Risk of fatal injury in older adult drivers, passengers, and pedestrians

Objectives To compare risk of fatal injury in elderly road users (drivers, passengers, pedestrians) with that of younger age groups and to assess the contribution of elderly road users to the number of reported fatalities in the population. Design Fatality age was categorized as 21 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, or 70 and older, and road user was categorized as driver, passenger, or pedestrian. Estimated number of trips made by each age group was used to adjust for exposure and to measure individual risk. Setting Fatalities recorded in Britain between 1989 and 2009. Participants Population-wide fatal injury counts in Britain. Measurements Age of fatally injured drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. Estimated number of trips made per year by drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. Results Risk of fatal injury, but not fatality numbers in the population, were higher for older adult (=70) drivers than for younger age groups. Risk of fatal injury was also high for older adult passengers and pedestrians, who represented the majority of older adult fatalities. Conclusion Previous emphasis on driver impairment in older age has unduly focussed attention on elderly drivers, who represent a minority of all driver fatalities. Older adults represent a much larger proportion of passenger and pedestrian fatalities. Additional policy schemes and initiatives should be targeted at safeguarding older adult passengers and making the road environment safer for elderly pedestrians. © 2012, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2012, The American Geriatrics Society.

Fading Characteristics of Body–to–Body Channels Subject to Vehicular Traffic Conditions at 2.45 GHz

In this paper we investigate the small-scale fading characteristics of body-to-body communications channels in an urban environment at 2.45 GHz. The experiments considered body-to-body channels between devices positioned on two persons on either side of a busy road. The Ricean-K factors estimated from the measurements suggest that a significant dominant component existed in the majority of the channels.

Visible light communication systems for road safety applications

Esta tese apresenta um estudo exploratório sobre sistemas de comunicação por luz visível e as suas aplicações em sistemas de transporte inteligentes como forma a melhorar a segurança nas estradas. Foram desenvolvidos neste trabalho, modelos conceptuais e analíticos adequados à caracterização deste tipo de sistemas. Foi desenvolvido um protótipo de baixo custo, capaz de suportar a disseminação de informação utilizando semáforos. A sua realização carece de um estudo detalhado, nomeadamente: i) foi necessário obter modelos capazes de descrever os padrões de radiação numa área de serviço pré-definida; ii) foi necessário caracterizar o meio de comunicações; iii) foi necessário estudar o comportamento de vários esquemas de modulação de forma a optar pelo mais robusto; finalmente, iv) obter a implementação do sistema baseado em FPGA e componentes discretos. O protótipo implementado foi testado em condições reais. Os resultados alcançados mostram os méritos desta solução, chegando mesmo a encorajar a utilização desta tecnologia em outros cenários de aplicação.

Exposure modelling to traffic-related air toxic pollutants

Atualmente, a poluição atmosférica constitui uma das principais causas ambientais de mortalidade. Cerca de 30% da população europeia residente em áreas urbanas encontra-se exposta a níveis de poluição atmosférica superiores aos valores- limite de qualidade do ar legislados para proteção da saúde humana, representando o tráfego rodoviário uma das principais fontes de poluição urbana. Além dos poluentes tradicionais avaliados em áreas urbanas, os poluentes classificados como perigosos para a saúde (Hazard Air Pollutants - HAPs) têm particular relevância devido aos seus conhecidos efeitos tóxicos e cancerígenos. Neste sentido, a avaliação da exposição tornase primordial para a determinação da relação entre a poluição atmosférica urbana e efeitos na saúde. O presente estudo tem como principal objetivo o desenvolvimento e implementação de uma metodologia para avaliação da exposição individual à poluição atmosférica urbana relacionada com o tráfego rodoviário. De modo a atingir este objetivo, foram identificados os parâmetros relevantes para a quantificação de exposição e analisados os atuais e futuros potenciais impactos na saúde associados com a exposição à poluição urbana. Neste âmbito, o modelo ExPOSITION (EXPOSure model to traffIc-relaTed aIr pOllutioN) foi desenvolvido baseado numa abordagem inovadora que envolve a análise da trajetória dos indivíduos recolhidas por telemóveis com tecnologia GPS e processadas através da abordagem de data mining e análise geoespacial. O modelo ExPOSITION considera também uma abordagem probabilística para caracterizar a variabilidade dos parâmetros microambientais e a sua contribuição para exposição individual. Adicionalmente, de forma a atingir os objetivos do estudo foi desenvolvido um novo módulo de cálculo de emissões de HAPs provenientes do transporte rodoviário. Neste estudo, um sistema de modelação, incluindo os modelos de transporteemissões- dispersão-exposição, foi aplicado na área urbana de Leiria para quantificação de exposição individual a PM2.5 e benzeno. Os resultados de modelação foram validados com base em medições obtidas por monitorização pessoal e monitorização biológica verificando-se uma boa concordância entre os resultados do modelo e dados de medições. A metodologia desenvolvida e implementada no âmbito deste trabalho permite analisar e estimar a magnitude, frequência e inter e intra-variabilidade dos níveis de exposição individual, bem como a contribuição de diferentes microambientes, considerando claramente a sequência de eventos de exposição e relação fonte-recetor, que é fundamental para avaliação dos efeitos na saúde e estudos epidemiológicos. O presente trabalho contribui para uma melhor compreensão da exposição individual em áreas urbanas, proporcionando novas perspetivas sobre a exposição individual, essenciais na seleção de estratégias de redução da exposição à poluição atmosférica urbana, e consequentes efeitos na saúde.

London 2012: changing delivery patterns in response to the impact of the Games on traffic flows

The paper addresses road freight transport operations during the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. It presents work carried out prior to the Games to understand pre-Games patterns of freight deliveries in London (for both light and heavy goods vehicles) and the results of modelling work carried out to assess the likely impacts of the Games road restrictions on freight operations. The modelling results indicated that increases in total hours travelled carrying out collection and delivery work would range from 1.4% to 11.4% in the six sectors considered. The results suggested increases in hours travelled in excess of 3.5% in four of the six sectors modelled. The possible actions that could be taken by organizations to reduce these negative impacts were also modelled and the results indicated that such actions would help to mitigate the impact of the road restrictions imposed on operators during the Games. The actual impacts of the 2012 Games on transport both in general terms and specifically in terms of freight transport are also discussed, together with the success of the actions taken by Transport for London (TfL) to help the road freight industry. The potential freight transport legacy of the London 2012 Games in terms of achieving more sustainable urban freight transport is considered and the steps being taken by TfL to help ensure that such a legacy can be realized are discussed. Such steps include policy-makers continuing to collaborate closely with the freight industry through the ‘London Freight Forum’, and TfL's efforts to encourage and support companies revising their delivery and collection times to the off-peak; improving freight planning in the design and management of TfL-funded road schemes; electronic provision of traffic information by TfL to the freight industry, and the further development of freight journey planning tools.

Realistic Traffic Scenarios Using a Census Methodology: Vila Real Case Study

This paper presents the first phase of the redevelopment of the Electric Vehicle Scenario Simulator (EVeSSi) tool. A new methodology to generate traffic demand scenarios for the Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) tool for urban traffic simulation is described. This methodology is based on a Portugal census database to generate a synthetic population for a given area under study. A realistic case study of a Portuguese city, Vila Real, is assessed. For this area the road network was created along with a synthetic population and public transport. The traffic results were obtained and an electric buses fleet was evaluated assuming that the actual fleet would be replaced in a near future. The energy requirements to charge the electric fleet overnight were estimated in order to evaluate the impacts that it would cause in the local electricity network.

Application of geographic information system and modelling in health impact assessment for urban road mobility in Vietnam

Transport is an essential sector in modern societies. It connects economic sectors and industries. Next to its contribution to economic development and social interconnection, it also causes adverse impacts on the environment and results in health hazards. Transport is a major source of ground air pollution, especially in urban areas, and therefore contributing to the health problems, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer, and physical injuries. This thesis presents the results of a health risk assessment that quantifies the mortality and the diseases associated with particulate matter pollution resulting from urban road transport in Hai Phong City, Vietnam. The focus is on the integration of modelling and GIS approaches in the exposure analysis to increase the accuracy of the assessment and to produce timely and consistent assessment results. The modelling was done to estimate traffic conditions and concentrations of particulate matters based on geo-references data. A simplified health risk assessment was also done for Ha Noi based on monitoring data that allows a comparison of the results between the two cases. The results of the case studies show that health risk assessment based on modelling data can provide a much more detail results and allows assessing health impacts of different mobility development options at micro level. The use of modeling and GIS as a common platform for the integration of different assessments (environmental, health, socio-economic, etc.) provides various strengths, especially in capitalising on the available data stored in different units and forms and allows handling large amount of data. The use of models and GIS in a health risk assessment, from a decision making point of view, can reduce the processing/waiting time while providing a view at different scales: from micro scale (sections of a city) to a macro scale. It also helps visualising the links between air quality and health outcomes which is useful discussing different development options. However, a number of improvements can be made to further advance the integration. An improved integration programme of the data will facilitate the application of integrated models in policy-making. Data on mobility survey, environmental monitoring and measuring must be standardised and legalised. Various traffic models, together with emission and dispersion models, should be tested and more attention should be given to their uncertainty and sensitivity

Potentiel d’une approche populationnelle orientée vers la reconfiguration des environnements urbains pour améliorer la sécurité des piétons

INTRODUCTION : En milieu urbain, l’amélioration de la sécurité des piétons pose un défi de santé publique. Pour chaque décès attribuable aux collisions routières, il y a des centaines de personnes blessées et, dans les pays riches, la diminution du nombre annuel de piétons décédés s’expliquerait en partie par la diminution de la marche. Les stratégies préventives prédominantes n’interviennent pas sur le volume de circulation automobile, un facteur pourtant fondamental. De plus, les interventions environnementales pour améliorer la sécurité des infrastructures routières se limitent habituellement aux sites comptant le plus grand nombre de décès ou de blessés. Cette thèse vise à décrire la contribution des volumes de circulation automobile, des pratiques locales de marche et de la géométrie des routes au nombre et à la répartition des piétons blessés en milieu urbain, et d’ainsi établir le potentiel d’une approche populationnelle orientée vers la reconfiguration des environnements urbains pour améliorer la sécurité des piétons. MÉTHODE : Le devis est de type descriptif et transversal. Les principales sources de données sont les registres des services ambulanciers d’Urgences-santé (blessés de la route), l’enquête Origine-Destination (volumes de circulation automobile), la Géobase du réseau routier montréalais (géométrie des routes) et le recensement canadien (pratiques locales de marche, position socioéconomique). Les analyses descriptives comprennent la localisation cartographique (coordonnées x,y) de l’ensemble des sites de collision. Des modèles de régression multi-niveaux nichent les intersections dans les secteurs de recensement et dans les arrondissements. RÉSULTATS : Les analyses descriptives démontrent une grande dispersion des sites de collision au sein des quartiers. Les analyses multivariées démontrent les effets significatifs, indépendants du volume de circulation automobile, de la présence d’artère(s) et d’une quatrième branche aux intersections, ainsi que du volume de marche dans le secteur, sur le nombre de piétons blessés aux intersections. L’analyse multi-niveaux démontre une grande variation spatiale de l’effet du volume de circulation automobile. Les facteurs environnementaux expliquent une part substantielle de la variation spatiale du nombre de blessés et du gradient socioéconomique observé. DISCUSSION : La grande dispersion des sites de collision confirme la pertinence d’une approche ne se limitant pas aux sites comptant le plus grand nombre de blessés. Les résultats suggèrent que des stratégies préventives basées sur des approches environnementales et populationnelle pourraient considérablement réduire le nombre de piétons blessés ainsi que les inégalités observées entre les quartiers.

Management of Public Road Transport System in Trivandrum City

An efficient passenger road transport system is a boon to any city and an inefficient one its bane. Passenger bus transport operation involves various aspects like passenger convenience, profitability of operation and social, technological and environmental factors. The author’s interest in this area was aroused when he conducted a traffic survey of Trivandrum City in 1979. While some studies on the performance of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation in specific areas like finance, inventory control etc. have already been made, no study has been made from the operational point of view. The study is also the first one of its kind in dealing with the transportation problems for a second order city like Trivandrum. The objective of this research study is to develop a scientific basis for analysing and understanding the various operational aspects of urban bus transport management like assessing travel demand, depot location, fleet allocation, vehicle scheduling, maintenance etc. The operation of public road transportation in Trivandrum City is analysed on the basis of this theoretical background. The studies made have relevance to any medium sized city in India or even abroad. If not properly managed, deterioration of any public utility system is a natural process and it adversely affects the consumers, the economy and the nation. Making any system more efficient requires careful analysis, judicious decision making and proper implementation. It is hoped that this study will throw some light into the various operational aspects of urban passenger road transport management which can be of some help to make it perform more efficiently

Activity patterns of urban red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) reduce the risk of traffic-induced mortality

Traffic collisions can be a major source of mortality in wild populations, and animals may be expected to exhibit behavioral mechanisms that reduce the risk associated with crossing roads. Animals living in urban areas in particular have to negotiate very dense road networks, often with high levels of traffic flow. We examined traffic-related mortality of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in the city of Bristol, UK, and the extent to which roads affected fox activity by comparing real and randomly generated patterns of movement. There were significant seasonal differences in the number of traffic-related fox deaths for different age and sex classes; peaks were associated with periods when individuals were likely to be moving through unfamiliar terrain and would have had to cross major roads. Mortality rates per unit road length increased with road magnitude. The number of roads crossed by foxes and the rate at which roads were crossed per hour of activity increased after midnight when traffic flow was lower. Adults and juveniles crossed 17% and 30% fewer roads, respectively, than expected from randomly generated movement. This highly mobile species appeared to reduce the mortality risk of minor category roads by changing its activity patterns, but it remained vulnerable to the effects of larger roads with higher traffic flows during periods associated with extraterritorial movements.

The impact of traffic emissions on atmospheric ozone and OH: results from QUANTIFY

To estimate the impact of emissions by road, aircraft and ship traffic on ozone and OH in the present-day atmosphere six different atmospheric chemistry models have been used. Based on newly developed global emission inventories for road, ship and aircraft emission data sets each model performed sensitivity simulations reducing the emissions of each transport sector by 5%. The model results indicate that on global annual average lower tropospheric ozone responds most sensitive to ship emissions (50.6%±10.9% of the total traffic induced perturbation), followed by road (36.7%±9.3%) and aircraft exhausts (12.7%±2.9%), respectively. In the northern upper troposphere between 200–300 hPa at 30–60° N the maximum impact from road and ship are 93% and 73% of the maximum effect of aircraft, respectively. The latter is 0.185 ppbv for ozone (for the 5% case) or 3.69 ppbv when scaling to 100%. On the global average the impact of road even dominates in the UTLS-region. The sensitivity of ozone formation per NOx molecule emitted is highest for aircraft exhausts. The local maximum effect of the summed traffic emissions on the ozone column predicted by the models is 0.2 DU and occurs over the northern subtropical Atlantic extending to central Europe. Below 800 hPa both ozone and OH respond most sensitively to ship emissions in the marine lower troposphere over the Atlantic. Based on the 5% perturbation the effect on ozone can exceed 0.6% close to the marine surface (global zonal mean) which is 80% of the total traffic induced ozone perturbation. In the southern hemisphere ship emissions contribute relatively strongly to the total ozone perturbation by 60%–80% throughout the year. Methane lifetime changes against OH are affected strongest by ship emissions up to 0.21 (± 0.05)%, followed by road (0.08 (±0.01)%) and air traffic (0.05 (± 0.02)%). Based on the full scale ozone and methane perturbations positive radiative forcings were calculated for road emissions (7.3±6.2 mWm−2) and for aviation (2.9±2.3 mWm−2). Ship induced methane lifetime changes dominate over the ozone forcing and therefore lead to a net negative forcing (−25.5±13.2 mWm−2).

British railways and the challenge from road haulage: 1919-39

Interwar Britain witnessed the rapid rise of road transport as a serious competitor to the railways. This article examines road–rail competition for freight traffic. It demonstrates that, contrary to previous accounts—which have been highly critical of the railway companies—their failure to prevent rapid loss of traffic to the roads was the inevitable consequence of the regulatory framework under which the railways had been returned to private control in 1921. Given the constraints imposed by this framework, price competition with road hauliers would have further depressed railway company profits. Railway policy thus concentrated on pressing for a revision of the legislative framework governing road–rail competition.

Multi-level planning for semi-autonomous vehicles in traffic scenarios based on separation maximization

The planning of semi-autonomous vehicles in traffic scenarios is a relatively new problem that contributes towards the goal of making road travel by vehicles free of human drivers. An algorithm needs to ensure optimal real time planning of multiple vehicles (moving in either direction along a road), in the presence of a complex obstacle network. Unlike other approaches, here we assume that speed lanes are not present and that different lanes do not need to be maintained for inbound and outbound traffic. Our basic hypothesis is to carry forward the planning task to ensure that a sufficient distance is maintained by each vehicle from all other vehicles, obstacles and road boundaries. We present here a 4-layer planning algorithm that consists of road selection (for selecting the individual roads of traversal to reach the goal), pathway selection (a strategy to avoid and/or overtake obstacles, road diversions and other blockages), pathway distribution (to select the position of a vehicle at every instance of time in a pathway), and trajectory generation (for generating a curve, smooth enough, to allow for the maximum possible speed). Cooperation between vehicles is handled separately at the different levels, the aim being to maximize the separation between vehicles. Simulated results exhibit behaviours of smooth, efficient and safe driving of vehicles in multiple scenarios; along with typical vehicle behaviours including following and overtaking.

Ungulate behavioral responses to the heterogeneous road-network of a touristic protected area in Africa

Understanding how wildlife responds to road and traffic is essential for effective conservation. Yet, not many studies have evaluated how roads influence wildlife in protected areas, particularly within the large iconic African National Parks where tourism is mainly based on sightings from motorized vehicles with the consequent development and intense use of roads. To reduce this knowledge gap, we studied the behavioral response and local spatial distribution of impala Aepyceros melampus along the heterogeneous (with variation in road surface type and traffic intensity) road-network of Kruger National Park (KNP, South Africa). We surveyed different types of roads (paved and unpaved) recording the occurrence of flight responses among sighted impala and describing their local spatial distribution (in relation to the roads). We observed relatively few flight responses (19.5% of 118 observations), suggesting impalas could be partly habituated to vehicles in KNP. In addition, impala local distribution is apparently unaffected by unpaved roads, yet animals seem to avoid the close proximity of paved roads. Overall, our results suggest a negative, albeit small, effect of traffic intensity, and of presence of pavement on roads on the behavior of impala at KNP. Future studies would be necessary to understand how roads influence other species, but our results show that even within a protected area that has been well-visited for a long time, wildlife can still be affected by roads and traffic. This result has ecological (e.g., changes in spatial distribution of fauna) and management implications (e.g., challenges of facilitating wildlife sightings while minimizing disturbance) for protected areas where touristic activities are largely based on driving.

Road Sign Recognition based onInvariant Features using SupportVector Machine

Since last two decades researches have been working on developing systems that can assistsdrivers in the best way possible and make driving safe. Computer vision has played a crucialpart in design of these systems. With the introduction of vision techniques variousautonomous and robust real-time traffic automation systems have been designed such asTraffic monitoring, Traffic related parameter estimation and intelligent vehicles. Among theseautomatic detection and recognition of road signs has became an interesting research topic.The system can assist drivers about signs they don’t recognize before passing them.Aim of this research project is to present an Intelligent Road Sign Recognition System basedon state-of-the-art technique, the Support Vector Machine. The project is an extension to thework done at ITS research Platform at Dalarna University [25]. Focus of this research work ison the recognition of road signs under analysis. When classifying an image its location, sizeand orientation in the image plane are its irrelevant features and one way to get rid of thisambiguity is to extract those features which are invariant under the above mentionedtransformation. These invariant features are then used in Support Vector Machine forclassification. Support Vector Machine is a supervised learning machine that solves problemin higher dimension with the help of Kernel functions and is best know for classificationproblems.