What affects pedestrian crossing difficulty at urban intersections in a developing country?

In developing countries, road traffic crashes involving pedestrians have become a foremost concern. At present, road safety assessment plans and selection of interventions are primarily restricted to traditional approaches that depend on the investigations of historical crash data. However, in developing countries such as India, the availability, consistency, and accuracy of crash data are major concerns. In contrast, proactive approaches such as studying road users' risk perception have emerged as a substitute method of examining potential risk factors. An individual's risk perception offers vital information on probable crash risk, which may be beneficial in detecting high-risk locations and major causes of crashes. Since the pedestrian fatality risk is not uniform across the urban road network level, it may be expected that pedestrians' perceived risk measured in terms of “crossing difficulty” would also vary across the sites. In this perspective, the present paper establishes a mathematical association between the pedestrians' perceived “crossing difficulty” and actual crashes. The model outcome confirms that pedestrians' perceived crossing difficulty is a good surrogate of fatal pedestrian crashes at the intersection level in Kolkata City, India. Subsequently, to examine the impact of traffic exposures, road infrastructure, land use, spatial factors, and pedestrian-level attributes on pedestrians' “crossing difficulty”; a set of Ordered Logit models are developed. The model outcomes show that high vehicle and pedestrian volume, vehicular speed, absence of designated bus stop, the presence of inaccessible pedestrian crosswalk, on-street parking, lack of signalized control (for both vehicle and pedestrian), inadequate sight distance, land use pattern, slum population, pedestrian-vehicular post encroachment time, waiting time before crossing, road width, and absence of police enforcement at an intersection significantly and positively increase pedestrian's crossing difficulty at urban intersections. To end, the model findings are advantageously utilized to develop a set of countermeasures across 3E's of road safety.     

Micro-simulation modelling for traffic safety: A review and potential application to heterogeneous traffic environment

This paper critically reviews micro-simulation modelling applications for traffic safety evaluation with respect to the use of different simulation tools, the application of surrogate safety indicators under different aspects of road environments and crash considerations. General input variables used to develop the models; key parameters for crash prediction; and calibration and validation approaches are explored in the paper. The strengths and weaknesses of used simulation packages for traffic safety evaluation are also pointed out. Moreover, recent advancements in the development and application of traffic safety micro-simulation model for safety assessment are also discussed.Despite having a number of studies, there is still a significant void in the development and application of simulation model to evaluate traffic safety of non-lane based heterogeneous traffic environments that predominate in many developing countries. The paper assessed the potential application of traffic safety micro-simulation model in heterogeneous traffic environments. Finally, a number of potentially fruitful future research directions are highlighted.     

Modelling traffic safety at uncontrolled median openings: A case study in India

Assessment of traffic safety is an essential study in transportation engineering. In a developing country like India, around 150,000 people die in road crashes every year. Furthermore, at uncontrolled median openings, the severity of road crashes is higher due to the presence of impatient U-turning road users who don't obey the rule of priority. Traditionally, road crash data have been used since long to analyze traffic safety. However, in developing countries, the main drawback of this conventional method is limited availability of accident data as very few accidents get reported. Moreover, the accuracy of these reported data is questionable. Therefore, now-a-days, various surrogate traffic safety measures like Post Encroachment Time (PET), and Time to Collision (TTC) are being used to examine the safety of road users. Among them, PET is regarded as the most consistent, and most widely used safety indicator. Therefore, in the present study, PET across different traffic volume levels has been determined. Videography data has been collected from selected median openings located on six-lane divided urban roads. PET values for different traffic volumes, and different category of vehicles have been analysed in detail. Further, the distribution of PET values across the full width of road has also been studied. Concept of critical speed is introduced which is compared with conflicting speed to assess unsafe conflicts and determine a critical PET. Finally, regression models have also been proposed with good levels of accuracy to determine the PET values for various category of vehicles travelling at different conflicting speeds.     

Exploring pedestrian surrogate safety measures by road geometry at midblock crosswalks: A perspective under mixed traffic conditions

Pedestrian safety is generally assessed using frequency of crashes, based on historical data, for a given transportation facility. However, the lack of good and reliable crash data has hampered its apposite analyses and in evaluating the effectiveness of pedestrian safety programs. To overcome this gap, traffic conflict technique (TCT) which relies mainly on the observations of critical traffic situations for safety analysis were developed. However, the applicability of TCTs and related measures under varying non-lane based heterogeneous traffic conditions prevailing in countries such as India is not widely explored. This paper attempts to evaluate pedestrian safety at urban midblock crosswalk using different surrogate safety measures, including vehicle crossing speed, post encroachment time (PET), yielding compliance of driver as well as pedestrian, and conflict rate. The number of conflicts were observed to increase as the average vehicle crossing speed increases, indicating that pedestrians are extremely vulnerable while crossing the road. The PET value for the smaller vehicles, such as two-wheelers and three-wheelers, is recorded to be lower than the heavy vehicles, such as trucks and buses. With the addition of one lane, there is a significant decrease in the PET value. The average PET values for the vehicle on eight-lane divided road is less than the six-lane divided, four-lane divided, and two-lane undivided roads. Further, the yielding compliance of the driver as well as of the pedestrian depends on the crossing speed of the approaching vehicle and the type of road geometry. Further, the rate and severity of conflicts increased with a decrease in the pedestrian crossing speed. The yielding behaviour of the drivers as well as the pedestrian's yielding compliance varies by location, highlighting the effect of individual and demographic characteristics on pedestrian crossing behaviour.     

Evaluation of risk factors for road accidents under mixed traffic: Case study on Indian highways

This paper presents an evaluation of risk factors for highway crashes under mixed traffic conditions. The basis of selecting study sites was abutting land use, roadway, and traffic characteristics. Accordingly, the study selected thirteen segments on the existing highway network in the state of West Bengal of India, covering a wide spectrum of such road attributes. A systematic investigation based on site-specific accident data to capture the highway sections' safety features revealed that the crash rate has steadily increased for years with traffic regardless of roadway category and conditions. A number of risk factors that affect road accidents were identified; they are mid-block access, pavement and shoulder conditions, vehicle involvement, time of day, and road configuration, i.e., two and multi-lane. The empirical observation indicates that the crash rate is relatively lower on multi-lane highways; however, the severity of any crash on such a road is relatively high. Notably, the crash frequencies on such roads are less during daylight hours due to the lane-based unidirectional traffic movement. This is quite the opposite during nighttime when drivers exhibit an inability to meet traffic contingencies, thereby increasing crash risk. The majority of crashes on two-lane highways are, on the other hand, due to unsafe driving manoeuvers. The study also observed that frequent mid-block accesses and poor shoulder conditions reduce scopes to rectify driving errors and increase crash risk as a consequence. The paper subsequently suggests proactive approaches to identify safety deficits at the time of planning and designing.     

基于负二项分布的高速公路交通事故影响因素分析

为分析高速公路交通事故的影响因素,构建基于负二项分布的事故分析模型,探究事故数与交通特性、公路线形及路面性能间关系.鉴于传统固定参数模型难以刻画各因素对事故风险影响的异质性,引入了随机参数建模方法.结果表明:相比于固定参数负二项模型,构建的随机参数负二项模型有更好的拟合优度,且能更合理地反映各因素对事故的作用效果;将随...     

Quantification of surrogate safety measure to predict severity of road crashes at median openings

Traffic safety assessment is an integral part of transportation engineering. In a developing country like India, it is observed that in every four second, one person gets injured in road crashes. Moreover, at median openings which are usually uncontrolled in India, the severity of road crashes increase many fold. This is due to the fact that neither lane discipline nor priority rule is followed at the median openings. Conventionally, road crash data reports were used to study and analyze traffic safety. However, the drawback of this traditional method is that a lot of accidents need to be recorded for analysis and to draw any conclusions and take necessary corrective measures. In developing countries like India, available accident data are based on reports submitted by the police department of respective state governments. The accuracy of these accident data details is highly questionable. Therefore, in the recent times surrogate traffic safety measures are being used to analyze traffic safety. Various surrogate traffic measures like Deceleration Time (DT), Time to Collision (TTC), Post Encroachment Time (PET), etc. are being used to examine road safety. These values are based on the temporal and spatial proximity between road-users during possible conflict situation. Among all the traffic safety measures, PET is regarded as the most reliable and most commonly used indicator. Therefore, in this study, PET across different traffic volume levels at median opening area is calculated. A critical safe ratio has been introduced to better analyze the traffic safety at median opening based on minimum stopping sight distance (SSD) as per IRC: 66–1976 and speed to PET ratio. Finally clustering technique has been used to define various severity indices for probable road crashes at median opening area. For this study, data has been collected from different median openings located on six-lane divided urban roads.     

零截尾负二项模型在交叉口事故预测中的应用

事故预测模型是广泛采用的交通安全定量分析方法，但往往要求具有完备的道路、交通和事故数据。然而，基础数据相对不健全是包括中国在内的发展中国家交通安全管理面临的主要问题之一，例如仅有发生事故路段或者交叉口的相关属性特征（即零截尾数据）。为此，为确保基础数据不全的情况下交叉口事故预测的准确性，提出了基于零截尾的广义负二项回归模型；采集了246个非信号控制交叉口的交通与事故数据，采用传统负二项模型和新提出的零截尾负二项模型对全数据和零截尾数据分别进行对比分析。结果表明：在针对截尾数据的分析中，零截尾负二项模型明显优于传统负二项模型，并且零截尾负二项模型的参数估计值与基于全数据的负二项基准模型的估计值非常接近；在所有模型中，交叉口的主路交通量和支路交通量与交叉口的安全性之间存在较大的正关联。此外，同等条件下，十字形交叉口的事故数量高于T形交叉口的事故数量；利用传统负二项分布模型分析截尾数据得到的事故预测模型与使用全数据的基准模型有显著差异，其结果不可靠；采用零截尾负二项分布模型的参数结果与基准模型基本一致，截尾模型的置信区间包含基准模型相应的参数估计值。当受条件所限无法获取全部数据时，可以考虑使用零截尾负二项模型进行安全分析。     

Traffic conflict assessment for non-lane-based movements of motorcycles under congested conditions

Traffic conflict under congested conditions is one of the main safety issues of motorcycle traffic in developing countries. Unlike cars, motorcycles often display non-lane-based movements such as swerving or oblique following of a lead vehicle when traffic becomes congested. Very few studies have quantitatively evaluated the effects of such non-lane-based movements on traffic conflict. Therefore, in this study we aim to develop an integrated model to assess the traffic conflict of motorcycles under congested conditions. The proposed model includes a concept of safety space to describe the non-lane-based movements unique to motorcycles, new features developed for traffic conflict assessment such as parameters of acceleration and deceleration, and the conditions for choosing a lead vehicle. Calibration data were extracted from video clips taken at two road segments in Ho Chi Minh City. A simulation based on the model was developed to verify the dynamic non-lane-based movements of motorcycles. Subsequently, the assessment of traffic conflict was validated by calculating the probability of sudden braking at each time interval according to the change in the density of motorcycle flow. Our findings underscore the fact that higher flow density may lead to conflicts associated with a greater probability of sudden breaking. Three types of motorcycle traffic conflicts were confirmed, and the proportions of each type were calculated and discussed.     

Review of traffic safety evaluation at T-intersections using surrogate safety measures in developing countries context

In recent years, significant research has focused on traffic safety evaluations at unsignalized intersections due to complex and heterogeneous traffic movements as well as driver behaviour at such locations. However, at unsignalized T-intersections, priority traffic rules are less respected, which creates more conflicts. Further, multiple traffic movements such as right turns and through movements with varied driver behaviour results in increases the severity of conflicts. Many research studies have focused on the proactive safety measures in traffic safety evaluations as compared to crash-based analysis. Also, it is observed that Time to Collision (TTC) and Post Encroachment Time (PET) are the predominant types of surrogate safety measures in traffic safety evaluations. From the existing research outcomes, it is understood that these surrogate safety measures may give a better understanding of chain events for crash occurrences, collision mechanisms, and resulting consequences. However, further research is required in order to understand the suitability of such surrogate safety measures based on the complexity of heterogeneous traffic as well as driver behaviour with considerations of turning vehicles, particularly at T-intersections. In this context, this paper critically reviews the recent developments in Surrogate Safety Measures (SSM) and their applications at unsignalized intersections, with a particular focus on the T-intersection. This paper also brings attention to T-intersection safety evaluation with SSM in a developing country context. The outcome of the present study is more useful in the evaluation of traffic safety at T-intersections and suitable safety indicators for the evaluation.     

Crash prediction model for two-lane rural highways in the Ashanti region of Ghana

Crash Prediction Models (CPMs) have been used elsewhere as a useful tool by road Engineers and Planners. There is however no study on the prediction of road traffic crashes on rural highways in Ghana. The main objective of the study was to develop a prediction model for road traffic crashes occurring on the rural sections of the highways in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The model was developed for all injury crashes occurring on selected rural highways in the Region over the three (3) year period 2005–2007. Data was collected from 76 rural highway sections and each section varied between 0.8 km and 6.7 km. Data collected for each section comprised injury crash data, traffic flow and speed data, and roadway characteristics and road geometry data. The Generalised Linear Model (GLM) with Negative Binomial (NB) error structure was used to estimate the model parameters. Two types of models, the ‘core’ model which included key exposure variables only and the ‘full’ model which included a wider range of variables were developed. The results show that traffic flow, highway segment length, junction density, terrain type and presence of a village settlement within road segments were found to be statistically significant explanatory variables (p < 0.05) for crash involvement. Adding one junction to a 1 km section of road segment was found to increase injury crashes by 32.0% and sections which had a village settlement within them were found to increase injury crashes by 60.3% compared with segments with no settlements. The model explained 61.2% of the systematic variation in the data. Road and Traffic Engineers and Planners can apply the crash prediction model as a tool in safety improvement works and in the design of safer roads. It is recommended that to improve safety, highways should be designed to by-pass village settlements and that the number of junctions on a highway should be limited to carefully designed ones.     

区分冲突类型的路段实时碰撞风险预测模型

使用交通数据建立路段实时碰撞风险预测模型(RTCPM)是主动交通安全管理的基础,路侧精细感知的行车数据和替代安全指标(SSMs)在RTCPM领域有着潜在价值.基于此,采用路侧精细感知数据生成SSMs作为输入,提出一种区分冲突类型的路段实时碰撞风险预测模型.以路段精细交通数据为基础,提取多种类别的交通参数以构建包含多类交...     

Modeling the accuracy of traffic crash prediction models

Crash forecasting enables safety planners to take appropriate actions before casualty or loss occurs. Identifying and analyzing the attributes influencing forecasting accuracy is of great importance in road crash forecasting. This study aims to model the forecasting accuracy of 31 provinces using their macroeconomic variables and road traffic indicators. Iran's road crashes throughout 2011–2018 are calibrated and cross-validated using the Holt-Winters (HW) forecasting method. The sensitivity of crash forecast reliability is studied by a regression model. The results suggested that the root mean square error (RMSE) of crash prediction increased among the provinces with higher and more variant average monthly crashes. On the contrary, the accuracy of crash prediction improved in provinces with higher per capita GDP, and higher traffic exposure. A 1% increase in crash variability, average historical crash count, GDP per capita, and traffic exposure, respectively, resulted in a 0.65%, 0.52%, −0.38%, and −0.13% change in the RMSE of forecasting. The addition of traffic exposure and macroeconomic factors significantly enhanced the model fit and improved the adjusted R-squared by 14% compared to the reduced model that only used the historical average and variability of crash count as the independent variables. The findings of this research suggest planners and policymakers should consider the notable influence of macroeconomic factors and traffic indicators on the crash forecasting accuracy.     

山区高速公路隧道路段与开放路段的事故影响因素分析

高速公路隧道构造特殊且通行环境复杂,因而通常事故多发。为探究高速公路隧道路段与开放路段事故影响因素和严重程度致因机理的差异,采集沪昆高速邵怀段2011—2016年期间1 537起事故为研究样本;以事故发生路段为响应变量构建逻辑回归模型,解释各种风险因素对事故发生路段倾向性的影响差异;分别针对隧道路段与开放路段建立模型研究事故伤害严重程度的影响因素。建立二元Logit回归模型分析事故的发生倾向性和2类路段的事故严重程度的影响因素;采用随机参数Logit模型以反映异质性条件对参数的影响。统计表明:与疲劳驾驶、未保持安全距离相关的事故发生在隧道路段的概率更高,其事故发生概率分别是开放路段的2.373和2.482倍;与隧道路段事故严重程度正相关的因素包括下坡（坡度2%以上）、夏季和超速行驶,其中下坡（坡度2%以上）段的严重事故发生的概率为上坡（坡度2%以上）的3.397倍,夏季的严重事故发生概率为秋季的3.951倍,超速行驶相关的严重事故发生概率为其他不当驾驶行为的4.242倍;与开放路段事故严重程度正相关的因素包括超速行驶和疲劳驾驶,其中超速行驶相关的严重事故概率是其他不当驾驶行为的2.713倍,疲劳驾驶相关的严重事故概率是其他不当驾驶行为的4.802倍。研究表明,山区高速公路隧道路段与开放路段的事故发生概率及其严重程度的影响因素存在一定的差异性,研究结论可为山区高速公路差异管理方案制定提供依据。      

考虑多模式失效概率的长下坡路段重型卡车事故预测模型

为挖掘多模式失效概率与长下坡路段重型卡车事故之间的关系，建立了重型卡车在长下坡路段的多模式失效概率与车辆事故之间的关系模型。并针对重型卡车在长下坡路段可能的失效模式，如侧滑、侧翻、视距不足、制动失效，在此基础上建立了多模式失效概率预测模型；通过蒙特卡罗法模拟并求解单模式失效的概率，宽界限法求解失效系统的多模式失效概率；将多模式失效概率作为解释变量与其他道路因素结合，分别建立泊松模型、随机效应泊松模型、随机参数泊松模型，将多模式失效概率与重型卡车事故建立函数关系；对比3种模型的拟合优度指标，优选出最优事故预测模型，用来挖掘重型卡车事故与多模式失效概率之间的关系。以华盛顿州71段长下坡10年的重型卡车事故数据及道路设计数据进行方法验证。结果表明:随机参数泊松模型与随机效应泊松模型的拟合优度相差较小，二者均优于泊松模型；当考虑多模式失效概率时，平曲线半径、纵坡坡度、超高对重型卡车事故的影响均不显著，即三者的影响被削弱，尤其是平曲线半径和超高，多模式失效概率的弹性(0.239)远大于二者的弹性(平曲线半径和超高的弹性分别仅为0.097和0.002)；重型卡车的事故与多模式失效概率近似线性关系，且截距不为0。即多模式失效概率可用于道路安全分析的表征指标，但与事故概率不等价。      

高速公路交通事故数据分析方法研究

高速公路交通事故数据对管理部门提升道路交通安全具有重要意义。为研究贵州省某两条高速公路历史交通事故数据分布规律与事故发展趋势,首先利用邻近度与关联性分析方法,完善事故数据;然后分析道路特征对交通安全的影响,划分连续下坡路段、隧道路段单元范围;最后对路段单元进一步划分为区块,建立不同区块范围内的事故概率与区块位置的预测模型,其中连续下坡路段后半段符合线形关系,隧道进出口段符合二次函数关系,并根据事故分布特征提出改善方案,进而辅助管理者掌握不同特征路段未来可能发生交通事故的路段范围以及改善的优先级。     

Pedestrian injury outcomes in the developing urban metropolis: Econometric models for assessing risk factors

Pedestrian fatality and injury is one of the most concerning issues around the globe. The predictors for such mishaps have been investigated in the developed countries through econometric models and are proven useful techniques. Such studies in the context of developing countries, especially for urban cities, are however still very scarce. Using five years reported pedestrian crash data, this study looks into the performance of three statistical models - Multinomial Logit (MNL), Ordered Logit (OL) and Partial Proportional Odds (PPO) model while examining the impact of various attributes related to pedestrian crashes severity outcomes for Dhaka metropolitan city in Bangladesh. The comparative analysis reveals that the performance of the PPO model is relatively better for the available dataset in terms of identifying critical risk factors. Undivided roadway, heavy vehicles, unfit vehicles, adult drivers with no seat belt use, young and older pedestrians, pedestrian road crossing action are found to be associated with higher probability of fatal injuries. In contrast, one-way traffic movement, daytime, motorcycles and mid-aged pedestrians decrease the likelihood of fatal injury. Based on these identified risk factors, a combined 3-E approach has been suggested to reduce the severity levels of pedestrian in the event of crash occurrence.     

基于冲突极值模型的非常规信号交叉口安全评价

为了评估非常规信号交叉口交通安全,提出了基于冲突极值模型的横断面分析方法.利用计算机视频技术提取了南京市3个信号交叉口(1个设施组和2个参照组)96h的交通冲突数据和交通流数据,构建了包含数据层[处理层[先验层的3层贝叶斯超阈值冲突极值模型,利用马尔可夫链蒙特卡罗仿真方法对模型参数进行估计,采用预测交通事故和比值比计算...     

Road characteristics and environment factors associated with motorcycle fatal crashes in Malaysia

This study aims to determine risk factors contributing to traffic crashes in 9,176 fatal cases involving motorcycle in Malaysia between 2010 and 2012. For this purpose, both multinomial and mixed models of motorcycle fatal crash outcome based on the number of vehicle involved are estimated. The corresponding model predicts the probability of three fatal crash outcomes: motorcycle single-vehicle fatal crash, motorcycle fatal crash involving another vehicle and motorcycle fatal crash involving two or more vehicles. Several road characteristic and environmental factors are considered including type of road in the hierarchy, location, road geometry, posted speed limit, road marking type, lighting, time of day and weather conditions during the fatal crash. The estimation results suggest that curve road sections, no road marking, smooth, rut and corrugation of road surface and wee hours, i.e. between 00.00 am to 6 am, increase the probability of motorcycle single-vehicle fatal crashes. As for the motorcycle fatal crashes involving multiple vehicles, factors such as expressway, primary and secondary roads, speed limit more than 70 km/h, roads with non-permissible marking, i.e. double lane line and daylight condition are found to cause an increase the probability of their occurrence. The estimation results also suggest that time of day (between 7 pm to 12 pm) has an increasing impact on the probability of motorcycle single-vehicle fatal crashes and motorcycle fatal crashes involving two or more vehicles. Whilst the multinomial logit model was found as more parsimonious, the mixed logit model is likely to capture the unobserved heterogeneity in fatal motorcycle crashes based on the number of vehicles involved due to the underreporting data with two random effect parameters including 70 km/h speed limit and double lane line road marking.     

连续数据环境下的道路交通事故风险预测模型

针对现有研究多基于病例对照的欠采样方法,即每起事故从连续交通流数据中按一定比例抽取对照的非事故数据构建模型,而该类模型在连续数据环境中的预测精度存在缺陷的状况,对城市交通连续观测并动态调控的技术环境（简称连续数据环境）开展道路交通事故风险预测模型构建研究。首先提出基于全样本交通流数据,结合“调整事故分类阈值”的方法解决事故风险预测研究中的非平衡数据分类问题;而后采用上海市城市快速路2014年5,6月的线圈检测交通流数据及历史事故数据开展实证研究,以受试者工作特征曲线下面积为评价指标,对比基于全样本和抽样样本构建的常用事故风险预测模型（逻辑回归、随机森林）的整体预测能力;以灵敏度和特异度的几何均数为评价指标,对比3种分类阈值计算方式（约登指数法、事故占比法和交叉点法）对事故/非事故综合预测精度的影响。结果表明：在连续数据环境下,采用全样本数据建模能使模型整体预测能力提高13.06%;基于约登指数法进行分类阈值计算可使模型的事故/非事故综合预测精度最佳。