The Attitudes, Perceptions and Concerns of Pedestrians and Vulnerable Road Users to Shared Space: A Case Study from the UK

Attention to the most vulnerable road users has grown rapidly over recent decades. The experience gained reveals an important number of fatalities due to accidents in urban branch roads. In this study, an analytical methodology for the calculation of urban branch road safety is proposed. The proposal relies on data collected during road safety inspections; therefore, it can be implemented even when historical data about traffic volume or accidents are not available. It permits us to identify geometric, physical, functional, and transport-related defects, and elements which are causal factors of road accidents, in order to assess the risk of death or serious injuries for users. Traffic volume, average speed, and expected consequences on vulnerable road users in case of an accident allow us to calculate both the level of danger of each homogeneous section which composes the road, and the hazard index of the overall branch. A case study is presented to implement the proposed methodology. The strategy proposed by the authors could have a significant impact on the risk management of urban roads, and could be used in decision-making processes to design safer roads and improve the safety of existing roads.

Download Full-text

Method for Pedestrian Crossing Risk Assessment and Safety Level Determination: the Case Study of Tallinn

Libro de Actas CIT2016. XII Congreso de Ingeniería del Transporte ◽

10.4995/cit2016.2016.4124 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Maria Pashkevich ◽

Anna Krasilnikova ◽

Dago Antov

Keyword(s):

Traffic Accidents ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Risk Level ◽

Safety Level ◽

Road Users ◽

Vulnerable Road Users ◽

Pedestrian Crossing ◽

The City ◽

Traffic Measurements

Pedestrians are a part of vulnerable road users which safety requires a special attention. Official statistics in Estonia from the last decade returns the following numbers: around 30 % of all road traffic accidents in the country were accidents with pedestrians, 32 % of all traffic fatalities were finished with pedestrian death. Pedestrian crossing has the biggest risk level between all kinds of pedestrian facilities, because it includes a direct conflict point between vehicle and pedestrian traffics. The article presents a method to assess risk of pedestrian crossing users and to determine safety level of this road infrastructure element. This approach is based on observation and collection of infrastructural as well as traffic data, which includes: (1) information about each pedestrian crossing facility, its location and state, (2) data about accidents with pedestrians and their features, (3) data from road traffic measurements. The main advantages of the described method are universality and comprehensiveness. The case study was done in Kristiine district of the city Tallinn, which was chosen as the most typical average district of Estonian capital. Results of this study are also presented in the article.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.4124

Download Full-text

Management of Speeding Comparing Two Applied Engineering Measures

Management and Production Engineering Review ◽

10.2478/mper-2013-0023 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 10-14

Author(s):

Zuhair Ebrahim ◽

Hamid Nikraz

Keyword(s):

Harm Minimisation ◽

Crash Data ◽

Road Crashes ◽

Road Users ◽

Engineering Measures ◽

Vulnerable Road Users

Abstract The importance of safety comes from the responsibility towards protecting the vulnerable road users, who seem to be the victims in most road crashes. Thus, authorities tend to focus on reducing the travelling speed of the vehicles, whereas some road users may consider the move to interfere with mobility. In this study, a case study in Perth’s two roads was conducted to compare two engineering treatments of speed reductions on these two busy shopping strips. The study aim is to illustrate the effect of using the electronic flashing signs rather than the standard signs in terms of speeding reduction and harm minimisation. Crash data were analysed and supported the safety benefits of the electronic flashing signs. Authorities have measured the reduction of the travelling speeds of vehicles and found it to be encouraging. There are clear, positive safety benefits from the study in terms of engineering and enforcement measures

Download Full-text

Vehicle-to-Pedestrian Communication for Vulnerable Road Users: Survey, Design Considerations, and Challenges

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s19020358 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 358 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Parag Sewalkar ◽

Jochen Seitz

Keyword(s):

Communication Systems ◽

Survey Design ◽

Communication Technologies ◽

Road User ◽

Design Parameters ◽

Design Considerations ◽

Road Users ◽

Vulnerable Road User ◽

Vulnerable Road Users

In the last few years, increasing attention has been provided to research Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) communication systems. These V2P systems serve different purposes (safety or convenience) and cater to different Vulnerable Road User (VRU) groups. Also, these V2P systems employ different communication technologies, and use different mechanisms to interact with the users. An effective V2P system also needs to consider varying characteristics of different VRUs. These various elements may be considered as design parameters of the V2P system. In this paper, we discuss such elements and propose a design framework for the V2P system based on them. We also provide an extensive survey of existing V2P efforts for safety and convenience applications and their design considerations. We perform a case study that compares the different approaches of V2P safety system for different VRU groups under different pre-crash scenarios. Finally, we discuss a few technological challenges in integration of VRUs into V2X systems.

Download Full-text

Integrating Communication with Conspicuity to Enhance Vulnerable Road User Safety: ArroWhere Case Study

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11102761 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 2761

Author(s):

Takuro Shoji ◽

Gordon Lovegrove

Keyword(s):

Traffic Control ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Road User ◽

Communication Aids ◽

Safety Measures ◽

Road Users ◽

Vulnerable Road User ◽

Vulnerable Road Users ◽

Control Devices

This paper presents findings from a research study into the role that communication plays in the safety of vulnerable road users (VRUs), including a literature review, a hypothesis, and a case study testing our hypothesis. Many governments and road authorities lack capital or have not made it a priority to implement full VRU safety measures, with many gaps in VRU infrastructure and networks. These gaps leave VRUs to take safety into their own hands, including use of conspicuity aids such as high-visibility wear, helmets, bells, and lights with differing levels of effectiveness. The knowledge gap regarding the conventional wisdom, “be safe, be seen,” is the absence of communication and comprehension between road users (VRUs and vehicles). We hypothesize that communication aids are equally, if not more important than visibility aids for VRU safety. A case study was conducted to measure the effectiveness of several Hi-Viz safety vest designs including online surveys and separate in-field experiments using Instrumented Probe Bicycles. The results suggest that Hi-Viz safety vests using arrow designs (ArroWhere’s proprietary products and designs) similar to those found in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) can increase VRU safety until road authorities can fully fund and complete proper and sustainable VRU networks.

Download Full-text

THE EFFECT OF SPEED LIMIT VIOLATION ON MOTORCYCLE CRASH RATE: CASE STUDY BANDUNG NATIONAL ROAD

Journal of Indonesia Road Safety ◽

10.19184/korlantas-jirs.v2i3.15024 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 171

Author(s):

Aine Kusumawati ◽

Kardina N.S. Ayuningtyas ◽

Estiara Ellizar

Keyword(s):

Road Traffic ◽

Speed Limit ◽

Vehicle Speed ◽

Traffic Crashes ◽

Road Traffic Crashes ◽

Road Users ◽

Fatal Crashes ◽

Vulnerable Road Users ◽

National Road

Speeding is one of the risk factors for road traffic crashes and deaths, especially for vulnerable road users. Research shows that increasing vehicle speed by 1 km/h can increase 4% -5% of fatal crashes. However, several other studies show that crashes are caused more by speed dispersion than by average speed vehicles in the traffic. This study aims to determine the effect of speed limit violations on the rate of a motorcycle crash on the national road in Bandung City. Although the proportion of motorcycles that violates the speed limit is quite high (40%), it turns out the result of this study indicates that the rate of motorcycle crash does not seem to be affected by the proportion of motorcycle in the traffic that violates the speed limit. Crashes involving motorcycles are more prevalent in the highest flow period than in the free flow conditions where the proportion of motorcycle that violates the speed limit is the highest. Mengendara dengan kecepatan tinggi merupakan salah satu faktor risiko penyebab kecelakaan lalu lintas dan kematian akibat kecelakaan lalu lintas, terutama pada kelompok pengguna jalan rentan. Penelitian menunjukkan bahwa peningkatan kecepatan kendaraan sebesar 1 km/jam dapat meningkatkan 4%-5% kecelakaan fatal. Namun beberapa penelitian lainnya menunjukkan bahwa kecelakaan lebih disebabkan oleh adanya variasi kecepatan di dalam arus dibanding kecepatan rata-rata kendaraan di dalam arus. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh pelanggaran batas kecepatan terhadap tingkat kecelakaan sepeda motor di jalan nasional Kota Bandung. Walaupun proporsi sepeda motor yang melanggar batas kecepatan cukup tinggi (40%), ternyata hasil penelitian mengindikasikan bahwa tingkat kecelakaan sepeda motor tampaknya tidak dipengaruhi oleh proporsi sepeda motor di dalam arus yang melanggar batas kecepatan. Kecelakaan yang melibatkan sepeda motor justru lebih banyak terjadi pada kondisi arus tertinggi dalam satu hari dibanding pada kondisi arus lengang dimana proporsi sepeda motor yang melanggar batas kecepatan paling banyak.

Download Full-text

Road users’ behavior and safety analysis of pedestrian–bike shared space: case study of Robson Street in Vancouver

Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering ◽

10.1139/cjce-2017-0683 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 45 (12) ◽

pp. 1053-1064 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mohamed Essa ◽

Mohamed Hussein ◽

Tarek Sayed

Keyword(s):

Video Analysis ◽

Video Data ◽

Space Environment ◽

Analysis Techniques ◽

Road Users ◽

Shared Space ◽

Space Case ◽

Automated Video Analysis ◽

The Relationship

This paper investigates the behavior and safety of road users at the pedestrian–bike shared space of Robson Street in Vancouver. The analysis was conducted using video data, collected during the summer of 2016. Automated video analysis techniques were used to detect different road users and extract their trajectories from video scenes. The extracted trajectories were used to evaluate the speed distributions of different categories of road users, and analyze the interactions (conflicts) between pedestrians and bikes to assess their safety. As well, the paper investigates the effect of introducing a bike dismount sign at both ends of the shared space on both the percentage of cyclists’ compliance with the sign and the frequency of pedestrian–bike interactions. Finally, the relationship between the speed of both pedestrians and bikes and the density of the shared space was investigated to develop speed–density relationships in this shared space environment.

Download Full-text