Communications in computer and information science, 2015
This paper describes results of experiments with camera setup, calibration and image processing a... more This paper describes results of experiments with camera setup, calibration and image processing algorithms for automatic detection and tracking of pedestrians and vehicles. The aim of the MOBIS project was to develop a method of assessing safety of unsignalised pedestrian crossings. Correct detection and tracking proved to be more difficult in the case of pedestrians than vehicles due to variability in people’s appearance, movement in groups and poor visibility in bad weather. Application of cameras with built-in pedestrian tracking programs was successful only in very good visibility conditions, so a computationally efficient PC algorithm providing a high pedestrian detection rate was used instead. The paper presents comparison of results obtained using different image processing methods as well as selected problems of pedestrian tracking. Statistical analysis of pedestrian behaviour with and without vehicles present is also shown. The proposed approach seems to be accurate enough for the purpose of assessing pedestrian safety.
The report presents the results of a review of the study methods related to vulnerable road user ... more The report presents the results of a review of the study methods related to vulnerable road user safety that are used today and aims to link accident causation factors to VRU accident risk. The review covered the following categories of study methods: epidemiological studies based on accident and injury data; in-depth accident investigations; naturalistic driving studies; behavioural observations; traffic conflict studies; and self-reported accident studies. The review consisted of two parts: a systematic literature review and a questionnaire survey. A scoping review of the available scientific literature was conducted that covered four types of safety-related studies: naturalistic driving studies, behavioural observations, traffic conflict studies and self-reported accidents. In total, over one thousand publications were included in the scoping reviews. Full reports on the results of the four reviews are published as separate parts of this report. Questionnaires were sent out to all InDeV partners to obtain information and a critical appraisal of the currently used study methods related to VRU safety. The survey results show that epidemiological studies based on accident and injury records form the basis of traffic safety assessment in every partner country. General accident reports help identify the time trends of accident occurrence and to compare the safety situation among countries and cities. Benchmarking between countries can help monitor progress towards the targets for traffic safety improvement and to assess the relative importance of problems. While the exact causes of accidents cannot be determined, the contributing factors can often be deduced. Identification of dangerous locations is performed using black spot analysis and network safety analysis. Both are important and useful for VRU safety assessment – black spots identify dangerous intersections and road crossings and network analysis identifies dangerous road links. The exposure measures used should be appropriate for VRUs and should include pedestrian and bicycle volumes in addition to motorised traffic volumes. The European CARE accident database was set up with a comprehensive structure and scope of information as defined in the CADaS glossary. The advantage of using CARE for safety research is that it is a disaggregate database, i.e. detailed cross-classification analyses can be made. However, not all countries provide all data according to the guidelines. The possibilities of safety analysis would be greatly improved if the guidelines were followed by all countries.The literature review and survey on accident data quality conducted among InDeV partners show that despite efforts to harmonise the definitions of injury road accidents and their severity at the European level, differences exist both in the definitions and their interpretation. Even in the case of the fundamental definition of “road accident/injury accident”, the definitions used by some countries differ slightly from the CARE database standard. Data on fatalities are quite comparable between the InDeV partner countries: the 30-day road accident fatality definition is used. CARE definitions of injury severity are applied in only 3 out of 7 countries. There are also considerable differences among countries in terms of accident data collection and data verification procedures, which results in varying levels of underreporting of the different accident categories. In all InDeV partner countries, accident data are collected on a paper form and transferred to a computer database. The information on injury severity is gathered from ambulances, hospitals or the road users involved in the accidents. This information is verified based on hospital information after a period ranging between 30 days and one year. In Sweden, data verification is performed automatically via the STRADA database, which links the police database with hospital registries. In almost all InDeV partner countries, data quality control is carried out after the data is transferred to a computer database. Cross-checking for consistency of information is used in some countries. The in-depth investigation study is a good tool to examine accident scenarios and to find accident/injury contributing factors. However, valid knowledge can be obtained only if the number of cases, the period of time and the number of variables are sufficient. The comparison of different in-depth databases is difficult due to the application of different investigation criteria. The drawbacks include the study’s retrospective view (compared to video-documented crashes) and the introduction of uncertainties in the process of data collection and encoding due to interpretation. In general, in-depth investigations are time- and cost-consuming, but highly effective in terms of the knowledge that can be gained from the investigation of individual accidents.A review of naturalistic studies shows that this method can provide important insights into…
The paper presents development of the new Polish method for performing capacity analysis of basic... more The paper presents development of the new Polish method for performing capacity analysis of basic segments of dual carriageway roads (motorways and expressways). The method is based on field traffic surveys conducted at 30 motorway and expressway sites (class A and S roads) in Poland. Traffic flows, composition and travel times were observed in 15-min intervals at each site using ANPR filming method. These data were used to calibrate a family of traffic speed-flow relationships for different roads, based on Van Aerde model. Free flow speed of traffic and road class are the basic parameters defining the speed-flow relationship and the value of capacity per lane in pcu/h. Traffic density was adopted as the measure of effectiveness for defining the level of service. The paper describes derivation of formulae for estimation of free flow speed for different types of roads as well as determination of equivalent factors for converting vehicles to passenger car units. The method allows us t...
During a pandemic, the mobility of people changes significantly from the normal situation (the nu... more During a pandemic, the mobility of people changes significantly from the normal situation (the number of trips made, the directions of travel and the modes of transport used). Changes in mobility depend on the scale of the pandemic threat and the scale of the restrictions introduced and assessing the impact of these changes is not straightforward. This raises the question of the social cost of changes in mobility and their impact on the environment, including air quality. The article shows that it is possible to determine this impact using big data from mobile operators’-SIM card movements and data from air quality monitoring stations. Data on SIM card movements allows for reconstructing the state of the transport system before and during the different phases of a pandemic. The changes in mobility of people determined in this way can be related to the results of measurements of pollutant concentrations in the air. In this way, it is possible to identify links between mobility change...
Not many publications are available on using microsimulation models to analyze the feasibility of... more Not many publications are available on using microsimulation models to analyze the feasibility of implementing the dynamic bus lane (DBL) concept. The paper presents the methodology and calibration process used for DBL modeling. For the selected four sites in Rzeszów (Poland), three options were analyzed: no bus lane, standard exclusive bus lane (XBL), and dynamic bus lane. The analyses were carried out using PTV Vissim software with an additional logic script to control the DBL activation. Simulation model parameters were calibrated using a genetic algorithm. The final assessment of individual options was based on the weighted average travel time for all transport modes. The results show that the dynamic bus lane could bring the same benefits to public transport and cause only a slight increase in travel times in private transport compared to XBL. The XBL solution, depending on the site, led to increasing the average travel time in private transport by 12% to 25%, while the dynamic...
Omawiane są zagadnienia architektury systemów ITS (inteligentne systemy transportowe), w szcze-gó... more Omawiane są zagadnienia architektury systemów ITS (inteligentne systemy transportowe), w szcze-gólności pod kątem wymagań stawianych przez nią systemom teleinformatycznym. Przedstawiono metodykę projektowania systemów ITS zwaną KAREN/FRAME i zastosowano ją podczas pro-jektowania systemu zarządzania ruchem drogowym w Warszawskim Węźle Dróg Krajowych. Jako przykłady stosowania systemów informatycznych w ITS przedstawiono systemy zarządza-nia ruchem na drogach i w ruchu miejskim oraz środki telematyki stosowane w "inteligentnym" pojeździe. Abstract The architecture of ITS systems (intelligent transport systems) is discussed, especially the requirements posed by it onto communication and information systems. An ITS system design methodology , called KAREN/FRAME, is presented and applied for the design of a road traffic management system in the Warsaw node of national roads. Examples of information systems required in ITS are given: road and urban traffic management systems and...
Motorways and expressways are the core of each country’s road system. Road planning, design and m... more Motorways and expressways are the core of each country’s road system. Road planning, design and management requires tools to ensure that roads have the right geometry, traffic layout and equipment. These include methods for capacity estimation and assessing traffic conditions. Because the paper focusses on the basic segments of motorways and expressways (sections located between interchanges and outside of their influence), its objective is to review and compare methods used worldwide and establish whether their assumptions or procedures could be used in Polish conditions. Four methods were selected for analysis: US, German, Swedish and Dutch. Theoretical and empirical comparisons were conducted, with the latter using data from sections of motorways and expressways in Poland collected in the RID-2B project. The results of the analyses showed important differences between the methods in terms of procedures for traffic conditions assessment, assumptions, base capacities, traffic condi...
The problem of poor quality of traffic accident data assembled in national databases has been add... more The problem of poor quality of traffic accident data assembled in national databases has been addressed in European project InDeV. Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and moped riders) are especially affected by underreporting of accidents and misreporting of injury severity. Analyses of data from the European CARE database shows differences between countries in accident number trends as well as in fatality and injury rates which are difficult to explain. A survey of InDeV project partners from 7 EU countries helped to identify differences in their countries in accident and injury definitions as well as in reporting and data checking procedures. Measures to improve the quality of accident data are proposed such as including pedestrian falls in accident statistics, precisely defining minimum injury and combining police accident records with hospital data.
Communications in computer and information science, 2015
This paper describes results of experiments with camera setup, calibration and image processing a... more This paper describes results of experiments with camera setup, calibration and image processing algorithms for automatic detection and tracking of pedestrians and vehicles. The aim of the MOBIS project was to develop a method of assessing safety of unsignalised pedestrian crossings. Correct detection and tracking proved to be more difficult in the case of pedestrians than vehicles due to variability in people’s appearance, movement in groups and poor visibility in bad weather. Application of cameras with built-in pedestrian tracking programs was successful only in very good visibility conditions, so a computationally efficient PC algorithm providing a high pedestrian detection rate was used instead. The paper presents comparison of results obtained using different image processing methods as well as selected problems of pedestrian tracking. Statistical analysis of pedestrian behaviour with and without vehicles present is also shown. The proposed approach seems to be accurate enough for the purpose of assessing pedestrian safety.
The report presents the results of a review of the study methods related to vulnerable road user ... more The report presents the results of a review of the study methods related to vulnerable road user safety that are used today and aims to link accident causation factors to VRU accident risk. The review covered the following categories of study methods: epidemiological studies based on accident and injury data; in-depth accident investigations; naturalistic driving studies; behavioural observations; traffic conflict studies; and self-reported accident studies. The review consisted of two parts: a systematic literature review and a questionnaire survey. A scoping review of the available scientific literature was conducted that covered four types of safety-related studies: naturalistic driving studies, behavioural observations, traffic conflict studies and self-reported accidents. In total, over one thousand publications were included in the scoping reviews. Full reports on the results of the four reviews are published as separate parts of this report. Questionnaires were sent out to all InDeV partners to obtain information and a critical appraisal of the currently used study methods related to VRU safety. The survey results show that epidemiological studies based on accident and injury records form the basis of traffic safety assessment in every partner country. General accident reports help identify the time trends of accident occurrence and to compare the safety situation among countries and cities. Benchmarking between countries can help monitor progress towards the targets for traffic safety improvement and to assess the relative importance of problems. While the exact causes of accidents cannot be determined, the contributing factors can often be deduced. Identification of dangerous locations is performed using black spot analysis and network safety analysis. Both are important and useful for VRU safety assessment – black spots identify dangerous intersections and road crossings and network analysis identifies dangerous road links. The exposure measures used should be appropriate for VRUs and should include pedestrian and bicycle volumes in addition to motorised traffic volumes. The European CARE accident database was set up with a comprehensive structure and scope of information as defined in the CADaS glossary. The advantage of using CARE for safety research is that it is a disaggregate database, i.e. detailed cross-classification analyses can be made. However, not all countries provide all data according to the guidelines. The possibilities of safety analysis would be greatly improved if the guidelines were followed by all countries.The literature review and survey on accident data quality conducted among InDeV partners show that despite efforts to harmonise the definitions of injury road accidents and their severity at the European level, differences exist both in the definitions and their interpretation. Even in the case of the fundamental definition of “road accident/injury accident”, the definitions used by some countries differ slightly from the CARE database standard. Data on fatalities are quite comparable between the InDeV partner countries: the 30-day road accident fatality definition is used. CARE definitions of injury severity are applied in only 3 out of 7 countries. There are also considerable differences among countries in terms of accident data collection and data verification procedures, which results in varying levels of underreporting of the different accident categories. In all InDeV partner countries, accident data are collected on a paper form and transferred to a computer database. The information on injury severity is gathered from ambulances, hospitals or the road users involved in the accidents. This information is verified based on hospital information after a period ranging between 30 days and one year. In Sweden, data verification is performed automatically via the STRADA database, which links the police database with hospital registries. In almost all InDeV partner countries, data quality control is carried out after the data is transferred to a computer database. Cross-checking for consistency of information is used in some countries. The in-depth investigation study is a good tool to examine accident scenarios and to find accident/injury contributing factors. However, valid knowledge can be obtained only if the number of cases, the period of time and the number of variables are sufficient. The comparison of different in-depth databases is difficult due to the application of different investigation criteria. The drawbacks include the study’s retrospective view (compared to video-documented crashes) and the introduction of uncertainties in the process of data collection and encoding due to interpretation. In general, in-depth investigations are time- and cost-consuming, but highly effective in terms of the knowledge that can be gained from the investigation of individual accidents.A review of naturalistic studies shows that this method can provide important insights into…
The paper presents development of the new Polish method for performing capacity analysis of basic... more The paper presents development of the new Polish method for performing capacity analysis of basic segments of dual carriageway roads (motorways and expressways). The method is based on field traffic surveys conducted at 30 motorway and expressway sites (class A and S roads) in Poland. Traffic flows, composition and travel times were observed in 15-min intervals at each site using ANPR filming method. These data were used to calibrate a family of traffic speed-flow relationships for different roads, based on Van Aerde model. Free flow speed of traffic and road class are the basic parameters defining the speed-flow relationship and the value of capacity per lane in pcu/h. Traffic density was adopted as the measure of effectiveness for defining the level of service. The paper describes derivation of formulae for estimation of free flow speed for different types of roads as well as determination of equivalent factors for converting vehicles to passenger car units. The method allows us t...
During a pandemic, the mobility of people changes significantly from the normal situation (the nu... more During a pandemic, the mobility of people changes significantly from the normal situation (the number of trips made, the directions of travel and the modes of transport used). Changes in mobility depend on the scale of the pandemic threat and the scale of the restrictions introduced and assessing the impact of these changes is not straightforward. This raises the question of the social cost of changes in mobility and their impact on the environment, including air quality. The article shows that it is possible to determine this impact using big data from mobile operators’-SIM card movements and data from air quality monitoring stations. Data on SIM card movements allows for reconstructing the state of the transport system before and during the different phases of a pandemic. The changes in mobility of people determined in this way can be related to the results of measurements of pollutant concentrations in the air. In this way, it is possible to identify links between mobility change...
Not many publications are available on using microsimulation models to analyze the feasibility of... more Not many publications are available on using microsimulation models to analyze the feasibility of implementing the dynamic bus lane (DBL) concept. The paper presents the methodology and calibration process used for DBL modeling. For the selected four sites in Rzeszów (Poland), three options were analyzed: no bus lane, standard exclusive bus lane (XBL), and dynamic bus lane. The analyses were carried out using PTV Vissim software with an additional logic script to control the DBL activation. Simulation model parameters were calibrated using a genetic algorithm. The final assessment of individual options was based on the weighted average travel time for all transport modes. The results show that the dynamic bus lane could bring the same benefits to public transport and cause only a slight increase in travel times in private transport compared to XBL. The XBL solution, depending on the site, led to increasing the average travel time in private transport by 12% to 25%, while the dynamic...
Omawiane są zagadnienia architektury systemów ITS (inteligentne systemy transportowe), w szcze-gó... more Omawiane są zagadnienia architektury systemów ITS (inteligentne systemy transportowe), w szcze-gólności pod kątem wymagań stawianych przez nią systemom teleinformatycznym. Przedstawiono metodykę projektowania systemów ITS zwaną KAREN/FRAME i zastosowano ją podczas pro-jektowania systemu zarządzania ruchem drogowym w Warszawskim Węźle Dróg Krajowych. Jako przykłady stosowania systemów informatycznych w ITS przedstawiono systemy zarządza-nia ruchem na drogach i w ruchu miejskim oraz środki telematyki stosowane w "inteligentnym" pojeździe. Abstract The architecture of ITS systems (intelligent transport systems) is discussed, especially the requirements posed by it onto communication and information systems. An ITS system design methodology , called KAREN/FRAME, is presented and applied for the design of a road traffic management system in the Warsaw node of national roads. Examples of information systems required in ITS are given: road and urban traffic management systems and...
Motorways and expressways are the core of each country’s road system. Road planning, design and m... more Motorways and expressways are the core of each country’s road system. Road planning, design and management requires tools to ensure that roads have the right geometry, traffic layout and equipment. These include methods for capacity estimation and assessing traffic conditions. Because the paper focusses on the basic segments of motorways and expressways (sections located between interchanges and outside of their influence), its objective is to review and compare methods used worldwide and establish whether their assumptions or procedures could be used in Polish conditions. Four methods were selected for analysis: US, German, Swedish and Dutch. Theoretical and empirical comparisons were conducted, with the latter using data from sections of motorways and expressways in Poland collected in the RID-2B project. The results of the analyses showed important differences between the methods in terms of procedures for traffic conditions assessment, assumptions, base capacities, traffic condi...
The problem of poor quality of traffic accident data assembled in national databases has been add... more The problem of poor quality of traffic accident data assembled in national databases has been addressed in European project InDeV. Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and moped riders) are especially affected by underreporting of accidents and misreporting of injury severity. Analyses of data from the European CARE database shows differences between countries in accident number trends as well as in fatality and injury rates which are difficult to explain. A survey of InDeV project partners from 7 EU countries helped to identify differences in their countries in accident and injury definitions as well as in reporting and data checking procedures. Measures to improve the quality of accident data are proposed such as including pedestrian falls in accident statistics, precisely defining minimum injury and combining police accident records with hospital data.
Uploads