Turning Left

An increasing number of left-wing political figures are holding power in Latin America, raising eyebrows in Washington This is a banner election year in Latin America, with nine countries heading to the polls to select new leaders. But the succession of victories by left-leaning politicians, with more likely in the coming months, is expected to draw mounting concern from the

Optimal allocation model of signalized intersections with dynamic use of exit lanes for left turn

In order to improve the operational efficiency of heavy left-turn demand intersections,an optimal allocation model of an intersection with dynamic use of exit lanes for left turns(EFL)is proposed.The constraints of setting EFL are analyzed,including the number and length of reverse variable lanes,flow direction constraints,and signal constraints,etc.The constraints and control variables are combined in a unified framework for simultaneous optimization.The objective functions are defined as the average delay and left-turn capacity of an intersection.The model is solved by a non-dominated genetic algorithm(NSGA-Ⅱ).The results show that after the optimal allocation of EFL,the average vehicle delays of the intersection can be reduced by 14.9%and left-turn capacity can be increased by 19.3%.The effectiveness of the optimal allocation model of EFL is demonstrated.

A Workable Solution for Reducing the Large Number of Vehicle and Pedestrian Accidents Occurring on a Yellow Light

Traffic intersections are incredibly dangerous for drivers and pedestrians. Statistics from both Canada and the U.S. show a high number of fatalities and serious injuries related to crashes at intersections. In Canada, during 2019, the National Collision Database shows that 28% of traffic fatalities and 42% of serious injuries occurred at intersections. Likewise, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) found that about 40% of the estimated 5,811,000 accidents in the U.S. during the year studied were intersection-related crashes. In fact, a major survey by the car insurance industry found that nearly 85% of drivers could not identify the correct action to take when approaching a yellow traffic light at an intersection. One major reason for these accidents is the “yellow light dilemma,” the ambiguous situation where a driver should stop or proceed forward when unexpectedly faced with a yellow light. This situation is even further exacerbated by the tendency of aggressive drivers to inappropriately speed up on the yellow just to get through the traffic light. A survey of Canadian drivers conducted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation found that 9% of drivers admitted to speeding up to get through a traffic light. Another reason for these accidents is the increased danger of making a left-hand turn on yellow. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), left turns occur in approximately 22.2% of collisions—as opposed to just 1.2% for right turns. Moreover, a study by CNN found left turns are three times as likely to kill pedestrians than right turns. The reason left turns are so much more likely to cause an accident is because they take a driver against traffic and in the path of oncoming cars. Additionally, most of these left turns occur at the driver’s discretion—as opposed to the distressingly brief left-hand arrow at busy intersections. Drive Safe Now proposes a workable solution for reducing the number of accidents occurring during a yellow light at intersections. We believe this fairly simple solution will save lives, prevent injuries, reduce damage to public and private property, and decrease insurance costs.

Continuous Flow Intersection Performance Measures Using Connected Vehicle Data

Continuous flow intersections (CFIs), also known as displaced left turns (DLTs), are a type of alternative intersection designed to improve operations at locations with heavy left-turn movements by reallocating these vehicles to the left side of opposing traffic. Currently, simulation is commonly used to evaluate operational performance of CFIs. However, this approach requires significant on-site data collection and is highly dependent on the analyst’s ability to correctly model the intersection and driver behavior. Recently, connected vehicle (CV) trajectory data has become widely available and presents opportunities for the direct measurement of traffic signal performance measures. This study utilizes CV trajectory data to analyze the performance of a CFI located in West Valley City, UT. Over 4500 trajectories and 105,000 GPS points are analyzed from August 2021 weekday data. Trajectories are linear-referenced to generate Purdue Probe Diagrams (PPDs) and extended PPDs to estimate split failures (SF), arrivals on green (AOG), traditional Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) level of service (LOS), and the distribution of stops. The estimated operational performance showed effective progression during the PM peak period at all the critical internal storage areas with AOG levels at exit traffic signals between 83% and 100%. In contrast, all external approaches with longer queue storage areas had AOG values ranging from 2% to 81% during the same time period. The presented analytical techniques and summary graphics provide practitioners with tools to evaluate the performance of any CFI where CV trajectories are available without the need for on-site data collection.

Review of United States research and guidelines on left turn lane offset:Unsignalized intersections and signalized intersections with permitted left turns

The purposes of this paper are to better understand the design and impact of left turn lane offset and provide state transportation agencies recommendations on best practices and alternative design options to address left turn sight line obstruction issues.Research studies and existing guidelines on left turn lane offset were reviewed and summarized to offer insights in driver sight distance and behavior,intersection safety and operations,as well as design elements related to left turn lane offset.Studies showed that at both unsignalized intersections and signalized intersections with permitted left turns,obstructed sight line could cause higher possibilities of collisions between left turning vehicles and oncoming vehicles from the opposing direction.Existing evaluations of left turn lane offset,with data from multiple states in the United States,reported that positive left turn lane offsets were beneficial in terms of safety and operations.Most agency guidelines provided very limited discussions about left turn lane offset.This review demonstrated that positive left turn lane offsets are beneficial to intersection safety and operations.Based on the review of research and guidelines,recommendations were provided for transportation agencies for left turn lane offset implementation.A discussion on new left turn design concepts was also included to point out directions for future research and practice.

An analysis on older driver＇s driving behavior by GPS tracking data： Road selection, left/right turn, and driving speed

With the high older-related accident ratio and increasing population aging problem, understanding older drivers＇ driving behaviors has become more and more important for building and improving transportation system. This paper examines older driver＇s driving behavior which includes road selection, left/right turn and driving speed. A two-month experiment of 108 participants was carried out in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Since apparently contradictory statements were often drawn in survey-based or simulators-based studies, this study collected not only drivers＇ basic information but also GPS data. Analysis of road selection demonstrates that older drivers are reluctant to drive on expressway not only in short trips but also in long trips. The present study did not find significant difference be- tween older drivers and others while turning at the intersections. To investigate the impact factors on driving speed, a random-effects regression model is constructed with explan- atory variables including age, gender, road types and the interaction terms between age and road types. Compared with other variables, it fails to find that age （60 years old or over） has significant impact on driving speed. Moreover, the results reflect that older drivers drive even faster than others at particular road types： national road and ordinary municipal road. The results in this study are expected to help improve transportation planning and develop driving assistance systems for older drivers.

Safety effectiveness of roadway conversion with a two way left turn lane

In urban or suburban areas with a large number of access points, four-lane undivided highways are prone to crashes due to left-turning and through movements in a single lane. Many studies recommended expensive countermeasures like conversion from undivided to divided road with physical separation. One inexpensive alternative is reconfiguring the existing roadways by either increasing or decreasing the number of lanes. This study investigated the safety impact of converting four lane undivided roadways （4U） to five lane undivided roadways （ST） with a two way left turn lane （TIkrLTL）. This study used Empirical Bayes method to determine the safety impact of this inexpensive countermeasure. In this study, data from eight sites from Louisiana were collected for investigation, and site- specific crash modification factor （CMF） values were calculated. Although ST is usually not preferable due to its exposure of higher number of crashes in the existing literature, the findings of the current study indicated a positive safety impact. The benefit-cost ratio of this conversion ranges from 97 to 379. The current findings indicate that conversion of 4U to 5T is a feasible inexpensive solution for urban roadways with lower volume and a limited number of driveways.

Go straight on教学设计

Go straight on.这篇教学设计,就是让学生通过学习课文,掌握如何用英语问路、指路,从而培养学生礼貌问路的习惯和助人为乐的品质。在学习过程中,训练学生检索信息的能力和发散思维能力,提高发现问题和解决问题的能力。保持英语学习的兴趣,让学生能自信地用所学英语交流。