Car drivers' road safety performance: A benchmark across 32 countries

The road safety performance of a country and the success of policy measures can be measured and monitored in different ways. In addition to the traditional road safety indicators based on the number of fatalities or injured people in road traffic crashes, complementary road safety performance indicators can be used in relation to vehicles, infrastructure, or road users' behaviour. The last-mentioned can be based on data from roadside surveys or from questionnaire surveys. However, results of such surveys are seldom comparable across countries due to differences in aims, scope, or methodology.This paper is based on the second edition of the E-Survey of Road Users' Attitudes (ESRA), an online survey carried out in 2018, and includes data from more than 35,000 road users across 32 countries. The objective is to present the main results of the ESRA survey regarding the four most important risky driving behaviours in traffic: driving under the influence (alcohol/drugs), speeding, mobile phone use while driving, and fatigued driving. The paper explores several aspects related to these behaviours as car driver, such as the self-declared behaviours, acceptability and risk perception, support for policy measures, and opinions on traffic rules and penalties.Results show that despite the high perception of risk and low acceptability of all the risky driving behaviours analysed, there is still a high percentage of car drivers who engage in risky behaviours in traffic in all the regions analysed. Speeding and the use of a mobile phone while driving were the most frequent self-declared behaviours. On the other hand, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was the least declared behaviour. Most respondents support policy measures to restrict risky behaviour in traffic and believe that traffic rules are not being checked regularly enough, and should be stricter.The ESRA survey proved to be a valuable source of information to understand the causes underlying road traffic crashes. It offers a unique database and provides policy makers and researchers with valuable insights into public perception of road safety.     

Improving the effectiveness of road safety campaigns: Current and new practices

The evaluation of campaigns aimed at improving road safety is still the exception rather than the rule. Because of this, ineffective campaigns and campaign techniques are allowed to continue to be utilised without question, while new methods of behaviour modification are often ignored. Therefore, the necessity and advantages of formally evaluating road safety campaign efforts are discussed. This article also describes the pros and cons of some of the more common campaign strategies and introduces a number of new methods that show a great deal of promise for the purpose of road safety campaigns. In order to infuse the field of road safety campaigning with such new insights into road user behaviour and behavioural modification, one should look beyond the confines of road safety campaign standards and learn from the knowledge gained in other disciplines such as economics and social psychology. These new insights are discussed in terms of their implications for the future of road safety campaigns.     

Improving the effectiveness of road safety campaigns: Current and new practices

The evaluation of campaigns aimed at improving road safety is still the exception rather than the rule. Because of this, ineffective campaigns and campaign techniques are allowed to continue to be utilised without question, while new methods of behaviour modification are often ignored. Therefore, the necessity and advantages of formally evaluating road safety campaign efforts are discussed. This article also describes the pros and cons of some of the more common campaign strategies and introduces a number of new methods that show a great deal of promise for the purpose of road safety campaigns. In order to infuse the field of road safety campaigning with such new insights into road user behaviour and behavioural modification, one should look beyond the confines of road safety campaign standards and learn from the knowledge gained in other disciplines such as economics and social psychology. These new insights are discussed in terms of their implications for the future of road safety campaigns.     

The cognitive training needs of older drivers

According to a recent publication (OECD, 2001), in many OECD member countries one in four persons will be aged 65 or over in 2030. The significant increase in the number of driving licence holders means the percentage of older drivers will follow this trend. With age, many structural and functional changes occur leading to declines in the ability to perform common daily tasks and to a continuous need for medication. Both these factors affect driving skills. Moreover, changes in driving laws, or modifications (even temporary) in the road environment, may cause confusion and disorientation. Following a review of the literature on age-related declines and their effects on the driver’s activity and compensatory behaviours, this article suggests that the cognitive plasticity concept should be further developed in order to design adequate training programmes centred on systematic cognitive stimulation. The scientific evidence for adult cognitive plasticity suggests that cognitive training may become an important means of reversing or preventing age-related cognitive declines. On its own, an adequate road environment may not be able to improve road safety, an appropriate training programme is also required in order to slow down and/or prevent age-related declines in cognitive abilities, particularly those involved in driving. Also, telematic systems may allow older people to delay mobility loss by adding to their existing compensatory strategies, but a generation effect could cause the elderly to avoid using them. Therefore, training programmes should include adequate materials to familiarize older drivers with new technology, being designed according to current scientific knowledge in the area of cognitive training and aim to meet the identified needs of older drivers. Finally, older drivers should be encouraged to take part in specific re-training programmes, which should be widely available. To achieve this, further research is required, involving longitudinal studies with representative samples in different countries.     

Development of an errorable car-following driver model

An errorable car-following driver model is presented in this paper. An errorable driver model is one that emulates human driver’s functions and can generate both nominal (error-free), as well as devious (with error) behaviours. This model was developed for evaluation and design of active safety systems. The car-following data used for developing and validating the model were obtained from a large-scale naturalistic driving database. The stochastic car-following behaviour was first analysed and modelled as a random process. Three error-inducing behaviours were then introduced. First, human perceptual limitation was studied and implemented. Distraction due to non-driving tasks was then identified based on the statistical analysis of the driving data. Finally, time delay of human drivers was estimated through a recursive least-square identification process. By including these three error-inducing behaviours, rear-end collisions with the lead vehicle could occur. The simulated crash rate was found to be similar but somewhat higher than that reported in traffic statistics.     

基于驾驶行为的城市道路车辆主观换道模型研究

车辆换道行为因其运行环境复杂,所涉及的交通因素众多,容易引起交通冲突,从而降低道路交通系统的安全性.对车辆换道行为的动态特性及其对车流运行的影响机理进行建模与研究,对提高交通系统的运行效率有重要意义.基于城市道路车辆换道行为的特征,改进了元胞自动机模型细化车辆换道过程;考虑驾驶员特性、车辆类型的影响,采用模糊推理理论描述驾驶员的换道决策,进而建立了城市道路驾驶员主观换道模型.通过将实测交通流数据与仿真输出数据进行对比,验证模型的有效性.结果表明,所建立的模型输出结果与实测数据的误差较小,说明模型具有一定的有效性.     

Which factors lead to driving errors? A structural equation model analysis through a driving simulator experiment

As driving error is a main contributory factor of road accidents, its causes and consequences are of great interest in the road safety decision making process. This paper investigates several factors (including driver distraction, driver characteristics and road environment) that affect overall driving error behaviour and estimates a new unobserved variable which underlines driving errors. This estimation is performed with data obtained from a driving simulation experiment in which 95 participants covering all ages were asked to drive under different types of distraction (no distraction, conversation with passenger, cell phone use) in rural and urban road environment, as well as in both low and high traffic conditions. Driving error was then modeled as a latent variable based on several individual driving simulator parameters. Subsequently, the impact of several risk factors such as distraction, driver characteristics as well as road environment on driving error were estimated directly. The results of this complex model reveal that the impact of driver characteristics and area type are the only statistically significant factors affecting the probability of driving errors. Interestingly, neither conversing with a passenger nor talking on the cell phone have a statistically significant impact on driving error behaviour which highlights the importance of the present analysis and more specifically the development of a measure that represents overall driving error behaviour instead of individual driving errors variables.     

Developing a safer road user behaviour index

Road user behaviour is an essential factor of increasing the rate of traffic accidents worldwide. Road safety experts and scientists consider aspects of road users' behaviour to be the main risk factors for road fatalities. These factors include drinking alcohol, speeding, not wearing seat belts, not wearing helmets when riding two-wheeled vehicles, not using child restraints, consuming illegal drugs, and being distracted by mobile phone use. This paper aims to investigate the role of these factors in assessing the road user behaviour through aggregating them and build a composite indicator that can be used in countries benchmarking and cross countries comparison, then identifying most successful practises. To achieve this aim, data related to the selected indicators, life-saving rate, and real crash data were collected. The indicators were weighted using simple and theoretical methods. The weighted indicators were aggregated using simple additive method. The developed index was applied to 12 European countries to test the validation of the index through investigation the correlation between index’ ranking of countries with the ranking according to the rate of fatalities. It is concluded that the developed composite indicator can be used to assess the role of using the protection system and speeding in the severity of the road crashes. However, the role of the remaining factors in the likelihood of crashes occurrence needs more investigation. It can be concluded also that the road users' behaviour is not the only factor of reducing the road fatalities in some countries. This enhances the multidimensional system approach of defining the road safety. Based on this, it is recommended to consider other factors in conducting research, developing indices of road safety, and in recommending solutions. The results show also that the UK, Sweden, Ireland and Ireland have the most successful strategies to improve the road user behaviour among the selected countries; therefore, it is recommended to take lessons from these practices.     

Âge des conducteurs de voiture et accidents de la route: Quel risque pour les seniors ?

Increasing life expectancy and the fact that the baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age are increasing the size of the elderly population. As road users, seniors have quite specific travel behaviours, and this has an impact on accidents. This paper adopts a quantitative approach with a view to showing the specific characteristics of elderly drivers as regards travel, accidents and road risk. Towards this end it surveys a number of previous studies and takes advantage of recent data to update some of the findings of these contain. Some road risk indicators are described, and attention is paid to the methodological bias inherent in the methods employed. Our analysis shows that the presence of seniors on the roads is growing as the proportion, particularly of the women, in this group who are accustomed to driving increases. They nevertheless cover fewer kilometres than other drivers and develop compensatory strategies, for example not driving when conditions are difficult or driving more slowly than other drivers. When they have accidents they tend to be more severe because of their greater vulnerability. They have higher crash involvement at intersections as a result of detection and estimation difficulties in the driving task. The excess crash risk per kilometre driven for seniors that was observed a few years ago is tending to fall, or even disappear, if the low mileage bias is taken into account.     

Driver behaviour modelling of vehicles at signalized intersection with heterogeneous traffic

Roads network is composed of mid-blocks and intersections. The part where two roads cross is called an intersection whereas the straight sections without intersection or any other interuptions is called mid-block. It can be observed that the vehicles on the mid-blocks tend to achieve their free-flow speeds while those at the intersections are forced to decelerate. Modelling of these sections needs to separate the intersections from mid-block. Further, drivers behave differently at these two locations. Present study attempts to separate the intersection zone of influence (IZOI) and mid-block using the manoeuvring characteristics of drivers in terms of acceleration/deceleration. These were captured through a global positioning system (GPS) device in the vehicle after sighting a red signal at the intersection. Further, this study also tried to observe whether different classes of drivers such as aggressive, normal or timid drivers, based on acceleration/deceleration behaviour exists. A junction with 1-km straight stretch in R. K. Puram New Delhi (India) was chosen for the study to find the IZOI. After identifying IZOI a video data was collected in Mumbai (India) for a stretch more than 200-m long near intersection where the red signal was visible; This enabled observing the driver behaviour more closely. Around 900 drivers of different modes were analysed to understand their behaviour. It was found that cars start reducing its speed at 160 m, motorized three-wheelers at 124 m and buses start reducing their speeds at 98 m distance from the intersection. The driver behaviours were distinct in each of the mode (Bus, Car and motorized-there-wheelers), but it emerges that the drivers cannot be classified into finite number of clusters based on the fitted normal distribution. Thus it can be seen that there are no clearly demcarcated driver behaviours irrespective of the vehicle type, such as aggressive, normal and timid categories as the intersection approaches. A normal distribution model can classify the drivers satisfactorily.     

Effect of attitudes towards traffic safety and risk perceptions on pedestrian behaviours in Vietnam

This study explores the relationships between attitudes towards traffic safety, risk perceptions and pedestrian behaviours in Vietnam. A questionnaire survey was conducted with a sample of 835 Vietnamese road users. The results from regression analyses and a structural equation model showed that safer attitudes towards traffic safety and higher levels of traffic risk perception are associated with safer pedestrian behaviours. In addition, traffic safety attitudes were found to partially mediate the association between traffic risk perception and pedestrian behaviour. Furthermore, traffic risk perception was significantly predicted by non-traffic risk perception, and people who had higher level of risk perceptions of both kinds were also prone to report safer attitudes towards traffic safety. The practical implications for traffic safety interventions in Vietnam are also discussed.     

Advanced vehicle dynamics of heavy trucks with the perspective of road safety

ABSTRACT

This paper presents state-of-the art within advanced vehicle dynamics of heavy trucks with the perspective of road safety. The most common accidents with heavy trucks involved are truck against passenger cars. Safety critical situations are for example loss of control (such as rollover and lateral stability) and a majority of these occur during speed when cornering. Other critical situations are avoidance manoeuvre and road edge recovery. The dynamic behaviour of heavy trucks have significant differences compared to passenger cars and as a consequence, successful application of vehicle dynamic functions for enhanced safety of trucks might differ from the functions in passenger cars. Here, the differences between vehicle dynamics of heavy trucks and passenger cars are clarified. Advanced vehicle dynamics solutions with the perspective of road safety of trucks are presented, beginning with the topic vehicle stability, followed by the steering system, the braking system and driver assistance systems that differ in some way from that of passenger cars as well.     

Impact of driving style,behaviour and anger on crash involvement among Iranian intercity bus drivers

In developing countries such as Iran, due to the inadequate infrastructure for rail and air transportation facilities, intercity buses are the most common type of transportation for long distances. Because of the long hours of driving, bus driving is considered a challenging job. Moreover, given the high capacity of these vehicles, a small error from the driver could endanger many passengers' health. So, studying drivers' behaviours can be a key factor in decreasing the risk factors of crash involvement in these drivers. However, few studies have focused on intercity bus drivers' behaviours. This research uses a sample of 254 professional drivers that answered a self-report questionnaire on driving style (MDSI), driving behaviour (DBQ), and driving anger (DAS). A structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to investigate the psychometric properties of these questionnaires. The results show a positive correlation between maladaptive driving styles and driving behaviour, and a negative correlation between adaptive styles and driving behaviour. Significant differences are observed among drivers with and without crash history on their maladaptive driving styles and their driving anger scale. A binary logistic regression model is also developed to predict traffic crashes as a function of driving misbehaviour. The results suggest that factors related to driving anger are the main factors that increase the probability of misbehaviour and traffic crashes. The results also suggest that driving style and driving behaviour significantly predict crash risk among bus drivers. Aggressive driving is associated with an increased probability of crash involvement among intercity bus drivers. The findings can be used to inform the health promotion policies and provide regular interventions designed to improve driving safety among intercity bus drivers.     

An adaptive lateral preview driver model

Successful modelling and simulation of driver behaviour is important for the current industrial thrust of computer-based vehicle development. The main contribution of this paper is the development of an adaptive lateral preview human driver model. This driver model template has a few parameters that can be adjusted to simulate steering actions of human drivers with different driving styles. In other words, this model template can be used in the design process of vehicles and active safety systems to assess their performance under average drivers as well as atypical drivers. We assume that the drivers, regardless of their style, have driven the vehicle long enough to establish an accurate internal model of the vehicle. The proposed driver model is developed using the adaptive predictive control (APC) framework. Three key features are included in the APC framework: use of preview information, internal model identification and weight adjustment to simulate different driving styles. The driver uses predicted vehicle information in a future window to determine the optimal steering action. A tunable parameter is defined to assign relative importance of lateral displacement and yaw error in the cost function to be optimized. The model is tuned to fit three representative drivers obtained from driving simulator data taken from 22 human drivers.     

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.     

基于道路特征信息变化率的公路线形质量评价

公路线形质量对行车的舒适性和安全性有着非常重要的影响，如何合理有效地对其进行评价是一个有待解决的问题。从驾驶员行车时接受道路信息的角度出发，提出了道路特征信息变化率的概念，并作为评价公路线形质量的定量指标运用到平面线形、纵断面线形和平纵组合的评价研究中。研究表明：平曲线半径越小，驾驶员接受的道路特性信息变化率越大，驾驶员负担也越重；此外，平曲线长度、竖曲线半径及平纵组合都对道路特性信息变化率有较大的影响。研究成果可为改善公路线形，提高行车安全提供依据。     

Comparison of All-Wheel Steerings in the System Driver-Vehicle

Different load or tires and a drive on an ice-coated road can overcharge a driver to such an extend, that the result may be an accident. Therefore the aim of development is a self-acting compensation of the vehicle to different vehicle transfer behaviour (invariant vehicle behaviour).

The calculation of so called optimal characteristics shows, that only rear-wheel steering cannot realize this aim of development. Therefore an additional front-wheel angle, which is not influenced by the driver, is necessary. A transfer function can be calculated in order to get controlled steering of the rear wheels without the influence of load.

It is not possible to realize optimal characteristics, because the parameters of the vehicle are difficult to measure. Only an optimal diagnosis and control of driving condition realize a relief for the driver in every driving situation in order to avoid most of the accidents.

The often demanded sideslip angle compensation only worsens driving conditions on ice-coated roads. Therefore systems which identify the driving condition themselves have to be favoured in any case.     

基于TruckSim的客车行驶安全因素研究

一些行驶的车辆在一些紧急情况下可能会因为驾驶员对路面情况判断失误而导致交通事故的发生,客车相对于一些小型车辆来说重心高,稳定性相对较低,在路面上行驶安全性也相对较低,可能会出现侧滑、甩尾现象。文章研究客车行驶的稳定性,通过TruckSim软件对客车进行建模仿真,得到客车在不同道路条件路面上行驶时的试验性能曲线,分析影响客车的安全因素,有助于帮助驾驶员在安全地行驶速度下运行,提高客车安全性。     

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.     

基于UDS协议的并线辅助系统动态校准

并线辅助作为汽车智能安全技术的重要组成部分,越来越被重视,它通过车载毫米波雷达检测车辆后方目标的运动情况,提醒驾驶者安全范围内有无障碍物或来车,从而消除视线盲区,提高驾驶员的行车安全。由于车辆自身及雷达支架结构的误差,新安装后的雷达需要进行校准,而UDS诊断协议作为产线设备及售后诊断设备的基础通信协议,将为并线辅助系统动态校准提供网络通信支持。