the study and analysis of the initiative budgeting (IB) mechanisms, tools in the administrative territorial units of the Russian Federation and the evaluation of their effectiveness has become one of the most actual questions from the standpoint of involving citizens in local self-government. Often, the implementation of IB programs is based on the achievement of previously planned results (the so-called "disbursement of funds within the framework of national projects", how it happens in the implementation of the national project "Safe and high-quality roads" ), and does not correspond to the very essence of initiative budgeting because it does not take into account the degree of citizens’ activity in decision-making, and it does not assess the institutional barriers (such as transport remoteness of the population from the economic centers of the region) that prevent citizens from engaging in the process of determining directions of public finance expenditures. At the same time the quantitative values of the results is not often so significant since their rapid achievement especially in the first years of the implementation of budget pro-jects occurs with ignoring of such the key issue of IB as whose interests IB is implemented in and why IB programs proposed by the state are not accepted by the population. This research involves studying the behavioral reactions of such main beneficiaries of IB projects as population of municipalities on the Trans-Baikal Territory, identifying institutional barriers to the introduction of IB, determining the role of state and civil society in the development and implementation of IB projects.

НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОЕКТЫ РОССИИ: ПРОБЛЕМЫ И РЕШЕНИЯ

Russia's national projects are an important tool for the socio-economic development of the state, which includes all sectors of the country's economy. The purpose of the national projects’ implementation is to improve economic performance, as well as to improve the well-being of the country's citizens. Over the past years, national projects have shown their effectiveness. Hospitals, schools, kindergartens have been built; a wide segment of the population has an opportunity to purchase housing on a mortgage. The development of agriculture is equally important; roads have been built and repaired, thereby raising the standard of living of the population. However, in the course of the national projects’ implementation, there are not only positive aspects, but also negative ones. The object of the study is the priority national projects of Russia. The subject of the study is the implementation of priority national projects in Russia and the Transbaikal Territory. The purpose of the study is to identify problems in the national projects’ implementation both in Russia and in the Transbaikal Territory. In carrying out the study, the following scientific methods have been used: economic method, statistical and comparative analysis, generalization and system analysis methods, monographic method. The information base for the event has become the data of Rosstat, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and publications on the Internet. In the course of the study, given the ambiguous approach to the definition of "national project", the concept is clarified. In addition, the formation chronology of the national project as a form of government is given. Problems in the implementation of national projects in Russia are identified, including the absence in most cases of an integrated approach to project activities, the need to bring the regulatory framework in line with modern requirements and realities, and overestimated indicators of national projects. An analysis of the national project’s implementation "Safe High-Quality Roads" in the Transbaikal Territory has been made, which noted problems in terms of insufficient provision of municipalities with funds for co-financing, problems with unscrupulous contractors, as well as problems with long overhaul periods. Based on the results of the results obtained, the authors have grouped the identified problems and proposed possible solutions, such as improving the legislative framework, working with contractors, and working out shortcomings when launching projects