Real scenario and simulations on GLOSA traffic light system for reduced CO2 emissions, waiting time and travel time

Cooperative ITS is enabling vehicles to communicate with the infrastructure to provide improvements in traffic control. A promising approach consists in anticipating the road profile and the upcoming dynamic events like traffic lights. This topic has been addressed in the French public project Co-Drive through functions developed by Valeo named Green Light Optimal Speed Advisor (GLOSA). The system advises the optimal speed to pass the next traffic light without stopping. This paper presents results of its performance in different scenarios through simulations and real driving measurements. A scaling is done in an urban area, with different penetration rates in vehicle and infrastructure equipment for vehicular communication. Our simulation results indicate that GLOSA can reduce CO2 emissions, waiting time and travel time, both in experimental conditions and in real traffic conditions.Comment: in 22nd ITS World Congress, Oct 2015, Bordeaux, France. 201

Pilot Survey – Queue Management Strategies for Urban Traffic Control Systems

BACKGROUND 1.1 Advances in traffic signal optimization have produced increases in the capacity of urban road networks, but recent growth in demand has meant that many junctions operate at or above saturation levels. Delay costs increase dramatically when queues extend to block upstream junctions and queue management strategies are now required to ensure that local traffic signals operate effectively when oversaturated conditions occur. 1.2 The aims of this SERC-funded "Queue Management Strategies" project are as follows: (a) To generalise the strategies for queue management that were developed and tested empirically in Bangkok (See ITS WP 249 and WP 251); (b) To develop a computer graphics model to represent queue propagation; (c) To test the strategies' applicability and performance in UK networks; (d) To investigate their incorporation into standard signal optimization programs

Sustainability analysis of Chinese transport policy

Whilst the world economy is developed, the life and development of human beings have been threatened by the imbalance among environmental and ecological aspects. Thus sustainability is becoming increasingly the focus of various social fields. For most developing countries, a strategy with good sustainability for social development is of long-term significance to keep the economy in expansion. This paper first reviews the conceptual framework and up-to-date development of sustainability. Second, it reviews the current transport situation of China and its future demands. Third, the paper analyses transport policy from the viewpoints of energy consumption and environment pollution caused by transportation. It finally summarises suggestions for transport policy that China should consider in the future

The effect of short-term changes in air pollution on respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Presented at the 6th International Conference on Urban Air Quality, Limassol, March, 2007. Short-paper was submitted for peer-review and appears in proceedings of the conference.This study investigates the effect of daily changes in levels of PM10 on the daily volume of respiratory and cardiovascular admissions in Nicosia, Cyprus during 1995-2004. After controlling for long- (year and month) and short-term (day of the week) patterns as well as the effect of weather in Generalized Additive Poisson models, some positive associations were observed with all-cause and cause-specific admissions. Risk of hospitalization increased stepwise across quartiles of days with increasing levels of PM10 by 1.3% (-0.3, 2.8), 4.9% (3.3, 6.6), 5.6% (3.9, 7.3) as compared to days with the lowest concentrations. For every 10μg/m3 increase in daily average PM10 concentration, there was a 1.2% (-0.1%, 2.4%) increase in cardiovascular admissions. With respects to respiratory admissions, an effect was observed only in the warm season with a 1.8% (-0.22, 3.85) increase in admissions per 10μg/m3 increase in PM10. The effect on respiratory admissions seemed to be much stronger in women and, surprisingly, restricted to people of adult age

Synthetic Controls: A New Approach to Evaluating Interventions

Synthetic control methods are a novel approach to comparative case study research using observational data. Though developed within political science, the methods can potentially be applied to a wide range of evaluation problems in economics, public health, social policy and other disciplines. In the traditional approach, an area in which a new or redesigned service is being implemented is compared with another ‘control’ area (in which there is no change) and statistical adjustment used to account for any differences between areas that might bias the comparison. In the new approach, a synthetic control is derived using data on past trends in all potentially comparable areas, providing a more robust basis for identifying the impact of the service change. Synthetic control methods may be a valuable addition to the range of techniques available for non-randomised evaluations of social, economic and public health interventions. To date there have been few applications in a UK context, and none in Scotland. Published evidence suggests considerable potential to apply synthetic controls to public service innovations at NHS Board, local authority or Community Planning Partnership level, and may widen the range of policy and practice changes that can usefully be evaluated

Studying the effects of in-vehicle information systems on driver visual behaviour – implications for design

In-vehicle information systems (IVIS) are a common feature in modern vehicles. The interaction of drivers with IVIS when driving must be considered to minimise distraction whilst maintaining the benefits provided. This research investigates the glance behaviours of drivers, assessed from video data, when using two functions – a personal navigation device (study 1) and a green driving advisory device (study 2). The main focus was to establish the number of glances of 2 seconds or more to the IVIS and relate this to driver safety (as stipulated in new guidelines for use of IVIS proposed by NHTSA). In study 1, the percentage of eyes- off-road time for drivers was much greater in the experimental (with device) condition compared to the baseline condition (14.3% compared to 6.7%) but, whilst glances to the personal navigation device accounted for the majority of the increase, there were very few which exceeded 2 seconds. Drivers in study 2 spent on average 4.3% of their time looking at the system, at an average of 0.43 seconds per glance; no glances exceeded 2 seconds. The research showed that ordinary use of IVIS (excluding manual interaction) does not lead to driver visual distraction and therefore the impact on safety is minimal. The results of the study have important design implications for future in-vehicle information systems