Safety Analysis Considering the Impactof Travel Time Reliability on Elderly Drivers

The main goal of this research was to evaluate how travel time reliability (TTR) might be associated with crashes involving elderly drivers, defined as those age 65 and above. Several TTR metrics were used to estimate their influence on elderly crash frequency and severity of the crash on freeways and arterial highways. The results suggest that TTR is statistically significant in affecting both elderly crash frequency and the severity of a crash involving an elderly driver. In particular, the analysis of risk ratios illustrates that a one-unit increase in the probability of congestion reduces the likelihood of the elderly severe crash by 22%

Construction Quality Assessment: A Hybrid Decision Support Model Using Image Processing and Neural Learning for Intelligent Defects Recognition

The term “quality” is defined as the conformance to predetermined requirements or specifications. These requirements may be simple or complex. They may be set in terms of the end result required or as a detailed description of how work should be executed. Recently, there has been increasing interest in quality assurance in the construction industry. Quality assurance includes design and planning, sampling, inspection, testing, and assessment to ensure that end products perform according to specifications. This research proposes a new quality assessment model for civil infrastructure and constructed facilities and more specifically for surfaces quality assessment. The research proposes a hybrid decision support model using image processing and neural networks for defect recognition and measurement. The basic concept of the model is to acquire digital images of the areas to be assessed and analyze those images to recognize and measure defect patterns. Neural networks are incorporated into the model to learn from example and simulate human expertise to automate the process for future use. The principles of this model can be applied in many construction quality assessment applications such as steel bridges surfaces, sewer lines, etc. The application of steel bridge coating assessment is used to exemplify the model by applying the principles to realistic quality assessment scenarios. The model is supplemented with a statistical quality assessment plan to use the model efficiently and obtain consistent and reliable results. The statistical plan will determine the number and locations of assessment images to be taken. Moreover, the plan will address the risks associated with the estimated assessment. Finally, the plan will assist making the final acceptance/rejection decision based on the predefined criteria for acceptance and rejection

Safety Analysis Considering the Impact of Travel Time Reliability on Elderly Drivers

The main goal of this research was to evaluate how travel time reliability (TTR) might be associated with crashes involving elderly drivers, defined as those age 65 and above. Several TTR metrics were used to estimate their influence on elderly crash frequency and severity of the crash on freeways and arterial highways. The results suggest that TTR is statistically significant in affecting both elderly crash frequency and the severity of a crash involving an elderly driver. In particular, the analysis of risk ratios illustrates that a one-unit increase in the probability of congestion reduces the likelihood of the elderly severe crash by 22%

GIS-based Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Aging-Involved Accidents: a Case Study of Three Counties in Florida

Roadway accidents claim more than 30,000 lives each year in the United States, and they continue adversely affecting people’s well-being. This problem becomes even more challenging when aging populations are considered due to their vulnerability to accidents. This is especially a major concern in Florida since the accident risk is increasing proportionally to the population growth of aging Floridians. This study investigates the spatial and temporal patterns of aging people-involved accidents using geographical information systems (GIS)-based methods via a case study of three urban counties in Florida, selected based on their high aging-involved accident rates. A series of spatial analytic methods are utilized to explore accident patterns, including a network distance-based kernel density estimation method, which provides an unbiased distribution of the accidents over the local roadways. An accident density ratio measure is also developed in order to understand how accidents involving aging people occur at different locations than those of the general population. Results indicate that high risk locations for aging-involved accidents show different spatial and temporal patterns than those for other age groups. Investigating these distinct patterns at a high spatio-temporal scale can lead to better aging-focused transportation plans and policies

Metadata-based Needs Assessment for Emergency Transportation Operations with a Focus on an Aging Population: A Case Study in Florida

In the aftermath of disasters, evacuating aging victims and maintaining an optimal flow of critical resources in order to serve their needs becomes problematic, especially for Gulf Coast states in the USA such as Florida, where more than 6.9 million (36.9%) of the population are over age 50. Scanning the literature, there is no substantial prior work that has synthesized the requirements for a multi-modal emergency needs assessment that could facilitate the safe and accessible evacuation of aging people, and optimize the flow of resources into the affected region to satisfy the needs of those who remain. This paper presents a review of the aging population-focused emergency literature utilizing a knowledge base development methodology supported with a geographic information system-based case study application set in Florida. Importance is given to both ensuring the resiliency of the transportation infrastructure and meeting the needs of aging populations. As a result of this metadata-based analysis, critical research needs and challenges are presented with planning recommendations and future research directions. Results clearly indicate that transportation agencies should focus on clear and fast dissemination of disaster-related information to the aging populations. The use of paratransit services for evacuating aging people, especially those living independently and/or in rural areas, is also found to be of paramount importance