Safety

The present paper investigates the warning timing of a forward obstacle collision warning
system (FOCWS). Driving simulator experiments are performed to verify the influence of
visible distance of forward obstacles, which varies depending on the environmental brightness
(daytime or nighttime), on the obstacle (pedestrian or vehicle), and the influence of the
warning timing on the driver's avoidance actions. Moreover, situation-adaptive warning
timing based on the visibility of forward obstacles  is proposed, and the driving simulator
experiments reveal the effectiveness and acceptability of the system.

Department of Systems Science, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University

DENSO CORPORATION

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

Increasing mid-block crashes lead traffic engineers to assess crosswalk treatments
safer for children and seniors. One method is to signalize mid-block crossings. Utilizing a
microsimulation approach, this paper evaluated several alternatives for signalizing a typical midblock crosswalk (MBC), to explore how the change in signals and geometries affects vehicles
and pedestrians. Fuzzy logic control (FLC) has proven effective for a complex optimization
problem with multiple objectives, uncertain information, and vague decision criteria. Traffic
signal timing lies in this domain. To model the rage of variables in MBCs, a FLC signal is
newly developed and evaluated against a counterpart to quantify potential safety and efficiency
benefits. Comprehensively, FLC effectively controlled the signal timing and outperformed the
counterpart, also finding a compromise among multiple objectives (e.g., enhancing safety,
ameliorating operations, and lessening social cost).

University of Wisconsin – Madison

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

The Southeastern Michigan Snow and Ice Management (SEMSIM) Project uses the latest in fleet management technologies and applies them to winter maintenance activities. SEMSIM is a Partnership which includes the City of Detroit, the Wayne County Department of Public Services, the Road Commission of Macomb County, and the Road Commission for Oakland County. These four agencies are responsible for maintaining over 10,000 miles of roadway in metropolitan Detroit. In addition to the four road agencies, the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) is key transit player. SMART is providing the 900 MHz radio channels which will act as the communications back bone for SEMSIM.. SEMSIM is striving to use technology as an ally in the fight against winter storms. The ability to centrally monitor fleet movements and activities in real-time is a powerful tool that is just beginning to be utilized. The associated result is better resource management which directly correlates to safer roads at lower costs.

Road Commission for Oakland County

Presented at the 10th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, May 1-4, 2000 Boston, MA

Increasing security in transports without negatively affecting the logistical flow makes
efficiency a critical factor. To achieve a viable end-to-end security solution in a supply
chain, with complex network of dependencies, a holistic perspective is required. With
focus on dual use measures this pilot project, performed in close cooperation between
Volvo Technology and Saab, involves important stakeholders in the supply chain and
port domain focusing on the Port of Gothenburg, the largest port in Scandinavia and
with CSI certification. Gathering key players in global transportation and societal
security into this pilot project will create excellent conditions for developing and
implementing relevant concepts and solutions with dual use by improving security and
efficiency for the global flow of goods and people.

Saab AB

Volvo Technology Corporation

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

While the most common application of the Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) is electronic toll collection and travel time estimation, there is a promising traffic safety application in the context of Advanced Travel Management (ATM). This paper examines the usefulness of traffic data collected from Automatic Vehicle Identification systems and weather data in real-time crash analysis. Matched case-control was used to link real-time space mean speed collected by AVI and real-time weather data and crash likelihood.  The 10-minute average speed five minutes before the crash occurrence and the 1-hour visibility both before the crash time were found to be the most significant factors that affect the crash likelihood.

University of Central Florida

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida