Developing standard pedestrian-equivalent factors: passenger car–equivalent approach for dealing with pedestrian diversity

Similar to vehicular traffic, pedestrians, despite having diverse capabilities and body sizes, can be classified as heterogeneous. The use of vehicular traffic resolves the diversity issue with a conversion of heterogeneous vehicle flow into an equivalent flow with the use of passenger car–equivalent (PCE) factors. Analysis of pedestrian flow has yet to incorporate pedestrian diversity analysis implicitly into the design of pedestrian facilities, although some form of adjustment has been suggested. This paper introduces the concept of PCE-type factors for mixed pedestrian traffic called standard pedestrian-equivalent (SPE) factors. Estimates of SPE factors are made relative to the average commuter. The equivalent total travel time approach for PCE estimation was adapted to consider the effects of the differences in physical and operational characteristics of pedestrians, particularly walking speed and body size. Microsimulation of pedestrians was employed to evaluate hypothetical pedestrian proportions so as to generate corresponding flow relationships. Walking speeds and body sizes were varied across different flow conditions, walkway widths, and proportions of other pedestrian types. The first part of this paper explores how the two pedestrian characteristics (walking speed and body size) influence estimated SPE factors. The second part is a case study in which field-collected data illustrate SPE factors calculated for older adults, obese pedestrians, and their combination. An application of SPE factors demonstrates the robustness of the methodology in bridging the gap between pedestrian compositions and planning practice

Integrating spatial and temporal approaches for explaining bicycle crashes in high-risk areas in Antwerp (Belgium)

The majority of bicycle crash studies aim at determining risk factors and estimating crash risks by employing statistics. Accordingly, the goal of this paper is to evaluate bicycle-motor vehicle crashes by using spatial and temporal approaches to statistical data. The spatial approach (a weighted kernel density estimation approach) preliminarily estimates crash risks at the macro level, thereby avoiding the expensive work of collecting traffic counts; meanwhile, the temporal approach (negative binomial regression approach) focuses on crash data that occurred on urban arterials and includes traffic exposure at the micro level. The crash risk and risk factors of arterial roads associated with bicycle facilities and road environments were assessed using a database built from field surveys and five government agencies. This study analysed 4120 geocoded bicycle crashes in the city of Antwerp (CA, Belgium). The data sets covered five years (2014 to 2018), including all bicycle-motorized vehicle (BMV) crashes from police reports. Urban arterials were highlighted as high-risk areas through the spatial approach. This was as expected given that, due to heavy traffic and limited road space, bicycle facilities on arterial roads face many design problems. Through spatial and temporal approaches, the environmental characteristics of bicycle crashes on arterial roads were analysed at the micro level. Finally, this paper provides an insight that can be used by both the geography and transport fields to improve cycling safety on urban arterial roads

A Study on Defining Pedestrian Level of Service for Road Links in Urban Indian Context

In countries like India pedestrians form a large percentage of traffic volume and they are the most vulnerable road users. Movement of pedestrian are not restricted to the lanes but pedestrians experience certain physical boundaries such as walkways or pedestrian ways which restrict their movement. Normally Indian roads experience inefficient facilities for pedestrians, which leads to a number of fatal accidents all over the country almost every day. To know the efficiency of roadways in aspect to accommodate the pedestrian travel or how effectively they are useful for pedestrians, walking conditions need to be assessed. This assessment helps further for the development of road geometry, road-side furniture and road network assets etc. Estimation of Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS) is the most common approach to assess the quality of operations of pedestrian facilities. The main purpose of this study is to outline suitable methodology to evaluate Pedestrian Level of Service for both on street and off-street aspect in Indian condition. All the existing models have certain limitations for which they are not applicable for Indian conditions. In order to assess the PLOS for India it is highly necessary to develop a new model. All the parameters affecting PLOS are considered and accordingly data was collected. Videography was found to be the most efficient method for the collection of traffic data. Video of traffic flow was taken during the peak hours of the day in 15 minutes segments at various locations in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela city. Video data were extracted in order to find the value of different parameters. The extracted data were used to develop a model and regression analysis was used as the main tool for the model development. Proposed model is quite significant as it gives the PLOS value as it is observed on the segment. It describes the traffic scenario very neatly and considers the effect of all parameters those affect pedestrian movement. Proposed model was also compared with the existing models and it was observed that the proposed model gives better result than the existing models. PLOS estimated using the proposed model shows that ivalmost 70% of road segment gives level of service ‘C’ and ‘D’. 15% to 20% road segment comes under level of service ‘E’ and ‘F’. Only a few road segments come under level of service ‘A’ or ‘B’

New Approach to Estimating the Saturation Flow Rate of a Shared Lane with Permitted Left Turns

The estimation of the saturation flow rate is of utmost importance when defining the signal plan at intersections. Because of the numerous influential factors, the values of which are hard to be determined, the subject problem is to be regarded as an extremely complex one. This research deals with the estimation of a saturation flow rate of a shared lane with permitted left turns. The suggested algorithm is based on the application of the artificial neural networks where the data for training are received by simulation. The results obtained by the neural networks are compared with multiple linear regression and the known HCM 2010 approach for determining the saturated flow of a shared lane. The testing data have shown that the approach based on the artificial neural networks foresaw statistically significantly better values than the ones obtained by multiple linear regression, with an error of 27 veh/h against 49 veh/h. The HCM 2010 approach is significantly worse than the two others included in this research. The ways of the future development of the suggested method could include additional factors, such as the grade of the traffic lane, the proximity of the bus stops, and others.</p

Optimal Alignments for Designing Urban Transport Systems: Application to Seville

The achievement of some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the recent 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has drawn the attention of many countries towards urban transport networks. Mathematical modeling constitutes an analytical tool for the formal description of a transportation system whereby it facilitates the introduction of variables and the definition of objectives to be optimized. One of the stages of the methodology followed in the design of urban transit systems starts with the determination of corridors to optimize the population covered by the system whilst taking into account the mobility patterns of potential users and the time saved when the public network is used instead of private means of transport. Since the capture of users occurs at stations, it seems reasonable to consider an extensive and homogeneous set of candidate sites evaluated according to the parameters considered (such as pedestrian population captured and destination preferences) and to select subsets of stations so that alignments can take place. The application of optimization procedures that decide the sequence of nodes composing the alignment can produce zigzagging corridors, which are less appropriate for the design of a single line. The main aim of this work is to include a new criterion to avoid the zigzag effect when the alignment is about to be determined. For this purpose, a curvature concept for polygonal lines is introduced, and its performance is analyzed when criteria of maximizing coverage and minimizing curvature are combined in the same design algorithm. The results show the application of the mathematical model presented for a real case in the city of Seville in Spain.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MTM2015-67706-

Performance Analysis of Roundabouts using Empirical Method for Indian Scenario

With hike in road traffic due to globalization, it has become a necessity to develop a transportation network which could handle the present as well as the future traffic efficiently. To do so, proper designing and analysis of various infrastructures is to be done. One such infrastructure induced in road network to increase the efficiency of intersections by reducing the delay is roundabouts. Presently, as such no robust model is available for Indian traffic conditions to determine the performance of roundabouts. So, an attempt has been made to develop a model to determine performance of roundabouts based on capacity. From the existing global models, it was observed that the geometrics of the roundabout played a crucial role in addressing the roundabout capacity. Thus, with this aspect as foundation, a model for entry capacity was developed for heterogeneity in Indian traffic. For modelling, data from various roundabout with varying geometry and flow properties were selected for including affect due to variations. In all, five geometric elements were observed to have significant impact on capacity. The degree of saturation, determined by taking ratio of the existing mean flow values and estimated capacity was considered as parameter to determine the level of service thresholds using K-means clustering. Most of the entries were found to work at capacity flows, indicating scope for better design aspects. The comparison of developed model with existing models showed that the UK and the Jordan model underestimated the capacity as compared to the developed mode

A Comprehensive Study on Pedestrians' Evacuation

Human beings face threats because of unexpected happenings, which can be avoided through an adequate crisis evacuation plan, which is vital to stop wound and demise as its negative results. Consequently, different typical evacuation pedestrians have been created. Moreover, through applied research, these models for various applications, reproductions, and conditions have been examined to present an operational model. Furthermore, new models have been developed to cooperate with system evacuation in residential places in case of unexpected events. This research has taken into account an inclusive and a 'systematic survey of pedestrian evacuation' to demonstrate models methods by focusing on the applications' features, techniques, implications, and after that gather them under various types, for example, classical models, hybridized models, and generic model. The current analysis assists scholars in this field of study to write their forthcoming papers about it, which can suggest a novel structure to recent typical intelligent reproduction with novel features

Performance Analysis of Roundabouts using Empirical Method for Indian Scenario

With hike in road traffic due to globalization, it has become a necessity to develop a transportation network which could handle the present as well as the future traffic efficiently. To do so, proper designing and analysis of various infrastructures is to be done. One such infrastructure induced in road network to increase the efficiency of intersections by reducing the delay is roundabouts. Presently, as such no robust model is available for Indian traffic conditions to determine the performance of roundabouts. So, an attempt has been made to develop a model to determine performance of roundabouts based on capacity. From the existing global models, it was observed that the geometrics of the roundabout played a crucial role in addressing the roundabout capacity. Thus, with this aspect as foundation, a model for entry capacity was developed for heterogeneity in Indian traffic. For modelling, data from various roundabout with varying geometry and flow properties were selected for including affect due to variations. In all, five geometric elements were observed to have significant impact on capacity. The degree of saturation, determined by taking ratio of the existing mean flow values and estimated capacity was considered as parameter to determine the level of service thresholds using K-means clustering. Most of the entries were found to work at capacity flows, indicating scope for better design aspects. The comparison of developed model with existing models showed that the UK and the Jordan model underestimated the capacity as compared to the developed mode