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- Traffic safety (4)
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Articles 1 - 30 of 31
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Drivers’ Hazard Avoidance During Vehicle Automation: Impact Of Mental Models And Implications For Training, Ganesh Pai Mangalore
Drivers’ Hazard Avoidance During Vehicle Automation: Impact Of Mental Models And Implications For Training, Ganesh Pai Mangalore
Doctoral Dissertations
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are vehicle automation systems that have become more accessible and prevalent in vehicles in recent years. But the introduction of such technologies introduces new human factors challenges. Past literature suggests that users of vehicle automation lack the necessary and appropriate knowledge about their automation system. This may play a negative role in their hazard avoidance abilities when driving with automation features. Improving mental models and knowledge could generally lead to safer interactions with vehicle automation systems, but any effort to develop hazard avoidance skills when driving with vehicle automation is impeded by the lack of …
Optimizing Transportation Systems With Information Provision, Personalized Incentives And Driver Cooperation, Sayeeda Ayaz
Optimizing Transportation Systems With Information Provision, Personalized Incentives And Driver Cooperation, Sayeeda Ayaz
Doctoral Dissertations
Poor performance of the transportation systems has many detrimental effects such as higher travel times, increased travel costs, higher energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions, etc. This thesis optimizes the transportation systems by addressing the traffic congestion problem and climate change impact resulting from the inefficient operation of these systems. I first focus on the key player of the transportation systems e.g., human being/traveler, and model travelers' route choice behavior with real-time information. In this study, I define looking-ahead behavior in route choice as a traveler's taking into account future diversion possibilities enabled by real-time information in a network with …
Measuring Accessibility To Food Services To Improve Public Health, Efthymia Kostopoulou
Measuring Accessibility To Food Services To Improve Public Health, Efthymia Kostopoulou
Masters Theses
Food accessibility has lately been of primary interest given its impact on public health outcomes. This thesis illustrates the gaps in food access by applying spatial analysis in Massachusetts accounting for a variety of demographic and socioeconomic factors. The number of grocery stores, farmers markets, and convenience stores within 1/4 and 1 mile of the Census tracts’ centroids are the two accessibility metrics used in the spatial analysis. In addition, a regression model is developed using the Gradient Boosting machine learning method to show the relationship between the socioeconomic factors and the number of grocery stores within 1 mile of …
Equitable Resource Allocation To Improve Safety: An Evaluation Based On Risk, Alyssa M. Ryan
Equitable Resource Allocation To Improve Safety: An Evaluation Based On Risk, Alyssa M. Ryan
Doctoral Dissertations
Transportation safety continues to be a serious issue throughout the world. Proven safety measures have been developed to increase the safety on all roadways, but have not been universally and equitably implemented due to lack of resources, inefficiencies, and understanding. Additionally, the relative level of mobility safety remains higher in certain environments than others, creating an inequitable landscape. In this dissertation, the efficiency of using local and statement resources to improve safety is investigated while controlling for level of safety risk in vulnerable environments and locations using a comprehensive approach. Several methodologies and techniques are employed and developed to examine …
Assessing The Impact Of Bicycle Treatments On Bicycle Safety: A Multi-Methods Approach, Aikaterini Deliali
Assessing The Impact Of Bicycle Treatments On Bicycle Safety: A Multi-Methods Approach, Aikaterini Deliali
Doctoral Dissertations
Compared to other modes, bicyclists are disproportionally affected by crashes considering their low mode share. There is evidence that crashes between bicyclists and motorized vehicle take place at road segments and signalized intersections where bicycle treatments (e.g., bike lanes) are present, urging for in-dept analysis of the safety impact of the various bicycle treatment types. Additionally, it is important to identify sensor types that have the potential to advance field data collection and traffic monitoring in multi-modal road environments. In this dissertation, three approaches, namely crash analysis, traffic conflict analysis, and analysis of driver speeding and glancing behavior, were implemented …
Understanding The Safety Impacts Of Left-Turn Infrastructure On The Vulnerable Driving Population, Francis Tainter
Understanding The Safety Impacts Of Left-Turn Infrastructure On The Vulnerable Driving Population, Francis Tainter
Doctoral Dissertations
The severe impact of roadway fatalities has remained a significant concern for researchers in recent years. As of 2015, traffic fatalities were the leading cause of death for individuals between the ages of 15 and 20 years old and a significant safety concern for drivers over the age of 65 years old (otherwise known as the “vulnerable” driving population). Intersection-related crashes have also remained prevalent in these demographic categories. Through four primary crash data evaluations, this dissertation explores the safety implications on the “vulnerable” driving population in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Through the utilization of newly developed crash data linkage …
Optimization And Technology-Based Strategies To Improve Public Transit Performance Accounting For Demand Distribution, Charalampos Sipetas
Optimization And Technology-Based Strategies To Improve Public Transit Performance Accounting For Demand Distribution, Charalampos Sipetas
Doctoral Dissertations
Public transit is important to societies worldwide. The operation of public transit systems is generally associated with great benefits for the users, but there are also cases in which these systems demonstrate inefficient performance. Quantifying transit performance is an important area of research over the last decades. This dissertation presents models to improve transit system performance through optimization techniques and new technologies, recognizing the effects of non-uniform distribution of demand over space and time. The contributions span fixed route transit services and on-demand transit, as well as models for flexible transit operations that lie in between. Regarding fixed route systems, …
School Bus Routing To Allow Later School Start Times, Rana Eslamifard
School Bus Routing To Allow Later School Start Times, Rana Eslamifard
Masters Theses
School districts providing busing services for students who live too far to walk to school. In many districts a fleet of school buses is used in sequence to transport high school students, then middle school students, and then elementary school students. The result is that high school classes must start much earlier in the morning than the elementary school, and buses may traverse similar routes three times each morning and afternoon. In light of recent research on the benefits of later high school start times and the need to control transportation costs, school districts are seeking efficient school bus routing …
The Promise Of Vr Headsets: Validation Of A Virtual Reality Headset-Based Driving Simulator For Measuring Drivers’ Hazard Anticipation Performance, Ganesh Pai Mangalore
The Promise Of Vr Headsets: Validation Of A Virtual Reality Headset-Based Driving Simulator For Measuring Drivers’ Hazard Anticipation Performance, Ganesh Pai Mangalore
Masters Theses
The objective of the current study is to evaluate the use of virtual reality (VR) headsets to measure driving performance. This is desirable because they are several orders of magnitude less expensive and, if validated, could greatly extend the powers of simulation. Out of several possible measures of performance that could be considered for evaluating VR headsets, the current study specifically examines drivers’ latent hazard anticipation behavior both because it has been linked to crashes and because it has been shown to be significantly poorer in young drivers compared to their experienced counterparts in traditional driving simulators and in open …
Sustainable Travel Incentives Optimization In Multimodal Networks, Hossein Ghafourian
Sustainable Travel Incentives Optimization In Multimodal Networks, Hossein Ghafourian
Masters Theses
Tripod, an integrated bi-level transportation management system, is a smartphone application from the potential user’s point of view which would be instantly accessed prior to performing the trip. Since there are constantly several alternatives for any trip, Tripod considers a series and combination of various parameters, including departure time, mode and route, and rewards for each alternative with a number of redeemable points for goods and services called “Tokens”. The framework responsible for computing the optimized number of tokens awarded to the set of available alternatives in order to minimize the system-wide energy consumption under a constrained Token budget, is …
Equity And Efficiency In Multi-Modal Transportation Systems, Nicholas M. Fournier
Equity And Efficiency In Multi-Modal Transportation Systems, Nicholas M. Fournier
Doctoral Dissertations
The land-use pattern for many cities is a central business district surrounded by sprawling suburbs. This pattern can lead to an inefficient and congestion-prone transportation system due to a reliance on automobiles, because high-capacity transit is not efficient in low-density areas where insufficient travelers can access transit. This also poses an equity concern as the monetary cost of faster and more expensive travel disproportionately burdens low income travelers. This dissertation presents a deterministic approximation of a discrete choice model for mixed access and mainline transportation modes, meaning that travelers may use different modes to access a mainline system, such as …
Modeling The Effect Of New Commuter Bus Service On Demand And The Impact On Ghg Emissions: Application To Greater Boston, Christopher Lyman
Modeling The Effect Of New Commuter Bus Service On Demand And The Impact On Ghg Emissions: Application To Greater Boston, Christopher Lyman
Masters Theses
The transportation sector is considered one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in metropolitan areas, and any efforts to reduce these emissions requires strategic management of multiple transportation modes. This paper presents a method to identify opportunities to reduce GHG emissions by expanding commuter bus services and incentives to shift commuters from private cars to transit. The approach uses a nested multinomial logit model for mode choice in a region that includes driving alone, carpooling, walking, cycling, and using four possible transit modes (ferry, commuter rail, rapid transit and bus) by walk access or driving access. A …
Modeling And Optimizing Routing Decisions For Travelers And On-Demand Service Providers, Xinlian Yu
Modeling And Optimizing Routing Decisions For Travelers And On-Demand Service Providers, Xinlian Yu
Doctoral Dissertations
This thesis investigates the dynamic routing decisions for individual travelers and on-demand service providers (e.g., regular taxis, Uber, Lyft, etc). For individual travelers, this thesis models and predicts route choice at two time-scales: the day-to-day and within-day. For day-to-day route choice, methodological development and empirical evidences are presented to understand the roles of learning, inertia and real-time travel information on route choices in a highly disrupted network based on data from a laboratory competitive route choice game. The learning of routing policies instead of simple paths is modeled when real-time travel information is available, where a routing policy is defined …
Applications Of Machine Learning Methods In Macroscopic Crash Analysis For Transportation Safety Management, Somaye Garmroudi Dovirani
Applications Of Machine Learning Methods In Macroscopic Crash Analysis For Transportation Safety Management, Somaye Garmroudi Dovirani
Doctoral Dissertations
Transportation Safety Planning (TSP) is a statewide-scale tool and combines transportation planning processes with safety aims to increase safety and reduce transportation fatalities and injuries. Traffic safety, which continues to remain a critical issue worldwide, has led to a myriad of modeling techniques to improve analytical capabilities with respect to crash modeling and prediction. State and metropolitan transportation planning processes must be consistent with Strategic Highway Safety Plans. This research aims to identify models and methods to improve the ability to capture variables that have the most significant impact on traffic safety through crash prediction modeling. In order to achieve …
Evaluating The Impact Of Double-Parked Freight Deliveries On Signalized Arterial Control Delay Using Analytical Models And Simulation, Aaron J. Keegan
Evaluating The Impact Of Double-Parked Freight Deliveries On Signalized Arterial Control Delay Using Analytical Models And Simulation, Aaron J. Keegan
Masters Theses
Freight deliveries on signalized urban streets are known to cause lane blockages during delivery. Traffic congestion associated with urban freight deliveries has gained increasing attention recently as traffic engineers and planners are tasked with finding solutions to manage increasing demand more sustainably with limited road capacity. The goal of this research is to evaluate two models for quantifying the capacity and signalized control delay effects of a lane-blocking freight delivery on an urban arterial. The two methods are: an All-or-Nothing model similar to methodology used in the Highway Capacity Manual 6th Edition, and a Detailed model consistent with kinematic …
Intersection Signal Control And Design For Improved Person Mobility And Air Quality In Urban Multimodal Transportation Systems, Farnoush Khalighi
Intersection Signal Control And Design For Improved Person Mobility And Air Quality In Urban Multimodal Transportation Systems, Farnoush Khalighi
Doctoral Dissertations
Alternative geometric designs (e.g. roundabouts) and multi-objective signal control strategies are promising measures to improve sustainability of traffic networks. However, roundabouts are mostly used because of their safety and operational advantages. There has been less attention to the environmental performance of roundabouts. Also, the existing studies have been mostly used through field measurements and current simulation models, which need high calibration efforts and they are not inclusive in terms of considering all influencing factors on vehicular emissions at roundabouts. Furthermore, the existing real-time signal control strategies do not account for the emission rates of different vehicle types (e.g. cars and …
All-Red Clearance Intervals For Use In The Left-Turn Application Of Flashing Yellow Arrows, Francis Tainter
All-Red Clearance Intervals For Use In The Left-Turn Application Of Flashing Yellow Arrows, Francis Tainter
Masters Theses
With the advancement of implementation for a novel traffic control device, the Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA), agencies across the country have continually sought strategies to improve intersection operations and safety, specifically with respect to the left-turn application. More so, permissive left-turn intervals have been communicated to drivers using several traffic signal indications; however, most frequently these phases are represented through the circular green (CG) ball and more recently, the FYA. Previous research in this area determined that the FYA indication produced the most effective communication of permissive left-turns. Further, this previous research led to the inclusion of the FYA in …
Impact Of S-Curve On Speed In A Modern Roundabout, Akshaey Sabhanayagam
Impact Of S-Curve On Speed In A Modern Roundabout, Akshaey Sabhanayagam
Masters Theses
According to the US Department of Transportation, around 20 people die on a daily basis in a signalized intersection, with most of these resulting from angle or head-on collisions. The US-DoT’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has identified modern roundabout intersections to be substantially safer than signalized intersections, due in part to the reduction in conflict points from 32 in a traditional signalized intersection to 8 in a modern roundabout. Despite the increased adoption of modern roundabouts across the US, there are a number of specific design elements for which the direct impact they have on operational and safety related performance …
Reward Allocation For Maximizing Energy Savings In A Transportation System, Adewale O. Oduwole
Reward Allocation For Maximizing Energy Savings In A Transportation System, Adewale O. Oduwole
Masters Theses
Transportation has a major impact on our society and environment, contributing 70% of U.S petroleum use, 28% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, over 34,000 fatalities and 2.2 million injuries in 2013. Punitive approaches to used to tackle environmental issues in the transportation sector, such as congestion pricing have been well documented, although the use of incentives or rewards lags behind in comparison. In addition to the use of more fuel-efficient, alternate energy vehicles and various other energy reduction strategies; energy consumption can be lowered through incentivizing alternative modes of transportation. This paper focused on modifying travelers’ behavior by providing …
Driver Understanding Of The Flashing Yellow Arrow And Dynamic No Turn On Red Sign For Right Turn Applications, Elizabeth Casola
Driver Understanding Of The Flashing Yellow Arrow And Dynamic No Turn On Red Sign For Right Turn Applications, Elizabeth Casola
Masters Theses
Since their introduction to the 2009 Edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, flashing yellow arrows (FYA) have had significant success in communicating the permissive turn message. While widely used for the permissive left turn maneuver, agencies recently have been utilizing flashing yellow arrows for the use with right turn applications as drivers interact with crossing pedestrians. As pedestrian conflicts are a concern during the permissive green phase, there is additional worry for the potential interaction between a pedestrian and vehicle turning right on red. This research explores the existing driver comprehension of permissive right turns during both …
Modeling Performance, Cost, Delivery, And Trip Distribution Of Demand Responsive Transit Systems With Zoning, Mahour Rahimi
Modeling Performance, Cost, Delivery, And Trip Distribution Of Demand Responsive Transit Systems With Zoning, Mahour Rahimi
Doctoral Dissertations
Demand responsive transit (DRT) services are expensive to operate, so it is crucial to understand the factors that drive the agency costs and be able to investigate and predict the effect of possible changes in specific operating parameters as well as demand and service coverage areas on total costs. In this research, we adopt the concept of the analytical model proposed by Daganzo (1978) to present continuum approximation (CA) models that can estimate important service related factors. As the first step, we propose three analytical models to approximate the operation related variables of DRT services; Fleet Size, Vehicle Hours Traveled …
An Evaluation Of Traffic Control Devices And Driver Distraction On Driver Behavior At Railway-Highway Grade Crossings, Radhameris A. Gomez Gabriel
An Evaluation Of Traffic Control Devices And Driver Distraction On Driver Behavior At Railway-Highway Grade Crossings, Radhameris A. Gomez Gabriel
Doctoral Dissertations
At-grade crossings (grade crossings) are those crossings in which any part of a roadway intersects with railroad tracks. Safety at these railroad-highway grade crossings is a major concern, with traffic control warning devices serving as the main mechanisms for improving safety. There are three factors that influence a driver’s behavior at a given crossing. First, traffic control devices, including warning devices at the railroad-highway grade crossings, provide the driver with information whose impact will depend in part on the likelihood that the driver knows whether to glance in the direction of the device based on prior experience, and in part …
Modeling And Modifying Day-To-Day Travel Behaviors: Empirical Results And Methodological Advances, Yue Tang
Modeling And Modifying Day-To-Day Travel Behaviors: Empirical Results And Methodological Advances, Yue Tang
Doctoral Dissertations
The increasing availability of individual-level longitudinal data provides the opportunity to better understand travelers'\ day-to-day learning process of their choice alternatives, which enables potentially more accurate predictions of choice patterns in a network with uncertainties. In this thesis, an instance-based learning (IBL) model for travel choice is developed within route-choice context, where on each day a traveler's decision depends on her entire choice history in the past. Learning in this model is based on the power law of forgetting and practice, which is shown to be capable of capturing various psychological effects embedded in travelers'\ day-to-day learning process, including the …
Multi-Criteria Decision Making When Planning Sustainable Multimodal Transportation Routes In A Linear Corridor, Marie Louis
Multi-Criteria Decision Making When Planning Sustainable Multimodal Transportation Routes In A Linear Corridor, Marie Louis
Doctoral Dissertations
In urban and suburban locations, public transit can be seen as an effective mode of daily transportation. The majority of the time, travelers would seek the cheapest, shortest, and possibly most eco-friendly means of transit. When designing public transit network systems, transportation planners and decision-makers, with input from stakeholders, should strive to optimize transportation services to meet the needs of the population most efficiently and at the lowest cost, that is, providing a transportation system that s the three E's of the sustainability concept: environment, social equity, and economic. Previous studies have focused on sustainability as the primary concern in …
Evaluating The Impacts Of Driver Behavior In The Speed Selection Process And The Related Outcomes, Cole D. Fitzpatrick
Evaluating The Impacts Of Driver Behavior In The Speed Selection Process And The Related Outcomes, Cole D. Fitzpatrick
Doctoral Dissertations
In the United States, traffic crashes claim the lives of 30,000 people every year and is the leading cause of death for 5-24 year olds. Driver error is the leading factor in over 90 percent of motor vehicle crashes, with the roadway and the vehicle each only accounting for about 2 percent of crashes. In the United States, nearly a third of fatal crashes are due to speeding and therefore, a critical step in improving traffic safety is research aimed to reduce speeding, such as crash data analysis, outreach campaigns, targeted enforcement, and understanding speed selection. In this dissertation, a …
Transit Preferential Treatments At Signalized Intersections: Person-Based Evaluation And Real-Time Signal Control, Yashar Zeiynali Farid
Transit Preferential Treatments At Signalized Intersections: Person-Based Evaluation And Real-Time Signal Control, Yashar Zeiynali Farid
Doctoral Dissertations
Efficient public transportation has the potential to relieve traffic congestion and improve overall transportation system performance. In order to improve transit services, Transit Preferential Treatments (TPT) are often deployed to give transit vehicles priority over other vehicles at an intersection or along a corridor. Examples of such treatments are exclusive bus lanes, queue jumper lanes, and signal priority strategies. The objective of this study is threefold: 1) perform a person-based evaluation of alternative TPTs when considered individually and in combination, 2) develop a bus travel time prediction model along a signalized arterial, and 3) develop a real-time signal control system, …
Modeling Choice Problems With Heterogeneous User Preferences In The Transportation Network, Mahyar Amirgholy
Modeling Choice Problems With Heterogeneous User Preferences In The Transportation Network, Mahyar Amirgholy
Doctoral Dissertations
Users of transportation systems need to make a variety of different decisions for their trips in the network, while their objective is to keep the generalized costs of their own trips minimized. In the transportation network, there is a diversity of different factors that can influence the decisions of the users, while the relative importance of these factors varies among the heterogeneous users with different trip purposes. Nonetheless, the cumulative result of the individual decisions of the users seeking to minimize their costs according to their own preferences leads to the user equilibrium condition in which no one can reduce …
Integrated Solar Technologies With Outdoor Pedestrian Bridge Superstructure Decking, Richard K. Racz
Integrated Solar Technologies With Outdoor Pedestrian Bridge Superstructure Decking, Richard K. Racz
Masters Theses
Solar technology has been a major topic in sustainable design for many years. In the last five years, however, the solar technology industry has seen a rapid growth in installations and technological advances in cell design. Combined with a rapidly declining overall system cost, the idea of introducing solar technology into a wider range of applications is becoming a focus for engineers and scientists around the world. So many variables which alter solar energy production, such as the sun and surrounding environment, determine whether a solar design is beneficial. This thesis presents a bridge deck surface integrated with solar cells …
Modeling Interactions Between Human Factors And Traffic Flow Characteristics, Chaoqun Jia
Modeling Interactions Between Human Factors And Traffic Flow Characteristics, Chaoqun Jia
Doctoral Dissertations
To serve research needs for traffic flow model development and highway safety enhancement, we model interactions between human factors and traffic flow character- istics, this topic includes methods on collecting data, modeling impacts of parameters on flow, and calibrating parameters on observed data. An example of successful traf- fic data collection is NGSIM data, which contains location, speed, and acceleration information of vehicles. An algorithm was designed to match and extract vehicles’ trajectory records, and utilize the extracted information for pattern recognition of lane changing maneuvers. This algorithm reads records from an NGSIM data set, pick out vehicles executing lane …
Adaptive Route Choice In Stochastic Time-Dependent Networks: Routing Algorithms And Choice Modeling, Jing Ding-Mastera
Adaptive Route Choice In Stochastic Time-Dependent Networks: Routing Algorithms And Choice Modeling, Jing Ding-Mastera
Doctoral Dissertations
Transportation networks are inherently uncertain due to random disruptions; meanwhile, real-time information potentially helps travelers adapt to realized traffic conditions and make better route choices under such disruptions. Modeling adaptive route choice behavior is essential in evaluating Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) and related policies to better provide travelers with real-time information. This dissertation contributes to the state of the art by estimating the first latent-class routing policy choice model using revealed preference (RP) data and providing efficient computer algorithms for routing policy choice set generation. A routing policy is defined as a decision rule applied at each link that …