Motorcycle safety research project: Interim summary report 3: training and licensing interventions for risk taking and hazard perception for motorcyclists

Motorcycle trauma is a serious road safety issue in Queensland and throughout Australia. In 2009, Queensland Transport (later Transport and Main Roads or TMR) appointed CARRS-Q to provide a three-year program of Road Safety Research Services for Motorcycle Rider Safety. Funding for this research originated from the Motor Accident Insurance Commission. This program of research was undertaken to produce knowledge to assist TMR to improve motorcycle safety by further strengthening the licensing and training system to make learner riders safer by developing a pre-learner package (Deliverable 1), and by evaluating the QRide CAP program to ensure that it is maximally effective and contributes to the best possible training for new riders (Deliverable 2). The focus of this report is Deliverable 3 of the overall program of research. It identifies potential new licensing components that will reduce the incidence of risky riding and improve higher-order cognitive skills in new riders

The Trade and Climate Change Joint Agenda. CEPS Working Document No. 295/June 2008

Climate change, international trade, investment and technology transfer are all issues that have intersected in diverse institutional contexts and at several levels of governmental activity to form a new joint agenda. The purpose of this paper is to advance understanding of this joint agenda by identifying the specific issues that have emerged, the policies that have been adopted, especially in the EU and US, and the options that are available for further policy-making

A Framework for Integrating Transportation Into Smart Cities

In recent years, economic, environmental, and political forces have quickly given rise to “Smart Cities” -- an array of strategies that can transform transportation in cities. Using a multi-method approach to research and develop a framework for smart cities, this study provides a framework that can be employed to: Understand what a smart city is and how to replicate smart city successes; The role of pilot projects, metrics, and evaluations to test, implement, and replicate strategies; and Understand the role of shared micromobility, big data, and other key issues impacting communities. This research provides recommendations for policy and professional practice as it relates to integrating transportation into smart cities

The ABCs of ATVs: Factors implicated in child deaths and injuries involving all terrain vehicles on New Zealand farms

The agricultural sector features prominently in the rates of ATV injuries and fatalities amongst children in New Zealand. This research project assesses the nature and scope of ATV accidents to children on New Zealand farms and provides recommendations that attempt to meet the needs of all relevant stakeholders. In particular, we believe that the most effective means of reducing the rates of ATV injuries and fatalities amongst children involves a strategy which recognises the unique circumstances which give rise to practical impediments to safer farm workplace practices. We identified three distinct groups of children in the literature, each facing a different major risk category. Very young children were most at risk as passengers. As age increased the highest risks applied to bystanders, while older children and teenagers were more likely to be injured as drivers. The high risks to younger children as passengers and bystanders were indicative of underlying problems associated with childcare options – or, more particularly, the lack of childcare options. Accidents involving older children were associated more closely with practices around child supervision and involved aspects of farming culture, rather than practical barriers to safer practices

The Computational Difficulty of Bribery in Qualitative Coalitional Games

Qualitative coalitional games (QCG) are representations of coalitional games in which self interested agents, each with their own individual goals, group together in order to achieve a set of goals which satisfy all the agents within that group. In such a representation, it is the strategy of the agents to find the best coalition to join. Previous work into QCGs has investigated the computational complexity of determining which is the best coalition to join. We plan to expand on this work by investigating the computational complexity of computing agent power in QCGs as well as by showing that insincere strategies, particularly bribery, are possible when the envy-freeness assumption is removed but that it is computationally difficult to identify the best agents to bribe.Bribery, Coalition Formation, Computational Complexity

Understanding Transit Ridership Demand for a Multi-Destination, Multimodal Transit Network in an American Metropolitan Area, Research Report 11-06

This study examines the factors underlying transit demand in the multi-destination, integrated bus and rail transit network for Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta provides an opportunity to explore the consequences of a multi-destination transit network for bus patrons (largely transit-dependent riders) and rail patrons (who disproportionately illustrate choice rider characteristics). Using data obtained from the 2000 Census, coupled with data obtained from local and regional organizations in the Atlanta metropolitan area, we estimate several statistical models that explain the pattern of transit commute trips across the Atlanta metropolitan area. The models show that bus riders and rail riders are different, with bus riders exhibiting more transit-dependent characteristics and rail riders more choice rider characteristics. However, both types of riders value many of the same attributes of transit service quality (including shorter access and egress times and more direct trips) and their use of transit is influenced by many of the same variables (including population and employment). At the same time, the factors that influence transit demand vary depending on the type of travel destination the rider wishes to reach, including whether it is the central business district (CBD) or a more auto-oriented, suburban destination. The results of the study offer new insights into the nature of transit demand in a multi-destination transit system and provide lessons for agencies seeking to increase ridership among different ridership groups. The results suggest that more direct transit connections to dispersed employment centers, and easier transfers to access such destinations, will lead to higher levels of transit use for both transit-dependent and choice riders. The results also show that the CBD remains an important transit destination for rail riders but not for their bus rider counterparts. Certain types of transit-oriented development (TOD) also serve as significant producers and attractors of rail transit trips