Are Traffic Announcements Really Effective? A Systematic Review of Evaluations of Crash-Prevention Communication Campaigns

Communication campaigns are commonly used in the traffic and road safety sector to raise public awareness of the importance of avoiding risky road user attitudes and behaviors. Surprisingly few of these communication campaigns evaluate their effectiveness in a formal and comprehensive manner. The core aim of the present systematic review is to identify the type of studies that evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns in this sector, in order to identify and contrast their main findings. This systematic review followed the PRISMA methodology, by means of which the relevant articles based on the search term were identified. A total of 613 indexed articles were filtered, and a final set of 27 articles directly addressing the issue was analyzed. Search strategies were developed and conducted in WOS, Scopus, NCBI, Google Scholar and APA databases. The selected articles point out that, although advertisements alone have a certain positive effect, their effectiveness is substantially increased if they are accompanied by other preventive measures such as legislation or road safety education. In any case, more evaluations of traffic campaigns are needed to identify which techniques are effective and which are not, and which should therefore be replaced by new methods of behavior modification in future communication campaigns.

Quantitative Multi-Criteria Decision Support Approach for Prioritizing Grade Crossings to Address the Problem of Blocked Crossings

How should an agency proactively identify and prioritize rail-highway grade crossings for intervention in relation to their likely performance benefits for the community and the system? Performance is mainly related to two factors: (i) the likelihood and duration of “blockage,” that is, the temporary obstruction of a road link when a train blocks the intersecting grade crossing, and (ii) the “hazard condition” of the crossing itself, with regard to its design and asset quality. Existing analytical grade crossing prioritization models focus almost solely on safety and crash prevention by addressing the “hazard condition” aspect of performance. The paper develops a quantitative multi-criteria approach that not only considers and builds on existing analytical safety-based approaches, but goes beyond and also includes considerations such as blocked crossings. The model calculates a multi-dimensional adaptive capacity score (ACS) for each crossing, which can then be used to rank a set of crossings, as well as test different policy scenarios and their effect on prioritization. The model is applied to approximately 5,700 grade crossings in the State of Ohio and detailed pilot validations with stakeholders in two counties conducted. Based on the validation process, the model provides comprehensive and cohesive results and is being deployed statewide. Next steps involve incorporating considerations for truck traffic and pedestrians/bicycles (non-motorized users) in calculating the ACS as well as developing mitigation measures for blocked crossings that can be considered from the model.

Preventive Maintenance Data Logger Monitoring System

This research presents the Preventive Maintenance Data Logger (PMDL) Monitoring System and the process of how it has been manufactured. Preventive Maintenance Data Logger Monitoring System is a device which will collect the data from vehicle’s sensor for prevention maintenance and then save the data to other storage for future analysis. Preventive Maintenance Data Logger Monitoring System also can send notification to user for crash prevention. This project comprises of mechanical system, electronic system, and software system. The methodology of the Preventive Maintenance Data Logger system and prototype development is discussed in this paper on the manufacturing processes. The software is programmed using C language in Arduino software and the notification for preventive are develop using BLYNK application. Manufacturing processes involves in making this project, including additive manufacturing, welding and cutting. Several test case studies were conducted to verify the capability of the device in term of the vehicle speed, location, crash point data, distance between other vehicles detection and reliability.

Toward Safe Systems: Traffic Safety, Cognition, and the Built Environment

Conventional transportation practice attributes traffic crashes to human error, leading to the prevailing assumption that crash prevention is principally an outcome of driver education and law enforcement programs. But what if planning and urban design decisions induce human errors? In this study, we examine the literature in organizational systems safety, cognitive psychology, and behavioral economics to detail how cognitive interpretations of the built environment may produce the errors that result in traffic crashes. We proceed to examine crash incidence in Charlotte-Mecklenberg County in light of this cognitive framework and discuss its implications for research and practice.