scholarly journals Defending the city’s cleanliness with their lives? A study of road traffic collisions involving sanitation workers in China over five years

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lifeng Wei ◽  
Zhuowa Sha ◽  
Haonan Jia ◽  
Yidong Wang ◽  
Gangyu Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background With increasing urbanization in developing countries, sanitation workers are frequently involved in road traffic collisions. Our purpose was to study specific collisions involving sanitation workers and provide decision-making suggestions and reference measures for the sanitation industry and urban managers to reduce the occurrence of collisions. Methods We obtained online news data about sanitation worker road traffic collisions in China between 2013 and 2017 and analyzed occurrence time and location, victim characteristics, and causes of collisions. Results In China, between 2013 and 2017, 511 road traffic collisions were reported, with the fewest in February and July. Most occurred around 5:00 a.m. in Eastern regions and in urban areas. Victims were mainly over 50 years old, with more females than males. Collisions usually resulted in death at the scene. The ambiguity of laws, the exploitation of workers through industry outsourcing, and the difficulty of processing claims may be the main factors preventing victims from obtaining legal compensation. Conclusions The most common cause of collisions was drivers’ speeding, but workers also regularly risk death by crossing the road in pursuit of their duties. The absence of legal controls for environmental protection, the excessive pursuit of efficiency in urban governance, and the lack of basic education of sanitation workers are underlying causes of collisions. Raising awareness about sanitation worker road traffic collisions will help protect the work safety rights of this vulnerable group.

2020 ◽  
Vol 156 ◽  
pp. 04008
Author(s):  
Yossyafra Yossyafra ◽  
Nurhuda Fitri ◽  
Rahmat Punama Sidhi ◽  
Yosritzal Yosritzal ◽  
Deni Irda Mazni

There are many cities on the west coast of the Sumatra, which are at high risk of the Tsunami disaster. Regional Regulations on Regional Spatial Planning for each City/ Regency have compiled disaster mitigation by constructing several evacuation roads. This study wants to illustrate: what are the volume of traffic generation and road performance, if there is a Tsunami disaster. The simulation is developed by predicting traffic volume based on parameters, population density, vehicle ownership, land use, and activities in the area around the road. The assessment was carried out on two tsunami evacuation roads in the city of Padang, West Sumatra Province. The results show that the highest traffic volume occurred in the period from 06.30 a.m until 3:00 p.m., during school activities. One of the roads will not be able to accommodate the volume of traffic during a disaster, due to significant traffic congestion. This study shows that: (1) the period of activity and land use are two main parameters, which must be considered in designing tsunami evacuation roads, (2) The degree of saturation ratio and the ratio between the capacity of sections of Tsunami evacuation routes can be proposed as a parameter for assessing the performance of Tsunami evacuation roads in urban areas.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1145 ◽  
pp. 140-145
Author(s):  
Petr Kozak ◽  
Radka Matuszkova ◽  
Michal Radimsky

The noise pollution is an important factor for people living near roads. The road traffic noise is endangering the health of these residents and the quality of their lives. The tyre / road noise became the most significant source of the road traffic noise due reduced noise emissions from the vehicle propulsion system by the automotive industry. An important recent trend is increasing the traffic safety by improving anti-skid properties of roads in critical locations. Experts have concluded that some anti-skid modifications may increase the noise pollution. Because the usage of such pavements is predominantly in urban areas, problems may occur. This paper deals with the noise level of the safety anti-skid modification of the road surface used in the urban areas. Based on the presented measurement values it can be said that the RocbindaTM safety anti-skid modification does not achieve any increased acoustic performance compared to the asphalt pavement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-297
Author(s):  
Anosha Arooj Yousaf ◽  
Najia Saher ◽  
Faisal Shahzad ◽  
Sara Fareed

The density of vehicles on the road especially in urban areas keeps on increasing to large amount day by day. Especially during the peak hours of the day, large amount of people wastes much of their time in traffic signals. Not only they waste energy by burning excess fuel and releasing CO2 emissions in the environment as well as their time and money. An idea has been proposed to monitor the traffic congestion by means of data analytics on image data and solve the critical traffic congestion issue. The CCTV or surveillance cameras installed at the top points on the roads acts as a medium to provide image data as an input to analyze road traffic congestion by counting the number of vehicles under specified interval of time. Monitoring of traffic congestion using image processing techniques is very useful for the future urban road planning such as: 1) if there is a need to make the road wider, 2) if there is a need to add more lanes on the road, 3) if there is need to make flyover or a bridge to control the traffic on the roads. It will help municipalities to structure and expansion of the roads.


Author(s):  
Victoria Bitykova ◽  
Nikita Mozgunov

The main discussion is about methods for assessing the intensity of traffic flows using geoinformation technologies. The intensity of traffic flows is one of the key indicators that determine the emission from transport in urban areas. In Russia, the growth in the volume and share of motor transport in pollution is increasing under the influence of an increase in the number of cars. This is most obvious examples of it are regions of the Central Federal District, but in the regional centers, under the influence of the improvement in the structure of the vehicle park, the growth of pollution is much slower, and in Moscow it has practically stabilized. At the local level, the determining factor of road traffic pollution is the change in the building density and the transport-planning structure. The collection and calculation of indicators that give an idea of the spatial differentiation of emissions from road transport is a very time-consuming stage of the study. The most common method of obtaining information on the transport and environmental situation in the city is directly field data collection. However, this method is quite time consuming for research. In conditions when the transport infrastructure is developing rapidly, the speed of field observations does not allow promptly updating information on changes in the traffic load of the road network and, as a result, assessing the current ecological situation in the territory. As an alternative to the traditional collection of information, modern sources of geoinformation data can be used. The services, originally developed to provide operational monitoring of the traffic situation and the construction of optimal routes, can also serve as a source of data for models for assessing the intensity of traffic load in environmental studies. The proposed technique has been tested at the level of districts and administrative districts of Moscow. The results obtained are compared with control field observations. The relatively low measurement error when using data from information systems is compensated by the possibility of more efficiently obtaining information about the traffic load on the sections of the road network.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
PETROVICI ALINA ◽  
TOMOZEI CLAUDIA ◽  
NEDEFF FLORIN ◽  
IRIMIA OANA ◽  
PANAINTE-LEHADUS MIRELA

<p>This paper presents a synthesis of current state of the assessment of road traffic noise in urban areas considering economic, social and legal aspects. Therefore, there were described several prediction methods of the urban traffic noise. These methods are useful in calculating the exposure of the population at noise levels which exceed the permissible limits. Mapping is one of the most common methods used for the assessment of noise. Whether it is industrial, airport, rail or road traffic noise, noise mapping provides accurate data needed later in developing action plans against noise. The road traffic noise assessments are performed periodically, and a representative picture of the noise in the analysed areas is obtained. Then, the action plans can be developed in order to reduce road traffic noise, where it is necessary.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-152

In the present work, Fourier Analysis is applied to the mean monthly NOx concentrations of the period 1989-1999, for a network of 7 stations. Treating NO and NO2 as a single primary pollutant, we succeeded the assessment of NOx concentrations. The main causes of NOx emissions in urban areas are the road traffic and the industrial activity. The annual variation of NOx concentration is well described with only two harmonic components, which explain over 90% of the total variance. The spatial distribution of the time of maximum, for every one of the two harmonic components in Athens basin, is also presented.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-137
Author(s):  
Mihai Bratu ◽  
◽  
Elena Bucur ◽  
Valeriu Danciulescu ◽  
Mihaela Petrescu ◽  
...  

In the paper are presented the results of tests on the evaluation of the level of noise and chemical air pollution in two distinct urban areas: an industrial area and an area characterized by heavy road traffic, with a focus on the novelty elements introduced by the regulations in force on the measurement and management of the level of ambient and industrial noise by periodically developing specific noise maps. The results of direct tests and noise maps developed in the case of the studied areas indicated higher values of the indicators measured near the road artery compared to the other measuring points, highlighting the influence of vegetation in urban areas to reduce noise levels and reduce air pollution.


Safety ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavlos Tafidis ◽  
Ali Pirdavani ◽  
Tom Brijs ◽  
Haneen Farah

Automated vehicles (AVs) are expected to assist in decreasing road traffic fatalities, particularly among passenger cars. However, until now limited research has been conducted on how they will impact the safety of vulnerable road users (VRUs) (i.e., cyclists and pedestrians). Therefore, there is a clear need to start taking into account the interactions between AVs and VRUs as an integrated element of the transport network, especially in urban areas where they are dominant. The objective of this study is to verify whether the anticipated implementation of AVs can actually improve cyclists’ safety. For this purpose, the microscopic traffic flow simulation software PTV Vissim combined with the surrogate safety assessment model (SSAM) were utilized. The road network used for this analysis was generated based on a real study case in a medium-sized city in Belgium, where narrow streets in the city center are shared on many occasions between vehicles and cyclists. The findings of the analysis show a notable reduction in the total number of conflicts between cars, but also between cars and cyclists, compared to the current situation, assuming a 100% market penetration scenario for AVs. Moreover, the severity level of conflicts also decreased as a result of the lack of human-driven vehicles in the traffic streams.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-181
Author(s):  
Somluk Bunnarong ◽  
Prapatpong Upala

Background:In Thailand, it has the second highest road traffic fatality rate in the world at 36.2 deaths per 100,000 populations. The pedestrian crash zones are based on the road and physical environment, vehicle and driver behavior and pedestrian behavior, especially the area around the school. Therefore, this paper would like to improve safety by identifying crash area through Geographic Information Systems (GIS).Objective:The objective of this paper is to identify pedestrian crash zones of primary schools and secondary schools in Bangkok, Thailand through the spatial analysis and GIS tool.Method:The research methodology was the data collection from pedestrian-vehicle crashes in 2016 at 12 schools of 1,218 locations in Bangkok. The data analysis used GIS for geocoding the crash locations. The spatial patterns and pedestrian crash zone map were applied by Moran’s I statistic and the Kernel Density Estimation (KDE).Results:The Moran’s index showed that the accident locations within school zone were a clustered pattern considering on Moran’s Index which approached +1 and the z-scores greater than 2.58. The KDE showed that the pedestrian crash zones were different depending on the physical environment; however, the most significant areas were at urban areas, crowded areas, and intersections of arterial roads and local roads about 508 meters from the school center.Conclusion:This research could be concluded that the spatial patterns and pedestrian crash zone map will assist the transportation planners and traffic police for identifying crash locations and specific vulnerable road users, especially pedestrians and bicycle users.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2492
Author(s):  
Tibor Sipos ◽  
Anteneh Afework Mekonnen ◽  
Zsombor Szabó

Keeping the basic principles of sustainable development, it must be highlighted that decisions about transport safety projects must be made following expert preparation, using reliable, professional methods. A prerequisite for the cost–benefit analysis of investments is to constantly monitor the efficiency of accident forecasting models and to update these continuously. This paper presents an accident forecasting model for urban areas, which handles both the properties of the public road infrastructure and spatial dependency relations. As the aim was to model the urban environment, we focused on the road public transportation modes (bus and trolley) and the vulnerable road users (bicyclist) using shared infrastructure elements. The road accident data from 2016 to 2018 on the whole road network of Budapest, Hungary, is analyzed, focusing on road links (i.e., road segments between junctions) by applying spatial econometric statistical models. As a result of this article, we have developed a model that can be used by decision-makers as well, which is suitable for estimating the expected value of accidents, and thus for the development of the optimal sequence of appropriate road safety interventions.


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