Perspectives of a web-based software to improve crash data quality and reliability in Italy

Real‐world crash data play a vital part in the development of safer transport since information on crash data is essential as a means of understanding where and why crashes occurred in the past and how the occurrence of similar events may be prevented in the future. Crash databases provide the basic information for effective highway safety management but several existing databases show significant drawbacks which hinder their effective use for safety analysis and improvement. In Italy, the national crash database is maintained by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and presents major issues related to the crash report form, the crash classification, the crash location, and the crash severity. Moreover, almost all police departments use an out-of-date paper form, not in line with the national and international needs. Modern technologies offer potential for significant improvements of existing methods and procedures for crash data collection, processing and analysis. To address these issues, in this paper we present the development and evaluation of a web-based platform-independent software for crash data collection, processing and analysis named ReGIS (Crash Data Collection, Processing and Analysis). The software is designed for mobile and desktop electronic devices and enables a guided and automated drafting of the crash report, assisting police officers both on-site and in the office. The software development was based both on the detailed critical review of existing Australasian, EU, and U.S. crash databases and software as well as on the continuous consultation with the stakeholders. The evaluation was carried out comparing the completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of crash data before and after the use of the software in the city of Vico Equense, in south of Italy showing significant advantages. The amount of collected information increased from 82 variables to 268 variables, i.e., a 227% increase. The time saving was more than one hour per crash, i.e., a 36% reduction. The on-site data collection did not produce time saving, however this is a temporary weakness that will be annihilated very soon in the future after officers are more acquainted with the software. The phase of evaluation, processing and analysis carried out in the office was dramatically shortened, i.e., a 69% reduction. Another benefit was the standardization which allowed fast and consistent data analysis and evaluation. Even if all these benefits are remarkable, the most valuable benefit of the new procedure was the reduction of the police officers mistakes during the manual operations of survey and data evaluation. Because of these benefits, the satisfaction questionnaires administrated to the police officers after the testing phase showed very good acceptance of the procedure

Proposals for Improvement of the Italian Roundabout Geometric Design Standard

AbstractThe paper presents a critical review of the Australasian, EU and US roundabout geometric design standards and guidelines and identifies inconsistencies of the Italian roundabout standard which deserve improvement. As a result, recommendations for improvement of the Italian standard are proposed. These recommendations are mainly based on the concepts of design flexibility and performance based design. Indeed, rigid standards which do not really take into account safety and operational consequences of the design decisions and the need to balance opposite demands might produce undesirable outcomes

Point-to-point speed enforcement systems: Speed limits design criteria and analysis of drivers’ compliance

Point-to-point (P2P) speed enforcement is a relatively new approach to traffic law enforcement. Its technology allows vehicles whose average speed exceeds the speed limit over the controlled section to be fined. It therefore encourages compliance over distances longer than those where spot enforcement policies have been in place.In this paper, a procedure for consistently setting speed limits with such enforcement systems is proposed. Such a method has been applied to design the speed limits on two motorways in the district of Naples, Italy, where P2P enforcement systems became operational in 2009 and 2010. The speed limits, which were set using the Italian geometric design standard to assess vehicle stability and stopping sight distance, have been compared with those provided by using well-known international standards.The impact of the newly designed speed limits and of the P2P enforcement system on drivers' speeding behaviour has been quantified for each highway section and vehicle type. In fact, accurate measurements of the average travel speeds of each vehicle crossing the enforced sections, before and after the activation of the system, were available. The migration from the old speed limits with spot speed enforcement to the new approach resulted in a notable increase in drivers' compliance to the speed limits with a remarkable decrease in both the average of individual speeds and in their standard deviation.In addition, the analysis of 3. years of data shows that a gradual adaptation of drivers' behaviour to the system took place. In particular, a decreasing compliance to the speed limits points to a non-optimal system management. Finally, the results of a revealed preference survey allowed us to make a behavioural interpretation regarding the significantly different impacts measured on the two motorways

Sustainable Complete Streets Design Criteria and Case Study in Naples, Italy

Background: A growing number of communities are re-discovering the value of their streets as important public spaces for many aspects of daily life, creating the need for a transformation in the quality of those streets. An emerging concept of ‘complete streets’ is to accommodate all users of the transportation system. Methods: In this paper, we present sustainable complete streets design criteria that integrate complete streets by adding socio-environmental design criteria related to the aesthetics, environment, liveability, and safety. To help set priorities, identify the street design features, and create intuitive multimodal networks throughout the city, we have defined a list of the general and specific criteria to be addressed for sustainable complete streets. Results: The proposed design criteria provide a street network with improvements in its aesthetics, to recover the historical urban character and realize historical area planning goals; the environment, to increase the permeable surfaces, reduce the heat island effect, and to absorb traffic-related air pollution; the liveability, to create a public space destination in the urban landscape; and safety, to improve the safety of all road users. The design scenarios proposed in the study were conceived to help practitioners to consider these context-based uses and design accordingly by gaining knowledge from past experiences to benefit future projects. Conclusions: The case study of the urban rehabilitation of the “Mostra d’Oltremare” area and its cultural and architectural assets in Naples, Italy, highlights the practical application of the proposed criteria and the possibility of using these criteria in other urban contexts

Sustainable Complete Streets Design Criteria and Case Study in Naples, Italy

Background: A growing number of communities are re-discovering the value of their streets as important public spaces for many aspects of daily life, creating the need for a transformation in the quality of those streets. An emerging concept of ‘complete streets’ is to accommodate all users of the transportation system. Methods: In this paper, we present sustainable complete streets design criteria that integrate complete streets by adding socio-environmental design criteria related to the aesthetics, environment, liveability, and safety. To help set priorities, identify the street design features, and create intuitive multimodal networks throughout the city, we have defined a list of the general and specific criteria to be addressed for sustainable complete streets. Results: The proposed design criteria provide a street network with improvements in its aesthetics, to recover the historical urban character and realize historical area planning goals; the environment, to increase the permeable surfaces, reduce the heat island effect, and to absorb traffic-related air pollution; the liveability, to create a public space destination in the urban landscape; and safety, to improve the safety of all road users. The design scenarios proposed in the study were conceived to help practitioners to consider these context-based uses and design accordingly by gaining knowledge from past experiences to benefit future projects. Conclusions: The case study of the urban rehabilitation of the “Mostra d’Oltremare” area and its cultural and architectural assets in Naples, Italy, highlights the practical application of the proposed criteria and the possibility of using these criteria in other urban contexts