Accident; analysis and prevention
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Evaluating time-reminder strategies before amber: common signal, green flashing and green countdown.
The safety level of signalized intersection depends greatly on drivers' decision-making behaviors, which are significantly influenced by the time-reminder strategy before amber of the signal device. However, previous related studies are mainly based on the statistical results from the field data rather than explore the influence mechanism of the signal device on the signalized intersection's safety level. Therefore, this study aims to find out how these three typical signal devices with various time-reminder strategies, i.e., common signal device (CSD), green signal flashing device (GSFD), and green signal countdown device (GSCD), affect drivers' decision-making processes during the period from the end of the green phase to the onset of the red phase (i.e., G2R) and then evaluate their safety performance from the aspect of RLR violations. ⋯ Empirical analyses show that the time point of decision-making before amber under GSCD is the earliest and that under CSD is the latest, which can also be modeled and reproduced by back propagation neural network (BPNN). After that, five binary logistic regression models are developed to determine the safety effect during other various processes and results show that red-light-running (RLR) violations are not only dependent on the range of dilemma zones (DZ) but also substantially on stop and go decisions of those vehicles in DZ, both of which are the potential cause and direct factors to RLR violations and found to be significantly affected by the time-reminder strategy of the green signal device. Finally, although GSCD stimulates the drivers in DZ to choose to cross the intersection during amber, which produces a higher RLR risk compared with CSD and GSFD, the intersection with GSCD is verified to own the lowest RLR violations due to its greatly positive effect in cutting down the range of DZ.
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The frequency of pedestrian collisions is strongly influenced by the built environment, including road width, street connectivity and public transit design. In 2010, 2159 pedestrian collisions were reported in the City of Toronto, Canada with 20 fatalities. Previous studies have reported that streetcars operating in mixed traffic pose safety risks to pedestrians; however, few studies evaluate the effects on pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions (PMVC). The objective of this study was to examine changes in the rate and spatial patterning of PMVC, pre to post right-of-way (ROW) installation of the St. Clair Avenue West streetcar in the City of Toronto, Canada. ⋯ Construction of a raised ROW operating on St. Clair Ave. was associated with a reduction in the rate of collisions. Differences in pre- and post collision spatial structure indicated changes in collision locations. Results from this study suggest that a streetcar ROW may be a safer alternative for pedestrians compared to a mixed traffic streetcar route and should be considered by city planners where appropriate to the street environment.
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Cycling is a popular form of recreation and method of commuting with clear health benefits. However, cycling is not without risk. In Canada, cycling injuries are more common than in any other summer sport; and according to the US National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, 52,000 cyclists were injured in the US in 2010. ⋯ In the 2m (6.3m/s) drops, the middle of our drop height range, the helmet reduced peak accelerations from 824g (unhelmeted) to 181g (helmeted) and HIC was reduced from 9667 (unhelmeted) to 1250 (helmeted). At realistic impact speeds of 5.4m/s (1.5m drop) and 6.3m/s (2.0m drop), bicycle helmets changed the probability of severe brain injury from extremely likely (99.9% risk at both 5.4 and 6.3m/s) to unlikely (9.3% and 30.6% risk at 1.5m and 2.0m drops respectively). These biomechanical results for acceleration and HIC, and the corresponding results for reduced risk of severe brain injury show that contemporary bicycle helmets are highly effective at reducing head injury metrics and the risk for severe brain injury in head impacts characteristic of bicycle crashes.
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Safe walking environments are essential for protecting pedestrians and promoting physical activity. In Peru, pedestrians comprise over three-quarters of road fatality victims. Pedestrian signalization plays an important role managing pedestrian and vehicle traffic and may help improve pedestrian safety. ⋯ A longer pedestrian-specific signal duration was associated with collision risk (OR 5.31, 95% CI 1.02-9.60 per 15-s interval). Collisions occurred more commonly in the presence of any signalization visible to pedestrians or pedestrian-specific signalization, though these associations were not statistically significant. Signalization efforts were not associated with lower risk for pedestrians; rather, they were associated with an increased risk of pedestrian-vehicle collisions.
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Volitional risky driving behaviours such as drink- and drug-driving (i.e. substance-impaired driving) and speeding contribute to the overrepresentation of young novice drivers in road crash fatalities, and crash risk is greatest during the first year of independent driving in particular. ⋯ Behaviours of concern include drink driving, speeding, novice driving errors such as misjudging the speed of oncoming vehicles, violations of graduated driver licensing passenger restrictions, driving tired, driving faster if in a bad mood, and active punishment avoidance. Given the interrelationships between the risky driving behaviours, a deeper understanding of influential factors is required to inform targeted and general countermeasure implementation and evaluation during this critical driving period. Notwithstanding this, a combination of enforcement, education, and engineering efforts appear necessary to improve the road safety of the young novice driver, and for the drink-driving young novice driver in particular.