Safety

This paper examines applications for Advance Flooded Roadway Warning Systems for low
water crossings.  Each year more deaths occur due to flooding than from any other weather
related hazard.  Over fifty percent of flood deaths occur in vehicles when drivers try to
navigate through floodwater.  Advance Flooded Roadway Warning Systems activate when
the monitored waterway floods nearby roads, helping to protect the lives and property of
motorists. Implementing such systems requires careful planning and execution to provide
improved traffic safety, saving lives and property. The focus of this paper is on the benefits a
well-designed system can bring to the region in terms of conservation of Emergency
Management, Rescue and Road Department resources, as well as improved public safety,
weather forecasting and response to flooding events.

High Sierra Electronics, Inc.

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

This paper describes an ongoing research project in the Netherlands for lowering the speed limit, depending on the weather condition (in particular rain) to enhance traffic safety. The research in this project consists of three main parts. In the first part, research has been conducted on the strategy of speed limits to be displayed: in what situations should the speed limit be lowered and how will these limits be shown to the drivers? Second, the usefulness and accuracy of a weather radar system for the prediction of showers on a motorway is verified. The last part is the development of an algorithm that determines the speed limits. In the fall of 2008, a trial run will be held and at the beginning of 2009 the algorithm is expected to operate on the A12 motorway. 

TNO

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

To secure road traffic safety under poor visibility conditions is a vital  responsibility of road
administrators. An effective road visibility information system has been sought for road
administrators and road users. The authors  have experimentally developed a new road
visibility information system (RVIS) that produces visibility information calculated from
images of CCTV cameras that  are installed on national highways. The system stores and
accumulates images sent from CCTV cameras to quantify the image data to automatically
compute visibility indexes that identify levels of road visibility. The visibility indexes
produced by RVIS allow the road administrators to collect and accumulate visibility data and
to provide visibility information to the public by Internet, e-mail and mobile phone. This
paper reports on the RVIS and the results of its feasibility study during the winters of
2006-2007 and 2007-2008. 

Hokkaido University

Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan

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

Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) systems  enable  numerous  types of active
safety and driver assistance features between communicating vehicles.  To realize these
benefits, a sizeable fleet penetration is required.  Given a total U.S. vehicle population of 231
million, with approximately 15 million new vehicles introduced each year, it will be
challenging to provide drivers with benefits during the early years of technology deployment.  
Add-on  DSRC devices that add wireless communication capabilities to existing unequipped
vehicles are one potential solution to this problem.  Variants of these devices could also be
carried by pedestrians, cyclists or disabled persons to enhance their visibility to vehicles. 
General Motors has developed a variety of prototype devices that demonstrate DSRC-enabled
features to users in the form of portable devices.  

General Motors Research & Development Center

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

Dynamic  Motorway  Traffic  Management  and Control has  been  developed  and  implemented worldwide  with  the  aim  of  increasing  efficiency,  reliability,  safety  and  reducing environmental  impacts  without  necessitating  major  physical  changes  in  the  road infrastructure.  The  impacts  of  these  systems  are  difficult  to  observe  and  evaluate.  In  this paper a study of the impacts of the recommended variable speed limits (VSL) on individual
traffic  characteristics  is  proposed  on  the  basis  of  different  statistical  tests  on  data  of  before and after application of the VSL on E4 motorway in Stockholm. VSL contribute to more even traffic flow distribution between lanes. Better speed distribution between vehicles and a sharp decrease of speed variance in all lanes. Time headway equal and less than 1 reduced by 43% and frequency of lane changing reduced by 50%.

Royal Institute of Technology

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