Review and ranking of crash risk factors related to the road infrastructure

The objective of this paper is the review and comparative assessment of infrastructure related crash risk factors, with the explicit purpose of ranking them based on how detrimental they are towards road safety (i.e. crash risk, frequency and severity). This analysis was carried out within the SafetyCube project, which aimed to identify and quantify the effects of risk factors and measures related to behaviour, infrastructure or vehicles, and integrate the results in an innovative road safety Decision Support System (DSS). The evaluation was conducted by examining studies from the existing literature. These were selected and analysed using a specifically designed common methodology. Infrastructure risk factors were structured in a hierarchical taxonomy of 10 areas with several risk factors in each area (59 specific risk factors in total), examples include: alignment features (e.g. horizontal-vertical alignment deficiencies), cross-section characteristics (e.g. superelevation, lanes, median and shoulder deficiencies), road surface deficiencies, workzones, junction deficiencies (interchange and at-grade) etc. Consultation with infrastructure stakeholders (international organisations, road authorities, etc.) took place in dedicated workshops to identify user needs for the DSS, as well as “hot topics” of particular importance. The following analysis methodology was applied to each infrastructure risk factor: (i) A search for relevant international literature, (ii) Selection of studies on the basis of rigorous criteria, (iii) Analysis of studies in terms of design, methods and limitations, (iv) Synthesis of findings - and meta-analysis, when feasible. In total 243 recent and high quality studies were selected and analysed. Synthesis of results was made through 39 ‘Synopses’ (including 4 original meta-analyses) on individual risk factors or groups of risk factors. This allowed the ranking of infrastructure risk factors into three groups: risky (11 risk factors), probably risky (18 risk factors), and unclear (7 risk factors)

Compilation of analyses of risks and measures, deliverable 8.2 of the H2020 project SafetyCube

This deliverable provides information on how the information on road safety risks and measures that has been collected within SafetyCube, is processed, stored and made available to users through the SafetyCube Decision Support System (DSS) [...continues]

Analysis of the stakeholder survey: perceived priority and availability of data and tools and relation to the stakeholders' characteristics. Deliverable 1.5 (Vol. 1) of the EC FP7 project DaCoTA

Analysis of the stakeholder survey: perceived priority and availability of data and tools and relation to the stakeholders' characteristics. Deliverable 1.5 (Vol. 1) of the EC FP7 project DaCoT

D9.1 Report on vehicle survey operator needs

In the era of digitization, technology developments have been making massive and detailed operator performance data easily available, thus upscaling transport technology into a new level of challenging conditions and drastically transforming the framework of operator-vehicle-environment interactions. Consequently, the need for increased understanding of the human factors – distraction, fatigue and drowsiness, health concerns, extreme emotions and sociocultural factors – affecting the behaviour of operators, and the harmonization of them with the current state of transport and data technology, create an opportunity to detect and design customised interventions to mitigate road risks, increase awareness and dynamically upgrade road operators’ performance.The project entitled ‘Safety tolerance zone calculation and interventions for drivervehicle-environment interactions under challenging conditions’ — ‘i-DREAMS’ aims to setup a framework for the definition, development, testing and validation of a context-aware ‘Safety Tolerance Zone’ for driving, within a smart Driver, Vehicle & Environment Assessment and Monitoring System (i-DREAMS). This framework should translate into new road safety interventions, improved driver well-being and transfer of control between human and vehicle, as well as a more eco-efficient driving style since safer driving implies an eco-friendlier behaviour.Taking into account, on the one hand, driver-related background factors (age, driving experience, safety attitudes and perceptions, etc.) and real-time risk-related physiological indicators (e.g. fatigue, distraction, stress, etc.), and on the other hand, driving task-related complexity indicators (e.g. time of day, speed, traffic intensity, presence of vulnerable road users, adverse weather, etc.) a continuous real-time assessment will be made to monitor and determine if a driver is within acceptable boundaries of safe operation (i.e. safety tolerance zone).Initial testing will take place in a driving simulator environment after which promising interventions will be tested and validated under real-world conditions in a testbed consisting of 600 drivers in total across 5 EU countries. Market roadmaps will be developed to support smooth transition of the investigated technologies to the market and experience from use cases in different European countries will be used to disseminate best practices.</div

Road traffic casualties in the elderly in Europe: analysis of macroscopic and in-depth data

Road traffic casualties in the elderly in Europe: analysis of macroscopic and in-depth dat

Developing the European road safety decision support system

The Decision Support System (DSS) is one of the key objectives of the European co-funded research project SafetyCube in order to better support evidence-based policy making. Results will be assembled in the form of a DSS that will present for each suggested road safety measure: details of risk factor tackled, measure, best estimate of casualty reduction effectiveness, cost-benefit evaluation and analytic background. The development of the DSS presents a great potential to further support decision making at local, regional, national and international level, aiming to fill in the current gap of comparable measures effectiveness evaluation. In order to provide policy-makers and industry with comprehensive and well-structured information about measures, it is essential that a systems approach is used to ensure the links between risk factors and all relevant safety measures are made fully visible. The DSS is intended to become a major source of information for industry, policy-makers and the wider road safety community

The future decision support system, deliverable 8.5 of the H2020 project SafetyCube

The European Road Safety Decision Support System (DSS) is a comprehensive “one stop shop” designed to inform evidence based policy by providing state of the art scientific knowledge on road safety. A short promotion video is available here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-mVUde3knU. The DSS (www.roadsafety-dss.eu) has a user friendly web-based interface allowing users access to compressive information about a large range of road safety risk (problems) and measures (solutions), and links between the two. In addition, users are presented with information about serious road injuries, accident scenario fact sheets and an Economic Efficiency Evaluation (E3) tool. The E3 tool allows users to evaluate the cost effectiveness of road safety measures as well as providing a selection of worked examples. The European Road Safety DSS was developed by the European Commission supported Horizon 2020 project Safety CaUsation, Benefits and Efficiency (SafetyCube). The object of SafetyCube was to develop an innovative road safety Decision Support System (DSS) that will enable policy-makers and stakeholders to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures and cost-effective approaches to reduce casualties of all road user types and all severities. Detailed information about the development and DSS status at the end of the SafetyCube project are available in Yannis & Papadimitriou (2018). An overview of the DSS scientific content and a summary of the methodology used to develop the DSS can be found in the SafetyCube Final Project Report (Thomas & Talbot, 2018). The present Deliverable (8.5) gives a brief overview of the current state of the art DSS, describes the future enhanced version of the DSS and provides information for potential funder(s). Opportunity is available for new funders to support the European road safety DSS as it is developed and enhanced for future users. Through supporting the DSS, the future funder(s) will be contributing the Global UN Sustainable Development Goals on road safety by taking a leading position to actively promote effective solutions to road safety’s most pressing challenges. Aspirations for the future DSS will make the scientific content more accessible through translation of content in to local languages and filtering information into the manner most appropriate for low and middle income countries. The content will be expanded to include more topics and more detail about existing topics. Expansion of knowledge will include knowledge about implementing measures and a focus on the interdependences of road safety measures considering the impacts of implementing measures in combination. In addition to the future visions for content there are also aspirations for the future web based interface. A key enhancement will be to give users the ability to customise the display and select the information they would like to see for each individual coded study. The best case future for DSS operation is that of extended growth supported by considerable external funding. The exact structure, legal entity and governance of the future enhanced DSS will be decided in collaboration between the SafetyCube consortia and the future funder(s). In this cooperative way funding partners will have the chance to influence the development process in the manner most appropriate to meet their stakeholder needs. It is envisaged that the future DSS will be financed by several Organisations, therefore, the governance, time schedule and strategy for extended growth will be mutually decided. Within the SafetyCube project activities have been undertaken to advertise the DSS and provide information for potential funders. The European road safety DSS is the first integrated road safety support system developed in Europe. It aims to be the “go to tool”for road safety knowledge. The next funder(s) of the DSS have the exciting opportunity to take the DSS to the next level in facilitating the future of evidence based road safety policy making, ensuring safe roads for all

The application of systems approach for road safety policy making, Deliverable 8.1 of the H2020 project SafetyCube

The present Deliverable (D8.1) describes the co-ordination of the analysis of risks and measures using a systems framework within the SafetyCube project. It outlines the results of Task 8.1 of Work Package (WP) 8 of SafetyCube. This has involved (i) defining the systems approach to be used within SafetyCube, (ii) developing a taxonomy of risks and measures, (iii) identifying a common set of accident scenarios and (iv) initiating work on the Decision Support System (DSS) development. WP8 of the SafetyCube project has a number of specific aims, including developing the European DSS for supporting evidence-based policy making. It also aims to co-ordinate analysis undertaken in other WPs ensuring integrated research outputs, compilation of the project outputs into a suitable form to be incorporated within the DSS and the European Road Safety Observatory, and finally to develop tools to enable the continued support of evidence based road safety policies beyond SafetyCube. Evidence-based policy making enables policy makers to make justified decisions in the complex reality of road safety interventions. It refers to the use of objective, scientifically-based evidence in all stages of the policy making process. Two important pillars for evidence-based road safety policy making are road safety data and statistics and scientific knowledge (Wegman et al, 2015). This type of policy making can be beneficial (e.g. helps to identify road safety problems and select most appropriate interventions) but also has it’s challenges (e.g. a lot of information at varying levels of detail is required to inform decisions). The DSS that is being developed within SafetyCube aims to support decision makers as well as other stakeholders in their evidence-based policy making. In addition to evidence-based policy making, SafetyCube and in particular the DSS is grounded in the systems approach. The systems approach aims to steer away from the more traditionally ‘human error’ blame focussed approach to road safety, and instead takes into account all ‘components’ in a system (i.e. road users, vehicles, roads) which contribute to a risk of an accident occurring. In SafetyCube, the systems approach is being integrated in the DSS in two main ways. First, the risk factors which relate to the road user, the road or the vehicle will be linked to measures in any or all of these areas if appropriate. Second, to clarify the added value of complementary measures rather than measures in isolation, where appropriate, a description of a measure will pay special attention to and link to supporting measures. The SafetyCube DSS is underpinned by four taxonomies; Road User Behaviour (WP4), Infrastructure (WP5), Vehicles (WP6) and Post Impact Care (WP7). The taxonomy is a main structural part of the DSS system, it can be used as a search option in the DSS, it creates a uniform structure over all work packages and it can be used as a basis for linking risk factors with their corresponding measures. The structure consists of three levels, which are topic, subtopic and specific topic. Thirteen main topics were identified for Road User Behaviour (WP4), 10 main topics for Infrastructure (WP5) and six main topics for Vehicle (WP6). Four topics (based on the DaCoTA webtext on Post Impact Care, 2012), were included in WP7 (Post Impact Care). As expected, there was found to be some overlap between risk factors in one taxonomy and risk factors in another (e.g. is poor vehicle maintenance a Vehicle or Road User-related risk factor?), and some overlaps where a topic could be a risk factor or a countermeasure. Discussions between WPs ensured decisions could be made about how to overcome these ambiguities. Accident scenarios are used within SafetyCube. These are considered to be a classification system for crashes whereby crash types may be grouped according to similar characteristics under a particular scenario heading, creating specific clusters. In total, nine high level accident scenarios will form an entry point to the DSS. Each high level has multiple sub-levels which provide more detailed information about the conflict situation (before the crash). A total of 63 sub-level scenarios are considered. The task of linking risks and measures is currently underway within the SafetyCube project. The accident scenarios will provide a useful and systematic way by which to link risks and measures. They will be used, in order to generate a meaningful set of links, between risks related to specific situations, and measures to address them. The primary objective of the DSS is to provide the European and Global road safety community a user friendly, web-based, interactive Decision Support Tool which will enable policy-makers and stakeholders to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures and cost-effective approaches to reduce casualties and crash severity for all road users. It consists of information such as risk factors, road safety measures, cost-benefit, casualty reduction effectiveness estimates. In order to develop the DSS, a review of current existing Decision Support Systems was carried out to provide a first insight into such tools (e.g. Crash Modification Factors Clearinghouse, PRACT Repository, Road Safety Engineering Kit, iRAP). No European DSS were found in the search and of the DSS reviewed, the majority focussed on infrastructure and no risk factors were included. The SafetyCube DSS addresses these gaps. To understand user needs better, three stakeholders workshops were carried out, which allowed participants to comment on the proposed DSS and suggest ‘hot topics’ (i.e. important risk factors) to address in SafetyCube, and the findings of these workshops found that the DSS should be suitable for use by a wide range of users, should be impartial, include robust data and access to all studies used and generated results. A comprehensive common SafetyCube methodology was designed, which included: a complete taxonomy of human behaviour, infrastructure and vehicle; a detailed and recorded literature review and the development of a template for coding research studies and existing results to be stored in a database linked to the DSS. The DSS is being created on the basis of a number of design principles (e.g. modern web-based tool, ergonomic interface, simple, easily updated…). As well as a consistent layout the content itself is also of high importance (e.g. quantitative results over qualitative, methodologically sound, clarity). The DSS itself consists of the backend (relational database), the front end (website) and the way they integrate (queries). The heart of the DSS consists of the searchable/dynamic and static aspects, which consists of five entry points and three levels. The design principles of the DSS ensure a smooth integration of the Work Packages in two ways, firstly that the SafetyCube common methodology is applied and secondly that the fully linked search allows the end user to better perceive the interactions between various components in road safety. There are five entry points into DSS: ‘text search’, ‘risk factors’, ‘road safety measures’, ‘road user groups’ and ‘accident scenarios’. Once a search has been undertaken using one of these five entry points, a results page is shown to the user, which consists of a table listing the available synopses1 (overview of the topic created by synthesising findings from the coding of existing studies), meta-analysis and other studies in the database. From this, the user can then also access the individual study pages for each study listed in the results. Finally, a Tools page allows the user to access other SafetyCube tools (e.g. cost-benefit calculator, methodology information, glossary). 1 More details about the synopses can be found in the Milestone M3.1 (Martensen 2016). So far, more than 500 studies have been analysed in the area of road risks with more than 3,500 risk estimates, summarised in more than 60 synopses (including approximately 10 meta-analyses), and the related measures analyses are in progress. This wealth of information will all be incorporated into the DSS and become its core outputs. The overall design of the DSS is finalised and is currently available, with the next stage being the DSS development, including all risk factors and measures. The DSS Pilot Operation will occur later in the project, followed by the final opening of the DSS, with continual updates from the end of the project onwards. The SafetyCube DSS is intended to have a life well beyond the end of the SafetyCube research project

Analysis of road safety management in the European countries. Deliverable 1.5 Vol.II of the EC FP7 project DaCoTA

Analysis of road safety management in the European countries. Deliverable 1.5 Vol.II of the EC FP7 project DaCoT

Economic evaluation of road user related measures. Deliverable 4.3 of the H2020 project SafetyCube

Safety CaUsation, Benefits and Efficiency (SafetyCube) is a European Commission supported Horizon 2020 project with the objective of developing an innovative road safety Decision Support System (DSS). The DSS will enable policy-makers and stakeholders to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures, and cost-effective approaches to reduce casualties of all road user types and all severities. This document is the third deliverable (4.3) of work package 4, which is dedicated to the economic evaluation - mainly by means of a cost-benefit analysis - of road user related safety measures [...continues]