Safety Impacts of Queue Warning in a Connected Vehicle Environment

Author(s):  
Samaneh Khazraeian ◽  
Mohammed Hadi ◽  
Yan Xiao

Queue warning systems (QWSs) have been implemented to increase traffic safety by informing drivers about queued traffic ahead so that they can react in a timely manner to the queue. Existing QWSs rely on fixed traffic sensors to detect the back of a queue. It is expected that if the transmitted messages from connected vehicles (CVs) are used for this purpose, detection can be faster and more accurate. In addition, with CVs, delivery of the messages can be done with onboard units instead of dynamic message signs and provide more flexibility on how far upstream of the queue the messages are delivered. This study investigates the accuracy and benefits of the QWS on the basis of CV data. The study evaluated the safety benefits of the QWS under different market penetrations of CVs in future years. Surrogate safety measures were estimated with simulation modeling combined with the surrogate safety assessment model tool. Results from this study indicate that a relatively low market penetration—about 3% to 6%—for the congested freeway examined in this study was sufficient for an accurate and reliable estimation of the queue length. Even at 3% market penetration, the CV-based estimation of back-of-queue identification was significantly more accurate than that based on detector measurements. The results also found that CV data allowed faster detection of the bottleneck and queue formation. Further, the QWS improved the safety conditions of the network by reducing the number of rear-end conflicts. Safety effects become significant when the compliance percentage with the queue warning messages is more than 15%.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Shengdi Chen ◽  
Shiwen Zhang ◽  
Yingying Xing ◽  
Jian Lu ◽  
Yichuan Peng ◽  
...  

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the truck proportion on surrogate safety measures to explore the relationship between truck proportion and traffic safety. The relationship between truck proportion and traffic flow parameters was analyzed by correlation and partial correlation analysis, and the value of the 85th percentile speed minus the 15th percentile speed (85%V–15%V) and the speed variation coefficient were selected as surrogate safety measures to explore the impact of truck proportion on traffic status. The k-means algorithm and the support vector machine were employed to evaluate traffic status on a freeway under different truck proportions in different periods. The major results are that the relationship between truck proportion and the value of 85%V–15%V and the speed variation coefficient is consistent in different aggregation periods. With increasing truck proportion, the value of 85%V–15%V, as well as the speed variation coefficient, increases initially and then decreases. In addition, the traffic flow status tends to be dangerous when the truck proportion ranges from 0.4 to 0.6 and when the value of 85%V–15%V and the speed variation coefficient are above 42 km/h and 0.223, respectively. While the truck proportion is from 0.1 to 0.3 and from 0.7 to 0.9, the traffic flow is relatively safe on the condition that the value of 85%V–15%V and the speed variation coefficient were under 42 km/h and 0.223, respectively. Therefore, the relationship between truck proportion and traffic safety could be well revealed by two surrogate safety measures, that is, the value of 85%V–15%V and the speed variation coefficient. In addition, the k-means algorithm and the support vector machine can well reveal the impact of truck proportion on traffic safety in different periods. The findings of this study indicate a need for decreasing the disturbance of mixed traffic and the impact of the truck proportion on traffic safety status.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Mario Morando ◽  
Qingyun Tian ◽  
Long T. Truong ◽  
Hai L. Vu

Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology has advanced rapidly in recent years with some automated features already available in vehicles on the market. AVs are expected to reduce traffic crashes as the majority of crashes are related to driver errors, fatigue, alcohol, or drugs. However, very little research has been conducted to estimate the safety impact of AVs. This paper aims to investigate the safety impacts of AVs using a simulation-based surrogate safety measure approach. To this end, safety impacts are explored through the number of conflicts extracted from the VISSIM traffic microsimulator using the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM). Behaviours of human-driven vehicles (HVs) and AVs (level 4 automation) are modelled within the VISSIM’s car-following model. The safety investigation is conducted for two case studies, that is, a signalised intersection and a roundabout, under various AV penetration rates. Results suggest that AVs improve safety significantly with high penetration rates, even when they travel with shorter headways to improve road capacity and reduce delay. For the signalised intersection, AVs reduce the number of conflicts by 20% to 65% with the AV penetration rates of between 50% and 100% (statistically significant at p<0.05). For the roundabout, the number of conflicts is reduced by 29% to 64% with the 100% AV penetration rate (statistically significant at p<0.05).


Author(s):  
Michael L. Pack ◽  
Phillip Weisberg ◽  
Sujal Bista

This research developed a system for visualizing four-dimensional (4-D), real-time transportation data for the major road networks of Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and the entire state of Maryland. The effort employed a combination of OpenGL and other modeling techniques to develop a scalable, highly interactive 4-D model using available geographic information system (GIS) and transportation infrastructure data in conjunction with real-time traffic management center data. The prototype system interacts with real-time traffic databases to show animations of real-time traffic data (volume and speed) along with incident data (accident locations, lane closures, responding agencies, etc.). A user can “fly” or “drive” through the region to inspect conditions at an infinite number of angles and distances. The program also allows users to monitor the status of and interact with traffic control devices such as dynamic message signs, closed-circuit television feeds, and traffic sensors and even view the location of emergency response vehicles equipped with Global Positioning System transceivers. Because the system uses standard GIS data and relatively standard transportation databases to derive traffic measures, it can be scaled to incorporate other states and agencies.


Author(s):  
P. Vedagiri ◽  
Deepak V. Killi

In the developing world, with increases in population, the number of vehicles is increasing tremendously. Traffic safety on roads has become a major concern even with advancements in technology and infrastructure. Traffic safety assessments and accident prediction based on accident data is a reactive approach. There are known drawbacks related to the reliability of accident data, especially in developing countries with large populations, such as India. It is, however, unethical to wait for accidents to occur before drawing statistically accurate conclusions regarding safety impacts. To overcome this impediment, one needs to develop accurate models that rely on surrogate safety measures (SSMs) for effective safety evaluations. The main advantage associated with the use of these models is that they can model crashes more frequently than in the real world and thereby imply an efficient and more statistically reliable proximal measure of traffic safety. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of management measures on traffic safety at a three-arm uncontrolled intersection with the use of microsimulation modeling under mixed traffic conditions. This examination was done by developing a unique methodology of measuring one SSM, postencroachment time (PET). This paper describes improvement in the accuracy of crash predictions by proposing a methodology to calculate PET.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orazio Giuffrè ◽  
Anna Granà ◽  
Maria Luisa Tumminello ◽  
Tullio Giuffrè ◽  
Salvatore Trubia ◽  
...  

The paper presents a microsimulation-based approach for roundabout safety performance evaluation. Based on a sample of Slovenian roundabouts, the vehicle trajectories exported from AIMSUN and VISSIM were used to estimate traffic conflicts using the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM). AIMSUN and VISSIM were calibrated for single-lane, double-lane and turbo roundabouts using the corresponding empirical capacity function which included critical and follow-up headways estimated through meta-analysis. Based on calibration of the microsimulation models, a crash prediction model from simulated peak hour conflicts for a sample of Slovenian roundabouts was developed. A generalized linear model framework was used to estimate the prediction model based on field collected crash data for 26 existing roundabouts across the country. Peak hour traffic distribution was simulated with AIMSUN, and peak hour conflicts were then estimated with the SSAM applying the filters identified by calibrating AIMSUN and VISSIM. The crash prediction model was based on the assumption that the crashes per year are a function of peak hour conflicts, the ratio of peak hour traffic volume to average daily traffic volume and the roundabout outer diameter. Goodness-of-fit criteria highlighted how well the model fitted the set of observations also better than the SSAM predictive model. The results highlighted that the safety assessment of any road unit may rely on surrogate safety measures, but it strongly depends on microscopic traffic simulation model used.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9955
Author(s):  
Fan Ding ◽  
Jiwan Jiang ◽  
Yang Zhou ◽  
Ran Yi ◽  
Huachun Tan

With the precedence of connected automated vehicles (CAVs), car-following control technology is a promising way to enhance traffic safety. Although a variety of research has been conducted to analyze the safety enhancement by CAV technology, the parametric impact on CAV technology has not been systematically explored. Hence, this paper analyzes the parametric impacts on surrogate safety measures (SSMs) for a mixed vehicular platoon via a two-level analysis structure. To construct the active safety evaluation framework, numerical simulations were constructed which can generate trajectories for different kind of vehicles while considering communication and vehicle dynamics characteristics. Based on the trajectories, we analyzed parametric impacts upon active safety on two different levels. On the microscopic level, parameters including controller dynamic characteristics and equilibrium time headway of car-following policies were analyzed, which aimed to capture local and aggregated driving behavior’s impact on the vehicle. On the macroscopic level, parameters incorporating market penetration rate (MPR), vehicle topology, and vehicle-to-vehicle environment were extensively investigated to evaluate their impacts on aggregated platoon level safety caused by inter-drivers’ behavioral differences. As indicated by simulation results, an automated vehicle (AV) suffering from degradation is a potentially unsafe component in platoon, due to the loss of a feedforward control mechanism. Hence, the introduction of connected automated vehicles (CAVs) only start showing benefits to platoon safety from about 20% CAV MPR in this study. Furthermore, the analysis on vehicle platoon topology suggests that arranging all CAVs at the front of a mixed platoon assists in enhancing platoon SSM performances.


Author(s):  
Gaby Joe Hannoun ◽  
Pamela Murray-Tuite ◽  
Kevin Heaslip ◽  
Thidapat Chantem

This paper introduces a semi-automated system that facilitates emergency response vehicle (ERV) movement through a transportation link by providing instructions to downstream non-ERVs. The proposed system adapts to information from non-ERVs that are nearby and downstream of the ERV. As the ERV passes stopped non-ERVs, new non-ERVs are considered. The proposed system sequentially executes integer linear programs (ILPs) on transportation link segments with information transferred between optimizations to ensure ERV movement continuity. This paper extends a previously developed mathematical program that was limited to a single short segment. The new approach limits runtime overhead without sacrificing effectiveness and is more suitable to dynamic systems. It also accommodates partial market penetration of connected vehicles using a heuristic reservation approach, making the proposed system beneficial in the short-term future. The proposed system can also assign the ERV to a specific lateral position at the end of the link, a useful capability when next entering an intersection. Experiments were conducted to develop recommendations to reduce computation times without compromising efficiency. When compared with the current practice of moving to the nearest edge, the system reduces ERV travel time an average of 3.26 s per 0.1 mi and decreases vehicle interactions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 106234
Author(s):  
Guiming Xiao ◽  
Jaeyoung Lee ◽  
Qianshan Jiang ◽  
Helai Huang ◽  
Mohamed Abdel-Aty ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Megat-Usamah Megat-Johari ◽  
Nusayba Megat-Johari ◽  
Peter T. Savolainen ◽  
Timothy J. Gates ◽  
Eva Kassens-Noor

Transportation agencies have increasingly been using dynamic message signs (DMS) to communicate safety messages in an effort to both increase awareness of important safety issues and to influence driver behavior. Despite their widespread use, evaluations as to potential impacts on driver behavior, and the resultant impacts on traffic crashes, have been very limited. This study addresses this gap in the extant literature and assesses the relationship between traffic crashes and the frequency with which various types of safety messages are displayed. Safety message data were collected from a total of 202 DMS on freeways across the state of Michigan between 2014 and 2018. These data were integrated with traffic volume, roadway geometry, and crash data for segments that were located downstream of each DMS. A series of random parameters negative binomial models were estimated to examine total, speeding-related, and nighttime crashes based on historical messaging data while controlling for other site-specific factors. The results did not show any significant differences with respect to total crashes. Marginal declines in nighttime crashes were observed at locations with more frequent messages related to impaired driving, though these differences were also not statistically significant. Finally, speeding-related crashes were significantly less frequent near DMS that showed higher numbers of messages related to speeding or tailgating. Important issues are highlighted with respect to methodological concerns that arise in the analysis of such data. Field research is warranted to investigate potential impacts on driving behavior at the level of individual drivers.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document