Effectiveness of travel time reliability indicators in the light of the assessment of dynamic managed lane strategy

ABSTRACT

The aim of traffic management is to ensure a high quality of service for a maximum number of users by decreasing congestion and increasing safety. Uncertainty of travel times decreases the quality of service and leads end users to modify their plans regardless of the average travel time. Indicators describing travel time reliability are being developed and should be used in the future both for the optimization and for the assessment of active traffic management operations. This article discusses the efficiency of certain reliability indicators in an ex-post assessment of a traffic management strategy. Ex-post assessment is based on an observational before–after study. As some factors other than the studied management strategy may intervene between the two periods, and as most reliability indicators require knowledge of the full travel time distribution and not only its average, a methodology is developed for the identification of the impact of these exogenous factors on the whole distribution. Many reliability indicators are split into different parts allowing the identification of the part due to the management strategy impact. The methodology is tested numerically on a managed lane operation consisting of Hard Shoulder Running (HSR) at rush hour on a section of a French motorway. The variation of some reliability indicators appears misleading, whereas the splitting of the indicators increases our understanding of the strategy and highlights its impact. The paper gives the reliability assessment of the HSR field test and discusses different reliability indicators to identify their potential performances and shortcomings.     

安徽省ETC收费车道改造工程实践

随着安徽省高速公路网络化步伐加快和高速公路电子不停车收费工作的快速发展,用户对高速公路服务水平的要求逐渐提高。结合ETC工程改造的实践,阐述了系统功能、设备选型及车道布局等方面的关键技术。     

The “field of safe travel” revisited: interpreting driving behaviour performance through a holistic approach

The present paper proposes a conceptual framework for the driver’s visual–spatial perceptual processes. Based on a theoretical analysis of driving proposed by Gibson and Crooks [(1938). A theoretical field-analysis of automobile-driving. The American Journal of Psychology, 51, 453–471. doi:10.2307/1416145], the developed field of safe travel (FoST) framework suggests that at any moment the driver constructs a “field” by integrating two perceptual entities: (i) the possible available spatial fields for locomotion and (ii) the driver’s mental image of ego-vehicle outer-line and motion dynamics. This framework is used to reinterpret in a unified way a number of disparate research findings reported in the literature concerning specific driving sub-tasks (e.g. lane keeping and car following). It is argued that the FoST framework may be used to predict drivers’ behaviour in various traffic/situation environments based on their prioritisation between the above two perceptual entities. Implications of the proposed framework at a theoretical and practical level, in view of the future of driving with multiple levels of automation, are also discussed.     

公路平面信号交叉口左转车道长度设计

平面交叉口作为道路系统的一个重要组成部分,其服务水平的好坏对整个道路系统的安全和效率有着重要的影响。因为来自不同方向的车流在此处合流、分流和交叉,其中频繁的左转车辆阻碍直行车流的行驶,降低了交叉口的通行能力,增加了交叉口的延误,并增大交通事故率。如果合理设置左转车道能够有效地将左转车辆从直行车流中分离出来,减小车流速度方差,并降低追尾事故的发生;而左转车道,长度的设计是设置左转车道的关键元素,本文主要是针对信号交叉口选取适当的设计指标建立模型,并通过TSIS软件进行仿真分析,得出专用左转相位下的左转车道排队长度,进而计算出左转车道的设计长度。     

智能车辆安全辅助驾驶技术研究近况

论述了安全辅助驾驶技术的研究现状、研究的必要性以及研究进展。安全辅助驾驶技术包括车道偏离预警与保持、前方车辆探测及安全车距保持、行人检测、驾驶员行为监测、车辆运动控制与通讯等。分析了各种传感器的优缺点及其在实际应用过程中存在的问题,基于单一传感器不能很好地解决安全辅助驾驶技术可靠性和环境适应能力的要求,应结合激光雷达技术解决图像模糊问题,利用红外传感器增强机器视觉识别的可靠性,未来的安全辅助驾驶技术应该采取多种传感器融合的技术,结合毫米波雷达和激光雷达系统具有深度测量精确的特点,将极大的推动汽车安全辅助驾驶系统的应用和推广。     

浅谈城市自行车专用道设置

我国现在只有少数的大城市设置了自行车专用道,它的设置与规划还没有一套系统的方法,该文在国内外自行车交通的发展趋势及经验的基础上,对自行车专用道的设置问题进行了探讨,针对我国的具体现状,从宏观和微观两个角度分析了自行车专用道设置时应该注意的问题。     

非拥挤路段自行车交通流特性研究

自行车是城市居民出行的主要方式之一，研究自行车交通流的特性对于合理规划道路交通资源，提高白行车交通服务水平具有重要意义。针对白行车交通流与机动车交通流的不同特征，提出了以单位面积车道上车辆集散程度定义白行车交通流密度的新方法，并基于调查数据，研究了非拥挤状态下自行车交通流密度、车速和流率3个参数的相关性，发现非拥挤自行车流的速度总是分布在接近期望车速的范围内，且与流率、密度无关，而速度的离散程度随着密度的增大而减小。最后，分析了车道、宽度与交通流3个参数的相关性，并建立了相应的回归模型，模型可用于在给定自行车交通需求以及服务水平条件下自行车道的设计宽度。     

基于熵最大化图像分割的直线型车道标识识别及跟踪方法

为了解决在道路路面材料不一致或光照不均匀情况下的车道标识线的识别和跟踪问题,提出一种基于熵最大化的图像分割可变形模板的车道标识线识别及跟踪方法.该方法结合了图像变窗口处理技术和基于熵最大化分割方法来实现对道路图像的理想分割,然后利用可变形模板匹配方法得到车道标识线参数,最后采用建立梯形感兴趣区域的方法实现对车道标识线的实时跟踪.试验结果表明：该方法具有很好的可靠性、鲁棒性和实时性.     

关于高架快速路车道宽度设置的探讨

由于高架快速路在设计速度、车辆组成和服务功能等方面都与高速公路和一般的城市道路有很大的不同,因此其车道宽度的设置也应有别于其他的道路。通过分析在上海高架路上采集的大量实测数据,应用数理统计的方法建立了速度和流量之间的关系模型,进而得到了不同车道宽度对应的通行能力值。在保证车辆安全行驶和不降低通行能力的前提下,推荐出高架快速路的最小车道宽度值,以节约土地资源,降低工程造价。     

用于车道识别的分段切换车道模型

为了使得车道模型既能准确地描述车道形状,又不影响车道识别算法的实时性,提出了一种分段切换车道模型。对近视场区域使用直线模型匹配车道线,对远视场区域则在直线模型和二次曲线模型之间进行切换,以适应有曲率和无曲率道路的识别要求。试验表明,使用分段切换车道模型的车道识别算法能够很好地匹配各种形状道路,并能满足实时性要求。