Analysis of traffic injury severity in a mega city of a developing country

Despite a considerable amount of research on traffic injury severities, relatively little is known about the factors influencing traffic injury severity in developing countries, and in particular in Bangladesh. Road traffic crashes are a common headline in daily newspapers of Bangladesh. It has also recorded one of the highest road fatality rates in the world. This research identifies significant factors contributing to traffic injury severity in Dhaka – a mega city and capital of Bangladesh. Road traffic crash data of 5 years from 2007 to 2011 were collected from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), which included about 2714 traffic crashes. The severity level of these crashes was documented in a 4-point ordinal scale: no injury (property damage), minor injury, severe injury, and death. An ordered Probit regression model has been estimated to identify factors contributing to injury severities. Results show that night time influence is associated with a higher level injury severity as is for individuals involved in single vehicle crashes. Crashes on highway sections within the city are found to be more injurious than crashes along the arterial and feeder roads. There is a lower likelihood of injury severity, however, if the road sections are monitored and enforced by the traffic police. The likelihood of injuries is lower on two-way traffic arrangements than one-way, and at four-legged intersections and roundabouts compare to road segments. The findings are compared with those from developed countries and the implications of this research are discussed in terms of policy settings for developing countries.

Reconceptualising policy integration in road safety management

Unless sustained, coordinated action is generated in road safety, road traffic deaths are poised to rise from approximately 1.3 to 1.9 million a year by 2020 (Krug, 2012). To generate this harmonised response, road safety management agencies are being urged to adopt multisectoral collaboration (WHO, 2009b), which is achievable through the principle of policy integration. Yet policy integration, in its current hierarchical format, is marred by a lack of universality of its interpretation, a failure to anticipate the complexities of coordinated effort, dearth of information about its design and the absence of a normative perspective to share responsibility. This paper addresses this ill-conception of policy integration by reconceptualising it through a qualitative examination of 16 road safety stakeholders’ written submissions, lodged with the Australian Transport Council in 2011. The resulting, new principle of policy integration, Participatory Deliberative Integration, provides a conceptual framework for the alignment of effort across stakeholders in transport, health, traffic law enforcement, relevant trades and the community. With the adoption of Participatory Deliberative Integration, road safety management agencies should secure the commitment of key stakeholders in the development and implementation of, amongst other policy measures, National Road Safety Strategies and Mix Mode Integrated Timetabling.

Road safety knowledge exchange and capacity building between China and Australia

Road traffic injuries are one of the major public health burdens worldwide. The United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020) implores all nations to work to reduce this burden. This decade represents a unique and historic period of time in the field of road safety. Information exchange and co-operation between nations is an important step in achieving the goal. The burden of road crashes, fatalities and injuries is not equally distributed. We know that low and middle-income countries experience the majority of the road trauma burden. Therefore it is imperative that these countries learn from the successes of others that have developed and implemented road safety laws, public education campaigns and countermeasures over many years and have achieved significant road trauma reductions as a result. China is one of the countries experiencing a large road trauma burden. Vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists make up a large proportion of fatalities and injuries in China. Speeding, impaired/drug driving, distracted driving, vehicle overloading, inadequate road infrastructure, limited use of safety restraints and helmets, and limited road safety training have all been identified as contributing to the problem. Some important steps have been taken to strengthen China’s approach, including increased penalties for drunk driving in May 2011 and increased attention to school bus safety in 2011/12. However, there is still a large amount of work needed to improve the current road safety position in China. This paper provides details of a program to assist with road safety knowledge exchange between China and Australia that was funded by the Australian Government which was undertaken in the latter part of 2012. The four month program provided the opportunity for the first author to work closely with key agencies in Australia that are responsible for policy development and implementation of a broad range of road safety initiatives. In doing so, an in-depth understanding was gained about key road safety strategies in Australia and processes for developing and implementing them. Insights were also gained into the mechanisms used for road safety policy development, implementation and evaluation in several Australian jurisdictions. Road traffic law and enforcement issues were explored with the relevant jurisdictional transport and police agencies to provide a greater understanding of how Chinese laws and practices could be enhanced. Working with agencies responsible for public education and awareness campaigns about road safety in Australia also provided relevant information about how to promote road safety at the broader community level in China. Finally, the program provided opportunities to work closely with several world-renowned Australian research centres and key expert researchers to enhance opportunities for ongoing road safety research in China. The overall program provided the opportunity for the first author to develop knowledge in key areas of road safety strategy development, implementation and management which are directly relevant to the current situation in China. This paper describes some main observations and findings from participation in the program.

Analysis of traffic injury severity in Dhaka, Bangladesh

This research identifies roadway, traffic, and environmental factors that influence the injury severity of road traffic crashes in Dhaka. Dhaka provides a rather unusual driving risk environment to study, since virtually anyone can obtain a drivers’ license and very little traffic enforcement and fines are given when drivers violate traffic rules. To examine this city with presumed heightened crash severity risk, police reported crash data from 2007 to 2011 containing about 2714 road traffic crashes were collected. The injury severity of traffic crashes—recorded as either fatal, serious injury, or property damage only—were modeled using an ordered Probit model. Significant factors increasing the probability of fatal injuries include crashes along highways (65%), absence of a road divider (80%), crashes during night time (54%), and vehicle-pedestrian collisions (367%); whereas two-way traffic configuration (21%), and traffic police controlled schemes (41%) decrease the probability of fatalities. Both similarities and differences of the findings between crash risk in Dhaka and developed countries are discussed in policy relevant terms.

Enabling safe autonomous driving in real-world city traffic using multiple criteria decision making

This paper addresses the topic of real-time decision making for autonomous city vehicles, i.e., the autonomous vehicles' ability to make appropriate driving decisions in city road traffic situations. The paper explains the overall controls system architecture, the decision making task decomposition, and focuses on how Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is used in the process of selecting the most appropriate driving maneuver from the set of feasible ones. Experimental tests show that MCDM is suitable for this new application area.

Beyond the barriers : road construction safety issues from the office and the roadside

Conceptually, the management of safety at roadworks can be seen in a three level framework. At the regulatory level, roadworks operate at the interface between the work environment, governed by workplace health and safety regulations, and the road environment, which is subject to road traffic regulations and practices. At the organizational level, national, state and local governments plan and purchase road construction and maintenance which are then delivered in-house or tendered out to large construction companies who often subcontract multiple smaller companies to supply services and labor. At the operational level, roadworks are difficult to isolate from the general public, hindering effective occupational health and safety controls. This study, from the State of Queensland, Australia, examines how well this tripartite framework functions. It includes reviews of organizational policy and procedures documents; interviews with 24 subject matter experts from various road construction and maintenance organizations, and on-site interviews with 66 road construction personnel. The study identified several factors influencing the translation of safety policies into practice including the cost of safety measures in the context of competitive tendering, lack of firm evidence of the effectiveness of safety measures, and pressures to minimize disruption to the travelling public.

Transport and health in China : recent collaborative research relating to vehicle factors and pollution

The nature of the transport system contributes to public health outcomes in a range of ways. The clearest contribution to public health is in the area of traffic crashes, because of their direct impact on individual death and disability and their direct costs to the health system. Other papers in this conference address these issues. This paper outlines some collaborative research between the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q) at QUT and Chinese researchers in areas that have indirect health impacts. Heavy vehicle dynamics: The integrity of the road surface influences crash risk, with ruts, pot-holes and other forms of road damage contributing to increased crash risks. The great majority of damage to the road surface from vehicles is caused by heavy trucks and buses, rather than cars or smaller vehicles. In some cases this damage is due to deliberate overloading, but in other cases it is due to vehicle suspension characteristics that lead to occasional high loads on particular wheels. Together with a visiting researcher and his colleagues, we have used both Queensland and Chinese data to model vehicle suspension systems that reduce the level of load, and hence the level of road damage and resulting crash risk(1-5). Toll worker exposure to vehicle emissions: The increasing construction of highways in China has also involved construction of a large number of toll roads. Tollbooth workers are potentially exposed to high levels of pollutants from vehicles, however the extent of this exposure and how it relates to standards for exposure are not well known. In a study led by a visiting researcher, we conducted a study to model these levels of exposure for a tollbooth in China(6). Noise pollution: The increasing presence of high speed roads in China has contributed to an increase in noise levels. In this collaborative study we modelled noise levels associated with a freeway widening near a university campus, and measures to reduce the noise(7). Along with these areas of research, there are many other areas of transport with health implications that are worthy of exploration. Traffic, noise and pollution contribute to a difficult environment for pedestrians, especially in an ageing society where there are health benefits to increasing physical activity. By building on collaborations such as those outlined, there is potential for a contribution to improved public health by addressing transport issues such as vehicle factors and pollution, and extending the research to other areas of travel activity. 1. Chen, Y., He, J., King, M., Chen, W. and Zhang, W. (2014). Stiffness-damping matching method of an ECAS system based on LQG control. Journal of Central South University, 21:439-446. DOI: 10.1007/s1177101419579 2. Chen, Y., He, J., King, M., Feng, Z. and Chang, W. (2013). Comparison of two suspension control strategies for multi-axle heavy truck. Journal of Central South University, 20(2): 550-562. 3. Chen, Y., He, J., King, M., Chen, W. and Zhang, W. (2013). Effect of driving conditions and suspension parameters on dynamic load-sharing of longitudinal-connected air suspensions. Science China Technological Sciences, 56(3): 666-676. DOI: 10.1007/s11431-012-5091-3 4. Chen, Y., He., J., King, M., Chen, W. and Zhang, W. (2013). Model development and dynamic load-sharing analysis of longitudinal-connected air suspensions. Strojniški Vestnik - Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 59(1):14-24. 5. Chen, Y., He, J., King, M., Liu, H. and Zhang, W. (2013). Dynamic load-sharing of longitudinal-connected air suspensions of a tri-axle semi-trailer. Proceedings of Transportation Research Board Annual Conference, Washington DC, 13-17 January 2013, paper no. 13-1117. 6. He, J., Qi, Z., Hang, W., King, M., and Zhao, C. (2011). Numerical evaluation of pollutant dispersion at a toll plaza based on system dynamics and Computational Fluid Dynamics models. Transportation Research Part C, 19(2011):510-520. 7. Zhang, C., He, J., Wang, Z., Yin, R. and King, M. (2013). Assessment of traffic noise level before and after freeway widening using traffic microsimulation and a refined classic noise prediction method. Proceedings of Transportation Research Board Annual Conference, Washington DC, 13-17 January 2013, paper no. 13-2016.

The role of university research centres in building road safety capacity : implications for China

In recent decades, highly motorised countries, such as Australia, have witnessed significant improvements in population health through reductions in fatalities and injuries from road traffic crashes. In Australia, concerted efforts have been made to reduce the road trauma burden since road fatalities reached their highest level in in the early 1970s. Since that time, many improvements have been made drawing on various disciplines to reduce the trauma burden (e.g., road and vehicle design, road user education, traffic law enforcement practices and enforcement technologies). While road fatalities have declined significantly since the mid-1970s, road trauma remains a serious public health concern in Australia. China has recently become the largest car market in the world (Ma, Li, Zhou, Duan, & Bishai, 2012). This rapid motorisation has been accompanied by substantial expansion of the road network as well as a large road trauma burden. Road traffic injuries are a major cause of death in China, reported as accounting for one third of all injury-deaths between 2002 and 2006 (Ma et al., 2012). In common with Australia, China has experienced a reported decline in fatalities since 2002 (see Hu, Wen & Baker, 2008). However, there remains a strong need for action in this area as rates of motorisation continue to climb in China. In Australia, a wide range of organisations have contributed to the improvements in road safety including government agencies, professional organisations, advocacy groups and research centres. In particular, Australia has several highly regarded and multi-disciplinary, university-based research centres that work across a range of road safety fields, including engineering, intelligent transportation systems, the psychology of road user behaviour, and traffic law enforcement. Besides conducting high-quality research, these centres fulfil an important advocacy role in promoting safer road use and facilitating collaborations with government and other agencies, at both the national and international level. To illustrate the role of these centres, an overview will be provided of the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland (CARRS-Q), which was established in 1996 and has gone on to become a recognised world-leader in road safety and injury prevention research. The Centre’s research findings are used to provide evidence-based recommendations to government and have directly contributed to promoting safer road use in Australia. Since 2006, CARRS-Q has also developed strong collaborative links with various universities and organisations in China to assist in building understanding, connections and capacity to assist in reducing the road trauma burden. References Hu, G., Wen, M., Baker, T. D., & Baker, S. P. (2008). Road-traffic deaths in China, 1985–2005: threat and opportunity. Injury Prevention, 14, 149-153. Ma, S., Li, Q., Zhou, M., Duan, L., & Bishai, D. (2012). Road Traffic Injury in China: A Review of National Data Sources. Traffic Injury Prevention, 13(S1), 57-63.

Estimating link-dependent origin-destination matrices from sample trajectories and traffic counts

In transport networks, Origin-Destination matrices (ODM) are classically estimated from road traffic counts whereas recent technologies grant also access to sample car trajectories. One example is the deployment in cities of Bluetooth scanners that measure the trajectories of Bluetooth equipped cars. Exploiting such sample trajectory information, the classical ODM estimation problem is here extended into a link-dependent ODM (LODM) one. This much larger size estimation problem is formulated here in a variational form as an inverse problem. We develop a convex optimization resolution algorithm that incorporates network constraints. We study the result of the proposed algorithm on simulated network traffic.

Microscopic cooperative traffic flow: Calibration and simulation based on a next generation simulation dataset

The deployment of new emerging technologies, such as cooperative systems, allows the traffic community to foresee relevant improvements in terms of traffic safety and efficiency. Autonomous vehicles are able to share information about the local traffic state in real time, which could result in a better reaction to the mechanism of traffic jam formation. An upstream single-hop radio broadcast network can improve the perception of each cooperative driver within a specific radio range and hence the traffic stability. The impact of vehicle to vehicle cooperation on the onset of traffic congestion is investigated analytically and through simulation. A next generation simulation field dataset is used to calibrate the full velocity difference car-following model, and the MOBIL lane-changing model is implemented. The robustness of the calibration as well as the heterogeneity of the drivers is discussed. Assuming that congestion can be triggered either by the heterogeneity of drivers' behaviours or abnormal lane-changing behaviours, the calibrated car-following model is used to assess the impact of a microscopic cooperative law on egoistic lane-changing behaviours. The cooperative law can help reduce and delay traffic congestion and can have a positive effect on safety indicators.

Perceptions of the prevalence of self-organising amongst Australian road safety stakeholders: A comparative perspective

The Australian road traffic fatality rate is slowing down at a much lower rate than that of comparable high income countries. This slow rate of reduction may be attributable to a wide range of causes such as deficits in coordination and low community engagement. However, it may also be due to the absence of understanding of systems thinking in road safety in Australia. This exploratory study aimed to investigate the perceptions of Australian stakeholders about the prevalence of a principle of the Dynamic Systems Theory, namely: self-organising. The results pointed to a need to decentralize the road traffic injury prevention efforts in Australia through a range of self-organising principles and the adoption of emergent rather than deliberate strategies.

Traffic and nucleation events as main sources of ultrafine particles in high-insolation developed world cities

Road traffic emissions are often considered the main source of ultrafine particles (UFP, diameter smaller than 100 nm) in urban environments. However, recent studies worldwide have shown that - in high-insolation urban regions at least - new particle formation events can also contribute to UFP. In order to quantify such events we systematically studied three cities located in predominantly sunny environments: Barcelona (Spain), Madrid (Spain) and Brisbane (Australia). Three long term datasets (1-2 years) of fine and ultrafine particle number size distributions (measured by SMPS, Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer) were analysed. Compared to total particle number concentrations, aerosol size distributions offer far more information on the type, origin and atmospheric evolution of the particles. By applying k-Means clustering analysis, we categorized the collected aerosol size distributions in three main categories: “Traffic” (prevailing 44-63% of the time), “Nucleation” (14-19%) and “Background pollution and Specific cases” (7-22%). Measurements from Rome (Italy) and Los Angeles (California) were also included to complement the study. The daily variation of the average UFP concentrations for a typical nucleation day at each site revealed a similar pattern for all cities, with three distinct particle bursts. A morning and an evening spike reflected traffic rush hours, whereas a third one at midday showed nucleation events. The photochemically nucleated particles burst lasted 1-4 hours, reaching sizes of 30-40 nm. On average, the occurrence of particle size spectra dominated by nucleation events was 16% of the time, showing the importance of this process as a source of UFP in urban environments exposed to high solar radiation. On average, nucleation events lasting for 2 hours or more occurred on 55% of the days, this extending to >4hrs in 28% of the days, demonstrating that atmospheric conditions in urban environments are not favourable to the growth of photochemically nucleated particles. In summary, although traffic remains the main source of UFP in urban areas, in developed countries with high insolation urban nucleation events are also a main source of UFP. If traffic-related particle concentrations are reduced in the future, nucleation events will likely increase in urban areas, due to the reduced urban condensation sinks.

THE DRINKING DRIVER, A guide to the five part series ONE FOR THE ROAD

THE DRINKING DRIVER is a guide for listeners to the Adult Education radio series ONE FOR THE ROAD, a five-part series on drink-driving and Australia’s road toll. ONE FOR THE ROAD was produced by Lee Parker and Julie Levi, with assistance from the Federal Office of Road Safety in Canberra. The five programs, presented by Lee Parker were first broadcast on ABC Radio National in January 1989, and repeated on Radio National and Regional Stations across Australia in April/May 1989. THE DRINKING DRIVER was written by Mark King, Senior Project Officer with the Road Safety Division of the South Australian Department of Transport.

Guidelines on building design and operation to minimize air quality impacts from major roads in transit oriented development

Poor air quality has a huge detrimental effect, both economic and on the quality of life, in Australia. Transit oriented design (TOD), which aims to minimise urban sprawl and lower dependency on vehicles, leads to an increasing number of buildings close to transport corridors. This project aims at providing guidelines that are appropriate to include within City Plan to inform future planning along road corridors, and provide recommendations on when mitigation measures should be utilised.

A multicast routing scheme for efficient safety message dissemination in VANET

Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a wireless ad hoc network that operates in a vehicular environment to provide communication between vehicles. VANET can be used by a diverse range of applications to improve road safety. Cooperative collision warning system (CCWS) is one of the safety applications that can provide situational awareness and warning to drivers by exchanging safety messages between cooperative vehicles. Currently, the routing strategies for safety message dissemination in CCWS are scoped broadcast. However, the broadcast schemes are not efficient as a warning message is sent to a large number of vehicles in the area, rather than only the endangered vehicles. They also cannot prioritize the receivers based on their critical time to avoid collision. This paper presents a more efficient multicast routing scheme that can reduce unnecessary transmissions and also use adaptive transmission range. The multicast scheme involves methods to identify an abnormal vehicle, the vehicles that may be endangered by the abnormal vehicle, and the latest time for each endangered vehicle to receive the warning message in order to avoid the danger. We transform this multicast routing problem into a delay-constrained minimum Steiner tree problem. Therefore, we can use existing algorithms to solve the problem. The advantages of our multicast routing scheme are mainly its potential to support various road traffic scenarios, to optimize the wireless channel utilization, and to prioritize the receivers.