969 resultados para Road safety policies


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Road safety barriers are used to redirect traffic at roadside work-zones. When filled with water, these barriers are able to withstand low to moderate impact speeds up to 50kmh-1. Despite this feature, Portable Water-filled barriers (PWFB) face challenges such as large lateral displacements, tearing and breakage during impact; especially at higher speeds. This study explores the use of composite action to enhance the crashworthiness of PWFBs and enable their usage at higher speeds. Initially, energy absorption capability of water in PWFB is investigated. Then, composite action of the PWFB with the introduction of steel frame is considered to evaluate its enhanced impact performance. Findings of the study show that the initial height of the impact must be lower than the free surface level of water in a PWFB in order for the water to provide significant crash energy absorption. In general, an impact of a road barrier with 80% filled is a good estimation. Furthermore, the addition of a composite structure greatly reduces the probability of tearing by decreasing the strain and impact energy transferred to the shell container. This allows the water to remain longer in the barrier to absorb energy via inertial displacements and sloshing response. Information from this research will aid in the design of new generation roadside safety structures aimed to increase safety in modern roadways.

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Road safety barriers are used to redirect traffic at roadside work-zones. When filled with water, these barriers are able to withstand low to moderate impact speeds up to 50kmh-1. Despite this feature, there are challenges when using portable water-filled barriers (PWFBs) such as large lateral displacements as well as tearing and breakage during impact, especially at higher speeds. In this study, the authors explore the use of composite action to enhance the crashworthiness of PWFBs and enable their use at higher speeds. Initially, we investigated the energy absorption capability of water in PWFB. Then, we considered the composite action of a PWFB with the introduction of a steel frame to evaluate its impact on performance. Findings of the study show that the initial height of impact must be lower than the free surface level of water in a PWFB for the water to provide significant crash energy absorption. In general, impact of a road barrier that is 80% filled is a good estimation. Furthermore, the addition of a composite structure greatly reduces the probability of tearing by decreasing the strain and impact energy transferred to the shell container. This allows the water to remain longer in the barrier to absorb energy via inertial displacement and sloshing response. Information from this research will aid in the design of next generation roadside safety structures aimed to increase safety on modern roadways.

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This thesis provides an experimental and computational platform for investigating the performance and behaviour of water filled, plastic portable road safety barriers in an isolated impact scenario. A schedule of experimental impact tests were conducted assessing the impact response of an existing design of road safety barrier utilising a novel horizontal impact testing system. A coupled finite element and smooth particle hydrodynamic model of the barrier system was developed and validated against the results of the experimental tests. The validated model was subsequently used to assess the effect of certain composite materials on the impact performance of the water filled, portable road safety barrier system.

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Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis: Recently, throughout Australasia, humorous appeals have become implemented increasingly in health advertising despite limited evidence regarding the persuasiveness of different types of humour. Of those studies available which have examined the persuasiveness of humorous messages, the type of humour is often not defined so it is unclear what type of humour is being examined. Specks (1991) typology includes five types of humour; comic wit, sentimental humour, satire, sentimental comedy, and full comedy. Each type of humour is based on one or more humour generation processes; namely, incongruity-resolution, disparagement humour, and arousal-safety. It has been acknowledged that more research is needed to determine the relative persuasiveness of these different types of humour and to identify those types which may be most effective for health advertising. The current research explored individuals thoughts about, and their responses to some different types of, humorous messages addressing the serious health topic of road safety. Methods: A preliminary qualitative, study was conducted involving discussions with licensed drivers (N = 18) regarding their thoughts and feelings about humorous road safety messages in general as well as in response to some (5 in total) pre-existing advertisements. Men (n = 10) and women of younger and older age groups (17-24 or 25+ years) participated in one of six discussions. Participants were recruited from an existing community-based database held by the authors Research Centre or were approached directly on the university campus. Ethical approval was gained for the study. Each participant was offered $AUD40. A semi-structured interview schedule guided the discussion (e.g., was it humorous?, would this ad influence you?). Audio-recordings of the discussions were professionally transcribed and the transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The findings revealed that, irrespective of age and gender, humour that was clever, incorporated something unexpected and contrasting with the everyday, was a preferred and relevant approach, thus aligning with incongruity-based theories of humour generation and humour types, such as comic wit and satire. As a persuasive function, humorous messages were considered likely to be talked about (and relatively more so than traditional fear-based approaches). Participants also felt that humorous messages would need to be used cautiously as humour that was considered inappropriate and/or associated with serious occurrences, such as a crash, would be unlikely to persuade. Conclusions: The findings highlight some of the potential benefits of using humour, such as increasing the extent to which an advertisement is talked about as well as the types of humour which may be effective in this context. Implications for research and/or practice: While this research has provided important insight, future research which quantitatively assesses the persuasive effects of different types of humorous road safety messages within a larger, representative sample is needed. This current study has highlighted some humorous approaches which may hold persuasive promise in encouraging individuals to adopt safer attitudes and behaviours not only on the road, but in relation to serious health issues more broadly.

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Portable water-filled road barriers (PWFB) are roadside structures placed on temporary construction zones to separate work site from moving traffic. Recent changes in governing standards require PWFB to adhere to strict compliance in terms of lateral displacement of the road barriers and vehicle redirectionality. Actual road safety barrier test can be very costly, thus researchers resort to Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in the initial designs phase prior to real vehicle test. There has been many research conducted on concrete barriers and flexible steel barriers using FEA, however not many is done pertaining to PWFB. This research probes a new method to model joint mechanism in PWFB. Two methods to model the joining mechanism are presented and discussed in relation to its practicality and accuracy to real work applications. Moreover, the study of the physical gap and mass of the barrier was investigated. Outcome from this research will benefit PWFB research and allow road barrier designers better knowledge in developing the next generation of road safety structures.

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Determining what consequences are likely to serve as effective punishment for any given behaviour is a complex task. This chapter focuses specifically on illegal road user behaviours and the mechanisms used to punish and deter them. Traffic law enforcement has traditionally used the threat and/or receipt of legal sanctions and penalties to deter illegal and risky behaviours. This process represents the use of positive punishment, one of the key behaviour modification mechanisms. Behaviour modification principles describe four types of reinforcers: positive and negative punishments and positive and negative reinforcements. The terms positive and negative are not used in an evaluative sense here. Rather, they represent the presence (positive) or absence (negative) of stimuli to promote behaviour change. Punishments aim to inhibit behaviour and reinforcements aim to encourage it. This chapter describes a variety of punishments and reinforcements that have been and could be used to modify illegal road user behaviours. In doing so, it draws on several theoretical perspectives that have defined behavioural reinforcement and punishment in different ways. Historically, the main theoretical approach used to deter risky road use has been classical deterrence theory which has focussed on the perceived certainty, severity and swiftness of penalties. Stafford and Warr (1993) extended the traditional deterrence principles to include the positive reinforcement concept of punishment avoidance. Evidence of the association between punishment avoidance experiences and behaviour has been established for a number of risky road user behaviours including drink driving, unlicensed driving, and speeding. We chose a novel way of assessing punishment avoidance by specifying two sub-constructs (detection evasion and punishment evasion). Another theorist, Akers, described the idea of competing reinforcers, termed differential reinforcement, within social learning theory (1977). Differential reinforcement describes a balance of reinforcements and punishments as influential on behaviour. This chapter describes comprehensive way of conceptualising a broad range of reinforcement and punishment concepts, consistent with Akers differential reinforcement concept, within a behaviour modification framework that incorporates deterrence principles. The efficacy of three theoretical perspectives to explain self-reported speeding among a sample of 833 Australian car drivers was examined. Results demonstrated that a broad range of variables predicted speeding including personal experiences of evading detection and punishment for speeding, intrinsic sensations, practical benefits expected from speeding, and an absence of punishing effects from being caught. Not surprisingly, being younger was also significantly related to more frequent speeding, although in a regression analysis, gender did not retain a significant influence once all punishment and reinforcement variables were entered. The implications for speed management, as well as road user behaviour modification more generally, are discussed in light of these findings. Overall, the findings reported in this chapter suggest that a more comprehensive approach is required to manage the behaviour of road users which does not rely solely on traditional legal penalties and sanctions.

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Overview - Role of CARRS-Q - Australias road safety performance - Key features of Australias approach to road safety: - Strong reliance on traffic law enforcement, supported by mass media public education - Adoption of the Safe Systems approach - Ambitious road trauma reduction targets? - Ongoing challenges - Possibilities for the USA

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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 Chinas 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.

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Corporate and organisational fleet and road safety is of strong interest to government and government agencies in Australia and New Zealand. It has been identified that there is great opportunity to engage and assist organisations and corporations in the delivery of road safety and road safety measures to achieve nationally significant road related trauma reductions. This guide has therefore been developed through public sector funding for use by any workplace within Australia and New Zealand. Significant road safety benefits can be achieved by road safety government agencies (Australia and New Zealand) that engage with private and public sectors at their workplaces to address work related road safety issues. It has also been noted that organisational road safety advancement creates effective and sustainable outcomes, safer places of employment, and safer communities. This can be achieved without totally relying upon traditional and often lengthy processes such as further public legislation and/ or community attitudinal and behavioural change programs. Currently, there is little in the way of robust guides or support for those organisations that are wishing to adopt road safety within their places of employment, supply chain and/ or community. Due to this identified gap in available resource and support, it has been recommended that a practical organisational road safety guide be produced; hence the development of this guide. A guide, or supporting documentation, that bridges the gap between government and road safety research knowledge, internationally endorsed road safety methodology, and assists industry as the end user. To achieve this, the guide is designed to be non-specific to any industry sector and usable for small or large organisations, public or private, and engaging for senior executives and the personnel on the ground responsible for its implementation. Therefore, this guide is based on methodology and principles so that it can be applicable in a scalable way to the greatest number of public and private organisations while providing enough detail and how to advice to enable organisations to generate their own solutions to road safety issues.

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This study assessed the revised Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), as conceptualised by Gray and McNaughtons (2000) revised RST, by exposing participants to a loss-framed road safety message (emphasising the negative consequences of speeding behaviour) and a high performance motor vehicle promotional advertisement. Licensed young drivers (N = 40, aged 1725 years) were randomly allocated to view either the message or both the message and advertisement. Participants then completed a computerised lexical decision task prior to completing three personality measures: Corr-Cooper RST-PQ, CARROT and Q-Task. It was predicted that those with a stronger BIS would demonstrate greater processing of these mixed message cues compared to weaker BIS individuals, and that this BIS effect would only be observed in the mixed cues condition (due to simultaneous activation of the incentive and punishment systems). Preliminary findings will be discussed in the context of the influence of personality traits on health message processing.

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This research has developed an innovative road safety barrier system that will enhance roadside safety. In doing so, the research developed new knowledge in the field of road crash mitigation for high speed vehicle impact involving plastic road safety barriers. This road safety barrier system has the required feature to redirecting an errant vehicle with limited lateral displacement. Research was carried out using dynamic computer simulation technique support by experimental testing. Future road safety barrier designers may use the information in this research as a design guideline to improve the performance and redirectional capability of the road safety barrier system. This will lead to better safety conditions on the roadways and potentially save lives.

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Portable water-filled road barriers (PWFB) are roadside structures placed on temporary construction zones to separate work site from traffic. Recent changes in governing standards require PWFB to adhere to strict compliance in terms of lateral displacement and vehicle redirectionality. Actual PWFB test can be very costly, thus researchers resort to Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in the initial designs phase. There has been many research conducted on concrete barriers and flexible steel barriers using FEA, however not many was done pertaining to PWFB. This research probes a new technique to model joints in PWFB. Two methods to model the joining mechanism are presented and discussed in relation to its practicality and accuracy. Moreover, the study of the physical gap and mass of the barrier was investigated. Outcome from this research will benefit PWFB research and allow road barrier designers better knowledge in developing the next generation of road safety structures.

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Portable water-filled barriers (PWFBs) are roadside appurtenances that are used to prevent errant vehicles from penetrating into temporary construction zones on roadways. A numerical model of the composite PWFB, consisting of a plastic shell, steel frame, water and foam was developed and validated against results from full scale experimental tests. This model can be extended to larger scale impact cases, specifically ones that include actual vehicle models. The cost-benefit of having a validated numerical model is significant and this allows the road barrier designer to conduct extensive tests via numerical simulations prior to standard impact tests Effects of foam cladding as additional energy absorption material in the PWFB was investigated. Different types of foam were treated and it was found that XPS foam was the most suitable foam type. Results from this study will aid PWFB designers in developing new generation of roadside structures which will provide enhanced road safety.

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Portable water-filled barriers (PWFBs) are roadside appurtenances that prevent vehicles from penetrating into temporary construction zones on roadways. PWFBs are required to satisfy the strict regulations for vehicle re-direction in tests. However, many of the current PWFBs fail to re-direct the vehicle at high speeds due to the inability of the joints to provide appropriate stiffness. The joint mechanism hence plays a crucial role in the performance of a PWFB system at high speed impacts. This paper investigates the desired features of the joint mechanism in a PWFB system that can re-direct vehicles at high speeds, while limiting the lateral displacement to acceptable limits. A rectangular wall representative of a 30 m long barrier system was modeled and a novel method of joining adjacent road barriers was introduced through appropriate pin-joint connections. The impact response of the barrier wall and the vehicle was obtained and the results show that a rotational stiffness of 3000 kNm/rad at the joints seems to provide the desired features of the PWFB system to re-direct impacting vehicles and restrict the lateral deflection. These research findings will be useful to safety engineers and road barrier designers in developing a new generation of PWFBs for increased road safety.

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This work elaborates on the topic of decision making for driverless city vehicles, particularly focusing on the aspects on how to develop a reliable approach which meets the requirements of safe city traffic. Decision making in this context refers to the problem of identifying the most appropriate driving maneuver to be performed in a given traffic situation. The overall decision making problem is decomposed into two consecutive stages. The first stage is safety-crucial, representing the decision regarding the set of feasible driving maneuvers. The second stage represents the decision regarding the most appropriate driving maneuver from the set of feasible ones. The developed decision making approach has been implemented in C++ and initially tested in a 3D simulation environment and, thereafter, in real-world experiments. The real-world experiments also included the integration of wireless communication between vehicles.