Road Safety Review update by using innovative technologies to investigate driver behaviour

International Congress on Transport Infrastructure and Systems in a changing world, Rome, ITALIE, 23-/09/2019 - 24/09/2019Urban arterial roads provide high-speed passage to facilitate traffic in urban areas. However, unlike freeways, they consist of ramps, roundabouts and unique characteristics due to the limited space in the urban (or semi-urban) environment. The existing studies use the Road Safety Review (RSR) to evaluate geometry, identifying high accident concentration sections and to classify the network based on expert judgment. Therefore the classical methodology does not consider the interaction between driver and infrastructure. The present study aims to investigate the road safety of an urban arterial motorway, integrating traditional checklist with innovative solutions applied in an experimental site test with participants. The driver visual behaviour has been recorded by head-mounted eye tracker that is used to find the gaze behaviour. The vehicle used for the test was equipped with the satellite positioning system (GPS), inertial measurement unit (IMU), vehicle CAN data reader (OBD2) and video recorder to monitor the driver behaviour and vehicle trajectory during the track. The results showed that the use of innovative techniques could improve the RSR, by identifying new hazardous points based on driver behavior

Driver's visual attention to different categories of roadside advertising signs

Roadside advertising signs are a salient potential source of driver's distraction. Previous research has mainly investigated driver's visual attention to billboards, which represents only one category of advertising signs. In this study, driver's visual attention was assessed in a naturalistic driving setting for six categories of roadside advertising signs: vendor signs, billboards, movable display boards, single and multiple commercial directional signs, and gas price LED displays. Fixation rate, fixation duration, fixation distance and driving speed were assessed in a sample of 15 drivers along a 30-km route including a total of 154 advertising signs belonging to the six categories described above. The role of clearance from the road, elevation, height, width, surface, number and size of characters, total number of characters, side of the road (driving side, opposite side), context (rural, urban), were also considered. Overall 24% of the roadside advertising signs were fixated. Fixation rate was significantly influenced by sign category, clearance from the road and number of characters. Median value for fixation duration was 297 ms. Fixation duration was significantly influenced by speed, elevation from road level, number of medium size characters, and was higher in the rural context. Median value for fixation distance was 58.10 m, and was significantly influenced by advertising sign category, character count and speed

Reflective Tape Applied to Bicycle Frame and Conspicuity Enhancement at Night

Four studies were conducted to assess bicyclist conspicuity enhancement at night by the application of reflective tape (ECE/ONU 104) to the bicycle rear frame and to pedal cranks. Background: Previous studies have tested the benefits of reflective markings applied to bicyclist clothing. Reflective jackets however need to be available and worn while reflective markings enhance conspicuity without any active behavior by the bicyclist. Method: In the first study, reflective tape was applied to the rear frame. Detection distance was compared in four conditions: control, rear red reflector, high visibility jacket, and reflective tape. In the second study, the same conditions were studied with night street lighting on and off. In the third study, detection and recognition distances were evaluated in rainy conditions. In the fourth study, visibility was assessed with the reflective tape applied to pedal cranks. Results: In the first study, the application of reflective markings resulted in a detection distance of 168.28 m. In the second study, the detection distance with reflective markings was 229.74 m with public street light on and 256.41 m with public street light off. In rainy conditions, detection distance using the reflective markings was 146.47 m. Reflective tape applied to pedal cracks resulted in a detection distance of 168.60 m. Conclusion: Reflective tape applied to the rear bicycle frame can considerably increase bicyclist conspicuity and safety at night. Application: Reflective tape is highly recommended to complement anterior and rear lights in bicycle riding at night