Traffic integration and environmental traffic management in Denmark

This paper assesses Danish experience in attempting to integrate traffic with its surroundings in existing areas. Rest and play areas, quiet roads with a 30 km/h speed limit, and major road schemes on urban shopping streets and through villages are all discussed; so too are policies seeking to create safe routes to school, the problems arising from the introduction of speed reduction measures on bus routes, and the merits of area‐wide as opposed to incremental approaches. Evaluations indicate that speed reductions to a maximum of 30 km/h are achievable on local roads, and that the quiet street approach represents a cost‐effective and popular means of achieving environmental improvements and safer, more liveable streets for residents. It is recommended as an appropriate model for Britain to follow. Incremental implementation risks being sub‐optimal in design terms but has distinct advantages in minimizing conflicts and enabling rapid implementation. Evaluations of shopping street and village schemes are incomplete but speed reductions and environmental gains have undoubtedly been achieved.     

Transport and nation‐state governments worldwide

The Sydney Olympics held in September 2000 provided an opportunity to monitor the planning of transport provision for the world's greatest sporting spectacular. As the single largest major event, the pressures on a city's transport system are enormous, as witnessed by the previous Games in Atlanta and Barcelona. This paper takes a value-chain approach to assess transport performance as a crucial element in the delivery of the Sydney Olympic Games. We begin with a brief overview of strategic value, highlighting some generic aspects of value chains followed by the transport delivery system that came to the fore as significant 'drivers' in the value chain. This is followed by a summary of the effectiveness of the buses, trains, taxis, roads and the airport. A more detailed look is provided of the private bus sector where the problems leading up the opening of the Games received a great deal of media attention. The paper concludes with two stories, one good, one not so good, about transport and the Olympic Games.     

Exploring the relationship between perceived acceptability and referendum voting support for alternative road pricing schemes

A dominant theme in the debate on road pricing (RP) reform is securing buy in from all key stakeholders as a pre-condition for gaining support from politicians. This paper explores the key influences and the extent to which particular RP schemes are acceptable to the community at large, and how this translates into support if a scheme were subject to a vote in a referendum. Using data collected in Sydney in 2012 from a sample of car users, we estimate a recursive simultaneous bivariate probit model that recognises the endogeneity effect of scheme acceptability on voting plans. We find that there is a very strong link between voting intentions and scheme acceptability, and provide a series of direct elasticity estimates of the influence that the cost elements of RP reform schemes have on the joint probability of accepting and voting for a scheme.     

Transport and nation‐state governments worldwide: a further review

The review undertaken in this Paper shows how, in 1984, governments of nation‐states of the world deal with the important function of Transport. In all 115 countries are included and, with the information now given, it is possible to compare the situation with 1981–82, and also have a current global view of affairs affecting Transport as managed by governments. Such a review is part of the service which Transport Reviews provides for its readers. It is hoped to conduct a further review in 1988.     

Review of computer software for traffic engineers

The mid‐1970s saw the initiation of several lengthy research and development programmes in the United Kingdom which culminated in a range of software for the traffic engineer. The early 1980s brought cheap, powerful microcomputers, thereby enabling the facilities offered by the software to be exploited to the full. This article describes the range of programs now available and in common usage for the design and appraisal of traffic management schemes in the United Kingdom, and suggests a few of the areas where some research and development effort is still needed.     

Traffic noise studies in a tropical environment

This paper reports upon a survey of traffic noise annoyance in three residential districts of Trinidad, West Indies. Householder perceptions were solicited by means of a questionnaire survey and direct measurements of traffic noise levels were taken. The results were compared with surveys elsewhere. It was concluded that household status had little effect on annoyance perception, that at L₁₀ levels greater than 70 dB(A) at a dwelling facade the noise level is unacceptable. L₁₀ levels less than 65 dB(A) at the building facade are not perceived as annoying in the environment considered.     

Modelling journey‐to‐work fuel consumption: a case study of Bayridge subdivision

Fuel consumption is calculated using a modelling procedure for automobiles travelling on three alternative street patterns designed for a subdivision in Kingston Township, Ontario. The modelling procedure is described. The results indicate that grid and solar superblock street patterns, compared to the existing street pattern, offer small fuel savings to a tripmaker in the portion of the work trip travelled in the subdivision.     

National road mortality reduction targets under European Union road safety policy: 2011–2020

The European Union (EU) has proposed renewing the target for halving the number of road fatalities in the period 2011–2020. In this paper, a nonlinear distribution method for dynamic fatality reduction targets is applied for the purpose of finding individual national mortality reduction targets for each of the 27 member countries in the EU. Weighting is undertaken for four scenarios based on the following indicators: road mortality rates, fatality rates, fatality risks, and fatality density. Results are presented for four proposals to reduce the number of fatalities in each Member State, based on the original situation of the indicators considered in the study. The results seek to provide policy-makers with a broader vision with regard to the achievement of the goals of EU road safety policy.     

Transportation of hazardous materials on Arizona's low volume roads

This paper attempts to address the issue of transporting hazardous materials and the question whether this activity constitutes a significant problem on Arizona's low volume roads. Problems related to lack of data required for most of existing risk assessment models are discussed. A preliminary risk assessment, conducted by the use of a screening model, attested that of the total state low volume road mileage, only 30% may need further, and more detailed, hazardous materials transportation risk analysis. The remaining 70% is currently free of any significant risk.     

An application of a rank ordered probit modeling approach to understanding level of interest in autonomous vehicles

Surveys of behavior could benefit from information about people’s relative ranking of choice alternatives. Rank ordered data are often collected in stated preference surveys where respondents are asked to rank hypothetical alternatives (rather than choose a single alternative) to better understand their relative preferences. Despite the widespread interest in collecting data on and modeling people’s preferences for choice alternatives, rank-ordered data are rarely collected in travel surveys and very little progress has been made in the ability to rigorously model such data and obtain reliable parameter estimates. This paper presents a rank ordered probit modeling approach that overcomes limitations associated with prior approaches in analyzing rank ordered data. The efficacy of the rank ordered probit modeling methodology is demonstrated through an application of the model to understand preferences for alternative configurations of autonomous vehicles (AV) using the 2015 Puget Sound Regional Travel Study survey data set. The methodology offers behaviorally intuitive model results with a variety of socio-economic and demographic characteristics, including age, gender, household income, education, employment and household structure, significantly influencing preference for alternative configurations of AV adoption, ownership, and shared usage. The ability to estimate rank ordered probit models offers a pathway for better utilizing rank ordered data to understand preferences and recognize that choices may not be absolute in many instances.