scholarly journals Equipment Condition for Zebra Crossing Night-Time Safety Performance in Latvia

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 108-125
Author(s):  
Maris Seflers ◽  
Juris Kreicbergs ◽  
Gernot Sauter

According to road traffic accident (hereinafter referred to as RTA) statistics, the vulnerable road users are pedestrians in Latvia. The aim of this study is to investigate and analyse technical equipment used on non-signalled pedestrian crossings (zebra crossings) in Latvia and to make suggestions for measures that would increase road traffic safety on zebra crossings. RTAs involving collisions with pedestrians were filtered from the Ministry of the Interior database for a three-year period from 2016 to 2018. Thirty-two zebra crossings with a higher number of accidents with pedestrians were observed on the spot during the daylight and at night in several cities of Latvia. The main emphasis during the observation was placed on traffic signs and zebra road marking performance. Pedestrian crossings were observed from car driver’s view by taking photographs during day-time and night-time observations. Most attention was paid to road sign and road marking visibility from driver’s seat position. Retroreflection coefficient R’ was measured for each pedestrian crossing road sign. It was found that the condition and performance of traffic organisation equipment were not maintained on a regular basis and the life cycle of some traffic signs had well expired. Many road signs do not comply with minimum requirements, and road markings have weak visibility during wet weather conditions. It is recommended to improve visibility of pedestrian crossings from driver’s view in the urban areas by increasing rain vision for road markings and higher retroreflection class for traffic signs.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longyu Shi ◽  
Nigar Huseynova ◽  
Bin Yang ◽  
Chunming Li ◽  
Lijie Gao

Suburban roads are an important part of China’s road network and essential infrastructure for rural development. Poorly designed road curves and scarcity of traffic signs have caused an excessively high traffic accident rate in plain topographical areas. In this study, an approach to evaluate and improve rural road traffic safety is introduced. Based on fuzzy and cask theory and weighted analysis, a cask evaluation model is built. It provides a quantitative instant method for analyzing road safety in the absence of traffic accident information or rigorous road space data, by identifying dangerous sections and key impact factors, and ultimately help to put forward traffic safety improvements. Based on the application to a specific section of Xiaodang Central Road in the Fengxian District of Shanghai, the result shows that the pavement conditions of cement-hardened dual-lane rural roads was good, but traffic safety was poor. Missing traffic signs, unreasonable road alignment, and poor roadside conditions were the main problems. Finally, improvements of the short-stave subsystem were proposed: the location of guide signs and roadside conditions should be improved, and the number and efficacy of the rural road traffic signs need to be increased, and markings should be and receive regular maintenance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-28
Author(s):  
Predrag Brlek ◽  
Ljudevit Krpan ◽  
Ivan Cvitković ◽  
Krunoslav Lukačić

Traffic accidents are considered the first cause of death of young people, that is, young drivers. Therefore, this problem needs to be given a lot of attention. Traffic accident which include young drivers must be analyzed as an element of the system, and it is necessary to analyze and investigate potential solutions and improve all elements in order to improve the system itself. In the Republic of Croatia, for the first time in 2004, the term "YOUNG DRIVER" as a driver of a motor vehicle up to the age of 24, who holds a drivers license issued in the Republic of Croatia, was introduced into the Road Traffic Safety Act. The share of young drivers in the population in the Republic of Croatia is 4.3%. Young drivers make up about eight percent of road users, causing a total of 9.6% of traffic accidents, or 12.5% of those with fatalities. This paper will deal with traffic safety in other countries, especially in the surrounding countries. According to statistics related to road accidents, young drivers are over-represented and are at greater risk to themselves, passengers and other participants than other drivers. There is a need to respond in a timely manner and to adopt optimal measures to improve the safety of young drivers in road traffic and thus for the safety of other road users. The aim of this paper is to outline measures that would reduce the number of road accidents involving young drivers, especially in urban areas.


2019 ◽  
Vol 298 ◽  
pp. 00046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Novikov ◽  
Ivan Novikov ◽  
Anastasiya Shevtsova

The paper discusses a new approach to ensuring the safety of controlled intersections. In the course of research, the authors found a change in the main characteristics of the traffic flow, which requires constant monitoring in the implementation of the intersection control using a traffic light. The heterogeneity of the composition of the traffic flow is determined and the influence of this parameter on the duration of the resolving signal is established. In addition, the authors determined the influence of weather conditions on the duration of the traffic light cycle and developed an approach to take into account changes in this factor in the calculation of the mode of operation of the traffic light object. As a result of the model experiment, the economic and environmental efficiency of the developed approach is determined. The results obtained in the course of the study are an integral part in the implementation of intelligent transport systems, which confirms the relevance and feasibility of the study. The use of this approach, in addition to integration into the its system, allows to reduce the accident rate of controlled intersections due to the rational distribution of the time of the traffic light object and reduce vehicle delays on the approaches, which together ensures the safety of regulated areas.


2012 ◽  
Vol 226-228 ◽  
pp. 2366-2369
Author(s):  
Tie Qiang Li ◽  
Rong Guo Ma ◽  
Fang Chao Wu ◽  
Ya Juan Deng

In order to assess the traffic safety in snow and freezing weather accurately, determined the difference of vehicle lateral displacement of snow freezing and normal weather conditionsthe as the indicator, vehicle model, road model and vehicle-road coupling model were set up by using software ADAMS/Car. By changing road friction cofficient, road conditions in snow and freezing weather were simulated, step steering were carried out, vehicle lateral displacement of different speed and steering angle were obtained, the difference of vehicle lateral displacement of different speed and steering angle under snow and freezing weather and normal weather conditions were calculated, then the curve of difference of vehicle lateral displacement were generated, traffic safety level division of road under snow and freezing weather were researched based on these curves.


2018 ◽  
Vol 231 ◽  
pp. 02009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Pędzierska ◽  
Tomasz Kamiński

The subject of this publication is the use of top-of-the-range driving simulators to study the impact of ITS services on the road safety. The aim of the article is to describe the assumptions of simulation studies carried out as part of the RID 4D project and to present the method of building research scenarios. The article discusses the catalogue of ITS services of the greatest importance to the Road Traffic Safety and traffic efficiency developed under the project. Then, services from the catalogue were specified, which were tested on the driving simulator of the Motor Transport Institute. The tests included sections of a dual-lane expressway. As a result of the work, four scenarios were created containing various dangerous events and variable message boards informing drivers about the danger and/or limiting the permitted speed. During the simulation, a set of several dozen parameters related to vehicle motion was recorded, in particular the distance to the vehicle ahead, time to collision with another vehicle or object on the road, speed, intensity of braking and acceleration. The tests were performed for good and bad weather conditions on a 60-person study group. The division into age groups 18-24, 25-50 and above 50 years was applied. The research showed a difference in the way drivers of static signs and speed limits on the variable message signs affect drivers. For variable messages signs, there was a greater decrease in speed than in the case of static signs.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Jalooli ◽  
Erfan Shaghaghi ◽  
Mohammad Reza Jabbarpour ◽  
Rafidah Md Noor ◽  
Hwasoo Yeo ◽  
...  

Variable speed limits (VSLs) as a mean for enhancing road traffic safety are studied for decades to modify the speed limit based on the prevailing road circumstances. In this study the pros and cons of VSL systems and their effects on traffic controlling efficiency are summarized. Despite the potential effectiveness of utilizing VSLs, we have witnessed that the effectiveness of this system is impacted by factors such as VSL control strategy used and the level of driver compliance. Hence, the proposed approach called Intelligent Advisory Speed Limit Dedication (IASLD) as the novel VSL control strategy which considers the driver compliance aims to improve the traffic flow and occupancy of vehicles in addition to amelioration of vehicle’s travel times. The IASLD provides the advisory speed limit for each vehicle exclusively based on the vehicle’s characteristics including the vehicle type, size, and safety capabilities as well as traffic and weather conditions. The proposed approach takes advantage of vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) to accelerate its performance, in the way that simulation results demonstrate the reduction of incident detection time up to 31.2% in comparison with traditional VSL strategy. The simulation results similarly indicate the improvement of traffic flow efficiency, occupancy, and travel time in different conditions.


Author(s):  
Niklas Grabbe ◽  
Michael Höcher ◽  
Alexander Thanos ◽  
Klaus Bengler

Automated driving offers great possibilities in traffic safety advancement. However, evidence of safety cannot be provided by current validation methods. One promising solution to overcome the approval trap (Winner, 2015) could be the scenario-based approach. Unfortunately, this approach still results in a huge number of test cases. One possible way out is to show the current, incorrect path in the argumentation and strategy of vehicle automation, and focus on the systemic mechanisms of road traffic safety. This paper therefore argues the case for defining relevant scenarios and analysing them systemically in order to ultimately reduce the test cases. The relevant scenarios are based on the strengths and weaknesses, in terms of the driving task, for both the human driver and automation. Finally, scenarios as criteria for exclusion are being proposed in order to systemically assess the contribution of the human driver and automation to road safety.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Lin ◽  
Feng Shi ◽  
Weizi Li

AbstractCOVID-19 has affected every sector of our society, among which human mobility is taking a dramatic change due to quarantine and social distancing. We investigate the impact of the pandemic and subsequent mobility changes on road traffic safety. Using traffic accident data from the city of Los Angeles and New York City, we find that the impact is not merely a blunt reduction in traffic and accidents; rather, (1) the proportion of accidents unexpectedly increases for “Hispanic” and “Male” groups; (2) the “hot spots” of accidents have shifted in both time and space and are likely moved from higher-income areas (e.g., Hollywood and Lower Manhattan) to lower-income areas (e.g., southern LA and southern Brooklyn); (3) the severity level of accidents decreases with the number of accidents regardless of transportation modes. Understanding those variations of traffic accidents not only sheds a light on the heterogeneous impact of COVID-19 across demographic and geographic factors, but also helps policymakers and planners design more effective safety policies and interventions during critical conditions such as the pandemic.


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