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.     

高速公路常发性交通拥挤路段实时判定与跟踪研究

提出的自动判定和实时跟踪高速公路常发性拥挤路段的方法包含3个算法：①路段平均车速算法；②交通流区段类型判定算法；③排队类型判定算法。考虑采用两个前后相邻车辆检测站之间的路段平均车速来实时判定和跟踪常发性交通拥挤路段的情况，使得模型所提供的信息更能反映路段的真实交通状况。采用路段平均车速的方法克服了目前采用点速度来跟踪车队方法的局限性，并且采用“客观”标定临界车速作为基于现场数据判定车队状态的一种方法。     

Consumer preferences and willingness to pay for advanced vehicle technology options and fuel types

The automotive industry is witnessing a revolution with the advent of advanced vehicular technologies, smart vehicle options, and fuel alternatives. However, there is very limited research on consumer preferences for such advanced vehicular technologies. The deployment and penetration of advanced vehicular technologies in the marketplace, and planning for possible market adoption scenarios, calls for the collection and analysis of consumer preference data related to these emerging technologies. This study aims to address this need, offering a detailed analysis of consumer preference for alternative fuel types and technology options using data collected in stated choice experiments conducted on a sample of consumers from six metropolitan cities in South Korea. The results indicate that there is considerable heterogeneity in consumer preferences for various smart technology options such as wireless internet, vehicle connectivity, and voice command features, but relatively less heterogeneity in the preference for smart vehicle applications such as real-time traveler information on parking and traffic conditions.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

我国公路桥梁汽车荷载演变与比较

对国内三个历史阶段的公路桥涵设计通用规范中有关公路桥涵汽车荷载的形式、量值、折减系数、冲击系数等以及其作用、在选定结构上的响应进行了较为系统的分析与比较。对现有规范中汽车荷载的合理性做了初步探讨。最后提出了今后可能的发展趋势。     

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。