An evaluation scheme for assessing the effectiveness of intersection movement assist (IMA) on improving traffic safety

Objective: Intersection movement assist (IMA) has been recognized as one of the prominent countermeasures to reduce angle crashes at intersections, which constitute 22% of total crashes in the United States. Utilizing vehicle-based sensors, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, IMA offers extended vision to provide early warning for an imminent crash. However, most of IMA-related research implements their methods and strategies only in simulations, test tracks, or driving simulator studies that have quite a few assumptions and limitations and hence the effectiveness evaluations reported may not be transferable or comparable.

Methods: This study seeks to develop a generalized evaluation scheme that can be used not only to assess the effectiveness of IMA on improving traffic safety at intersections but to facilitate comparisons across similar studies. The proposed evaluation scheme utilizes the concepts of traffic conflict in terms of time-to-collision (TTC) as a crash surrogate. This approach avoids the issue of having insufficient crash frequency data for system evaluation. To measure the effectiveness of IMA on reducing traffic conflicts, a relative risk is calculated for comparing the risk of with/without using the IMA. As a proof-of-concept study, this study applied the proposed evaluation scheme and reported the effectiveness of IMA on improving traffic safety in a field operation test (FOT). Seven test scenarios were conducted at 4 intersections, and a total of 40 participants were recruited to use the IMA for 6 months.

Results: It was estimated that IMA users have 26% fewer conflicts with TTC less than 5 s and have 15% fewer conflicts with TTC less than 4 s. However, the results vary across different sites and different definitions of conflicts in terms of TTC.

Conclusions: Overall, IMA is promising to effectively reduce angle crashes related to sight obstruction and has potential to reduce not only crash frequency but crash severity.     

The sex disparity in risky driving: A survey of Colombian young drivers

Objective: The overrepresentation of young drivers in poor road safety outcomes has long been recognized as a global road safety issue. In addition, the overrepresentation of males in crash statistics has been recognized as a pervasive young driver problem. Though progress in road safety evidenced as a stabilization and/or reduction in poor road safety outcomes has been made in developed nations, less-developed nations contribute the greatest road safety trauma, and developing nations such as Colombia continue to experience increasing trends in fatality rates. The aim of the research was to explore sex differences in self-reported risky driving behaviors of young drivers, including the associations with crash involvement, in a sample of young drivers attending university in Colombia.

Methods: The Spanish version of the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS-Sp) was applied in an online survey to a sample of 392 students (225 males) aged 16–24 years attending a major university. Appropriate comparative statistics and logistic regression modeling were used when analyzing the data.

Results: Males reported consistently more risky driving behaviors, with approximately one quarter of all participants reporting risky driving exposure. Males reported greater crash involvement, with violations such as speeding associated with crash involvement for both males and females.

Conclusion: Young drivers in Colombia appear to engage in the same risky driving behaviors as young drivers in developed nations. In addition, young male drivers in Colombia reported greater engagement in risky driving behaviors than young female drivers, a finding consistent with the behaviors of young male drivers in developed nations. As such, the research findings suggest that general interventions such as education, engineering, and enforcement should target transient rule violations such as speeding and using a handheld mobile phone while driving for young drivers in Colombia. Future research should investigate how these interventions could be tailored specifically for the Colombian cultural context, including how their effects can be evaluated, prior to implementation.     

Injury risk functions for frontal oblique collisions

Objective: The objective of this article was the construction of injury risk functions (IRFs) for front row occupants in oblique frontal crashes and a comparison to IRF of nonoblique frontal crashes from the same data set.

Method: Crashes of modern vehicles from GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study) were used as the basis for the construction of a logistic injury risk model. Static deformation, measured via displaced voxels on the postcrash vehicles, was used to calculate the energy dissipated in the crash. This measure of accident severity was termed objective equivalent speed (oEES) because it does not depend on the accident reconstruction and thus eliminates reconstruction biases like impact direction and vehicle model year. Imputation from property damage cases was used to describe underrepresented low-severity crashes―a known shortcoming of GIDAS. Binary logistic regression was used to relate the stimuli (oEES) to the binary outcome variable (injured or not injured).

Results: IRFs for the oblique frontal impact and nonoblique frontal impact were computed for the Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 2+ and 3+ levels for adults (18–64 years). For a given stimulus, the probability of injury for a belted driver was higher in oblique crashes than in nonoblique frontal crashes. For the 25% injury risk at MAIS 2+ level, the corresponding stimulus for oblique crashes was 40 km/h but it was 64 km/h for nonoblique frontal crashes.

Conclusions: The risk of obtaining MAIS 2+ injuries is significantly higher in oblique crashes than in nonoblique crashes. In the real world, most MAIS 2+ injuries occur in an oEES range from 30 to 60 km/h.     

电气伤亡事故的主客体场景指标设计及统计规律

为合理预防控制电气伤亡事故的发生提供依据,通过检索查阅国内外相关文献和政府网站公布的电气伤亡事故和案例情况描述,选取105起典型电气伤亡事故案例进行统计与分析;针对电气伤亡事故涉及的主客体场景要素,对其进行筛选、分类、排序及指标设计,形成系统的电气伤亡事故指标体系;结合现实情况对统计结果进行原因分析,根据统计结果,得到电气伤亡事故发生的一般规律,据此提出安全管理中需要关注与重视之处,以此来预防电气伤亡事故的发生。     

不同自燃倾向性煤的指标气体产生规律实验研究

为研究不同自燃倾向性煤的自燃指标气体变化规律,提高对煤早期自燃预测预报的准确度,采用程序升温实验系统,得到内蒙古褐煤、神东长焰煤、河南气煤及枣庄焦煤4种不同变质程度煤的氧化时间随温度的变化关系,以及指标气体浓度在煤氧化过程中的变化规律。结果表明:自燃倾向性最高的褐煤应以CO和乙烯作为煤自燃早期预报的首选指标气体;易自燃的长焰煤应采用乙烯和烯烷比为主、以CO为辅的煤自燃判定指标;自燃倾向性较低的气煤应以乙烯和烯烷比作为煤自燃预报指标;CO是自燃倾向性最低的焦煤的最佳自燃预报指标气体。     

生理因素对驾驶人行为及风险感知影响研究综述

为全面认识驾驶人行为及风险感知并分析行为成因,从驾驶人生理因素着手,从驾驶人视力、阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合征和肌肉骨骼疾患3个方面梳理国内外驾驶人行为及风险感知的研究成果与研究不足。研究结果表明:驾驶人的生理疾病对其驾驶能力和危险感知存在显著影响;生理疾病严重程度与异常驾驶行为中的一般性失误、危险性失误行为之间具有显著正相关关系,疾病严重程度越高,出行失误行为的频率越高;之后可从理论和实验两方面着手,针对驾驶人的不同属性进行研究。     

基于生态系统服务供需的雄安新区生态安全格局构建

生态安全格局构建是保障区域生态安全的关键。沿用“源地识别—阻力面构建—廊道提取”的生态安全格局构建模式,选取粮食供给、产水量、土壤保持、固碳释氧和生境维持5项生态系统服务供给指标,以及人口密度、地均GDP和土地利用程度3项生态系统服务需求指标,综合生态系统服务供需2方面识别重要生态源地,利用夜间灯光强度进行基本阻力面修正,采用最小累积阻力模型进行生态廊道提取,构建出雄安新区生态安全格局。研究表明:新区生态源地总面积约48433 km2,占新区土地总面积的313%,主要分布于新区西北部旱地和东南部水域;新区生态阻力系数空间分布较为破碎,大部分区域阻力值较低,间或分布高阻力值;新区生态廊道总长度18586 km,呈“Y”字型沿建设用地和水系分布,所处地类主要为旱地。基于生态系统服务供需的生态安全格局构建可为新区规划建设提供参考和借鉴。     

平煤十矿底板巷穿层钻孔瓦斯抽采模拟研究

为了降低平煤十矿己15-16-24130工作面运输巷掘进中的突出危险性,基于实际工程背景,考虑瓦斯抽采中的瓦斯运移及煤岩变形等因素,建立了瓦斯抽采气固耦合模型,并利用COMSOL Multiphysics软件对平煤十矿己15-16煤层的底板巷穿层钻孔瓦斯抽采方案进行数值模拟,研究了瓦斯抽采对于降低掘进过程中突出危险性的影响。研究结果表明:在己18煤层开挖底板巷对己15-16煤层进行穿层钻孔瓦斯抽采,瓦斯抽采180 d后,己15-16-24130工作面运输巷附近煤层残余瓦斯压力及瓦斯含量分别降至0.315 MPa和3.84 m3/t;将底板巷穿层钻孔瓦斯抽采方案进行工程应用,实测抽采后的残余瓦斯压力及瓦斯含量在0.32 MPa和3.17 m3/t,均小于平煤十矿煤与瓦斯突出防治规定的“双6”指标（残余瓦斯压力小于0.6 MPa,残余瓦斯含量小于6 m3/t）,可有效降低运输巷掘进过程中的突出危险性。     

基于TVR的腐蚀油气管道失效概率及安全寿命研究

为避免因腐蚀导致油气管道失效,针对因管道特性和腐蚀尺寸的不确定性使得管道剩余强度成为概率模型的特点,建立了腐蚀管道强度损失随机模型;借助可靠性理论,通过分析管道腐蚀进程的时变性特点,将管道系统由损伤积累和抗力衰减导致的剩余强度随机化;提出基于穿越率的腐蚀油气管道失效评定及安全寿命预测方法。研究结果表明:腐蚀速率和运行压力对管道失效概率及安全寿命影响显著,管道尺寸影响适中,而相关系数和拉伸强度影响较小;若腐蚀速率Va=0.2 mm/a,VL=10 mm/a或局部腐蚀缺陷半径达到管道壁厚的0.5倍时,建议作为重点风险段监测并检修。所建方法是对腐蚀油气管道运营监控和风险评估的有益补充。