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Safety
Special Issues
Sustainable and Safe Road Design
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Sustainable and Safe Road Design

A special issue of Safety (ISSN 2313-576X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 61234

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Matjaž Šraml

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: traffic safety; sustainable mobility; microsimulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is my great pleasure that I can address and invite you to contribute to the field of traffic safety, particularly on the field of “Sustainable and Safe Road Design”.

The safe road traffic system ("Safe System") based on Vision Zero, Towards Zero or Sustainable Safety concepts views human life as the first and foremost consideration when designing a road traffic system. Furthermore, the design and operation of a road traffic system is still a huge challenge among engineers and researchers. Safety, as a key issue of road traffic systems, is a permanent process and it is a shared responsibility amongst everyone, including those that plan, design, build, operate, maintain, and use the road system. Concepts of sustainable safe road design, have recently shown huge improvements in terms of reducing fatalities and injuries among all road users. Therefore, this Special Issue offers researchers and readers a look at some key issues within road traffic safety, especially sustainable safe road design concepts which include not only “pure design”, but also driver behavior and human factor challenges associated with progress in the field of sustainability. Key topics should include concepts of:

  • Safe roads and infrastructure;
  • Self-explaining roads;
  • Error-forgiving roads;
  • Human factors in road design;
  • Sustainable concepts in road design;
  • Safe road infrastructure for vulnerable road users.

Prof. Dr. Matjaž Šraml
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Safety is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • safe roads
  • human factors in road design
  • intelligent roads/infrastructures
  • concepts of safe intersections.

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 4124 KiB  
Article
Are Double-Lane Roundabouts Safe Enough? A CHAID Analysis of Unsafe Driving Behaviors
by Giulia Pulvirenti, Natalia Distefano, Salvatore Leonardi and Tomaz Tollazzi
Safety 2021, 7(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety7010020 - 8 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 6039
Abstract
This study investigated the nature and causes of unsafe driving behavior at roundabouts through an on-road study. Four urban double-lane roundabouts with different layouts were selected for an on-road study. Sixty-six drivers (41 males and 25 females) aged 18–65 years took part in [...] Read more.
This study investigated the nature and causes of unsafe driving behavior at roundabouts through an on-road study. Four urban double-lane roundabouts with different layouts were selected for an on-road study. Sixty-six drivers (41 males and 25 females) aged 18–65 years took part in the study. Unsafe behaviors observed during the in situ survey were divided into three different categories: entry unsafe behaviors, circulation unsafe behaviors, and exit unsafe behaviors. Three chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) analyses were developed in order to analyze the influence of roundabout characteristics and maneuvers on unsafe behaviors at double-lane roundabouts. The results confirmed the awareness that double-lane roundabouts are unsafe and inadvisable. More than half of unsafe driving behaviors were found to be entry unsafe behaviors. Moreover, the entry radius was found to be the geometric variable most influencing unsafe driving behaviors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Safe Road Design)
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24 pages, 4435 KiB  
Article
A Comprehensive Approach Combining Regulatory Procedures and Accident Data Analysis for Road Safety Management Based on the European Directive 2019/1936/EC
by Rosolino Vaiana, Giusi Perri, Teresa Iuele and Vincenzo Gallelli
Safety 2021, 7(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety7010006 - 18 Jan 2021
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 8988
Abstract
The European Union policy for road safety management is based on the European Directive 2019/1936/EC. Among the safety management procedures and strategies, road safety inspections (RSI) are an effective tool for preventing accident risk and reducing crash frequency and severity for existing road [...] Read more.
The European Union policy for road safety management is based on the European Directive 2019/1936/EC. Among the safety management procedures and strategies, road safety inspections (RSI) are an effective tool for preventing accident risk and reducing crash frequency and severity for existing road networks. The European Transport Safety Council encourages the extension of these measures to the main urban and rural roads by the 5th Road Safety Action Programme. In light of the above, in this study, a safety performance evaluation through the RSI approach is carried out for a high-risk rural road in Southern Italy in order to identify all the road infrastructure-related features with poor safety conditions. Afterwards, the relationship between infrastructure deficiencies and the frequency and severity of accidents is investigated; a significant relationship between accident density/total number of injured people and road markings gap is found. Furthermore, the results confirm that a high density of driveways strongly impacts crash frequency. The analysis of the contribution of multiple infrastructure-related variables on the crash occurrences is proposed by the identification of several mathematical models. A second-order AIC (Akaike’s information criterion) approach is carried out to compare the five fitted models investigated. Finally, a prediction calibrated model is proposed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Safe Road Design)
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18 pages, 2592 KiB  
Article
Road Safety Analysis of High-Risk Roads: Case Study in Baja California, México
by Marco Montoya-Alcaraz, Alejandro Mungaray-Moctezuma, Julio Calderón-Ramírez, Leonel García and Cynthia Martinez-Lazcano
Safety 2020, 6(4), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety6040045 - 9 Oct 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 17126
Abstract
The objective of this research is to develop a useful procedure to assess and identify risks that promote accidents by road users, with the vision of improving safety through the implementation and technical employment of operative strategies. The relevance of this proposal lies [...] Read more.
The objective of this research is to develop a useful procedure to assess and identify risks that promote accidents by road users, with the vision of improving safety through the implementation and technical employment of operative strategies. The relevance of this proposal lies in the fact that the issue of traffic accidents is a global problem. This project is located in the mountain range of Baja California, Mexico, in the Centinela–La Rumorosa highway and integrates accidental and pavement surface condition data, geometric design performance, analysis of traffic signals, and road safety devices present on the road using geodetic techniques. It is concluded that this procedure contributes to determining risk areas that promote accidents and generate a risk reduction plan to support future decision-making that guarantees better performance for road users. Furthermore, it is highlighted that the analysis of road safety must be a permanent process for those who operate, design, and build the road system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Safe Road Design)
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24 pages, 2812 KiB  
Article
Segmentation Effect on the Transferability of International Safety Performance Functions for Rural Roads in Egypt
by Sania Reyad Elagamy, Sherif M. El-Badawy, Sayed A. Shwaly, Zaki M. Zidan and Usama Elrawy Shahdah
Safety 2020, 6(3), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety6030043 - 18 Sep 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5778
Abstract
This paper examines the transferability of the Safety Performance Function (SPF) of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and other 10 international SPFs for total crashes on rural multi-lane divided roads in Egypt. Four segmentation approaches are assessed in the transferability of the international [...] Read more.
This paper examines the transferability of the Safety Performance Function (SPF) of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and other 10 international SPFs for total crashes on rural multi-lane divided roads in Egypt. Four segmentation approaches are assessed in the transferability of the international SPFs, namely: (1) one-kilometer segments (S1); (2) homogenous sections (S2); (3) variable segments with respect to the presence of curvatures (S3); and (4) variable segments with respect to the presence of both curvatures and U-turns (S4). The Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD), Mean Prediction Bias (MPB), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Pearson χ2 statistic, and Z-score parameters are used to evaluate the performance of the transferred models. The overdispersion parameter (k) for each transferred model and each segmentation approach is recalibrated using the local data by the maximum likelihood method. Before estimating the transferability calibration factor (Cr), three methods were used to adjust the local crash prediction of the transferred models, namely: (1) the HSM default crash modification factors (CMFs); (2) local CMFs; and (3) recalibrating the constant term of the transferred model. The latter method is found to outperform the first two methods. Besides, the results show that the segmentation method would affect the performance of the transferability process. Moreover, the Italian SPFs based on the S1 segmentation method outperforms the HSM and all of the investigated international SPFs for transferring their models to the Egyptian rural roads. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Safe Road Design)
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17 pages, 1234 KiB  
Article
Effect of Road Markings and Traffic Signs Presence on Young Driver Stress Level, Eye Movement and Behaviour in Night-Time Conditions: A Driving Simulator Study
by Darko Babić, Dario Babić, Hrvoje Cajner, Ana Sruk and Mario Fiolić
Safety 2020, 6(2), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety6020024 - 11 May 2020
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 13901
Abstract
The study investigates how the presence of traffic signalling elements (road markings and traffic signs) affects the behaviour of young drivers in night-time conditions. Statistics show that young drivers (≤30 years old) are often involved in road accidents, especially those that occur in [...] Read more.
The study investigates how the presence of traffic signalling elements (road markings and traffic signs) affects the behaviour of young drivers in night-time conditions. Statistics show that young drivers (≤30 years old) are often involved in road accidents, especially those that occur in night-time conditions. Among other factors, this is due to lack of experience, overestimation of their ability or the desire to prove themselves. A driving simulator scenario was developed for the purpose of the research and 32 young drivers took two runs using it: (a) one containing no road markings and traffic signs and (b) one containing road markings and traffic signs. In addition to the driving simulator, eye tracking glasses were used to track eye movement and an electrocardiograph was used to monitor the heart rate and to determine the level of stress during the runs. The results show statistically significant differences (dependent samples t-test) between the two runs concerning driving speed, lateral position of the vehicle, and visual scanning of the environment. The results prove that road markings and traffic signs provide the drivers with timely and relevant information related to the upcoming situation, thus enabling them to adjust their driving accordingly. The results are valuable to road authorities and provide an explicit confirmation of the importance of traffic signalling for the behaviour of young drivers in night-time conditions, and thus for the overall traffic safety. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Safe Road Design)
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15 pages, 2618 KiB  
Article
A Model to Predict Children’s Reaction Time at Signalized Intersections
by Irena Ištoka Otković
Safety 2020, 6(2), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety6020022 - 5 May 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6841
Abstract
Traffic accident statistics in urban areas, both locally in Croatia and at the European level, identify children as a group of vulnerable road users. The analysis of the parameters that influence the interaction of child pedestrians and other road users requires special attention. [...] Read more.
Traffic accident statistics in urban areas, both locally in Croatia and at the European level, identify children as a group of vulnerable road users. The analysis of the parameters that influence the interaction of child pedestrians and other road users requires special attention. This paper presents the results of research about the reaction time of children, measured both in laboratory conditions, via a computer reaction time test, and in actual traffic conditions. The results of the reaction time test in a situation with expected stimuli (a computer test) of children aged 6 to 10 years were compared with the results of the reaction time of adult traffic participants, drivers, who also took part in the computer test. Standard deviations of the reaction times between the control group (drivers, adults) and each subgroup of children were significantly different (p < 0.05). The results suggest that the largest developmental jump occurs between preschool children and first-grade children. In actual traffic conditions, the reaction time of children aged 4 to 16 years at the signalized intersection was measured. The model for predicting the reaction time of children in real traffic conditions was created using a neural network. The model prediction results matched well with the values measured in actual traffic conditions, for the observed intersection (correlation coefficient is 94.56%) and for the validation intersection (correlation coefficient is 92.29%). Parameters influencing children’s reaction times in real traffic conditions were identified by applying both statistical analysis and the neural network model developed. Using both methods, the same key distractors were identified—the movement of children in the group and the use of mobile phones. The case study was conducted at selected signalized intersections in the city of Osijek, Croatia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Safe Road Design)
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