Modeling, Assessment and Improvement of Urban Road Safety Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, life on earth, whether in densely or sparsely populated areas, or even smaller settlements, is unimaginable without different modes of traffic and transport. Despite numerous efforts, the number of human deaths and injuries in traffic is still at a high level. Nevertheless, due to the development of increasingly modern and advanced technologies and their application in traffic and transportation systems as a part of urban life, we must not ignore the fact that transport systems are predominantly dedicated to people. Whether they are drivers, dispatchers or simple users, they must be particularly adjusted to them (with all their physical and mental, cognitive or psychological limitations) to ensure their safety, comfort, and, not least, satisfaction as a condition of healthy and sustainable everyday life. However, the human factor has changed the least, except for the lack of attention and concentration due to the information overload both from the external environment and from the interior of the vehicle cabin. Despite the huge amount of research devoted to the introduction of modern technologies in the construction or the renewal of existing infrastructure and driver assistance systems in vehicles, some topics, especially those concerning the human factor, remain neglected.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• Traffic safety modeling with special attention paid to geometric modeling and spatial visualization.
• Human perception and risk assessment on roads.
• Driving behavior.

Furthermore, the following scientific and practical interests related to safety aspects should also be examined:

• In-vehicle information systems and similar devices usage during driving in urban areas.
• Safety and comfort of the interior of vehicles for urban passenger transport design.
• Determinants underlying perception and masking of various signals when moving (driving, commuting or walking) in urban areas.
• Designing (traffic) infrastructure from the aspect of residents (public) comfort and safety.

Inappropriate speed is one of the main causes of road traffic crashes. Uncovering very complex and multidimensional underlying mechanisms of speed perception provides a powerful tool for the development of better interventions that could reduce speed and increase traffic safety and, consequently, the overall quality of life of all users in the urban road environment. While nighttime driving is dangerous, especially the speed perception of different road users, including vehicles under mesopic light levels, degrades visual anticipatory cues, leading to hazards detection abilities impairment and higher fatality rates.

Thus, the specific research interests of this Special Issue are as follows:

• The influence of laser visual effects placed along the road infrastructure on the estimation of vehicles speed during night driving in urban conditions.
• Effects of laser visual effects as a part of road infrastructure on reducing driver fatigue and monotony.

Recent advances in multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) systems, capable of processing both textual and visual information, have opened new opportunities for traffic safety research and can be used to simulate perceptual tasks traditionally studied with human participants.

Research areas within this Special Issue may include

• Potential applications of AI as a supplementary tool for road safety assessment.
• Evaluating the degree of agreement between human and machine (speed) perception.

Traffic and transportation, especially in cities, are necessarily and inherently multimodal in nature. Sustainable traffic implies the complete integration of different modes of transportation, among other things, rail. Taking into account that rail mode of passenger transport has significantly lower emissions in comparison to other urban transport modes, expanding urban rail networks (metro and light rail) usage and focusing on reconstruction, modernization, expansion, digitalization and low-carbon technologies will contribute to reductions of overall emissions. The reconstruction of the existing railways, especially those that are part of the TEN-T network, implies the provision of a free GC profile in order to harmonize with modern European interoperability standards. This profile enables the employment of vehicles of larger dimensions and the development of intermodal transport. In such conditions, designers are often faced with a collision between the existing tunnel construction and the required free GC profile.

Thus, the research interests of this Special Issue are as follows:

• Application of GC free profile in reconstruction projects of existing tunnels which were designed according to earlier standards.
• Analysis and recommendation of various measurement methods, such as a detailed geodetic survey of the light profile of the tunnels.
• Proposal of various technical solutions, which must take into account technical, economic and operational limitations.

Moreover, the global urgency to reduce traffic accident frequency and severity calls for in-depth crash analysis in urban areas, identifying the key factors that contribute to the occurrence and severity of the consequences of accidents. It requires a multidisciplinary working team that enables the determination of potential influences and consequences of a traffic accident, as well as adequate recognition of real impacts in a specific accident.

Thus, this Special Issue will cover the following topics:

• Additional analysis of the conditions of vehicles that participated in an accident.
• Data collection and analysis of infrastructural, traffic, human and weather factors of a single traffic accident.
• Multidimensional assessment of traffic accident participants’ attitudes.

Finally, energy systems in transportation engineering that encompass a wide range of technologies and methodologies for obtaining energy in an environmentally acceptable way, contributing to the overall sustainability of urban transportation infrastructure, cannot be overstated. Integrating advanced AI algorithms into transportation systems helps to reach an advanced energy transition scenario in order to meet sustainability goals.

This Special Issue aims to bring together recent research on the following topics:

• Conversion of energy in transportation engines (reduction in traffic pollution).
• Examining the links among initial ideas, experimental work and application in real-world conditions.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to encourage multidisciplinary research that links engineering practice, behavioral analysis, and modern analytical methods. By combining traditional approaches to traffic safety with modern data-driven techniques and visualization, this Special Issue seeks to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of urban road safety systems and their improvement.

We invite researchers and practitioners to submit original research and review papers that provide new insights, methodologies, and practical solutions for improving safety in urban road environments.

Dr. Svetlana Čičević
Dr. Aleksandar Trifunović
Dr. Magdalena Dragović
Dr. Luka Lazarević
Guest Editors

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