Residential balconies with road traffic noise : a combined source image and radiosity model

Several significant studies have been made in recent decades toward understanding road traffic noise and its effects on residential balconies. These previous studies have used a variety of techniques such as theoretical models, scale models and measurements on real balconies. The studies have considered either road traffic noise levels within the balcony space or inside an adjacent habitable room or both. Previous theoretical models have used, for example, simplified specular reflection calculations, boundary element methods (BEM), adaptations of CoRTN or the use of Sabine Theory. This paper presents an alternative theoretical model to predict the effects of road traffic noise spatially within the balcony space. The model includes a specular reflection component by calculating up to 10 orders of source images. To account for diffusion effects, a two compartment radiosity component is utilised. The first radiosity compartment is the urban street, represented as a street with building facades on either side. The second radiosity compartment is the balcony space. The model is designed to calculate the predicted road traffic noise levels within the balcony space and is capable of establishing the effect of changing street and balcony geometries. Screening attenuation algorithms are included to determine the effects of solid balcony parapets and balcony ceiling shields.

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.

Are road traffic crash fatality rates converging among OECD countries?

This article examines the trends of road traffic crash (RTC) fatality rates in OECD countries over the past four decades. Based on recent developments in the economic growth literature we propose and test the hypothesis that RTC fatality rates initially increase with economic development, peak, and then gradually decrease. The theory predicts that, as a result, the RTC fatality rates of different countries will tend to converge over time. Our results for the period 1961–2007 reveal no evidence of the convergence of RTC fatality rates across the OECD as a whole for that time period. Nevertheless, there is evidence of convergence among sub-groups of countries. This evidence may assist policymakers as an additional way of benchmarking their country's performance against that of its peers and to identify the next-closest peer in country sub-groups with superior road safety performance.

Adaptive nature of coordinated road traffic injury prevention responses in some OECD countries

This study examines the context of coordinated responses, triggers for coordinated responses, and preference for or choice of coordinating strategies in road traffic injury prevention at a local level in some OECD countries. This aim is achieved through a mixed-methodology. In this respect, 22 semi-structured interviews were conducted with road traffic injury prevention experts from five OECD countries. In addition, 31 professional road traffic injury prevention stakeholders from seven OECD nations completed a self-administered, online survey. It found that there was resource limitation and inter-dependence across actors within the context of road traffic injury prevention at a local level. Furthermore, this study unveiled the realization of resource-dependency as a trigger for coordinated responses at a local level. Moreover, the present examination has revealed two coordinating strategies favored by experts in road traffic injury prevention – i.e. self-organizing community groups, which are deemed to have a platform to deliver programs within communities, and the funding of community groups to forge partnerships. However, the present study did not appear to endorse other strategies such as the formalization of coordinated responses or a legal mandate to coordinate responses. In essence, this study appears to suggest a need to manage coordinated responses from an adaptive perspective with interactions across road traffic injury prevention programs being forged on a mutual understanding of inter-dependency arising out of resource scarcity. In fact, the role of legislation and top-down national models in local level management of coordinated responses is likely to be one of identifying opportunities to interact with self-organized community groups and fund partnership-based road traffic injury prevention events.

Influence of road traffic environment and mobile phone distraction on the speed selection behaviour of young drivers

Travel speed is one of the most critical parameters for road safety; the evidence suggests that increased vehicle speed is associated with higher crash risk and injury severity. Both naturalistic and simulator studies have reported that drivers distracted by a mobile phone select a lower driving speed. Speed decrements have been argued to be a risk compensatory behaviour of distracted drivers. Nonetheless, the extent and circumstances of the speed change among distracted drivers are still not known very well. As such, the primary objective of this study was to investigate patterns of speed variation in relation to contextual factors and distraction. Using the CARRS-Q high-fidelity Advanced Driving Simulator, the speed selection behaviour of 32 drivers aged 18-26 years was examined in two phone conditions: baseline (no phone conversation) and handheld phone operation. The simulator driving route contained five different types of road traffic complexities, including one road section with a horizontal S curve, one horizontal S curve with adjacent traffic, one straight segment of suburban road without traffic, one straight segment of suburban road with traffic interactions, and one road segment in a city environment. Speed deviations from the posted speed limit were analysed using Ward’s Hierarchical Clustering method to identify the effects of road traffic environment and cognitive distraction. The speed deviations along curved road sections formed two different clusters for the two phone conditions, implying that distracted drivers adopt a different strategy for selecting driving speed in a complex driving situation. In particular, distracted drivers selected a lower speed while driving along a horizontal curve. The speed deviation along the city road segment and other straight road segments grouped into a different cluster, and the deviations were not significantly different across phone conditions, suggesting a negligible effect of distraction on speed selection along these road sections. Future research should focus on developing a risk compensation model to explain the relationship between road traffic complexity and distraction.

Building local capacity to reduce road traffic injury in rapidly motorising countries

Road safety is a significant public health issue - 1.24m killed each year, 20-50m injured, 91% in rapidly motorising low/mid income countries Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020: - National and local actions: “strengthening the management infrastructure and capacity for technical implementation of road safety activities at the national, regional and global levels” - Capacity as a constraint on a country’s action - Emphasis on knowledge/training – understand principles, promote training and education etc

Identification methods of key contributing factors in crashes with high numbers of fatalities and injuries in China

Objectives In China, “serious road traffic crashes” (SRTCs) are those in which there are 10-30 fatalities, 50-100 serious injuries or a total cost of 50-100 million RMB ($US8-16m), and “particularly serious road traffic crashes” (PSRTCs) are those which are more severe or costly. Due to the large number of fatalities and injuries as well as the negative public reaction they elicit, SRTCs and PSRTCs have become great concerns to China during recent years. The aim of this study is to identify the main factors contributing to these road traffic crashes and to propose preventive measures to reduce their number. Methods 49 contributing factors of the SRTCs and PSRTCs that occurred from 2007 to 2013 were collected from the database “In-depth Investigation and Analysis System for Major Road traffic crashes” (IIASMRTC) and were analyzed through the integrated use of principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering to determine the primary and secondary groups of contributing factors. Results Speeding and overloading of passengers were the primary contributing factors, featuring in up to 66.3% and 32.6% of accidents respectively. Two secondary contributing factors were road-related: lack of or nonstandard roadside safety infrastructure, and slippery roads due to rain, snow or ice. Conclusions The current approach to SRTCs and PSRTCs is focused on the attribution of responsibility and the enforcement of regulations considered relevant to particular SRTCs and PSRTCs. It would be more effective to investigate contributing factors and characteristics of SRTCs and PSRTCs as a whole, to provide adequate information for safety interventions in regions where SRTCs and PSRTCs are more common. In addition to mandating of a driver training program and publicisation of the hazards associated with traffic violations, implementation of speed cameras, speed signs, markings and vehicle-mounted GPS are suggested to reduce speeding of passenger vehicles, while increasing regular checks by traffic police and passenger station staff, and improving transportation management to increase income of contractors and drivers are feasible measures to prevent overloading of people. Other promising measures include regular inspection of roadside safety infrastructure, and improving skid resistance on dangerous road sections in mountainous areas.

Road Traffic Injury Prevention Initiatives: A Systematic Review and Metasummary of Effectiveness in Low and Middle Income Countries.

BACKGROUND: Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a growing but neglected global health crisis, requiring effective prevention to promote sustainable safety. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) share a disproportionately high burden with 90% of the world's road traffic deaths, and where RTIs are escalating due to rapid urbanization and motorization. Although several studies have assessed the effectiveness of a specific intervention, no systematic reviews have been conducted summarizing the effectiveness of RTI prevention initiatives specifically performed in LMIC settings; this study will help fill this gap. METHODS: In accordance with PRISMA guidelines we searched the electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, TRID, Lilacs, Scielo and Global Health. Articles were eligible if they considered RTI prevention in LMICs by evaluating a prevention-related intervention with outcome measures of crash, RTI, or death. In addition, a reference and citation analysis was conducted as well as a data quality assessment. A qualitative metasummary approach was used for data analysis and effect sizes were calculated to quantify the magnitude of emerging themes. RESULTS: Of the 8560 articles from the literature search, 18 articles from 11 LMICs fit the eligibility and inclusion criteria. Of these studies, four were from Sub-Saharan Africa, ten from Latin America and the Caribbean, one from the Middle East, and three from Asia. Half of the studies focused specifically on legislation, while the others focused on speed control measures, educational interventions, enforcement, road improvement, community programs, or a multifaceted intervention. CONCLUSION: Legislation was the most common intervention evaluated with the best outcomes when combined with strong enforcement initiatives or as part of a multifaceted approach. Because speed control is crucial to crash and injury prevention, road improvement interventions in LMIC settings should carefully consider how the impact of improvements will affect speed and traffic flow. Further road traffic injury prevention interventions should be performed in LMICs with patient-centered outcomes in order to guide injury prevention in these complex settings.

Modelling road traffic accidents using macroscopic second-order models of traffic flow

In this paper, we introduce a macroscopic model for road traffic accidents along highway sections. We discuss the motivation and the derivation of such a model, and we present its mathematical properties. The results are presented by means of examples where a section of a crowded one-way highway contains in the middle a cluster of drivers whose dynamics are prone to road traffic accidents. We discuss the coupling conditions and present some existence results of weak solutions to the associated Riemann Problems. Furthermore, we illustrate some features of the proposed model through some numerical simulations. © The authors 2012.

Road traffic congestion and public information - An experimental investigation

This paper reports laboratory experiments designed to study the impact of public information about past departure rates on congestion levels and travel costs. Our design is based on a discrete version of Arnott et al.'s (1990) bottleneck model. In all treatments, congestion occurs and the observed travel costs are quite similar to the predicted ones. Subjects' capacity to coordinate is not affected by the availability of public information on past departure rates, by the number of drivers or by the relative cost of delay. This seemingly absence of treatment effects is confirmed by our finding that a parameter-free reinforcement learning model best characterises individual behaviour.

Road traffic information platform for energy and emissions savings

Apesar das recentes inovações tecnológicas, o setor dos transportes continua a exercer impactes significativos sobre a economia e o ambiente. Com efeito, o sucesso na redução das emissões neste setor tem sido inferior ao desejável. Isto deve-se a diferentes fatores como a dispersão urbana e a existência de diversos obstáculos à penetração no mercado de tecnologias mais limpas. Consequentemente, a estratégia “Europa 2020” evidencia a necessidade de melhorar a eficiência no uso das atuais infraestruturas rodoviárias. Neste contexto, surge como principal objetivo deste trabalho, a melhoria da compreensão de como uma escolha de rota adequada pode contribuir para a redução de emissões sob diferentes circunstâncias espaciais e temporais. Simultaneamente, pretende-se avaliar diferentes estratégias de gestão de tráfego, nomeadamente o seu potencial ao nível do desempenho e da eficiência energética e ambiental. A integração de métodos empíricos e analíticos para avaliação do impacto de diferentes estratégias de otimização de tráfego nas emissões de CO2 e de poluentes locais constitui uma das principais contribuições deste trabalho. Esta tese divide-se em duas componentes principais. A primeira, predominantemente empírica, baseou-se na utilização de veículos equipados com um dispositivo GPS data logger para recolha de dados de dinâmica de circulação necessários ao cálculo de emissões. Foram percorridos aproximadamente 13200 km em várias rotas com escalas e características distintas: área urbana (Aveiro), área metropolitana (Hampton Roads, VA) e um corredor interurbano (Porto-Aveiro). A segunda parte, predominantemente analítica, baseou-se na aplicação de uma plataforma integrada de simulação de tráfego e emissões. Com base nesta plataforma, foram desenvolvidas funções de desempenho associadas a vários segmentos das redes estudadas, que por sua vez foram aplicadas em modelos de alocação de tráfego. Os resultados de ambas as perspetivas demonstraram que o consumo de combustível e emissões podem ser significativamente minimizados através de escolhas apropriadas de rota e sistemas avançados de gestão de tráfego. Empiricamente demonstrou-se que a seleção de uma rota adequada pode contribuir para uma redução significativa de emissões. Foram identificadas reduções potenciais de emissões de CO2 até 25% e de poluentes locais até 60%. Através da aplicação de modelos de tráfego demonstrou-se que é possível reduzir significativamente os custos ambientais relacionados com o tráfego (até 30%), através da alteração da distribuição dos fluxos ao longo de um corredor com quatro rotas alternativas. Contudo, apesar dos resultados positivos relativamente ao potencial para a redução de emissões com base em seleções de rotas adequadas, foram identificadas algumas situações de compromisso e/ou condicionantes que devem ser consideradas em futuros sistemas de eco navegação. Entre essas condicionantes importa salientar que: i) a minimização de diferentes poluentes pode implicar diferentes estratégias de navegação, ii) a minimização da emissão de poluentes, frequentemente envolve a escolha de rotas urbanas (em áreas densamente povoadas), iii) para níveis mais elevados de penetração de dispositivos de eco-navegação, os impactos ambientais em todo o sistema podem ser maiores do que se os condutores fossem orientados por dispositivos tradicionais focados na minimização do tempo de viagem. Com este trabalho demonstrou-se que as estratégias de gestão de tráfego com o intuito da minimização das emissões de CO2 são compatíveis com a minimização do tempo de viagem. Por outro lado, a minimização de poluentes locais pode levar a um aumento considerável do tempo de viagem. No entanto, dada a tendência de redução nos fatores de emissão dos poluentes locais, é expectável que estes objetivos contraditórios tendam a ser minimizados a médio prazo. Afigura-se um elevado potencial de aplicação da metodologia desenvolvida, seja através da utilização de dispositivos móveis, sistemas de comunicação entre infraestruturas e veículos e outros sistemas avançados de gestão de tráfego.

The impact of biofuels for road traffic on air quality : a modelling approach

The selection of the energy source to power the transport sector is one of the main current concerns, not only relative with the energy paradigm but also due to the strong influence of road traffic in urban areas, which highly affects human exposure to air pollutants and human health and quality of life. Due to current important technical limitations of advanced energy sources for transportation purposes, biofuels are seen as an alternative way to power the world’s motor vehicles in a near-future, helping to reduce GHG emissions while at the same time stimulating rural development. Motivated by European strategies, Portugal, has been betting on biofuels to meet the Directive 2009/28/CE goals for road transports using biofuels, especially biodiesel, even though, there is unawareness regarding its impacts on air quality. In this sense, this work intends to clarify this issue by trying to answer the following question: can biodiesel use contribute to a better air quality over Portugal, particularly over urban areas? The first step of this work consisted on the characterization of the national biodiesel supply chain, which allows verifying that the biodiesel chain has problems of sustainability as it depends on raw materials importation, therefore not contributing to reduce the external energy dependence. Next, atmospheric pollutant emissions and air quality impacts associated to the biodiesel use on road transports were assessed, over Portugal and in particular over the Porto urban area, making use of the WRF-EURAD mesoscale numerical modelling system. For that, two emission scenarios were defined: a reference situation without biodiesel use and a scenario reflecting the use of a B20 fuel. Through the comparison of both scenarios, it was verified that the use of B20 fuels helps in controlling air pollution, promoting reductions on PM10, PM2.5, CO and total NMVOC concentrations. It was also verified that NO2 concentrations decrease over the mainland Portugal, but increase in the Porto urban area, as well as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein emissions in the both case studies. However, the use of pure diesel is more injurious for human health due to its dominant VOC which have higher chronic hazard quotients and hazard indices when compared to B20.

The application of social marketing in reducing road traffic accidents amoung young male drivers: an investigation using physical fear threat appeals

There were 338 road fatalities on Irish roads in 2007. Research in 2007 by the Road Safety Authority in Ireland states that young male drivers (17 – 25 years) are seven times more likely to be killed on Irish roads than other road users. The car driver fatality rate was found to be approximately 10 times higher for young male drivers than for female drivers in 2000. Young male drivers in particular demonstrate a high proclivity for risky driving behaviours. These risky behaviours include drink driving, speeding, rug-driving and engaging in aggressive driving. Speed is the single largest contributing factor to road deaths in Ireland. Approximately 40% of fatal accidents are caused by excessive or inappropriate speed. This study focuses on how dangerous driving behaviours may be addressed through social marketing. This study analyses the appropriate level of fear that needs to be induced in order to change young male driving behaviour.