Safety

The status of road surface and its configuration are critical elements for road safety. In order to estimate the road surface condition including ground and underground temperature, humidity, salinity and local weather, road surface sensor that costs very high and causes pavement damage for installation can be considered. Overcoming above demerits of the existing sensor, the paper presents a road condition estimating method using image analysis technique. The method utilizes properties of water molecule on a moisturized road surface, which is dispersed with ultraviolet lays and absorbs the infrared ray energy. Published in 2010 by JT Corporation.

Through the development of digital maps with updated speed limits and positioning
technology new possibilities are created for improving traffic safety and environment. One
example is incentives for safer driving behaviour through a new type of traffic insurance
schemes. This article argues that such a system would be a powerful tool to fight traffic
accidents. The system could be offered to drivers who voluntarily wish to obtain a
substantially lower premium when speed limits are followed to a level agreed upon with the
insurance company. Research show, that these kinds of incentives have a strong positive
impact on the adherence to speed limits and following also on the risk of accidents. The costs
for the society due to traffic accidents are high and societal benefits could be realised through
intelligent traffic insurances. This calls for a political initiative and a complementary or
alternative institutional framework.

VINNOVA

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

This paper presents the results of a review of commercial vehicle safety studies conducted to provide a better understanding of the current commercial vehicle safety problem. It outlines the approach used to conduct the review, summarizes the findings and provides suggestions for future studies based on the conclusions reached during the review. It is organized into the following topics:

• Introduction
• Approach
• Findings
• Conclusions
• Recommendations
• References

The findings from the review identified strengths and weaknesses in safety analysis in the areas of subject selection, data collection and completeness of study.

The study concluded that improvements can be made in each of these areas. The study provides recommendations on additional areas of study and changes in practice and introduces some new techniques for focusing safety management efforts and research.

The Johns Hopkins University

Presented at the 11th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, June 4-7, 2001 Miami Beach, Florida

RECmodeler is a modular simulation tool built to evaluate alert criteria for
collision avoidance systems, including information that might be available from a
vehicle-to-vehicle communications system. No assumptions were made about the
specific communications system or available datum; the goal was to evaluate
what data would be most useful. The single-lane, rear-end collision, lead-vehicle
decelerating scenario was chosen as the best test case for demonstrating the
effectiveness of the methodology. Software modules built to date include four
different sensor models and a fuzzy-logic driver model. Communications can be
limited by both distance and direction, in order to limit nuisance alerts. The
results of this prototype evaluation indicate that alert thresholds based on velocity
differences or deceleration can be more effective than those based on closing rate
or following distance. The ability of the cooperative system to immediately alert
to the risky actions of vehicles at a distance, prior to those vehicles actually
posing a crash risk themselves, provides an extra level of performance relative to
systems that alert based only on recognition of an imminent crash situation.

D.G. Steigerwald – Johns Hopkins University

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 29-May 2, 2002, Long Beach, California