Connected Vehicles - Challenges and Opportunities for Road Operators

The deployment of Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication, also known as cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) is speeding up in many developed countries. For example, Japan has already an operational system at national level, the United States are considering a law mandating dedicated short-range communication in new cars, and the European Union has developed a strategy aiming at massive deployment from 2019. These technologies involve many opportunities [...]

Land use and safety: an introduction to understanding how land use decisions impact safety of the transportation system

Unplanned communities create hazards for road users of all types generating unsafe conditions for motorists on the roadway and significant dangers for pedestrians, bicyclists and residents alongside or adjacent to the road. While the World Road Association continues to investigate options and recommendations for communities that already exist in these environments, Technical Committee 3.1 generates this report to explain the relationship between land use and transport planning and the need for determined, [...]

Vulnerable road users: Diagnosis of design and operational safety problems and potential countermeasures

Following the World Health Organisation, nearly half of those dying on the world's roads are vulnerable road users (VRU). This proportion is much greater in low- and middle-income countries, because of the greater variety and intensity of traffic mix and the lack of separation from other road users, than in high-income countries. Compared to other road users the vulnerable user group is particularly exposed to injury as they are not protected by a vehicle shell. For years, pedestrians, cyclists, [...]

The Role of Road Engineering in Combatting Driver Distraction and Fatigue Road Safety Risks

Driver distraction and fatigue are a problem because, as remarkable as our abilities are, we humans are fallible and our abilities have limitations. Driver distraction and fatigue incorporates elements of both limitations and fallibility. On top of our limitations and fallibilities, driving a vehicle is a surprisingly complex task that involves numerous elements. A driver is required to move between these tasks to effectively deal with the ever changing road environment and traffic situation. [...]

Human factors guidelines for a safer man-road interface

In the case of road safety, the Human Factors concept considers road characteristics that influence a driver's right or wrong driving actions. It understands the causes of road users' operational mistakes as the first step in a chain of actions which may proceed to an accident. Many often observed operational mistakes result from a direct, subconscious interaction between road characteristics and road users' threshold limit values of perception, information processing and action. Because the driver's [...]