Safety

The Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) has examined inter-vehicle
communication(IVC) protocols for safe drive support through field experiments and
simulations for years. For safe drive support, packet relay function is one of the issues of
IVC and optimal relay system should be selected from the view of latency and packet error
rate. The JARI demonstrated the operation of the Relay Control Protocol (RCP) system
using the 5.8 GHz band in 2007 and showed that this system suppressed packet congestion
caused by the increase in the number of vehicles. Furthermore it also showed through
simulation that the location information of vehicles obtained by IVC could be used for
packet relay in line with demands of applications to implement a packet congestion
suppression function equivalent to that of the RCP system. This study made it clear that the
relay system which actively used the location information could be applied to safe drive
support.

SSC (System Solution Company)

Japan Automobile Research Institute

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

The damages and social costs from the slipping accidents of pedestrians and cyclists are
significant. There are about 50,000 such accidents in Finland annually. In the future, the
number of slipping accidents requiring medical attention will probably increase due to the
aging of the population and the increase in bicycle and pedestrian traffic caused by
congestion and the climate change prevention. The current weather services can prevent
3,500–4,000 slipping accidents annually in Finland but the effect could be doubled or
tripled by developing more efficient and intelligent information services. The potential
socio-economic benefits of the services would thus be at least 370 M€/a. This, combined
with increased road traffic congestion and the challenges posed by health care, air quality
problems and climate change, offers a potential growth market for ITS services for
pedestrians and cyclists that suit the needs of different user groups.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

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

Weather  problems  like  strong  rains,  fog,  wind,  ice  and  especially  snow,  are  important problems  for  traffic  flows  and  road  safety.  The  special  characteristics  of  weather  problems: strong area of influence, long-term effects and difficult prevision, makes necessary to develop coordinated actions between different national organizations and countries. This coordination involves  the  use  of  adequate  measures  to  solve  the  adverse  consequences  derived  from weather problems. In order to improve coordination, a set of actions are needed to help road managers to solve the problems efficiently. Coordination problems are more important when the incident location is close to a cross-border area.  The main purpose of this paper is to present a system that alerts traffic managers when there is a weather incident on the roads. Also, the paper shows the traffic management used associated with weather problems, the strategies for integrating both weather and traffic information, and the coordination between different national and international authorities.

Dirección General de Tráfico

Universidad de Valencia

Universitat Jaume I de Castelló

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

The purpose of this research is to develop a framework for understanding the perceptions of
the various stakeholders involved in the planning, funding and deployment of ITS programs
for public safety and security. We collected the perceptions of thirty-two stakeholders
participating in roundtable discussions at an ITS America Annual Meeting. In this paper we
first provide an explanation of the reasons such research is needed. We consider the previous
publications and research-to-date as a backdrop to the study. The data collection and analysis
methodologies are described next. We conclude with a conceptual framework based on the
data analysis and a discussion of the implications.

University of Montevallo

Intelligent Transportation Society of America

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

After the September 11, 2001 and the hurricane Katrina, 2005, there is a general awareness that
natural and man-made disasters may occur suddenly. When any of these occur, a prompt and
vigorous transportation action is required, which should be subject to comprehensive planning
ahead of any imminent danger. In this paper, a transit-based emergency response plan is
developed for determining the optimal combinations between waiting positions (i.e. bus stops)
and corresponding shelters (i.e. metro stations.) An improved vehicle routing algorithm can be
used to dispatch rescue vehicles toward above combinatorial locations. Additionally, a contraflow
simulation model is elaborated to disperse the evacuating vehicles inside the target area and
the ambient traffic.

University of Maryland College Park

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