Les facteurs d’accidents de la route par somnolence chez les conducteurs âgés: Prévention par l’activité physique

Sleepiness while driving is a frequent factor in car crashes and the primary cause of fatal accidents on French motorways, particularly among the elderly. The ageing process is accompanied by chronobiological disturbances which affect diurnal vigilance in particular and may have an impact on driving. The quality of nocturnal sleep diminishes among the elderly and sleep takes the form of a number of short, increasingly frequent naps during the day. All the changes in nocturnal sleep are accompanied by changes in circadian rhythms, the most striking of which is a reduction in amplitude. To counteract the effects of ageing, we have investigated the extent to which regular moderate physical activity can have a beneficial effect on circadian rhythms and the quality of sleep. Our study shows that such activity results in a subjective and objective improvement in the quality of sleep and restores circadian rhythms. There is also an improvement in driving performance on a simulator.     

VirMaLab — atelier virtuel de maintenance: un outil d’aide à la décision pour l’optimisation des politiques de maintenance

This article deals with a generic approach called VirMaLab (virtual maintenance laboratory) for reliabilitybased maintenance modeling for complex systems (with multi-components and multi-states). Based on the probabilistic graphical models formalism (also known as Bayesian networks), this stochastic approach takes into account both the degradation process of the considered system (an original semi-Markovian model is proposed) and maintenance strategies (from diagnosis factors to all kinds of maintenance actions). For complete decision support tools, cost parameters should also be considered (maintenance actions, unavailability of the system, running, etc.). In this article, two applications of this approach to rail maintenance are introduced. The first one focuses on the optimization of the compromise refurbishment/repairing of central part of the RER A line. The second one focuses on the comparison and evaluation of various maintenance strategies in the modernization of the command control systems of Paris metro lines.     

L'information sur les durées de parcours: Modélisation de l’activité cognitive impliquée

In recent years some urban express roads have been equipped with journey time information systems, which are greatly appreciated by drivers. It has been observed that the messages help drivers take appropriate decisions and then better manage the time they spend travelling and deal better with congestion. In order to understand why the content of the messages leads to the behaviour in question we have developed a hypothetical architecture for the mental process demanded by the messages. This paper presents the cognitive model we have developed, which is based on knowledge networks.     

Vieillissement et gravité des atteintes lésionnelles des victimes d’accident de la circulation routière

This study uses the road traffic accident casualty register for the Rhône Département to investigate how the risk of severe or fatal injury varies according to age and to describe the injuries that explain the severity. Two groups of road users are investigated, car occupants and pedestrians. A NISS score of nine or over is taken to indicate a severe injury. Data analysis reveals that, for both groups, the risk of severe or fatal injury increases with age. The nature and location of the injuries depend on the age and sex of the victims. With regard to severe injuries, elderly female pedestrians are susceptible to fractures of the femur (and the femoral neck) and all parts of the upper limbs. Elderly male pedestrians are mainly exposed to fractures of the femoral neck. The greater vulnerability of severely injured elderly drivers results in thoracic injuries, which are partly explained by seat–belt wearing. The main cause of death, for pedestrians of all ages and young drivers is severe head injuries. Car occupants over the age of fifty more frequently suffer from severe thoracic injuries. These findings should not, however, be allowed to conceal the differences observed in the general population for the two severity criteria we have analyzed (severe injury or death). Mortality (in relation to the general population) is highest for young car occupants, while lethality (the fatality rate amongst those injured) is highest among the elderly. For pedestrians, both mortality and lethality increase with age. These findings are also applicable to the risk of severe injury. They justify the continuation of passive safety research in order to develop protection systems that are appropriate for the characteristics of car occupants. Furthermore, they should help to increase everybody’s awareness of the vulnerability of pedestrians and stimulate the introduction of preventive measures, particularly for seniors.     

Le transport ferroviaire régional de voyageurs : un processus collectif d’apprentissage

Regional passenger rail services are prevalent in France, as opposed to the more marginal role they play elsewhere in the world. It is indeed at the regional level that reforms have been successfully implemented, probably because the process was gradual and cautious. Initially in 1997, seven regions began experimenting with a decentralized system of regional passenger transportation services. By 2002, all metropolitan regions, with the exception of Corsica and Ile-de-France, were involved. Today we have reached a point where this process can be retrospectively and prospectively assessed. This article is first a retrospective assessment of the role of actors and the emerging dynamic between regional passenger rail transport supply and demand. Then, a prospective evaluation is offered since regionalization is best understood as an ongoing learning process that can be discontinuous or continuous.     

Quelle place pour la sécurité routière dans les plans de déplacements urbains? Entre intégration et diffusion,le cas du plan de déplacements urbains de Lille métropole

This paper describes the position given to road safety in Urban Travel Plans by analyzing Urban Travel Plan document from eleven cities and undertakes a more in-depth investigation of road safety in the Urban Community of Lille. These plans provide an opportunity to disseminate knowledge about road safety to the other areas of urban management. They also describe the beginning of an integration of road safety in urban planning, even if intersectoral approaches at city level have yet to be developed and even if, in the case of Lille, the division of institutional competence with regard to the management of public space still requires clarification.     

Une caractérisation de l'émission acoustique des véhicules au cours des déplacements

Traffic noise is usually measured at fixed points whereas in reality vehicles move and generate noise throughout their trip. This paper therefore puts forward a new method of identifying noise emissions which takes account of the trip as a whole. We have made use of the concept of standard kinematic sequences (which are the elements which form all car trips) and have introduced a new acoustic index to characterize the noise emissions of a vehicle during a sequence. We have achieved this by adapting conventional highway acoustic indices to the way sequences are defined and used. We have calculated examples of these indices from acoustic recordings of isolated vehicles on a test track and from standard sequences.     

Analyse de la prise en compte de la sécurité routière dans les plans de déplacements urbains

At the time when Urban Travel Plans (utps) are being introduced it is important to see how they take safety into account, certu's analysis of a dozen recent docuements shows the position occupied by road safety in utps, reveals the stated aims of the utps, identifies local actions aimed at improving road safety and highlights current or foresedable problems in the implementation of utps. The analysis shows that the way safety is taken into account varies considerably from one city to another. The desire to introduce measures to improve safety is usually present, but there is uncertainty as to how to tackle the issue. The examples of methods and actions that are given in this paper may provide some ideas which merit further examination for utps in the future. It is already obvious that utps will be responsible for profound changes in urban travel and its safety, and the results obtained over the next five years will doubtless have important consequences for the cities of tomorrow.     

Gibraltar: le projet de lien fixe entre intégration euroméditerranéenne et développement régional

This paper presents a socioeconomic examination of the project for a fixed link in the Strait of Gibralter. This project for a major link between Europe and the Maghreb which would take the form of a rail tunnel can be examined at two different spatial scales, that of the major trade networks which link Europe and the Maghreb and that of the areas which are located near the future points of access to the tunnel. If we pass over the problems which may be posed by the financing of this project (which studies have shown to be profitable), the geopolitical context of changing relations within Europe and the Mediterranean should be favourable to its construction. Its strategic (and at the same time symbolic) character is defined by its role as a link between the trans-European networks and the southwestern shore of the Mediterranean basin. This physical connection may nevertheless generate undesired or even counterproductive effects in the directly exposed economies on the southern side. Additional strategies could be considered for which the existence of a tunnel would constitute an opportunity. These are referred to as accompanying measures in French regional planning policy.     

Une méthode d’analyse spatiale des espaces piétons au service d’un urbanisme orienté vers le rail ?

In recent years, the quest for a more sustainable urban planning and street design has gained importance among practitioners and researchers. An urbanism oriented towards rail is a valid alternative to the long standing practices of urban planning and street lay out based on the individual car, which have conditioned the development of cities for several decades. Among different tools that could be implemented to improve rail travel attractiveness, a radical improvement of walking conditions all along the footpaths leading to rail stations is proposed. In this paper, an observation grid as well as a set of criteria for footpath attractiveness are first proposed as a tool (or methodological approach) for a spatial diagnosis. This tool is then tested on the Carnot rail station in Saint-Etienne, a city in Eastern France. Besides the assessment itself (showing assets and challenges of the areas to be redesigned), this case study leads to proposed planning principles, in terms of recommendations meant to improve footpath quality significantly.     

Les objectifs de qualité urbaine et de sécurité routière dans la planification de la mobilit'e plan urbain de trafic (Brescia) et plan de déplacements urbains (Aix-en-Provence), deux visions différentes

Apart from the fact that it is of interest in itself to conduct the first comparison between Urban Travel Plans in France and Italy, this paper has the more general aim of examining a number of ideas which are shared by the scientific community, namely that urban policies and planning practices take ittle account of, or even completely ignore, road safety, the relationship between town planning and transport planning and consultation.     

Fusion de données pour l'estimation des temps de parcours via la théorie de l'évidence

The emergence of new information technologies and the transformation that has occurred in traffic management have both increased drivers' already considerable need for road traffic information. The travel time is one of the forms in which this information is presented, and a number of systems are based on its dissemination. In this context, this indicator is used as a measure of the impedance (or cost) of routes on the network and/or a congestion indicator. This raises the problem of estimating travel times with an acceptable degree of accuracy, which is a particularly difficult task in urban areas as a result of difficultes of a theoretical, technical and methodological nature. Thus, in order to find out the traffic conditions that prevail on an urban road, the traffic sensors that are usually used to measure traffic conditions are ineffective under certain circumstances. New measurement devices (cameras, GPS or cellphone tracking, etc.) mean that other sources of data are increasingly used in order to supplement the information provided by conventional measurement techniques and improve the accuracy of travel) time estimates. As a result, travel time estimation becomes a typical data fusion problem. This study deals with a multisource estimate of journey times and attempts to provide a comprehensive framework for the utilization of multiple data and demonstrate the feasibility of a travel time estimation system based on the fusion of data of several different types. In this case two types of data are involved, data from conventional induction loop sensors (essentially flow and occupancy measurements) and data from probe vehicles. The selected modelling framework is the Dempster-Shafer Evidence Theory, which has the advantage of being able to take account of both the imprecision and uncertainty of the data. The implementation of this methodology has demonstrated that, in each case, better results are achieved with fusion than with methods based on a single source of data and that the quality of the information, as measured by correctly classified rates, improves as the degree of precision required of the estimate is increased.     

Comment les péages urbains peuvent-ils satisfaire une politique d’agglomération ?

This paper evaluates the extent to which urban road pricing schemes are able to satisfy the objectives of urban policy with regard to three frequently incompatible constraints: funding, the environment and social equity. We have devised a technical tolling system which reconciles these objectives and applied it to the case of the Lyon conurbation. We reach a number of conclusions concerning the effectiveness of different toll scenarios in terms of vehicle × kilometres travelled, travel durations, atmospheric emissions and funding. In general, achieving a simultaneous improvement in the above criteria requires at least the introduction of zonal tolls which reduce private car use by those residing in the conurbation and provide funding for alternative forms of transport.     

Demande de transport de personnes: une théorie unifiée de l'urbain à l'intercontinental Seconde partie: population de l'ensemble des voyages réalisés

This paper proposes a theory which links some of the characteristics of trips made by individuals to the travel price and time provided by transport supply, with reference to the socio-economic context. This model appears to be able to reproduce the phenomena that are observed when there is a change in the supply or context on a given origin-destination link. However, above all, the same model can also reproduce those phenomena (changes in urban development aside) which are different in an urban and an interurban context: greater personal mobility, shorter period away from home, lower value of time among travellers, different modal split for trips, slower increase in the number of trips as a result of the socio-economic context, etc. The first part of the paper shows how each of an individual's potential journeys may be characterized by wishes concerning different aspects of the journey and how the different alternatives for the journey in a given context of transport and accommodation supply can be assessed with reference to the gap between wishes and real characteristics. The second part shows how it is possible to determine the total population of journeys made, with reference to both the context and supply. The theory has been illustrated by numerical results obtained for a variety of situations which are representative of urban and interurban areas.     

Entre marche et métro, les mouvements intra-urbains des touristes sous le prisme de l’? adhérence ? à Paris et en ?le-de-France

The urban movement of tourists remains largely unknown, but the mobility of tourists contributes to the metropolitan process. Around the notion of ??adherence??, this article demonstrates how, in the Paris metropole, tourists rely mainly on walking and the use of the tube to travel within the city. The structurally different characteristics of walking and the use of the tube represent a theoretical opposition between the two types of movements that are differently ??adherent?? to the city. However, these mobilities complement each other. Indeed, the partial disconnection of the tube is addressed by the direct connection and proximity to the city allowed by the pedestrian means.     

Demande de transport de personnes: une théorie unifiée de l'urbain à l'intercontinental Première partie: modalités de réalisation d'un voyage potentiel

This paper proposes a theory which links some of the characteristics of trips made by individuals to the travel price and time provided by transport supply, with reference to the socio-economic context. This model appears to be able to reproduce the phenomena that are observed when there is a change in the supply or context on a given origin-destination link. However, above all, the same model can also reproduce those phenomena (changes in urban development aside), which are different in an urban and an interurban context: greater personal mobility, shorter period away from home, lower value of time among travellers, different modal split for trips, slower increase in the number of trips as a result of the socio-economic context, etc. The first part of the paper shows how each of an individuals potential journeys may be characterized by wishes concerning different aspects of the journey and how the different alternatives for the journey in a given context of transport and accommodation supply can be assessed with reference to the gap between wishes and real characteristics. The second part shows how it is possible to determine the total population of journeys made with reference to both the context and supply. The theory has been illustrated by numerical results obtained for a variety of situations which are representative of urban and interurban areas.