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.     

Psychological perspectives on changing driver attitude and behaviour

From a psychological viewpoint, several behaviour change techniques may be used to change unsate driver behaviour, e.g. informing, persuading rewarding, punishing etc. The motivation underlying the behaviour determines to a large degree how successful these behaviour change strategies may be. In the article, three broad classes of explanation for driver behaviour are distinguished: reasoned or planned behaviour, impulsive or emotional behaviour and habitual behaviour. Reasoned behaviour is under voliitional control of the driven and is determined by intention to commit the behaviour, which is in turn dependent on attitudes and subjective norms. Emotional behaviour may take range of expressive forms, varying from impulsive reactions to unexpected traffic situations to aggressive driving behaviours elicited by perceived norm-violations of other road users. Habitual behaviour occurs mindlessly, without forethought or conscious information-processing. The transfer of objective knowledge, the cornerstone of persuasive road safety campaigns and road safety education, may be useful in itself in changing reasoned driver behaviour, but may be amiss in changing unplanned, emotionally or habitually driven behaviours. For addressing these types of behaviour, other or additional strategies are considered.     

Vulnerable road users: Cross-cultural perspectives on performance and attitudes

Pedestrians, cyclists and powered two-wheeler riders are considered vulnerable road users, as they are prone to a high risk of injury in the event of vehicular collision. This paper sought to elucidate the road safety performance and attitudes of vulnerable road users in 32 countries. In addition, comparisons between countries and demographic characteristics have been conducted, and recommendations that could enhance vulnerable road users' safety have been provided. For the study, data from the second edition of the ESRA survey (E-Survey on Road Users' Attitudes – ESRA2) conducted in 2018 were utilized. The results indicate that crossing the road at places other than nearby pedestrian crossings, reading a text message or checking social media while walking on the streets, cycling and riding without wearing a helmet, and speeding on powered two-wheelers outside built-up areas but not on motorways/freeways were the most frequently reported self-declared behaviours in the 32 countries. Finally, some solutions on preventing road crashes and increasing vulnerable road users' safety such as infrastructure interventions, use of protective equipment, and training and educational campaigns are discussed.     

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.     

高等级公路中绿化与安全的关系分析

在高等级公路中，绿化与安全的关系问题越来越为人们所重视。绿化一方面可以改善公路的交通安全状况；另一方面也会带来一些安全隐患。本文论述了绿化的视线诱导、线形预告、消除紧张、明暗过渡、缓冲栽植等作用，同时也分析了公路绿化中存在的影响视线、侵占道路、加重事故后果、造成眩目、视觉污染、视线误导等影响安全的问题，最后提出了符合交通安全要求的公路绿化基本方法。     

基于模拟器的道路安全评价方法

针对在建成道路之前很难对设计道路的安全性进行有效的评价,提出了基于驾驶模拟器对设计道路进行安全评价的主客观评价模型,并对专家意见法、熟练驾驶员评价法和新手评价法三种主观评价方法,视距评价法、眼动评价法、汽车的稳定性评价法和道路线形宜人性评价法四种客观评价方法进行了探讨,分析了两种类型评价方法的优缺点。     

基于交通冲突技术的非机动车交通安全研究

为了提高城市道路交通安全性能,减少交通事故的发生,应该客观地对城市道的交通安全状况做出相应的评价,提出整改方案,提高道路的安全性能和运行效率。在分析非机动车事故的基础上,结合交通冲突技术,详细分析了道路上非机动车冲突的各种类型。研究了采用层次分析和模糊综合评价对道路非机动车安全评价的方法。提出了一种简便易行的模糊综合评价方法。结合具体事例,对方法的适用性和有效性进行了验证。     

Motorcyclists' beliefs of compliance with the Malaysian school zone speed limit (SZSL)

Many road crashes that occur in school zones involve child pedestrians. Research has identified three contributing factors to road crashes, namely child behaviour, driver behaviour, and the environment. This study aims to identify critical beliefs that influence motorcyclist's intention to comply with the Malaysian school zone speed limit (SZSL). 159 Malaysian motorcyclists who have travel experience in school zones during school hours and non-school hours were recruited by using purposive sampling. Participants responded to a survey distributed by enumerators in public places and house-to-house survey conducted in Kedah, Malaysia. Step-by-step correlation and regression analysis were used to identify the motorcyclists' critical beliefs. The results identified that motorcyclists' beliefs of the community expectation for them to comply and that complying with the speed limit in school zones may reduce risk of crashes with school children were the critical beliefs. In addition, the observation of many motorcyclists in the school zone was also identified as critical beliefs influencing motorcyclists' intention to comply with the SZSL. The practical relevance of this study is to combine a public awareness campaign and safety education for the motorcyclists together with an enforcement method to reinforce motorcyclists' compliance with the SZSL. Additionally, to increase the awareness level among motorcyclists, traffic control devices, such as flashing lights and yellow lines could be implemented.     

Factors affecting severity of motorcycle accidents on Thailand's arterial roads: Multiple correspondence analysis and ordered logistics regression approaches

Thailand was classified as a middle-income country and ranked second highest in terms of road traffic fatality rate in the world in 2015. By 2018, this ranking went up to ninth in world which may be because of various earnest safety policies implementation, supporting road safety research and establishing a road safety directing center. However, crash fatality rate has considerably remained high until recent year, indicating a clear need for further related research. Considering severity of the crashes, the majority of fatal crashes involved the motorcycle road user. Therefore, motorcycle crashes are important issues and should be considered to mitigate fatality due to immoderate proportion of motorcycle road user and motorcyclist fatality. This study aims to identify factors that influence the severity of motorcycle accidents on Thailand's arterial roads by employing ordered logistic regression and multiple correspondence analysis. The results demonstrated that although both analyses were relatively different, they provided similar results. Age, road lanes, and helmet wearing were significant factors that influenced the severity of motorcycle accidents. The results could serve as reference for planning strategies or organizing campaigns to reduce and prevent death owing to road traffic accidents, which may enhance the overall image of road traffic safety in Thailand.     

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.     

道路交通安全风险辨识与分析方法综述

道路交通安全风险辨识及分析的准确性、全面性, 是实现风险主动防控的基础和关键环节, 直接影响道路交通安全管理的精细化水平。从影响因素和分析方法2个方面对道路交通安全风险相关研究进行综述和评论。针对人的不安全行为、车辆的不安全状态、道路的不安全条件、外界环境刺激等单因素风险, 以及多因素间的关联耦合风险辨识, 梳理了安全风险理论分析法、系统安全分析法、大数据与人工智能分析方法等道路交通安全风险分析方法。研究表明: 安全风险理论分析法、系统安全分析法等以定性分析为主的方法侧重于对道路交通安全风险要素的全面、系统梳理, 具有简单、直观、易操作等优势, 但在多因素交织影响下的道路交通事故定量化剖析和事故成因深度挖掘方面存在较多局限性; 基于多源数据挖掘技术的大数据与人工智能分析方法在海量信息感知、高效计算处理等方面优势明显, 可基于多元数据对交通安全风险进行综合分析、精准挖掘, 刻画多因素耦合下的事故风险特征、探究事故发生规律, 是当前较为主流的研究方向。并提出道路交通安全风险研究领域存在的不足之处及未来研究发展方向, 主要包括多源异构数据的动态采集与融合、智能网联环境下的道路交通安全风险辨识、考虑时空异质性的可移植的道路交通安全风险识别模型研究等。      

我国道路交通事故统计指标体系问题探讨

道路交通事故统计是一项基础性工作.道路交通事故统计指标是道路系统采集交通事故信息的依据,它对一系列道路安全工作的合理进行起着决定性作用.为此,针对我国道路交通事故统计指标体系中存在的统计指标数据的遗漏、统计指标口径不一致、道路交通事故严重程度的量化及交叉口、路段事故的鉴定、事故形态等问题进行了探讨.     

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.     

基于物元分析的道路交通安全评价方法

道路交通安全是一个受人、车辆、道路等多因素制约的综合系统。选取了道路交通安全评价指标,并根据道路交通事故特点及其影响因素确定了定量评价指标体系。针对现有道路交通安全评价方法的不足,基于物元分析方法和可拓法原理,提出了一种可操作性较强的道路交通安全评价方法,并使用该方法对全国道路交通安全状况进行了评价。     

道路交通安全文化建设水平评价指标体系研究

分析了道路交通安全文化的内涵及其层次体系,界定了道路安全文化建设过程本质及其影响因素,在此基础上探讨了道路交通安全文化建设水平评价指标体系及其方法。     

基于BIM的道路线形设计及安全评价方法探讨

传统的道路线形设计方法难以实现平面线形、纵断面线形之间的动态关联,且忽略了平、纵线形组合的影响,不能全面评价道路线形安全。鉴于此,首先分析了BIM技术在道路线形设计中的应用优势,并确定了将Civil 3D作为BIM建模平台,随后结合某高速公路为工程依托,探讨了三维曲面建模、道路平面线形、纵断面线形设计的实现方法,最后基于BIM技术提出了车辆运行速度和到位空间三维视距的安全评价方法和标准。     

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.     

Road profile input estimation in vehicle dynamics simulation

Vehicle motion simulation accuracy, such as in accident reconstruction or vehicle controllability analysis on real roads, can be obtained only if valid road profile and tire-road friction models are available. Regarding road profiles, a new method based on sliding mode observers has been developed and is compared with two inertial methods. Experimental results are shown and discussed to evaluate the robustness of our approach.     

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.     

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.