Young drivers and graduated licensing: The Ontario case

Despite improvements in road safety over the past several decades, accident rates remain high for young drivers. One accident countermeasure that is expected to improve the safety record of this group is graduated licensing. The philosophy behind this licensing system is that novice drivers, of whom the majority are young, should be restricted to relatively safe driving environments during the initial learning period. Graduated licensing was implemented in the Province of Ontario, Canada in 1994. The objective of this study is to estimate the potential benefits and costs for young drivers associated with two components of the Ontario graduated licensing package: the late-night driving curfew and the high-speed roadway restrictions. Based on accident and travel data for the year 1988, accident-involvement rates per kilometre driven were calculated for different driver groups for various combinations of time of day and roadway speed limit. These rates were then applied to the expected mobility profiles of young drivers affected by graduated licensing. The results of the study support the late-night curfew and suggest that this component of the licensing package should reduce total accident involvements for the affected group by up to 10 percent and fatal accident involvements by up to 24 percent, while reducing their total driving by only four percent. By contrast, the empirical evidence suggest that the high-speed roadway restrictions are likely to increase accident involvements, and thus it is strongly recommended that this component of Ontario's graduated licensing package be changed.     

Predictive power of inspection outcomes for future shipping accidents – an empirical appraisal with special attention for human factor aspects

This paper investigates whether deficiencies detected during port state control (PSC) inspections have predictive power for future accident risk, in addition to other vessel-specific risk factors like ship type, age, size, flag, and owner. The empirical analysis links accidents to past inspection outcomes and is based on data from all around the globe of PSC regimes using harmonized deficiency codes. These codes are aggregated into eight groups related to human factor aspects like crew qualifications, working and living conditions, and fatigue and safety management. This information is integrated by principal components into a single overall deficiency index, which is related to future accident risk by means of logit models. The factor by which accident risk increases for vessels with above average compared to below average deficiency scores is about 6 for total loss, 2 for very serious, 1.5 for serious, and 1.3 for less-serious accidents. Relations between deficiency scores and accident risk are presented in graphical format. The results may be of interest to PSC authorities for targeting inspection areas, to maritime administrations for improving asset allocation based on prediction scenarios connected with vessel traffic data, and to maritime insurers for refining their premium strategies.     

Wildlife strikes to civil helicopters in the US, 1990–2011

This paper examines wildlife strikes with civil helicopters within the US. Month and time of day, location, and other factors influenced the frequency of wildlife strikes with civil helicopters. Wildlife strikes occurred most frequently when the aircraft were traveling en route or engaged in terrain flight. Birds accounted for over 97% of the wildlife strikes where the animal was identified.     

Controlled mechanical vibration applied to driver’s right heel to sustain alertness: Effects on cardiovascular behavior

Vehicle-related countermeasures to sustain driver’s alertness might improve traffic safety. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of somatosensory 20 Hz mechanical vibration, applied to driver’s right heel during prolonged, simulated, monotonous driving, on their cardiovascular hemodynamic behavior. In 12 healthy young male volunteers, during 90-min periods of simulated monotonous driving, we compared cardiovascular variables during application of 20 Hz mechanical vibration with 1.5 Hz as a control and with no vibration. The parameters recorded were indices of key cardiovascular hemodynamic phenomena, i.e., blood pressure as an indicator of stress, cardiac output, and total peripheral-vascular resistance. The principle results were that all conditions increased the mean blood pressure, and elicited a vascular-dominant reaction pattern typically observed in monotonous driving tasks. However, mean blood pressure and total peripheral-vascular resistance during the monotonous task were significantly decreased in those receiving the 20 Hz vibration as compared with 1.5 Hz and with no vibration. The observed differences indicate the cardiovascular system being more relieved from monotonous driving stress with the 20 Hz vibration. The major conclusion is that applying 20 Hz mechanical vibration to the right heel during long-distance driving in non-sleepy drivers could facilitate more physiologically appropriate status for vehicle operation and could be a potential vehicular countermeasure technology.     

山区高速公路隧道典型安全因素分析及其对策研究

文章针对西部多条山区高速公路隧道运营安全情况,分析山区高速公路隧道的典型安全事故及原因,提出了基于车速限制、车道限制、照明控制与交通安全设施的安全对策,为山区高速公路隧道的安全运营提供参考。     

道路交通事故痕迹鉴定确定肇事车辆

道路交通事故检验鉴定为公安机关交通管理部门的事故处理提供科学、专业的技术支持。检查和核实道路交通事故的影响是对道路交通事故技术评估的基本方法。已成为解决许多事故问题的重要依据。本文根据道路交通事故痕迹鉴定的实际情况,针对公安机关交通管理部门涉及复杂、疑难、特殊技术问题的痕迹鉴定情况,提出了针对性的解决方案。     

高速公路交通事故交通流辐射分析与仿真研究

针对目前我国高速公路2次事故多发的特点,从初次交通事故交通流辐射分析入手,阐述高速公路交通事故影响范围和影响时间的分析方法.建立基于TransModeler微观交通仿真平台的交通事故辐射分析模型,对其中一种紧急事件的交通流辐射范围进行实例分析.本模型可为交通事故或其他突发事件的信息发布、预警提供信息与决策支持,从而达到...     

山区公路穿村镇路段过境车辆事故严重程度推理分析

为获取道路线形、驾驶员属性、车辆类型、事故形态等因素对山区公路穿村镇路段过境车辆事故严重程度的影响机制。本文基于元双公路(元谋—牟定)2012—2017年事故数据,利用社会网络分析法从人、车、路、环境等方面筛选出15个影响因素;基于机器学习方法构建贝叶斯网络模型;以事故严重程度为决策变量,分析不同证据变量与驾驶员行为共同作用的推理结果。结果表明：不安全驾驶行为与危险事故因素的共同作用,将会增加事故严重程度;当涉及货车时,由于未保持安全距离,伤人事故率增加8.2%;在弯坡组合路段,由于驾驶员判断失误,伤人事故率增加 19.6%;阴雨天行驶时,由于驾驶员判断失误,伤人事故率增加5.4%;由于操作不当,发生侧翻事故时,伤人事故概率增加3.1%。     

Casualty analysis of large tankers

This article presents detailed results of a comprehensive analysis of recorded accidents of large oil tankers (deadweight greater than 80 000 tonnes) occurring between 1978 and 2003. The analysis encompasses a thorough review of available raw accident data and their postprocessing in a way to produce appropriate statistics useful for the implementation of risk-based assessment methodologies. The processing of the captured data led to the identification of significant qualitative historical trends of tanker accidents and of quantitative characteristics of large tanker accidents, such as overall accident rates per ship-year. Data were also analyzed for all major accident categories separately, taking into account tanker ship size/type, the degree of accident severity, and the oil spill tonne rates per ship-year; this led to the identification of heavily polluted worldwide geographical areas as a result of large tanker accidents.