Suicide by crashing into a heavy vehicle: Focus on professional drivers using in-depth crash data

Objective: Road traffic suicides typically involve a passenger car driver crashing his or her vehicle into a heavy vehicle, because death is almost certain due to the large mass difference between these vehicles. For the same reason, heavy-vehicle drivers typically suffer minor injuries, if any, and have thus received little attention in the research literature. In this study, we focused on heavy-vehicle drivers who were involved as the second party in road suicides in Finland.

Methods: We analyzed 138 road suicides (2011–2016) involving a passenger car crashing into a heavy vehicle. We used in-depth road crash investigation data from the Finnish Crash Data Institute.

Results: The results showed that all but 2 crashes were head-on collisions. Almost 30% of truck drivers were injured, but only a few suffered serious injuries. More than a quarter reported sick leave following their crash. Injury insurance compensation to heavy-vehicle drivers was just above €9,000 on average. Material damage to heavy vehicles was significant, with average insurance compensation paid being €70,500. Three out of 4 truck drivers reported that drivers committing suicide acted abruptly and left them little opportunity for preventive action.

Conclusions: Suicides by crashing into heavy vehicles can have an impact on drivers’ well-being; however, it is difficult to see how heavy-vehicle drivers could avoid a suicide attempt involving their vehicle.     

An investigation on the fuel savings potential of hybrid hydraulic refuse collection vehicles

Refuse trucks play an important role in the waste collection process. Due to their typical driving cycle, these vehicles are characterized by large fuel consumption, which strongly affects the overall waste disposal costs. Hybrid hydraulic refuse vehicles offer an interesting alternative to conventional diesel trucks, because they are able to recuperate, store and reuse braking energy. However, the expected fuel savings can vary strongly depending on the driving cycle and the operational mode. Therefore, in order to assess the possible fuel savings, a typical driving cycle was measured in a conventional vehicle run by the waste authority of the City of Stuttgart, and a dynamical model of the considered vehicle was built up. Based on the measured driving cycle and the vehicle model including the hybrid powertrain components, simulations for both the conventional and the hybrid vehicle were performed. Fuel consumption results that indicate savings of about 20% are presented and analyzed in order to evaluate the benefit of hybrid hydraulic vehicles used for refuse collection.     

Predicting vehicle fuel consumption patterns using floating vehicle data

The status of energy consumption and air pollution in China is serious. It is important to analyze and predict the different fuel consumption of various types of vehicles under different influence factors. In order to fully describe the relationship between fuel consumption and the impact factors, massive amounts of floating vehicle data were used. The fuel consumption pattern and congestion pattern based on large samples of historical floating vehicle data were explored, drivers'' information and vehicles'' parameters from different group classification were probed, and the average velocity and average fuel consumption in the temporal dimension and spatial dimension were analyzed respectively. The fuel consumption forecasting model was established by using a Back Propagation Neural Network. Part of the sample set was used to train the forecasting model and the remaining part of the sample set was used as input to the forecasting model.     

基于ES-VSP分布的交通状态对公交车动态排放的影响

为评估不同交通状态下公交车运行特征和排放水平的差异,现场采集广州市B9、226线路公交车的逐秒GPS数据,以ES-VSP（发动机负荷-机动车比功率）分布表征畅通、轻度拥堵和中度拥堵下的公交车运行特征,结合IVE（international vehicle emission）模型求得公交车平均排放因子并分析其差异.结果表明:①所测公交车的发动机低负荷区中bin11（-1.6 < ES ≤ 3.1,-2.9 kW/t ≤ VSP < 1.2 kW/t）频率范围为50.55%~83.39%,中度拥堵时bin 11频率是畅通时的1.1~1.3倍;② 3种交通状态下公交车的CO、VOC（运行产生的挥发性有机物）、VOC_evap（蒸发产生的挥发性有机物）、NO_x（氮氧化物）和PM（颗粒物）平均排放因子范围分别为7.63~11.40、0.26~0.46、0.68~1.56、0.32~0.51和0.72×10-2~1.28×10-2 g/km;③同种交通状态下,主干路公交车专用道和BRT车道的公交车的大部分污染物平均排放因子低于次干路混行车道、主干路混行车道,中度拥堵时主干路BRT车道的CO、VOC、VOC_evap、NO_x和PM平均排放因子相对其他道路最低,分别为7.66、0.27、0.87、0.32和0.75×10-2 g/km;④次干路混行车道、主干路混行车道的公交车污染物平均排放因子随交通状态愈加拥堵而增大,但畅通时主干路BRT车道的公交车行驶速度、加速度较高,导致CO平均排放因子较高,对应3种交通状态其比例为1.0:0.9:0.8.研究显示,交通状态对公交车运行和排放具有显著影响.      

军绿有机涂层和金属漆涂层全浸泡下的腐蚀行为对比研究

目的针对车辆装备长期在高盐雾、高湿热、高日照等恶劣的气候环境下使用,会受到腐蚀影响的现状,探究现役军用有机涂层防护性能。方法采用电化学阻抗谱技术研究军绿有机涂层和金属漆涂层在3.5%NaCl溶液中的腐蚀电化学行为,分析这两种涂层在浸泡期间的电化学阻抗谱特征,通过拟合等效电路得到涂层电阻R_c和涂层电容C_c,并用这两个电化学参数评价军绿有机涂层和金属漆涂层的耐蚀性能。结果军绿有机涂层抗腐蚀介质渗透能力很强,而金属漆涂层抗腐蚀介质渗透能力稍弱。结论两种涂层都表现出很好的防护性能,且金属漆涂层在腐蚀后期的防护性能要优于军绿有机涂层。     

重庆市突发环境事件时空格局及影响研究

基于2009年-2015年重庆市突发环境事件统计数据,研究了重庆市近7年突发环境事件的动态变化趋势、空间分布格局及污染影响特征,讨论了引发突发环境事件内外部因素之间的关系.结果表明:重庆市7年内共发生突发环境事件134起,且呈波动下降趋势,春季和夏季为交通事故和自然灾害高发期;突发环境事件空间上主要集中在主城九区及相邻的区县,渝西、渝东南及渝东北各区县发生次数较少.道路交通事故、设备故障和操作不当是导致突发环境事件的主要因素,主要发生形式为泄漏.污染类型主要为水污染和水气复合污染,污染物出现频率大小为:油类>酸碱类>液氨>苯及其化合物>减水剂>其他各种污染物.     

城区机动车尾气排放量与雾霾关系研究

近年来雾霾严重影响到了人们正常的生活和身体健康,许多报道都将机动车尾气看做是雾霾的"元凶".G20期间,在柯桥区及周边区域几乎全部企业都处于停产状态下,根据柯桥区域机动车限行前后的数量与空气报告得出的数据显示:PM2.5浓度没有随着机动车减少而降低,汽车的尾气对PM2.5浓度的影响有限,机动车尾气是雾霾的"元凶"的说法有些言过其实.     

军绿有机涂层破损腐蚀行为研究

目的研究不同破损程度下军绿有机涂层的腐蚀行为,确定破损率对其防护性能变化的影响。方法通过人工制作不同的破损率,并利用电化学阻抗谱技术,研究不同破损程度下军绿有机涂层的电化学特征。结果根据不同破损程度下的军绿有机涂层的电化学特征,确定了涂层从完好到失效的四个阶段,初始完好阶段(破损率K≤0.0004%)、破损增大阶段(0.0016%K≤0.04%)、破损过大阶段(0.16%K≤1%)和失效阶段(4%K≤16%)。结论破损率K为0.04%的点是该涂层防护性能急转直下的转折点,因此破损率K大于0.04%时,应及时对车辆表面涂层进行修补和防护。     

基于实时交通信息的道路机动车动态排放清单模拟研究

以上海市为例开展了实际道路车流分布、行驶工况和车辆技术的实地调查,建立了道路车流、VSP分布和车辆技术数据库.在此基础上,基于实时的车流、车速等交通信息,构建了动态化的道路机动车污染物排放清单模拟方法,并开展了城区典型道路的机动车小时排放模拟案例研究.调查结果表明,上海市城区道路车流以轻型客车和出租车为主,分别占各时段车流总量的48%～72%和15%～43%;VSP分布与平均车速存在较好的规律,各车型VSP峰值随平均车速的上升向高负荷去移动,且峰值逐渐降低;当前上海市车辆以国2和国3车型为主,经过年检站调查结果的校正,国2和国3车型分别占各车型的11%～70%和17%～51%.模拟案例结果显示,道路机动车CO、VOC、NOx和PM日排放峰谷比可达3.7、4.6、9.6和19.8左右,CO和VOC排放主要来自轻型客车和出租车,与车流变化的相关性较好,而NOx和PM排放主要来自重型客车和公交车,且主要集中在早晚高峰时段.采用建立的动态排放模拟方法可实时反映实际道路的机动车排放变化,获取高排放路段和时段,为交通环境管理提供重要的技术手段和决策依据.     

日本交通部门碳排放与低碳交通相关因素研究

本文就日本向低碳社会体系转型的过程中,交通部门碳排放现状、都市交通体系构成、实施对策等方面进行了分析,探讨其交通运输领域低碳交通的相关因素及发展模式,为中国低碳交通体系的构建提供参考。