In search of surrogate safety indicators for vulnerable road users: a review of surrogate safety indicators

Surrogate indicators are meant to be alternatives or complements of safety analyses based on accident records. These indicators are used to study critical traffic events that occur more frequently, making such incidents easier to analyse. This article provides an overview of existing surrogate indicators and specifically focuses on their merit for the analyses of vulnerable road users and the extent to which they have been validated by previous research. Each indicator is evaluated based on its ability to consider the collision risk, which can be further divided into the initial conditions of an event, the magnitude of any evasive action and the injury risk in any traffic event. The results show that various indicators and their combinations can reflect different aspects of any traffic event. However, no existing indicator seems to capture all aspects. Various studies have also focused on the validity of different indicators. However, due to the use of diverse approaches to validation, the large difference in how many locations were investigated and variations in the duration of observation at each location, it is difficult to compare and discuss the validity of the different surrogate safety indicators. Since no current indicator can properly reflect all the important aspects underlined in this article, the authors suggest that the choice of a suitable indicator in future surrogate safety studies should be made with considerations of the context-dependent suitability of the respective indicator.     

叙泸段河道非恒定流作用下水力参数的变化

金沙江与岷江干支流上水电站调峰发电下泄非恒定流引起下游叙泸段河道水流条件显著变化。结合一维非恒定流数学模型和实测资料分析研究叙泸段河道内代表性非恒定流传播过程及其造成水力参数相对于概化恒定流条件时的变化情况。结果表明:叙泸段河道内典型非恒定流波长为218 km,传播速度3 m/s;随着传播距离增加波衰减幅度减小,波形变得光滑;当宜宾水位处于波峰时,下游沿程流量呈现递减趋势,波谷则正好相反;相对于恒定流条件,其流量变化范围为0~730 m3/s,水位抬升0.5~2 m;断面平均流速变化在-0.5~0.2 m/s,比降变化范围为-0.2‰~0.2‰,比降最大值为1.38‰。     

金沙江宜宾段非恒定流过程及传播特性

金沙江、岷江的非恒定流调节过程较为复杂,在宜宾汇合后形成新的非恒定流向下游传播。通过近年实测资料,分析金沙江、岷江非恒定流特征及汇合效果。结果表明:宜宾段非恒定流特征与向家坝电站下泄非恒定流的符合度更高,岷江的非恒定流无典型过程;宜宾段水位变幅和金沙江、岷江水位变幅存在线性关系;涨幅在1.7 m左右,起调水位在1 m左右的泄水波可作为宜宾段非恒定流过程的典型代表,其在下游的传播速度沿程基本保持一致,衰减幅度随着距离的增加而减小。     

多智能体仿真在LNG码头选址及港口规划中的应用

液化天然气(LNG)船舶进出港进行的严格交通管制会影响港口的运营,因此在港口规划阶段须审慎决策LNG码头选址及布局问题。应用自主开发的《基于多智能体信息交互的港口运营系统仿真软件(简称:APSS)V1.0》,建立可模拟涵盖LNG船舶通航影响机制的港口运营系统仿真模型;以实际工程为例,系统探讨LNG船舶通航对近、远期港口运营影响问题的思路和方法;结合水域通航环境特点提出远期优化措施。研究结果可辅助港口规划制定。     

水力式升船机竖井内水体的振动分析

地震荷载下升船机系统内水体与浮筒间的耦合作用是影响升船机安全运行的一个难题。通过流体动力学模拟(CFD)方法,讨论在不同频率的正弦激励下升船机竖井内水体的振荡。结果表明:竖井的水体存在一个自振频率,此频率比相同径度、相同水深的矩形池的值大约10%,自振周期约为0.42s;竖井水体的自振频率基本不随高度变化。     

Modeling the interactions between car and bicycle in heterogeneous traffic

In this paper, a new cellular automata model is proposed to simulate the car and bicycle heterogeneous traffic on urban road. To capture the complex interactions between these two types of vehicles, a novel occupancy rule is adopted in the proposed model to consider the variable lateral distances of mixed vehicular traffic. Based on massive simulations, microscopic fundamental diagrams under different bicycle densities are devised. With these, the bicycle's spilling behavior is then investigated and discussed. In order to reflect the interference of a bicycle on a car, the interference transformation from friction state to block state is modeled explicitly. Finally, different simulation results under different occupancy rules indicate that the constant and fixed occupancy rule adopted in the previous studies might lead to overestimation of car flux in the heterogeneous traffic flows with different bicycle densities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An integrated framework for embedding large-scale dynamic traffic assignment models in advanced traveler information systems

In recent years, increasing attention has been drawn to the development of various applications of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), which are credited with the amelioration of traffic conditions in urban and regional environments. Advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) constitute an important element of ITS by providing potential travelers with information on the network's current performance both en-route and pre-trip. In order to tackle the complexity of such systems, derived from the difficulty of providing real-time estimations of current as well as forecasts of future traffic conditions, a series of models and algorithms have been initiated. This paper proposes the development of an integrated framework for real-time ATIS and presents its application on a large-scale network, that of Thessaloniki, Greece, concluding with a discussion on development and implementation challenges as well as on the advantages and limitations of such an effort.     

Evaluation of pedestrian crosswalk level of service (LOS) in perspective of type of land-use

In India pedestrians usually cross the road at mid-block crosswalks due to ease of access to their destination or the development of adjacent land use types such as shopping, business areas, school and residential areas. The behaviour of pedestrian will change with respect to different land use type and this change in behaviour of pedestrian further reflects change in perceived level of service (LOS). So, it is important to evaluate the quality of service of such crossing facilities with respect to different land-use type under mixed traffic conditions. In this framework, pedestrian perceived LOS were collected with respect to different land-use type such as shopping, residential and business areas. The ordered probit (OP) model was developed by using NLOGIT software package, with number of vehicles encountered, road crossing difficulty as well as safety considered as primary factors along with pedestrian individual factors (gender and age), land-use type and roadway geometry. From the model results, it has been concluded that perceived safety, crossing difficulty, land-use condition, number of vehicles encountered, median width and number of lanes have significant effect on pedestrian perceived LOS at unprotected (un-signalized) mid-block crosswalks in mixed traffic scenario. The inferences of these results highlights the importance of land use planning in designing a new set of pedestrian access facilities for unprotected mid-block crosswalks under mixed traffic conditions. Also the study results would be useful for evaluating pedestrian accessibility taking into account different land-use type and planning required degree of segregation with vehicular movement at unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations.     

基于价值函数的城市绿色交通规划评价

为了评价城市绿色交通,建立了城市绿色交通评价体系,包括环保性指标等3个评价项目和道路绿化率等8个评价指标,文章通过案例分析发现,价值函数法适用于城市绿色交通评价。采用专家打分法确定指标权重系数,并对指标进行无量纲化、同趋向化等处理,采用价值函数法计算评价体系得分。