Digital Commons Network^™

Policy Brief: Evaluation Of The Safety Of Pedestrian Crossing Treatments In Small And Rural Communities, Parsa Pezeshknejad, Dana Rowangould, James Sullivan

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

TRC Policy Brief: Rural areas often lack adequate pedestrian infrastructure, resulting in elevated safety risks for pedestrians. The combination of higher speed limits and reduced driver awareness amplifies the potential for pedestrian collisions when crossing the roadway.

This study addresses uncertainty about the effectiveness of rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) and LED-embedded signs (LESs) as potential safety interventions. RRFBs and LESs are both pedestrian crossing treatments that allow pedestrians to activate lights to alert drivers of their intent to cross. RRFBs include horizontal LED lights mounted to the sign pole, while LESs include LEDs embedded in the edge of the …

Corridor-Wide Surveillance Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Yu Zhang, Achilleas Kourtellis, Joseph Post, Hualong Tang, Keerthana Yelchuri, Brian Porter

Research Reports

In the second phase of the project, the research team continued traffic data collection with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and dual sensors (RGB and thermal cameras) for roadways under normal operational condition and during incident clearance. The research team conducted a thorough literature review of incident detection methods. Based on the review outcomes, the research team extracted traffic features from learning the video data and trained several learning models for identifying non-congestion conditions caused by incidents. This method was tested on a two-minute video with data captured by a drone at a location at which traffic was passing through an …

Roadway Characteristics And Car Accident Trends In Gettysburg, Pa, Max Smith, Jake H. Kennell, Russell H. Canova

Student Publications

This study addresses the rising motor vehicle accident and fatality rates in the United States (Moore, 2023). Focusing on the conditions in the Gettysburg Borough in an attempt to answer the following research questions: Are age of driver, weather conditions of car accidents, and traffic volume contributing to accidents in the Gettysburg Borough? What are the roadway characteristics of accident hot spot areas within the Gettysburg Borough? Utilizing Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) crash data from 2018 to 2022 and PennDot Average Annual Daily Traffic data, this study employs a comprehensive approach. Combining GIS analysis and statistical analysis to determine …

Inventory, Operations, And Safety At Free Right-Turn Ramps, Aemal Khattak, Jonathon Camezind, Mm Shakui Haque

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This research focused on traffic safety and operational performance of rural, minor approach stop-controlled intersections with free right-turn (FRT) ramps. The objectives of the research were to:

• Create a statewide inventory of rural FRT ramp intersections and provide to the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT),
• Using NDOT 10-year crash data, conduct statistical safety analysis of rural FRT intersections extending ¼-mile in each direction from the intersection,
• Study vehicular operations at rural intersections with and without FRT ramps including a comparison of vehicular conflicts, and
• Develop guidelines for operations and safety tradeoffs to assist with NDOT projects on maintaining similar locations, …

Reinvest In Us: Reimagine The Role Of Police In The U.S., Jamil Davis

College Honors Program

In America, we must question and understand what is “law and order.” Over centuries, America developed a racialized slave-class politically and socially through power and force. Police are the foot soldiers of maintaining law and order as Slave Patrols evolved into the State Police. In my thesis, I discuss how their efforts in traffic enforcement enable a dominant class to target and enslave the oppressed class. Traffic control leads to 18 million interactions a year which is 34 people a minute. The numbers of interactions along with persistent practices regarding discrimination cause police to be a social liability. When bad …

Joint Congestion And Contention Avoidance In A Scalable Qos-Aware Opportunistic Routing In Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks, Ali Parsa, Neda Moghim, Sasan Haghani

VMASC Publications

Opportunistic routing (OR) can greatly increase transmission reliability and network throughput in wireless ad-hoc networks by taking advantage of the broadcast nature of the wireless medium. However, network congestion is a barrier in the way of OR's performance improvement, and network congestion control is a challenge in OR algorithms, because only the pure physical channel conditions of the links are considered in forwarding decisions. This paper proposes a new method to control network congestion in OR, considering three types of parameters, namely, the backlogged traffic, the traffic flows' Quality of Service (QoS) level, and the channel occupancy rate. Simulation results …

Use Of Harsh-Braking Data From Connected Vehicles As A Surrogate Safety Measure, Nathaniel Patrick Edelmann

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Traffic safety may be analyzed with the use of surrogate safety measures, measures of safety that do not incorporate collision data but rather rely on the concept of traffic conflicts. Use of these measures provides several benefits over use of more traditional analysis methods with historical crash data. Surrogate measures eliminate the need to wait for crashes to occur to conduct a safety analysis. The amount of time required for enough crash data to accumulate can be significant, delaying safety analyses. Similarly, these measures allow for safety analysis to be conducted prior to crashes occurring, potentially calling attention to hazardous …

Does Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Increase The Risk Of Minor Blunt Head Trauma In Children?, Murat Pakyurek, Mohamed Badawy, Irma T Ugalde, Paul Ishimine, Pradip P Chaudhari, Kevan Mccarten-Gibbs, Ozra Nobari, Nathan Kuppermann, James F Holmes

Journal Articles

PROBLEM: It is unclear if attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) increases the risk of head trauma in children.

METHODS: We conducted a multicenter prospective observational study of children with minor blunt head trauma. Guardians were queried, and medical records were reviewed as to whether the patient had previously been diagnosed with ADHD. Enrolled patients were categorized based on their mechanism of injury, with a comparison of those with motor vehicle collision (MVC) versus non-MVC mechanisms.

FINDINGS: A total of 3410 (84%) enrolled children had ADHD status available, and 274 (8.0%; 95% confidence interval, CI: 7.1, 9.0%) had been diagnosed with ADHD. …

Quality-Of-Service Provisioning For Smart City Applications Using Software-Defined Networking, Basima Kurungadan

Theses

In the current world, most cities have WiFi Access Points (AP) in every nook and corner. Hence upraising these cities to the status of a smart city is a more easily achievable task than before. Internet-of-Things (IoT) connections primarily use WiFi standards to form the veins of a smart city. Unfortunately, this vast potential of WiFi technology in the genesis of smart cities is somehow compromised due to its failure in meeting unique Quality-of-Service (QoS) demands of smart city applications. Out of the following QoS factors; transmission link bandwidth, packet transmission delay, jitter, and packet loss rate, not all applications …

Impacts To Quail Space Use And Demographics From Oil And Gas Development, Kelsey R. Davis, Eric D. Grahmann, Fidel Hernández, Chase R. Currie, Timothy E. Fulbright, David B. Wester, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Southern Texas contains some of the last relatively unfragmented habitat for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) and scaled quail (Callipepla squamata) in the United States. Development of the Eagle Ford Shale hydrocarbon formation in this region could negatively impact quail and their habitat. Our objective was to examine the indirect effects of oil and gas activity (traffic and noise) on bobwhite and scaled quail on 2 private ranches in southern Texas. In 2015 and 2016, we radio-marked bobwhite and scaled quail in 2 areas where oil and gas activity was occurring (disturbed treatment) and 2 …

Improving India’S Traffic Management Using Intelligent Transportation Systems, Umesh Makhloga

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

India is one of the largest developing countries in the whole world. There is an increasing trend in the number of vehicles on the roads of India. The increasing number of vehicles leads to rising congestion in large cities. The primary purpose of this project is to determine a proper strategy to solve some of the traffic problems in India like inadequate mass transit, time delays, and blockage on road causing mergers resulting in fatal injuries. The development of effective strategic terms for operating the traffic system of India will need the incorporation of Intelligent Transportation Systems. In this study, …

Impact Of Covid19 On Maxillofacial Fractures In The Province Of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. Review Of 296 Patients Treated With Statistical Comparison Of The Two-Year Pre-Covid19 And Covid19, Filippo Giovannetti, Ettore Lupi, Danilo Di Giorgio, Secondo Scarsella, Antonio Oliva, Desiderio Di Fabio, Paolo Prata, Giada Petricca, Valentino Valentini

Journal Articles

The aim of this study was to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the epidemiology of maxillofacial trauma in a regional trauma center in L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, during the first wave of the pandemic and comparted it to an equivalent period from 2015 to 2018. The authorshave retrospectively analyzed personal data, site of trauma, etiology, and mechanism of injury. Statistical analysis has been carried out utilizing IBM SPSS Statistics software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) and significance was accepted for P values of 0.05) as opposed to the etiology in which the road traffic accidents decreased in favor of …

An Agent-Based Exploration Of The Hurricane Forecast-Evacuation System Dynamics, Austin Reed Harris

Theses and Dissertations

In the mainland US, the hurricane-forecast-evacuation system is uncertain, dynamic, and complex. As a result, it is difficult to know whether to issue warnings, implement evacuation management strategies, or how to make forecasts more useful for evacuations. This dissertation helps address these needs, by holistically exploring the system’s complex dynamics from a new perspective. Specifically, by developing – and using – an empirically informed, agent-based modeling framework called FLEE (Forecasting Laboratory for Exploring the Evacuation-system). The framework represents the key, interwoven elements to hurricane evacuations: the natural hazard (hurricane), the human system (information flow, evacuation decisions), the built environment (road …

Analisis Yuridis Sanksi Pidana Pelanggaran Pasal 281 Jo 77 Ayat (1) Undang Undang Nomor 22 Tahun 2009 Tentang Lalu Lintas Dan Angkutan Jalan Di Wilayah Hukum Polres Serang Kota, Januar Alihamzah, Benny Irawan, Dadang Herli

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Law Number 22 Year 2009 concerning Road Traffic and Transportation (LLAJ Law) explains that traffic order and road transportation is a traffic condition that takes place regularly with the rights and obligations of every road user. Every motorized vehicle driver is required to have a driving license (SIM) in accordance with the provisions of Article 77 paragraph (1) of the LLAJ Law. The fact that happened in the jurisdiction of the Serang Kota Police, there were 156 cases of violations of Article 77 paragraph (1) of the LLAJ Law which were decided by the Serang District Court with fines whose …

Analysis Of Car Accidents Causes In The Usa, Mohamed Aljaban

Theses

Over the past decade more people are opting in to purchase and own their own personal vehicle and in some instances several, which means that road accidents rates are doomed to increase. And this presents a challenge to the government, individuals and the collective community as car accidents are in most cases life threatening and a hazard to society. Thus, this paper aims to tackle this issue and dig deep to explore the main factors contributing to the increase of car accidents rate. The dataset used in this research is data collected from traffic accidents events captured by the department …

Urban Traffic Simulation: Network And Demand Representation Impacts On Congestion Metrics, Aaron Faltesek, Balasubramaniam Dakshinamoorthi, Sreeni Prabhala, Akbar Thobani, Anu Kuncheria, Jane Macfarlane

SMU Data Science Review

Traffic simulations are often used by city planners as a basis for predicting the impact of policies, plans, and operations. The complexities underpinning traffic simulations are often not described in detail yet can significantly impact the simulation outcome. Conflating underlying data for simulations is complex and hinders the interest in this type of exploration. This paper aims to elucidate critical features of traffic simulations that drive the generated metrics of the modeled urban environment. Specifically, this paper examines differences in two road graph networks for the metropolitan region of Houston, TX: a reduced network composed of 45,675 road links and …

Influence Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Amphibian Road Mortality, Gregory Leclair, Matthew H. Chatfield, Zachary Wood, Jeffrey Parmelee, Cheryle A. Frederick

Teaching, Learning & Research Documents

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related human activity shutdowns provide unique opportunities for biodiversity monitoring through what has been termed the “anthropause” or the “great human confinement experiment.” The pandemic caused immense disruption to human activity in the northeastern United States in the spring of 2020, with notable reductions in traffic levels. These shutdowns coincided with the seasonal migration of adult amphibians, which are typically subject to intense vehicle-impact mortality. Using data collected as part of an annual community science monitoring program in Maine from 2018 to 2021, we examined how amphibian mortality probabilities responded to reductions in traffic during …

Law Library Blog (September 2021): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Corridor-Wide Surveillance Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Benjamín Colucci-Ríos, Ivette Cruzado, David González-Barreto, Alberto M. Figueroa-Medina, Didier M. Valdés-Díaz, Yu Zhang, Achilleas Kourtellis, Joseph Post, Hualong Tang

Research Reports

The motivation for this research was the lack of a protocol to apply an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform for traffic data collection and effectively analyze and evaluate incidents in high-speed multi-lane and freeway corridors. The ultimate purpose of this research study was to integrate the use of drones into real-time incident detection to assist in reducing congestion and delay, improve traffic operations, and enhance overall safety in the corridor and contiguous surface transportation networks. Phase I of the research project consisted of a comprehensive literature review, selection and acquisition of drones and drone training to develop the protocol, data …

Environmental And Economic Viability Of Mid-Southern Usa Corn Conservation Systems, Gene David Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary row-crop practices in the mid-southern, USA contribute to declining water tables and impairment of downstream waters, threatening the sustainability of irrigated agriculture and vital ecosystem services. This research was conducted to determine if various conservation practices and technologies can economically reduce negative environmental consequences of regional corn (Zea mays L.) production. The environmental, agronomic, and economic effects of implementing cover crops, manipulating traffic pattern, and integrating irrigation water management (IWM) technologies (computerized hole selection, surge irrigation, and soil moisture sensors) were investigated at either the small plot or field scale in the Delta region of Mississippi. Cover crop effects …

From Home To The Store: Combined Effect Of Music And Traffic On Consumers Shopping Behaviour, Luigi Piper, Lucrezia M. De Cosmo, Maria I. Prete, Gianluigi Guido

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

This study provides a theoretical framework to assess the combined effect that traffic stream and music could have on consumers’ shopping behavior throughout their journey to the stores. Through the Virtual Reality (VR) simulation of a car journey, two traffic conditions (light/heavy) and two types of music (relaxing/energizing) were tested, evaluating the effects on the time spent during shopping and on consumption choices (in terms of expense, number of items purchased). Moreover, participants’ physiological reactions have been analyzed by measuring their heartbeat variation (ΔHR). The results indicate that regardless of the type of music listened, heavy traffic leads consumers to …

Changes In Air-Quality In Milwaukee, Wi Due The Covid-19 Lockdown, Nathan Hay

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Shortly after COVID-19 started spreading across the country, Wisconsin instituted their shutdown on March 23rd, 2020. With large swaths of the population forced to stay at home, this presented a unique case study to evaluate the effects of reduced traffic volumes on vehicle related emissions. To do so, this study measured air quality on a 40-mile route within Milwaukee County on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 4 to 6 PM from the beginning of April until the end of August. Mobile sensors – a Sniffer 4D and micro aethalometer – were attached to a car and collected particulate matter (1.0-10 μm), …

International Analysis On The Traffic Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Fanny Margaretha Kristiansson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this research was to assess, compare, and contrast the impact of COVID-19 activity restrictions on road-based transportation activity in regions of the US, Sweden, and China from January 1st to December 31st, 2020. Roadway traffic volumes were used to relate the progression of reported COVID-19 cases and government directives for social separation in three countries with diverse governmental responses.

Among the contributions of this paper was the illustration of the timeline and level of public responses to closures, lockdowns, and reopening as represented through rapid traffic decreases and increases. Traffic was greatly impacted, showing that the pandemic …

Vision Zero And The Bay Area Response: Traffic Fatalities And Perceptions Of Pedestrian Safety In Local Politics And Public Policy, Christopher Farrell

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this study, I examine how the "Vision Zero" traffic safety plan has been implemented in the cities of San Francisco and San Jose and, employing qualitative interviews, I explore the perceptions of local elected officials and community leaders of local advocacy groups to understand their emergent appraisals of how effectively the policy is working, as well as assess the political implications and impact of the initiative. I find that local elected leaders have a range of perceptions, but the majority of local elected leaders and community leaders agree that getting more cars off the road, improving public transportation, and …

Evaluating Asct Operations For Dodge Street Corridor, Anuj Sharma, Subhadipto Poddar, Atousa Zarindast, Christopher Day

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

As Adaptive Traffic Control (ATC) is increasingly being implemented by various traffic agencies, careful evaluation is needed of the degree to which a given ATC implementation improves traffic signal performance. The present study details the evaluation of ATC for two arterial corridors in the City of Omaha, Nebraska. Several performance measures were used across two stages of ATC implementation as well as during the unanticipated COVID-19 lockdown stage.

The average travel time and variability in travel time showed that Stage 1 of ATC implementation in Omaha did not improve traffic signal performance for the study’s main corridor, Dodge Street. This …

Teenage Cyclists’ Perception Towards Autonomous Vehicles And Its Associated Traffic Infrastructures, Obiageli Lawrentia Ngwu

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations

Background: Cycling is a cost-effective means of transportation. Many teenagers cycle to go to schools and ride in neighborhoods. Cyclists are more vulnerable to injuries and fatalities than motor vehicle drivers. With the implementation of autonomous vehicles (AVs), interactions between AVs and road-users are expected to be safer. It is most likely that current young people will be the ones to use these vehicles and interact with them. However, very few past studies have focused on cyclist-AV interaction, with little to no attention toward the teenage cyclist population. Objectives: This study is aimed at examining teenage cyclists’ perceptions of AVs …

Honors Accounting Thesis, John Mcintyre

Honors Theses

This thesis is made up of twelve case studies completed during my junior year over various financial accounting topics. The class was led by Dr. Vicki Dickinson, who oversaw every aspect of each particular case study. The topics covered in this thesis range from various fields and expanded my knowledge on many accounting ideas. I know for sure that each case study prepared us as students for the ever-changing accounting world as we begin to start our careers in financial accounting.

Value Of Emergent Neurovascular Imaging For "Seat Belt Injury": A Multi-Institutional Study, F G Sherbaf, B Chen, T Pomeranz, M Shahriari, M E Adin, S Mirbagheri, E Beheshtian, R Jalilianhasanpour, J Pakpoor, J W Lazor, A Kamali, D M Yousem

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Screening for blunt cerebrovascular injury in patients after motor vehicle collision (MVC) solely based on the presence of cervical seat belt sign has been debated in the literature without consensus. Our aim was to assess the value of emergent neurovascular imaging in patients after an MVC who present with a seat belt sign through a large-scale multi-institutional study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The electronic medical records of patients admitted to the emergency department with CTA/MRAs performed with an indication of seat belt injury of the neck were retrospectively reviewed at 5 participating institutions. Logistic regression analysis was used …

The Influence Of Defendant Race/Ethnicity And Police Body-Worn Cameras On Traffic Case Processing, Jessica Huff, Michael D. White, Kathleen E. Padilla

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The current study evaluates the impact of defendant race/ethnicity and police body-worn cameras (BWCs) on dismissals and guilty pleas in traffic violations. Despite the frequency of traffic violations and the potential for racial/ethnic bias in these incidents, researchers have yet to examine the outcomes of these violations in court. Research is also needed to assess the potential for BWCs to provide evidence and reduce charging disparities and differential pleas for minority defendants. Traffic violations processed in the Tempe, Arizona Municipal Court before and after BWC deployment were examined using logistic regression. Black and Hispanic defendants were less likely to have …

Chief Officers’ Perspectives Of Traffic Incident Management Standards Following A Line-Of-Duty Fatality, Charles David Hughes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAccording to the United States Fire Administration, an average of five firefighters are killed annually at scenes of roadway incidents. The purpose of this study was to explore chief fire officers’ perceptions of incident management policies and standards for the prevention of firefighter line-of-duty deaths resulting from secondary collisions. Their perceptions may contribute to the efficacy and appropriateness of incident management policies and standards and may also lead to recommendations to improve compliance. The research question was to understand what chief fire officers’ perceptions of incident management policies and standards for preventing firefighter line-of-duty-deaths from secondary collisions. The theoretical framework …