Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Road traffic collisions'

Worldwide, young drivers are involved in more road traffic collisions than any other age group (Taubman & Katz, 2012). Comprehensive driver training and various forms of pre- and- post-test road safety interventions (RSIs) are in place, but young drivers continue to be involved in more at-fault, fatal collisions than older, newly qualified drivers (e.g. Emmerson, 2008; Braitman et al, 2008; Clarke et al, 2010). The evidence base to date is mixed regarding why young drivers are at a heightened risk of collision and so this thesis aims to provide further understanding about the factors underpinning young drivers’ engagement in risky driving. An evaluation of a young driver RSI, found that young males were less likely than young females to report safer attitudes and intentions after attending the RSI. We considered that this may be due to young males’ behaviour being motivated by a desire to seek rewards (e.g. the thrill of risky driving) rather than a fear of punishment which forms the basis of traditional RSIs. Two subsequent studies were conducted to ascertain whether a heightened sensitivity to reward might underpin the risk-taking behaviour of those most at risk. We found that young males and females scoring high on reward sensitivity reported engaging in more road traffic violations and displayed slower reaction times on a driving game; suggesting that young people may have a heightened sensitivity to reward, in general, and concurrently tend to accept a higher degree of risk than other drivers. We also found that reward sensitive young drivers rated road safety messages framed in terms of financial gains as most effective, suggesting that financial incentives may be a potential route to engage young drivers in the future. The findings from another study provided insight into the precise mechanisms at play in the relationship between young drivers and their peer passengers, and the evaluation of the pilot peer-to-peer RSI showed how it might be possible to improve young drivers’ intentions to drive safely by modifying the norm that risky driving is an appropriate way to attain social prestige within a peer group. The thesis offers a significant contribution to the literature by establishing empirically the effect of reward sensitivity on young drivers’ engagement in risky driving and suggesting multiple ways to better improve young drivers’ safety in the future.

The United States averages 40,000 traffic fatalities annually. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Roadside Design Guide cites run-off-the-road crashes as contributing greatly to this statistic, with about one-third of all traffic deaths [1]. This number has remained relatively constant over the past four decades, and despite a major increase in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), the rate of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled has declined. However, this relatively large number of run-off-the-road crashes should remain a major concern in all roadway design. The Highway Safety Act of 1966 marks a defining moment in the history of roadside safety [ ]. Before this point, roadways were only designed for motorists who remained on the roadway, with no regard for driver error. As there was no legislation or guidelines concerning roadside design, roadways constructed prior to 1966 are littered with fixed objects directly off of the edge of pavement. Fortunately, many of these roads have reached their thirty year design lives and have become candidates for improvement. The following report examines roadside crashes on nine Atlanta urban arterial roadways. Accident type, severity, and location for all crashes on these were evaluated. It is found roadside collisions with utility poles and trees were more prone to occur at intersection locations than midblock locations. Also for the studied roadway corridors, on average, roadside collisions were more likely to result in serious injury or fatality. Based on these findings initial recommendations are offer for improving clear zone requirements.

The aims and objectives of this thesis were to examine the reasons for the high proportion of collisions resulting in death or serious injuries, especially to young drivers on Northern Ireland roads by examining why they suffer more deaths and injuries than their proportion in the population. This was achieved by issuing and analysing a questionnaire based on one previously issued in GB; conducting a Naturalistic Driving experiment with a qualified, approved driving instructor and his pupils to study the use of an audible signal as a means of highlighting hazards; and desk research. Results showed that new drivers in Northern Ireland are not significantly different from those in GB and that an audible signal can be useful in slowing down drivers ahead of a hazard. It was concluded that traffic fatalities have reduced because of the depressed economy but are likely to rise as the economy improves and that the use of a pre-emptive/advanced warning or signal could be one means of enabling young driver road traffic fatalities to remain low, even as the economy improves and more younger drivers start driving on the roads.

Within the last decade, centerline rumble strips have become increasingly prevalent as a safety countermeasure on undivided roadways throughout the United States. Within the state of Georgia, nearly 200 miles of centerline rumble strips have been installed in an effort to address the severity and frequency of crashes involving the centerline. With several thousands of miles of new installations throughout the nation in the last decade, much literature on this subject is still being amassed. This paper will compile and summarize existing literature in order to provide a thorough overview of the latest information from around the United States regarding the safety, usage, and impacts of centerline rumble strips. Furthermore, this paper seeks to comprehensively determine the safety impacts of centerline rumble strips on undivided, rural highway facilities in the state of Georgia. This portion of the study will prepare an updated inventory of centerline rumble strip installations in Georgia and perform a before-after study using three methods: a direct before-after analysis, a comparison before-after analysis, and a comparative analysis. These analyses will incorporate data from crash databases, police records, and traffic records to produce results unique to Georgia. Lastly, this paper will determine the current status of centerline rumble strips and the potential short- and long-term safety, physical, and unintended effects of centerline rumble strips both in the state of Georgia and throughout the United States through a survey sent to all fifty state transportation agencies. Through literature compilation, safety analyses, and findings on the effects of centerline rumble strips, this paper will aid in the future of centerline rumble strips within Georgia and the United States.

The cost of a road construction over its service life is a function of design, quality of construction as well as maintenance strategies and operations. An optimal life-cycle cost for a road requires evaluations of the above mentioned components. Unfortunately, road designers often neglect a very important aspect, namely, the possibility to perform future maintenance activities. Focus is mainly directed towards other aspects such as investment costs, traffic safety, aesthetic appearance, regional development and environmental effects. This doctoral thesis presents the results of a research project aimed to increase consideration of road maintenance aspects in the planning and design process. The following subgoals were established: Identify the obstacles that prevent adequate consideration of future maintenance during the road planning and design process; and Examine optimisation of life-cycle costs as an approach towards increased efficiency during the road planning and design process. The research project started with a literature review aimed at evaluating the extent to which maintenance aspects are considered during road planning and design as an improvement potential for maintenance efficiency. Efforts made by road authorities to increase efficiency, especially maintenance efficiency, were evaluated. The results indicated that all the evaluated efforts had one thing in common, namely ignorance of the interrelationship between geometrical road design and maintenance as an effective tool to increase maintenance efficiency. Focus has mainly been on improving operating practises and maintenance procedures. This fact might also explain why some efforts to increase maintenance efficiency have been less successful. An investigation was conducted to identify the problems and difficulties, which obstruct due consideration of maintainability during the road planning and design process. A method called “Change Analysis” was used to analyse data collected during interviews with experts in road design and maintenance. The study indicated a complex combination of problems which result in inadequate consideration of maintenance aspects when planning and designing roads. The identified problems were classified into six categories: insufficient consulting, insufficient knowledge, regulations and specifications without consideration of maintenance aspects, insufficient planning and design activities, inadequate organisation and demands from other authorities. Several urgent needs for changes to eliminate these problems were identified. One of the problems identified in the above mentioned study as an obstacle for due consideration of maintenance aspects during road design was the absence of a model for calculating life-cycle costs for roads. Because of this lack of knowledge, the research project focused on implementing a new approach for calculating and analysing life-cycle costs for roads with emphasis on the relationship between road design and road maintainability. Road barriers were chosen as an example. The ambition is to develop this approach to cover other road components at a later stage. A study was conducted to quantify repair rates for barriers and associated repair costs as one of the major maintenance costs for road barriers. A method called “Case Study Research Method” was used to analyse the effect of several factors on barrier repairs costs, such as barrier type, road type, posted speed and seasonal effect. The analyses were based on documented data associated with 1625 repairs conducted in four different geographical regions in Sweden during 2006. A model for calculation of average repair costs per vehicle kilometres was created. Significant differences in the barrier repair costs were found between the studied barrier types. In another study, the injuries associated with road barrier collisions and the corresponding influencing factors were analysed. The analyses in this study were based on documented data from actual barrier collisions between 2005 and 2008 in Sweden. The result was used to calculate the cost for injuries associated with barrier collisions as a part of the socio-economic cost for road barriers. The results showed significant differences in the number of injuries associated with collisions with different barrier types. To calculate and analyse life-cycle costs for road barriers a new approach was developed based on a method called “Activity-based Life-cycle Costing”. By modelling uncertainties, the presented approach gives a possibility to identify and analyse factors crucial for optimising life-cycle costs. The study showed a great potential to increase road maintenance efficiency through road design. It also showed that road components with low investment costs might not be the best choice when including maintenance and socio-economic aspects. The difficulties and problems faced during the collection of data for calculating life-cycle costs for road barriers indicated a great need for improving current data collecting and archiving procedures. The research focused on Swedish road planning and design. However, the conclusions can be applied to other Nordic countries, where weather conditions and road design practices are similar. The general methodological approaches used in this research project may be applied also to other studies.

Research on road safety has been of great interest to engineers and planners for decades. Regardless of modeling techniques, a serious factor of inaccuracy - in most past studies - has been data aggregation. Nowadays, most freeways are equipped with continuous surveillance systems making disaggregate traffic data readily available ; these have been used in few studies. In this context, the main objective of this dissertation is to capitalize highway traffic data collected on a real-time basis at the moment of accident occurrence in order to expand previous road safety work and to highlight potential further applications. To this end, we first examine the effects of various traffic parameters on type of road crash as well as on the injury level sustained by vehicle occupants involved in accidents, while controlling for environmental and geometric factors. Probit models are specified on 4-years of data from the A4-A86 highway section in the Ile-de -France region, France. Empirical findings indicate that crash type can almost exclusively be defined by the prevailing traffic conditions shortly before its occurrence. Increased traffic volume is found to have a consistently positive effect on severity, while speed has a differential effect on severity depending on flow conditions. We then establish a conceptual framework for incident management applications using real-time traffic data on urban freeways. We use dissertation previous findings to explore potential implications towards incident propensity detection and enhanced management

Road traffic collisions (RTCs) are a major contributor to unnatural death worldwide, but especially in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs) where motorised transport has rapidly expanded. A literature review into RTCs and alcohol indicated that it is well recognised that alcohol intoxication is a key risk factor in RTCs and road traffic fatalities (RTFs). It also indicated that literature concerning the role of alcohol intoxication in RTFs in South Africa is limited. Hence, this study aimed to investigate alcohol in RTF victims in five of the major mortuaries (Salt River, Tygerberg, Paarl, Worcester and George) in the Western Cape Province between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2017. Cases were extracted from the Western Cape Forensic Pathology Service (FPS) internal database, which included demographic and crash information, together with blood alcohol concentration (BAC) results. In total, 2079 cases over the two years were included in the study, with most cases admitted in the metropole of Cape Town (Salt River: n=838, Tygerberg: n=693). The proportion of unnatural deaths were greater outside the metropole (George, Worcester and Paarl) compared to the metropole (Salt River and Tygerberg) areas. The majority of fatalities were male individuals (male to female ratio of 3.52:1), with the average age of 35.2 ± 17.2 years. Most victims were pedestrians (n = 1106; 53.7%) and dark wet roads, and highways were noted as risk factors in RTFs. Blood was submitted for alcohol analysis in 1432 (68.9%) cases, and results were available for 1314 (91.8%) cases. Of the available results, 709 cases (54%) were positive for alcohol (BAC of ≥ 0.01g/100 mL). Of the positive cases, most had a BAC between 0.15 and 0.29 g/100mL and the overall average BAC was 0.20 g/100 mL. Pedestrians and drivers had the highest median BACs, and almost a third of all the positive BAC results were from pedestrian deaths. The findings of this dissertation can contribute to the growing research on alcohol and injury in South Africa, especially as it relates to RTFs. Insight into vulnerable populations within the province is highlighted, together with key risk factors associated with RTFs, as well as safety measures that may be targeted for improvement, especially with regards to driving and walking on the roads while intoxicated.

The thesis describes the problems of a complex system for analysis of road accidents, specifically the methodology for solving the collision between vehicle and motorcycle. There are statistics described motorcycle accidents, motorcycle safety features, the basic types of collision positions between vehicles and motorcycles, design methodology for solving with traffic accidents between vehicles and motorcycles. The work is performed a set of different measurements used to supplement and refine the input data for the analysis of road accidents involving motorcycles. The work contains data obtained from measurements.

Att vistas på gång- och cykelbanor kan vara en situation som upplevs som otrygg av de oskyddade trafikanterna som delar på detta utrymme. Samexistens och hänsyn till medtrafikanter är av vikt för att minska konflikter och skador som uppstår i denna miljö. En anledning till konflikter mellan fotgängare och cyklister är den höga hastigheten som cyklister kan färdas i. Denna hastighet skapar otrygghet bland fotgängare samt hos de cyklister som färdas i ett långsammare tempo. Otryggheten, beteende hos de båda trafikantgrupperna samt hastigheten leder i vissa fall till konflikter med kollisioner och personskador som följd. Att separera gång- och cykeltrafiken minskar till viss del konflikterna mellan dessa två grupper, men konflikten mellan cyklister som färdas fort och de cyklister som färdas långsamt kvarstår samt att otryggheten till viss del kvarstår hos fotgängarna, speciellt i de fall separeringen enbart skett med färgmarkering. Andra orsaker till otrygghet och konflikter inom och mellan dessa grupper kan bland annat vara ljus och mörkerförhållanden, vägens underlag, tekniska fel på cykeln samt beteende hos trafikanterna. Fotgängare och cyklister drabbas hårt vid en olycka även med en annan oskyddad trafikant. Den upplevda känslan av otrygghet är större än den faktiska risken för att en olycka faktiskt skall inträffa. Kollisioner mellan fotgängare och cyklister på gång och cykelbanor är inget stort problem, statistiskt sett, men grundat på den upplevda oron och brist på trygghet i denna miljö får problemet större proportioner än det statistiska underlaget påvisar
Using the footpaths and cyclelanes may be a situation that is perceived as unsafe by the vulnerable road users who share this space. Coexisting and consideration for other road users is important to reduce conflicts and damages arising in this environment. One reason for conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists are the high speed at which cyclists can travel in. This speed creates insecurity among pedestrians and cyclists that chooses to move in a slower pace. Insecurity, behavior of the road user and the speed of the cyclist results in certain cases to conflicts with collisions and injuries as a result. Separating pedestrian and bicycletraffic decreases part of the conflicts between these two groups, but the conflict between cyclists who are traveling at high speed and the cyclists are traveling at a slow pace, persist and insecurity to some degree remains with the pedestrian, especially in cases separation occurred only with separation through a coloured centerline. Other causes of insecurity in a traffic environment and conflict within and between these groups may include how the roads are lit during the dark hours, darkness and sunflares, road surface, technical failure of the cycle and behavior of road users. Pedestrians and cyclists receive severe injuries even in an accident with another unprotected road user. The perceived sense of insecurity is greater than the actual risk of an accident actually occurring. Collisions of pedestrians and cyclists on footpaths and cyclelanes is rarely a problem, statistically, but based on the perceived fears, insecurity and lack of security in this environment, the problem may be of greater proportions than the statistical data reveals.

This diploma thesis focuses on a traffic simulator design. The matter of simulation methods is described here as well as a project of a town model, road system and its usage in an implementation in a traffic simulator. The work further explains the principles and techniques for creation of the town model in an editor and it analyzes traffic rules that are necessary for the creation of the simulator of this type. The created simulator uses various engines for its functioning. It would not be possible to continue in further work without their proper adjustment. That is why the installation of the used engines is described in the thesis. Principles of 3D model and texture usage are also explained.

The doctoral thesis analyses driver’s conduct while solving situations associated with crossing of pedestrians across the road in cases of various design of pedestrian crossings and at different conditions. The thesis deepens the knowledge of the human factor impact on the occurrence of a traffic accident involved vehicle and pedestrian and thesis also complements knowledge for the needs of the analysis of traffic accidents, especially in solving the pre collision phase and at assessment of possibilities for collision prevention by involved participants. The thesis deals with driver’s conduct, various models of the conduct as well as the thesis focuses on the visual perception, the process of information processing, the driver’s conduct and the reaction time. In terms of the solution suitable types of experiments were designed and implemented. Based on performed measurements a method of processing and evaluating data on drivers’ conduct was found as well as more significant data set was obtained for a detailed analysis of drivers' conduct in different driving situations. The assessed quantities of drivers' conduct were analysed with respect to the dangerousness of driving situations. For these purposes, the categories of the dangerousness of driving situations were defined (situations completely safe, with increased danger, dangerous and critical), into which the analysed driving situations were subsequently included. To enable the quantification of this classification of situations into the categories of the dangerousness, the coefficient of the dangerousness (so called K) was defined. From the detailed analysis of the obtained data, the limit values of this coefficient were determined, and these were subsequently verified using data from the solution of real traffic accidents. Concurrently the analysis verified the suitability of using this hazard coefficient in the analysis of traffic accidents, especially for a detailed assessment of the possibilities of collision prevention.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of defensive driving as a preventative strategy for road traffic violations and collisions in Zimbabwe. A sample of one hundred defensive driving graduates was used in the study. The descriptive survey method was used and data were collected using a questionnaire schedule. Literature review revealed that the majority of similar s udies by other researchers indicate that defensive driving is effective in preventing traffic violations and traffic collisions. The major findings of the present study showed that: (a) The defensive driving course is effective in preventing traffic violations and collisions; and (b) The defensive driving course should be compulsory in Zimbabwe. In view of these findings, this researcher urges the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe to request the government to make legislation that compels every motorist to attend the defensive driving course. The same organisation should start conducting research on road traffic accidents.
Criminology
MA (Criminology)

Thesis (M.Tech.:Civil Engineering)-Dept of Civil Engineering and Survey, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005 xiv, 134 leaves, Annexures A-C
Road fatalities claim more than one million lives annually worldwide. The emotional, social and economic impact of road traffic fatalities demands urgent attention globally. This epidemic of road traffic fatalities is plaguing everyone, especially the poorer nations. Some countries like Australia and Sweden have been more successful than others in combating this epidemic. South Africa is currently seeking strategies to combat this epidemic because South Africa’s road traffic fatalities have been increasing annually, with a substantial percentage of teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 and 29 contributing to these statistics. This age group will become or already have become part of the economically active population and concern is mounting as to why this particular age group is vulnerable. This thesis provides an overview of the road safety problem globally, nationally, provincially and locally and also looks at the historical factors that have contributed to this problem. The Victorian model, which has been classified as the ‘world’s best practice’, has been reviewed. A pilot survey was conducted at the Mangosuthu Technikon and the focal survey was conducted at the tertiary institutions in the Durban area. Students from this sector were selected as they fall in the most vulnerable age group and data was collected from them on various aspects of road safety. On analysing the data, various problems were identified, in particular, lack of resources and limited education pertaining to road safety. A range of possible solutions is recommended and the focus areas are the 3E’s namely: education, enforcement and engineering. However, the focal recommendation is on education and looks at the possibility of introducing learner’s licence testing to the grade 12 syllabi.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking (PAEB) system for avoiding/mitigating pedestrian crashes have been equipped on some passenger vehicles. At present, there are many e orts for the development of common standard for the performance evaluation of PAEB. The Transportation Active Safety Institute (TASI) at Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis has been studying the problems and ad- dressing the concerns related to the establishment of such a standard with support from Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC). One of the important components in the PAEB evaluation is the development of standard testing facili- ties at night, in which 70% pedestrian crash social costs occurs [1]. The test facility should include representative low-illuminance environment to enable the examination of sensing and control functions of di erent PAEB systems. This thesis work focuses on modeling low-illuminance driving environment and describes an approach to recon- struct the lighting conditions. The goal of this research is to characterize and model light sources at a potential collision case at low-illuminance environment and deter- mine possible recreation of such environment for PAEB evaluation. This research is conducted in ve steps. The rst step is to identify lighting components that ap- pear frequently on a low-illuminance environment that a ect the performance of the PAEB. The identi ed lighting components include ambient light, same side/opposite side light poles, opposite side car headlight. Next step is to collect all potential pedes- trian collision cases at night with GPS coordinate information from TASI 110 CAR naturalistic driving study video database. Thirdly, since ambient lighting is relatively random and lack of a certain pattern, ambient light intensity for each potential col- lision case is de ned and processed as the average value of a region of interest on all video frames in this case. Fourth step is to classify interested light sources from the selected videos. The temporal pro le method, which compressing region of interest in video data (x,y,t) to image data (x,y), is introduced to scan certain prede ned region on the video. Due to the fact that light sources (except ambient light) impose distinct light patterns on the road, image patterns corresponding to speci c light sources can be recognized and classi ed. All light sources obtained are stamped with GPS coordinates and time information which are provided in corresponding data les along with the video. Lastly, by grouping all light source information of each repre- sentative street category, representative light description of each street category can be generated. Such light description can be used for lighting construction of PAEB test facility.