Changes in Driving Behavior Across Age Cohorts in an Arab Culture: The Case of State of Qatar

In this investigation, we aimed to examine the structure of the Driving Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) across age cohorts spanning 14 to 55 years in the State of Qatar. In addition, we aimed to examine variations in driving behavior across age cohorts. Participants were divided by age (in years) into five groups: not yet old enough to drive (under age), 18 to 25; 26 to 35; 36 to 45, and 46 to 55. The DBQ was administered to a sample of 1126 drivers, 50.30% of whom were female. Results are contrary to previous studies: factor analysis showed three pure factors rather than the four factors previously identified. Results also indicate that Qatari drivers share in their approach to driving even though there is great cultural diversity as well as varied language skills and educational levels. Significantly fewer driving aberrations were reported by female participants compared to those who were male. Furthermore, young men (<25 years old) with low levels of education and those who use 4-wheel-drive vehicles had the worst driving errors, violations, and lapses. 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Qatar National Research Fund, Qatar FoundationScopu

Pedestrians' Speed Analysis at Signalized Crosswalks

Pedestrian speed is essential for designing signal timings as well as for understanding pedestrian safety issues. This paper presents analysis of three types of pedestrian speeds (entry speed, crossing speed, and exit speed) at three signalized crosswalks in the State of Qatar. Pedestrian movements were tracked using TrafficAnalyzer software and data were analyzed to determine the effect of signal indications, crosswalk length, and crossing direction on pedestrian speeds. The results of this analysis showed that only 23.69% pedestrians crossed legally, during pedestrian green or pedestrian flashing green interval. Moreover, the pedestrian entry speeds were significantly affected by the pedestrian signal indications. Furthermore, the crossing speeds were positively correlated with crosswalk length for pedestrians crossing on green and red indications while pedestrian exit speeds were independent of crosswalk length but significantly affected by crossing direction. 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Qatar National Research Fund, Qatar FoundationScopu

Modeling and simulation of pedestrian movement planning around corners

Owing to the complexity of behavioral dynamics and mechanisms associated with turning maneuvers, capturing pedestrian movements around corners in a mathematical model is a challenging task. In this study, minimum jerk and one-thirds power law concepts, which have been initially applied in neurosciences and brain research domains, were utilized in combination to model pedestrian movement planning around bends. Simulation outputs explained that the proposed model could realistically represent the behavioral characteristics of pedestrians walking through bends. Comparison of modeled trajectories with empirical data demonstrated that the accuracy of the model could further be improved by using appropriate parameters in the one-thirds power law equation. Sensitivity analysis explained that, although the paths were not sensitive to the boundary conditions, speed and acceleration profiles could be remarkably varied depending on boundary conditions. Further, the applicability of the proposed model to estimate trajectories of pedestrians negotiating bends under different entry, intermediate, and exit conditions was also identified. The proposed model can be applied in microscopic simulation platforms, virtual reality, and driving simulator applications to provide realistic and accurate maneuvers around corners. - 2019 by the authors.Acknowledgments: The publication of this article was funded by the Qatar National Library

Analysis of road traffic crashes in the State of Qatar

Road traffic crashes (RTCs) are globally acknowledged as increasing threat to society, because they can affect many lives when they result in severe injury or fatality. In the State of Qatar RTCs are getting more awareness and attention, aiming to improve the traffic safety in the country. This study is an exploratory research providing different analyses of the crash data for seven consecutive years, ranging from 2010 to 2016, which is obtained from the Traffic Department in the Ministry of Interior for the State of Qatar. The objectives aim to evaluate the trend of RTC rate over time and create understanding of the influencing factors related to RTC frequency. Time series analyses show an increasing trend of RTCs leading to severe injury and a slight decreasing trend for fatal RTCs. Secondly, different RTC severity levels are related to diverse RTC causes. Furthermore, the results revealed that crashes with severe injuries or fatality for drivers as well as pedestrians are found to be significantly affected by seasonal weather variations, with the highest vulnerability in winter and autumn season. This study therefore suggests the implementation of strategies to prioritize the traffic safety of road users during the crash-prone winter and autumn seasons. - 2019, - 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This publication was made possible by the NPRP award [NPRP 9-360-2-150] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.Scopu

Consideration of a Pedestrian Speed Change Model in the Pedestrian-Vehicle Safety Assessment of Signalized Crosswalks

Pedestrian safety is one of the most challenging issues in the road network. Understanding the pedestrian maneuver is the key to applying countermeasures against traffic crashes. It is known that behaviors of pedestrians at signalized crosswalks are significantly different from ordinary walking spaces and they are highly influenced by signal indication, potential conflicts to vehicles and intersection geometries. One of the most important characteristics of pedestrian behavior at crosswalks is the possible sudden speed change while crossing. Such sudden behavioral change may not be expected by conflicting vehicles, which may lead to hazardous situations. This study aims to quantitatively model the pedestrians' sudden speed change maneuver at signalized crosswalks under uncongested conditions. Pedestrian speed profiles are collected from empirical data and speed change events are extracted assuming that the speed profiles are stepwise functions. The occurrence of the speed change events is described by a discrete choice model as a function of the necessary walking speed to complete crossing before red interval, current speed, and the presence of turning vehicles in the conflict area. The amount of speed change before and after the event is modeled using regression analysis. A Monte- Carlo simulation is applied for the entire speed profile of the pedestrians. The results showed that the model was able to represent the pedestrian travel time distribution more accurately than the constant speed model. � 2017 The Author(s).Scopu

Relationship between Chauffeurs' Demographics, and Knowledge of Traffic Signs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are investing heavily on developing Intelligent Transport Systems, which includes installations of Variable Message Signs (VMS) for the road users. However, it is challenging to design the VMS messages since the population possess different cultural, linguistic, and social backgrounds. To aid in the process of VMS design, this paper presents results from a questionnaire survey, conducted on chauffeurs involved in crashes in the Kingdom to understand their knowledge of traffic signs. A sample of around 800 chauffeurs, who were involved in crashes, was collected by conducting personal interviews. The relationship between chauffeurs' demographic characteristics, such as nationality, age group, language skills, and knowledge of traffic signs were assessed. The chauffeurs' language skills were assessed for Arabic, English, and native language. Chauffeurs' knowledge of five traffic signs namely speed limit, no entry, no overtaking, stop sign, and roundabout were tested. The results from descriptive analysis indicated that more than 60% drivers were able to understand traffic signs written in Arabic and English language. The least understood sign was no entry and the most understood sign was stop sign. Nationality of chauffeur was related to the knowledge of traffic signs and language skills. These results suggest that more research should be undertaken before designing VMS especially in a heterogeneous driver population like that of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. � 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsScopu

An overview of pedestrian signal setting and implementation in the State of Qatar

Pedestrian signal control is a main influencing factor on the Level of Service of crossing facilities and on the safety performance considering conflicts with vehicles. In signal design, pedestrian clearance time is a key design parameter for ensuring safe pedestrian crossing at signalized crosswalks. The performance of pedestrian signal control and its impact on pedestrian behavior in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries is rarely addressed in the literature. The characteristics of population, cultural diversity, as well as the extreme hot weather conditions, may lead to significantly different pedestrian behavior in terms of crossing manoeuvres (path and speed), compliance with signal control and interaction with vehicular traffic. This study reviews the pedestrian signal design practices in various countries and investigates the current signal settings along with their adequacy in the State of Qatar using empirical observations. The empirical analysis showed that the 85th percentile crossing times were longer than the provided Pedestrian Flashing Green (PFG) intervals at the observed crosswalks. Study sites are characterized with unrealistically long Buffer Intervals (BIs) which, from one side, provide sufficient time for pedestrians who started crossing during PFG to complete the crossing. On the other side, they encourage pedestrians to continue crossing after the end of PFG. Additionally, the speed analysis indicated that the observed 15th percentile speed was 1.22 m/s which is similar to the assumed design speed by the Qatar Traffic Control Manual QTCM (2015). Further, the analysis showed that pedestrian crossing speed during PFG or BI was significantly higher than that during PG. � 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Scopu

Analyzing the impact of human characteristics on the comprehensibility of road traffic signs

Traffic safety is one of major challenges facing most communities worldwide. To improve traffic safety, regulating traffic movement through markings, signs, channelization, and others is essential. Traffic signs are used either to regulate road user movements by highlighting priorities or to inform road users about traffic regulations and traffic conditions. In general, traffic signs are essential element in road operation. Thus, understanding these signs by road users is of prime importance for efficient and safe traffic operations. This study investigates the comprehensiveness of traffic signs by drivers and the impact of driver characteristics gender, nationality, age, language, and educational level. Clarifying the correlation between the understanding of traffic signs and driver characteristics will yield to recommendations and help in identifying proper countermeasures to enhance the communities' knowledge of traffic signs and consequently improve traffic safety level. The study used an electronic survey as a research instrument for data collection. The results have shown significant impact of some of human characteristics on their ability to recognize the metal-plate and electronic traffic signals. IEOM Society International

Usage of Non-Linear Regression for Modeling the Behavior of Motor Vehicle Crash Fatality (MVF) Rate

Data analysis for vehicular crash counts is essential for transportation and traffic management systems (TTMS) to develop practical and innovative road safety interventions. The crash trend analysis, in particular, is the most popular technique for extracting an underlying trend or pattern of behavior in crash data. The recent years have seen a growing concern in the State of Qatar of the consequences of motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) and their associated fatalities (MVFs) on the economy, society, and the performance of the whole road network. This paper reports on the results of using nonlinear regression for crash trend analysis highlighting the substantial enhancement of road safety level in the State of Qatar during the period between 2003 and 2015. One of the critical findings of the study is the notable decline in the increasing tendency of both the MVF/100,000 population and the MVF/100,000 car over the last thirteen years in the State of Qatar. The matter that makes this finding worthy of comment is that it occurs over the period in which the State of Qatar is witnessing a significant growth in the population density and traffic volume. Several valuable contributions and recommendations were drawn and reported. � IEOM Society International.ATTADAMOUNE MICRO - FINANCE;EATON Powering Business world wide;informs;LINDO SYSTEMS INC;SIEMENSScopu

Ridge penalization-based generalized linear model (GzLM) for predicting risky-driving index

Road traffic crashes remain one of the major causes of preventable death and injury worldwide. Human behavior is considered one of the main factors leading to such tragic losses. In this paper, we analyze the responses of an online survey questionnaire and identify the variables that are most likely to be correlated with individual driving behavior of drivers. Weights are allocated to nine risky-driving behaviors considered in the survey based on self-reported frequency of the driving behaviors the participants were involved in at the time of a recent traffic crash. Initially, weighted individual self-rated risky-driving behaviors are used to estimate the risky-driving index (RDI) for individual drivers. RDI is defined as a quantitative measure of a driver's risky-driving propensities based on basic profile and driving history. Finally, a standardized model for predicting a driver's RDI is proposed using Ridge penalization-based generalized linear regression with a standard error of estimate equal to 0.713. According to the model, female drivers have lower RDI compared to male drivers. Also, younger drivers have higher RDI than older drivers. Lastly, hours driven per day have more positive impact on RDI than the number of accidents or the driving experience of a driver. IEOM Society International