A system for traffic violation detection

This paper describes the framework and components of an experimental platform for an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) aimed at providing drivers with a feedback about traffic violations they have committed during their driving. The system is able to detect some specific traffic violations, record data associated to these faults in a local data-base, and also allow visualization of the spatial and temporal information of these traffic violations in a geographical map using the standard Google Earth tool. The test-bed is mainly composed of two parts: a computer vision subsystem for traffic sign detection and recognition which operates during both day and nighttime, and an event data recorder (EDR) for recording data related to some specific traffic violations. The paper covers firstly the description of the hardware architecture and then presents the policies used for handling traffic violations

Privacy Protection, At What Cost? Exploring the Regulatory Resistance to Data Technology in Auto Insurance

Regulatory and sociological resistance to new market-driven technologies, particularly to those that rely on collection and analysis of personal data, is prevalent even in cases where the technology creates large social value and saves lives. This article is a case study of such tragic technology resistance, focusing on tracking devices in cars which allow auto insurers to monitor how policyholders drive and adjust the premiums accordingly. Growing empirical work reveals that such “usage-based insurance” induces safer driving, reducing fatal accidents by almost one third, and resulting in more affordable and fair premiums. Yet, California prohibits this technology and other states limit its effectiveness, largely in the interest of privacy protection. The article evaluates the justifications fueling the restrictive regulation vis-à-vis the loss of lives resulting from this regulation. It concludes that the social benefits of the tracking technology dramatically outweigh the privacy and related costs

Development and evaluation of a smartphone-based system for inspection of road maintenance work

Abstract. In the road construction industry, doing work inspection is a laborious and resource-consuming job because of the distributed work site. Contractors in Finland require to capture photos of every road fix they have done as proof of their work. It is well-established that with the help of smartphone technology, these kinds of manual work can be reduced. This thesis aims to develop and evaluate a smartphone-based system to capture video evidence of task completion. The system, designed and developed in this thesis, consists of an Android application named ’Road Recorder’ and a web tool for managing the content collected by Road Recorder. While mounted to a vehicle’s dashboard used in construction work, the Road Recorder can record the videos of road surface and geo-location information and some other metadata and send them to a remote server that is inspected using the web tool. Users of different backgrounds were given the system to accomplish some tasks and were observed closely. The users were interviewed at the end, and responses were analyzed to find the usability of the applications. The results indicate the high usability of the Road Recorder application and reveal possible improvements for the Road Recorder management web application. Overall, Road Recorder is a great step towards the automation of such construction work inspection. Though there were some limitations in the evaluation process, it demonstrates that Road Recorder is easy to use and can be a useful tool in the industry

The impact of localized road accident information on road safety awareness

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that road traffic accidents represent the third leading cause of ‘death and disease’ worldwide. Many countries have, therefore, launched safety campaigns that are intended to reduce road traffic accidents by increasing public awareness. In almost every case, however, a reduction in the total number of fatalities has not been matched by a comparable fall in the total frequency of road traffic accidents. Low severity incidents remain a significant problem. One possible explanation is that these road safety campaigns have had less effect than design changes. Active safety devices such as anti-lock braking, and passive measures, such as side impact protection, serve to mitigate the consequences of those accidents that do occur. A number of psychological phenomena, such as attribution error, explain the mixed success of road safety campaigns. Most drivers believe that they are less likely to be involved in an accident than other motorists. Existing road safety campaigns do little to address this problem; they focus on national and regional statistics that often seem remote from the local experiences of road users. Our argument is that localized road accident information would have better impact on people’s safety awareness. This thesis, therefore, describes the design and development of a software tool to provide the general public with access to information on the location and circumstances of road accidents in a Scottish city. We also present the results of an evaluation to determine whether the information provided by this software has any impact on individual risk perception. A route planing experiment was also carried out. The results from the experiment gives more positive feedback that road users would consider accident information if such information was available for them

Intelligent Driving Assistant based on Road Accident Risk Map Analysis and Vehicle Telemetr

El estudio espuesto a continuación presenta el desarrollo de un asistente inteligente de conducción basado en telemetría vehicular y análisis de mapas de riesgo de accidentalidad vial, cuya responsabilidad es alertar al conductor conforme se lleva a cabo el proceso de conducción para evitar de esta forma situaciones riesgosas que puedan ocasionar accidentes de tránsito. El asistente inteligente a bordo del vehículo reproduce alertas visuales-auditivas en tiempo real de acuerdo a la información obtenida de ambas fuentes, y las conducciones realizadas para su desarrollo y evaluación son obtenidas por un automóvil real en un entorno real. Como resultado, se obtuvo un agente de asistencia inteligente basado en el razonamiento difuso, que apoya correctamente al conductor en tiempo real de acuerdo a los datos de telemetría, al entorno vehicular y a los principios de prácticas seguras de conducción y regulación de transporte.

A Review of Research on Driving Styles and Road Safety

Objective: To outline a conceptual framework for understanding driving style and, based on this, review the state-of-the-art research on driving styles in relation to road safety.</br></br> Background: Previous research has indicated a relationship between the driving styles adopted by drivers and their crash involvement. However, a comprehensive literature review of driving style research is lacking. </br></br> Method: A systematic literature search was conducted, including empirical, theoretical and methodological research on driving styles related to road safety. </br></br> Results: A conceptual framework was proposed where driving styles are viewed in terms of driving habits established as a result of individual dispositions as well as social norms and cultural values. Moreover, a general scheme for categorising and operationalizing driving styles was suggested. On this basis, existing literature on driving styles and indicators was reviewed. Links between driving styles and road safety were identified and individual and socio-cultural factors influencing driving style were reviewed. </br></br> Conclusion: Existing studies have addressed a wide variety of driving styles, and there is an acute need for a unifying conceptual framework in order to synthesise these results and make useful generalisations. There is a considerable potential for increasing road safety by means of behaviour modification. Naturalistic driving observations represent particularly promising approaches to future research on driving styles. </br></br> Application: Knowledge about driving styles can be applied in programmes for modifying driver behaviour and in the context of usage-based insurance. It may also be used as a means for driver identification and for the development of driver assistance systems

Plant drivers of foraging behaviour in a generalist browser

Herbivore foraging decisions culminating in the consumption of any particular plant are complex and multi-faceted, shaped both by the plant itself and by its neighbours. My overarching aim was to understand the ways in which plants influence foraging behaviours in a generalist browser. I explored this aim using free-ranging swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) as a model and examined the plant drivers leading to their consumption of palatable focal plants (native tree seedlings, Eucalyptus pilularis). My specific objectives were to: (1) identify the characteristics of neighbouring plants that affect browsing of focal plants; (2) quantify the behavioural response of the herbivore to neighbouring plants when neighbours protect focal plants from browsing, and when they fail as refuges; (3) assess the role of leaf odour in palatable plant detection amongst interspecific neighbours; and (4) test whether herbivores use olfactory and visual plant cues to browse differentially on intraspecific plants varying in nutritional quality. My study identified vegetation characteristics providing associational refuge at two spatial scales consistent with disrupted search and detection of focal seedlings by herbivores. I demonstrated that neighbouring vegetation reduced investment in searching behaviour by wallabies during visits to manipulated patches and this drove associational plant refuge. At the patch level, foraging decisions were influenced both by odour and visual cues of plants, allowing wallabies to find food plants and to differentiate between plants of differing nutritional quality. Plant neighbours and cues emitted by plants themselves can influence foraging decisions and thus drive patterns of herbivory

Eyes-free interaction with aural user interfaces

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Existing web applications force users to focus their visual attentions on mobile devices, while browsing content and services on the go (e.g., while walking or driving). To support mobile, eyes-free web browsing and minimize interaction with devices, designers can leverage the auditory channel. Whereas acoustic interfaces have proven to be effective in regard to reducing visual attention, a perplexing challenge exists in designing aural information architectures for the web because of its non-linear structure. To address this problem, we introduce and evaluate techniques to remodel existing information architectures as "playlists" of web content - aural flows. The use of aural flows in mobile web browsing can be seen in ANFORA News, a semi-aural mobile site designed to facilitate browsing large collections of news stories. An exploratory study involving frequent news readers (n=20) investigated the usability and navigation experiences with ANFORA News in a mobile setting. The initial evidence suggests that aural flows are a promising paradigm for supporting eyes-free mobile navigation while on the go. Interacting with aural flows, however, requires users to select interface buttons, tethering visual attention to the mobile device even when it is unsafe. To reduce visual interaction with the screen, we also explore the use of simulated voice commands to control aural flows. In a study, 20 participants browsed aural flows either through a visual interface or with a visual interface augmented by voice commands. The results suggest that using voice commands decreases by half the time spent looking at the device, but yields similar walking speeds, system usability and cognitive effort ratings as using buttons. To test the potential of using aural flows in a higher distracting context, a study (n=60) was conducted in a driving simulation lab. Each participant drove through three driving scenario complexities: low, moderate and high. Within each driving complexity, the participants went through an alternative aural application exposure: no device, voice-controlled aural flows (ANFORADrive) or alternative solution on the market (Umano). The results suggest that voice-controlled aural flows do not affect distraction, overall safety, cognitive effort, driving performance or driving behavior when compared to the no device condition