• Transport Research

ITS Applications have in recent years assisted in reducing the number of fatalities in Europe. However, Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) have not benefited as much as vehicle users. The EU-sponsored VRUITS project assesses the safety and mobility impacts of ITS applications for VRUs, assesses the impacts of current and upcoming ITS applications on the safety and mobility of VRUs, identifies how the usability and efficiency of ITS applications can be improved, and recommends which actions have to be taken at a policy level to improve ITS safety and mobility. This paper describes the results of the first phase of the project, in which the critical scenarios for VRUs are identified starting from accident data analysis, and following a user needs based on focus groups and expert interviews. From this basis, the most promising ITS applications for VRUs are selected according to their potential to address the specific needs of VRUs

ITS Applications have in recent years assisted in reducing the number of fatalities in Europe. However, Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) have not benefited as much as vehicle users. The EU-sponsored VRUITS project assesses the safety and mobility impacts of ITS applications for VRUs, assesses the impacts of current and upcoming ITS applications on the safety and mobility of VRUs, identifies how the usability and efficiency of ITS applications can be improved, and recommends which actions have to be taken at a policy level to improve ITSsafety and mobility. This paper describes the results of the first phase of the project, in which the critical scenarios for VRUs are identified starting from accident data analysis, and following a user needs based on focus groups and expert interviews. From this basis, the most promising ITS applications for VRUs are selected according to their potential to address the specific needs of VRUs.

ITS Applications have in recent years assisted in reducing the number of fatalities in Europe. However, Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) have not benefited as much as vehicle users. The EU-sponsored VRUITS project assesses the safety and mobility impacts of ITS applications for VRUs, assesses the impacts of current and upcoming ITS applications on the safety and mobility of VRUs, identifies how the usability and efficiency of ITS applications can be improved, and recommends which actions have to be taken at a policy level to improve ITS safety and mobility. This paper describes the results of the first phase of the project, in which the critical scenarios for VRUs are identified starting from accident data analysis, and following a user needs based on focus groups and expert interviews. From this basis, the most promising ITS applications for VRUs are selected according to their potential to address the specific needs of VRUs

ITS Applications have in recent years assisted in reducing the number of fatalities in Europe. However, Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) have not benefited as much as vehicle users. The EU-sponsored VRUITS project assesses the safety and mobility impacts of ITS applications for VRUs, assesses the impacts of current and upcoming ITS applications on the safety and mobility of VRUs, identifies how the usability and efficiency of ITS applications can be improved, and recommends which actions have to be taken at a policy level to improve ITSsafety and mobility. This paper describes the results of the first phase of the project, in which the critical scenarios for VRUs are identified starting from accident data analysis, and following a user needs based on focus groups and expert interviews. From this basis, the most promising ITS applications for VRUs are selected according to their potential to address the specific needs of VRUs.

Nighttime crashes at intersections are a major traffic safety concern in the United States. Although providing lighting at intersections has proved to be a successful intervention against night crashes, current approaches to designing lighting at intersections are relatively simplistic, based on recommending light levels. These light levels stem from research that evaluated the effect of intersection lighting on night crashes, which does not account for the role of a driver’s visual performance or the effects of vehicle headlamps. For effective lighting design at intersections, empirical research is required to evaluate the effects of intersection lighting design on a driver’s visual performance as well as perceived visibility and glare. The current study had two goals. The first was to quantify visual performance in three lighting configurations (illuminating the intersection box, approach, or both). The second was to determine what lighting levels within each lighting configuration support the best visual performance. The study involved a target detection task, completed at night on a realistic roadway intersection. Twenty-four participants completed the study, with equal numbers of younger (18–35 years) and older (65+) individuals. Illuminating the intersection box led to superior visual performance, as indicated by longer target detection distances, fewer missed targets, and more targets identified within a safe stopping distance. For this lighting configuration, visual performance plateaued between an illuminance level of 8 and 12 lux. Visual performance was inferior in lighting configurations in which only the approach to the intersection or both the approach to the intersection and the intersection box were illuminated, and there was not consistent plateauing of visual performance in either condition. Increased performance with box lighting was likely due largely to the rendering of targets involved. Visual performance was reduced among older participants, though age-related differences were consistent across lighting configurations. These results have important implications for the design of intersection lighting at isolated or rural intersections. Specifically, results indicated that illuminating the intersection box is an effective strategy to increase nighttime visual performance for a wider range of driver ages and could also be an energy-efficient solution.

This paper presents the results of safety impact assessment, providing quantitative estimates of the safety impacts of ten ITS which were designed to improve safety, mobility and comfort of VRUs. The evaluation method originally developed to assess safety impacts of ITS for cars was now adapted for assessing safety impacts of ITS for VRUs. The main results of the assessment showed that nine services included in the quantitative safety impact assessment affected traffic safety in a positive way by preventing fatalities and injuries. At full penetration the highest effects were obtained for the systems PCDS+EBR, VBS and INS. The estimates for PCDS+EBR showed the maximum reduction of 7.5% on all road fatalities and 5.8% on all road injuries, which came down to an estimate of over 2,100 fatalities and over 62,900 injuries saved per year in the EU-28 when exploiting the 2012 accident levels adjusted with the estimated accident trends.

This paper presents the results of safety impact assessment, providing quantitative estimates of the safety impacts of ten ITS which were designed to improve safety, mobility and comfort of VRUs. The evaluation method originally developed to assess safety impacts of ITS for cars was now adapted for assessing safety impacts of ITS for VRUs. The main results of the assessment showed that nine services included in the quantitative safety impact assessment affected traffic safety in a positive way by preventing fatalities and injuries. At full penetration the highest effects were obtained for the systems PCDS+EBR, VBS and INS. The estimates for PCDS+EBR showed the maximum reduction of 7.5% on all road fatalities and 5.8% on all road injuries, which came down to an estimate of over 2,100 fatalities and over 62,900 injuries saved per year in the EU-28 when exploiting the 2012 accident levels adjusted with the estimated accident trends.

In the last decades the private vehicle has been the most commonly used transportation mode for daily journeys. This is a National and European trend and it is due to the economic growth and the investments focused on the road infrastructures. Because of that reason, cities have been often organized in terms of planning with especial attention to road vehicles and not well prepared for pedestrians and cyclists. There is a need to change this behavior to a society that privileges the active transportation modes. However, there is the need to ensure the safety of the most vulnerable users. This Dissertation was focused on analyzing the trends of road crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians and what are the main difficulties that people using active modes face in their daily journeys. In order to reach this objective, crashes registrations involving motor vehicles and vulnerable road users (pedestrians or cyclists) in the city of Aveiro were analyzed (given by the Public Safety Police “PSP” of Aveiro). In relation to accidents involving cyclists, 68% the victims are men; this can be possibly explained because there are more men cyclists than women as was verified in the sample of the survey, but there is a lack of statistics in Aveiro on the gender distribution of cyclists involved in accidents. In a second stage, a survey was prepared with the objective to understand the main difficulties of the university community who use the active modes in their daily journeys. From the survey it has been pointed out that the main problems found are the lack of drivers’ awareness and weather conditions. The third reason was the lack of dedicate cycle lanes. On the other hand, the main motivations for biking are the reduced cost and the easiness of mobility.

This report documents a collaboration between researchers at the Pedestrian Bicycle Information Center at the University of North Carolina’s Highway Safety Research Center and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute to advance bicycle and pedestrian safety. Efforts focused on (1) exploring and discussing ways to make vulnerable road users (VRUs) safer around existing vehicles with automation; (2) broadening the dialogue surrounding automation and VRU safety to incorporate underrepresented but necessary voices, such as those from advocacy communities; and (3) laying the groundwork to ensure that future automated vehicle (AV) systems, including transitional and fully automated vehicles, are designed with VRU safety as a priority. The collaboration produced a white paper detailing the current state of AV and pedestrian interaction, organized breakout sessions at annual meetings of the Automated Vehicle Symposium, published the results of those sessions, and hosted outreach activities such as webinars and an invited lecture.