scholarly journals Comprehensive Operation Risk Assessment of a Highway Maintenance Area Based on Reliability

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8744
Author(s):  
Nan Ouyang

To study the influence of various working conditions on traffic safety in the maintenance area of a mountain expressway, 675 groups of PTV VISSIM traffic simulation experiments were designed with various traffic organization modes, traffic volumes, traffic compositions, activity area lengths, and speed limit values. The results show that the activity area length of a closed lane, a compressed lane, and a borrowed opposite lane had no marked influence on the traffic conflicts. There was a significant positive correlation between the proportion of trucks and the number of traffic conflicts, and the number of traffic conflicts increased significantly with an increase in traffic volume. In the closed lane and borrowed opposite lane scenarios, the increase in traffic conflicts was more obvious with the increase in traffic volume. There were obvious differences in the number of traffic conflicts under different forms of traffic organization. The number of conflicts in the compressed lane scenario was the lowest, and in the borrowed opposite lane scenario the number of conflicts was the highest. There was a significant correlation between a decrease in the speed limit and an increase in the number of traffic conflicts. Finally, with traffic volume, truck proportion, and speed limit values as independent variables and reliability as a dependent variable, linear regression equations of reliability were established for three traffic organization scenarios: closed lane, borrowed opposite lane, and compressed lane.

2014 ◽  
Vol 505-506 ◽  
pp. 1127-1132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Xu ◽  
Zhao Wei Qu

Traffic safety is of great significance, especially at urban expressway where traffic volume is large and traffic conflicts are highlighted. But little research up to date has discussed in detail how these factors impact the TTC characteristics. In this paper, field Beijing expressway data were collected by video with different locations, lanes, traffic conditions and following vehicle types. Accordingly, some basic descriptive statistics of total TTC samples were shown and analyzed. We then used T-test to analyze the effect of road environments, traffic conditions, and vehicle types on TTC statistically. The results implied three main findings. Firstly, TTC was found to change according to road environments (i.e. TTC on weaving segment is smaller than other locations), secondly, some evidence supported this hypothesis that traffic conditions (especially uncongested traffic condition) affect TTC significantly, and lastly, little correlation was found between TTC means and vehicle types.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiwen Zhang ◽  
Yingying Xing ◽  
Jian Lu ◽  
H. Michael Zhang

The truck operation of freeway has an impact on traffic safety. In particular, the gradually increasing in truck proportion will inevitably affect the freeway traffic operation of different traffic volume. In this paper, VISSIM simulation is used to supply the field data and orthogonal experimental is designed for calibrate the simulation data. Then, SSAM modeling is combined to analyze the impact of truck proportion on traffic flow parameters and traffic conflicts. The serious and general conflict prediction model based on the Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) is proposed to determine the impact of the truck proportion on freeway traffic safety. The results show that when the truck proportion is around 0.4 under 3200 veh/h and 0.6 under 2600 veh/h, there are more traffic conflicts and the number of serious conflicts is more than the number of general conflicts, which also reflect the relationship between truck proportion and traffic safety. Under 3000 veh/h, travel time and average delay increasing while mean speed and mean speed of small car decreases with truck proportion increases. The mean time headway rises largely with the truck proportion increasing above 3000 veh/h. The speed standard deviation increases initially and then fall with truck proportion increasing. The lane-changing decreases while truck proportion increasing. In addition, ANFIS can accurately determine the impact of truck proportion on traffic conflicts under different traffic volume, and also validate the learning ability of ANFIS.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 3594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Gao ◽  
Jinliang Xu ◽  
Qunshan Li ◽  
Jie Yang

Speed dispersion is an important indicator to portray the quality of traffic flow and is closely related to the road safety operation level. In order to clarify the influence of posted speed limits on the dispersion of traffic flow speed, three sections with speed limits of 80 km/h, 100 km/h and 120 km/h on the same expressway were selected for observation, and traffic volume, speed and other parameters were collected. The characteristic speeds, such as average speed, V15 and V85, were evaluation indicators, where V15 and V85 are the speeds of the 15th and 85th percentiles measured at the feature points of the road when the traffic is in a free-flow state and the weather is good. The relationship between different posted speed limit values and the above indicators was analyzed using the statistical analysis software, SPSS. The results show that the speed limit has a high correlation with the average speed of traffic flow, V15 and V85 in free-flow state, with the coefficient of determination being as high as 0.84, 0.85 and 0.92, respectively. In the restricted flow state, the factors affecting the driver’s driving speed are mainly the decrease in driving freedom caused by the increase of traffic volume rather than the speed limit value. In a free-flow state, when the posted speed limit is increased and the average speed and the V85 also increased by approximately the same magnitude. The posted speed limit values of 80 km/h, 100 km/h and 120 km/h correspond to the 90, 88 and 97 percentile speeds of the traffic flow, respectively. The higher the speed limit is, the larger the speed difference between V15 and V85 becomes. The results of the study are very useful for rationally determining the speed limit scheme under different traffic flows.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 10-19
Author(s):  
Abbas Mahmoudabadi ◽  
Hassan Abdous

Since coaches’ crashes have serious impacts on society, many attributes are studied as contributing factors related to the crashes. The present research work focuses on the existing statistical similarity between distribution functions of coaches’ crashes and their usage exposure in the Iranian intercity road network. Traffic volume is considered as an important usage exposure for intercity buses/coaches over the intercity road network, so this study aims to check whether coaches' traffic volume and the frequency of their crashes come from the same distribution functions. The two-sample distribution function test of Wilcoxon as well as the goodness of fit test called Kolmogorov-Smirnov have been utilized to check the statistical similarity between the distribution functions of coaches’ crashes and their usage exposure. Experimental data for coaches’ traffic volumes and their crashes have been collected for three years, and the above-mentioned methods have been performed using the proportion form of collected data due to the existing their different scales. After performing two methods of checking similarity, the results revealed there is no significant difference between the probability functions of traffic volumes, considered as usage exposure, and coaches’ crashes. It means that both attributes come from the same distribution functions. Traffic safety authorities and passenger transport operators who are dealing with traffic safety on the intercity public should be aware of the effects of traffic volumes on coaches' crashes on designing the routes and schedule for passenger transportation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 238-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall W. Meyer

Abstract Research Question What happened to US traffic safety during the first US COVID-19 lockdown, and why was the pattern the opposite of that observed in previous sudden declines of traffic volume? Data National and local statistics on US traffic volume, traffic fatalities, injury accidents, speeding violations, running of stop signs, and other indicators of vehicular driving behavior, both in 2020 and in previous US economic recessions affecting the volume of road traffic. Methods Comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the data for the COVID-19 lockdown in parts of the USA in March 2020 and similar data for the 2008–2009 global economic crisis, as well as other US cases of major reductions in traffic volume. Findings The volume of traffic contracted sharply once a COVID-19 national emergency was declared and most states issued stay-at-home orders, but motor vehicle fatality rates, injury accidents, and speeding violations went up, and remained elevated even as traffic began returning toward normal. This pattern does not fit post-World War II recessions where fatality rates declined with the volume of traffic nor does the 2020 pattern match the pattern during World War II when traffic dropped substantially with little change in motor vehicle fatality rates. Conclusions The findings are consistent with a theory of social distancing on highways undermining compliance with social norms, a social cost of COVID which, if not corrected, poses potential long-term increases in non-compliance and dangerous driving.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3864
Author(s):  
Tarek Ghoul ◽  
Tarek Sayed

Speed advisories are used on highways to inform vehicles of upcoming changes in traffic conditions and apply a variable speed limit to reduce traffic conflicts and delays. This study applies a similar concept to intersections with respect to connected vehicles to provide dynamic speed advisories in real-time that guide vehicles towards an optimum speed. Real-time safety evaluation models for signalized intersections that depend on dynamic traffic parameters such as traffic volume and shock wave characteristics were used for this purpose. The proposed algorithm incorporates a rule-based approach alongside a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient reinforcement learning technique (DDPG) to assign ideal speeds for connected vehicles at intersections and improve safety. The system was tested on two intersections using real-world data and yielded an average reduction in traffic conflicts ranging from 9% to 23%. Further analysis was performed to show that the algorithm yields tangible results even at lower market penetration rates (MPR). The algorithm was tested on the same intersection with different traffic volume conditions as well as on another intersection with different physical constraints and characteristics. The proposed algorithm provides a low-cost approach that is not computationally intensive and works towards optimizing for safety by reducing rear-end traffic conflicts.


Transport ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Žiliūtė ◽  
Alfredas Laurinavičius ◽  
Audrius Vaitkus

The measurements and analysis of traffic intensity were performed in the capital city – Vilnius, the largest urban area in Lithuania. Vilnius is a centre of business, industry and tourism, and therefore traffic intensity remains the highest in this part of the country. The intensity of vehicle traffic is not only generally calculated but also simultaneously classified which means is divided predefining vehicles into beforehand established categories. Data on traffic flows are used in a road maintenance program for calculating and assessing air pollution, ensuring traffic safety, regulating traffic flows etc. The article presents the methods for measuring traffic intensity which are and were used for calculating traffic intensity not only in the streets of Vilnius but also across Lithuania. Data on vehicle intensity and classification are collected either using technologies (loop and tube detectors, counters and video detectors) or expressing them visually. The article presents the dynamics of changes in the traffic volume on the roads of Lithuania for the period 2000–2009. Also, this article examines traffic intensity of all transport means, including trucks in the permanent traffic volume measuring stations that were installed near the roads in Vilnius zone (data on traffic for the period 2005–2009) and the streets of Vilnius city (data on traffic for the period 2007–2009). Data on traffic intensity were obtained by the Road Research Laboratory of the Road Department of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University in cooperation with the State Enterprise Transport and Road Research Institute (TRRI).


Author(s):  
Tomislav Petrović ◽  
Miloš Milosavljević ◽  
Milan Božović ◽  
Danislav Drašković ◽  
Milija Radović

The application of intelligent transport systems (hereinafter ITSs) on roads enables continuous monitoring of road users during a whole year with the aim to collect good-quality data based on which the more complex analyses could be done, such as monitoring of certain traffic safety indicators. Automatic traffic counters are one of the most commonly implemented ITSs for collecting traffic flow parameters that are relevant for traffic management on state roads in Republic of Serbia. This paper presents one of the possible ways to collect, analyze and present data on road users’ speeds using automatic traffic counters, where certain traffic safety indicators are analyzed in terms of road users’ compliance with the speed limit on the road section from Mali Pozarevac to Kragujevac. Based on the analyses of data downloaded from automatic traffic counters, it is observed that an extremely high percentage of vehicles drive at speed higher than the speed limit, indicating clearly to higher traffic accident risk, as well as to the need for a tendency to implement speed management on roads using ITS in the forthcoming period.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 8004
Author(s):  
Sang-Lok Yoo ◽  
Kwang-Il Kim

Vessel traffic volume and vessel traffic service (VTS) operator workloads are increasing with the expansion of global maritime trade, contributing to marine accidents by causing difficulties in providing timely services. Therefore, it is essential to have sufficient VTS operators considering the vessel traffic volume and near-miss cases. However, no quantitative method for determining the optimal number of workstations, which is necessary for calculating the VTS operator staffing level, has yet been proposed. This paper proposes a new, microscopic approach for calculating the number of workstations from vessel trajectories and voice recording communication data between VTS operators and navigators. The vessel trajectory data are preprocessed to interpolate different intervals. The proposed method consists of three modules: Information services, navigational assistance services, and traffic organization service. The developed model was applied to the Yeosu VTS in Korea. Another workstation should be added to the current workstation based on the proposed method. The results showed that even without annual statistical data, a reasonable VTS operator staffing level could be calculated. The proposed approach helps prevent vessel accidents by providing timely services even if the vessel traffic is congested if VTS operators are deployed to a sufficient number of workstations.


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