Safety

A  car access indication  system  allows traffic moving in both directions to flow smoothly
because it warns drivers of the existence of oncoming cars. This system should ideally be
installed  on  mountainous  roads  when  it  becomes  affordable.  The  system  has  received  an
initial favorable reception from road users in the areas in which it is installed; however, only
limited effects of the system have been investigated to date. Therefore, this study measured
the effect of the system quantitatively by researching changes in vehicle behavior and local
road users’ perception before and after the system installation. The result of this study shows
the advantages and technical considerations of this system on mountainous roads.

Tokyo University of Science, Japan

Kochi University of Technology, Japan

Presented at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

This study attempts to develop an arterial incident detection model by applying an
Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with simulation data. A section of the US-1 corridor in Miami-
Dade County, Florida was selected as the study area and coded in the CORSIM microscopic
simulation model. Two data sets were generated via CORSIM simulation for model
development and assessment. Multiple ANN models were designed for various scenarios. The
model performances were evaluated using the selected measures of effectiveness (MOE),
including detection rate (DR) and false alarm rate (FAR). The results showed that the ANN
models in general could detect arterial incidents with a high DR of 90-95% and an acceptable
FAR of lower than 4%. The study also identified some preferred features in the design of ANN
incident detection models for this application. These include the detector configuration scheme,
the selection of model input features, and the employment of data from previous cycles.

DMJM Harris

Florida International University

Presented at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

This paper extensively reviews a wide range of state-of-the-art techniques for incident detection algorithms. The principles of those algorithms are introduced and the advantage and disadvantage are compared. This paper examines the current development in this research area, identifies the problems pending to be solved on this subject, and recognizes some positive experiences in AID algorithm development. This paper gives a comprehensive literature review for the researcher attempting to obtain a better understanding of AID algorithm. The conclusions of the paper provide useful insight in AID algorithm development and improvement.

AECOM USA, Inc.

Florida International University

Paper submitted for publication and presentation at the ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition

Several successful ITS deployment scenarios added credibility to ITS by meeting the motorists’ needs. Through ITS and TMC integrated operations, the incident detection, verification, and response processes have been refined to offer additional tools to agencies involved in incident management. These tools also created more challenging interagency and intra agency  protocols that are more complex for agencies responsible for incident management, ITS deployment, and operations. The focus of this paper is on development of a framework of protocols to complement ITS deployment and operation for Florida’s Turnpike System. The protocols address ITS device and TMC operational issues and the related inter and intra agency functional and jurisdictional boundaries that govern the management of recurring and  non-recurring incident operations on the Turnpike System. Florida’s Turnpike System is a tolled roadway and part of the Florida Intrastate Highway System (FIHS) administered by Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). ITS deployment efforts on Florida’s Turnpike Mainline presented a unique opportunity to blend basic transportation requirements such as safety,  mobility, etc. with the varying interagency operational frameworks such as Florida Highway Patrol, Fire Department, Local Police, FDLE, and intra-department units such as Roadway Maintenance, Public Information Office, and other Department District offices. This study provides several insights into the needs of agency protocols that are a must to maximize the use of ITS field and TMC elements to better manage incidents on the Turnpike System. Where applicable, traffic engineering analyses was performed to determine safety and traffic operational criteria that are used as inputs to develop the mapping procedures to arrive at these protocols.

Turnpike Traffic Operations

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas

All over the world, most major roads suffer from the increasing traffic density. This results in more accidents, more vehicles involved, a larger risk for secondary accidents and long traffic jams. Today, increasing traffic volume and complexity has created a need for more optimised & improved ITS technology, highly automatic incident management systems in particular.

Facts & figures such as ‘more than 200.000 people killed each year’ and also the need for more security result in more investments into safer roads and better control of the traffic on highways in general. Today, traffic managers are looking for effective incident management because this can save countless commuter hours, gallons of fuel, and thousands of dollars. Effective incident management completely depends on fast incident detection and fast incident verification. While video detection handles both traffic data collection and automatic incident detection, its incident detection shows a high detection rate, a short time to detect, a fast incident verification and a low false alarm rate. These characteristics make video extremely useful for reaching incident management goals such as fast & effective intervention or secondary incident prevention.

The European research project RHYTHM aims to evaluate the benefits of using video for better traffic flow models and predictions of traffic jams and queue tails. This will further reduce the number of secondary casualties and also reduce the economic costs due to incident generated traffic jams. This article contains a review of the basic characteristics of effective incident management and the role played by video detection as a solid solution. Wide area video incident detection proves to be the best and most reliable detection system currently available.

Traficon n.v., Belgium

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas