Setting reliable speed limits on roads has always been a challenging process of designers and road agencies. In this paper the results of a methodology for setting speed limits on rural roads of all categories in Gree...Setting reliable speed limits on roads has always been a challenging process of designers and road agencies. In this paper the results of a methodology for setting speed limits on rural roads of all categories in Greece is presented based on international research and an extensive drivers attitudes' survey. The 85th percentile speed has proven in this case to be the decisive criterion for establishing reliable speed limits or advisory speeds in most cases. The resulted 10 km/la increase in legal speed limits on freeways and express rural highways did not validate any fears that accident rates or frequencies would increase. On the contrary an 8% decrease of crashes was observed in a period of about three years after the implementation of the increased speed limits level on the rural highway network of the country.展开更多
Rolling resistance of tires is one of the most important factors influencing energy consumption of road vehicles, especially on rural roads. For practical reasons, most of rolling resistance measurements are usually p...Rolling resistance of tires is one of the most important factors influencing energy consumption of road vehicles, especially on rural roads. For practical reasons, most of rolling resistance measurements are usually performed for dry road conditions. Based on the fact that roads are wet during a considerable time over the year and as part of the projects MIR/AM, ROLRES and ROSANNE, the TUG (Technical University of Gdafisk) in Poland and VTI (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute) in Sweden carried out trailer rolling resistance measurements on wet road surfaces to investigate water film influence on rolling resistance on different pavements. A specially-designed trailer to measure rolling resistance has been used. The test sections were both rural roads and an abandoned airfield equipped with water film sensors mounted in the pavement. Results indicate strong influence of test speed and water film depth, as well as influence of surface texture. The increase of rolling resistance on wet surfaces is caused by both hydrodynamic phenomena and cooling effect of water that decreases tire temperature thus increasing rolling resistance.展开更多
Systematic approach to the maintenance of rural road network is a very important issue from the viewpoint of public costs. Most countries developed custom PMS (pavement management systems) based on deterministic or ...Systematic approach to the maintenance of rural road network is a very important issue from the viewpoint of public costs. Most countries developed custom PMS (pavement management systems) based on deterministic or probabilistic approach. The main goal is to ensure safety and continuity of road traffic on road network with low intensity and lower technical requirements. Article presents PMS used for Slovakia rural road network based on road construction diagnostics, traffic volume, climate factors and evaluation of maintenance works economics effectives by using of software tools like HDM-4 developed by World Bank. Local road administrators of rural road networks often lack the software equipment, most PMS, however effective, are often cumbersome, demanding in regard to energy, know-how and software equipment. The majority of local road administrators of rural road networks thus resort to non-effective reactive maintenance strategies. This article describes an easy to use method, based on predetermined maintenance repair and rehabilitation standards. A simple method, based on road user cost, is introduced that administrator can use to prepare a list of road section eligible for repair according to their repair priority.展开更多
Objective: To date, there has been little information published on the death of rural road accident deaths. This study uses burden of injury method to explore a more accurate estimate of years of life lost due to roa...Objective: To date, there has been little information published on the death of rural road accident deaths. This study uses burden of injury method to explore a more accurate estimate of years of life lost due to road traffic crashes occurring over a four-year period in Guilan province, northern Iran. Methods: Rural road accident deaths from 2009 to 2013 were extracted from Iran's Forensic Medicine System, Death Registry System and Road Trauma Research center database. Results: During the study period, the average years of life lost due to motor vehicle crashes was 13.8 per 1 000 persons, ranging from 11.9 during March 2011- 2012 to 15.8 per 1 000 persons during March 2012-2013. Conclusion: Road accident deaths in 2013 remained at the same high level as in 2009. The information obtained from this study provides a new perspective on fatal road traffic crash victims in rural settings and show us that more attention is needed in this area.展开更多
文摘Setting reliable speed limits on roads has always been a challenging process of designers and road agencies. In this paper the results of a methodology for setting speed limits on rural roads of all categories in Greece is presented based on international research and an extensive drivers attitudes' survey. The 85th percentile speed has proven in this case to be the decisive criterion for establishing reliable speed limits or advisory speeds in most cases. The resulted 10 km/la increase in legal speed limits on freeways and express rural highways did not validate any fears that accident rates or frequencies would increase. On the contrary an 8% decrease of crashes was observed in a period of about three years after the implementation of the increased speed limits level on the rural highway network of the country.
文摘Rolling resistance of tires is one of the most important factors influencing energy consumption of road vehicles, especially on rural roads. For practical reasons, most of rolling resistance measurements are usually performed for dry road conditions. Based on the fact that roads are wet during a considerable time over the year and as part of the projects MIR/AM, ROLRES and ROSANNE, the TUG (Technical University of Gdafisk) in Poland and VTI (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute) in Sweden carried out trailer rolling resistance measurements on wet road surfaces to investigate water film influence on rolling resistance on different pavements. A specially-designed trailer to measure rolling resistance has been used. The test sections were both rural roads and an abandoned airfield equipped with water film sensors mounted in the pavement. Results indicate strong influence of test speed and water film depth, as well as influence of surface texture. The increase of rolling resistance on wet surfaces is caused by both hydrodynamic phenomena and cooling effect of water that decreases tire temperature thus increasing rolling resistance.
文摘Systematic approach to the maintenance of rural road network is a very important issue from the viewpoint of public costs. Most countries developed custom PMS (pavement management systems) based on deterministic or probabilistic approach. The main goal is to ensure safety and continuity of road traffic on road network with low intensity and lower technical requirements. Article presents PMS used for Slovakia rural road network based on road construction diagnostics, traffic volume, climate factors and evaluation of maintenance works economics effectives by using of software tools like HDM-4 developed by World Bank. Local road administrators of rural road networks often lack the software equipment, most PMS, however effective, are often cumbersome, demanding in regard to energy, know-how and software equipment. The majority of local road administrators of rural road networks thus resort to non-effective reactive maintenance strategies. This article describes an easy to use method, based on predetermined maintenance repair and rehabilitation standards. A simple method, based on road user cost, is introduced that administrator can use to prepare a list of road section eligible for repair according to their repair priority.
文摘Objective: To date, there has been little information published on the death of rural road accident deaths. This study uses burden of injury method to explore a more accurate estimate of years of life lost due to road traffic crashes occurring over a four-year period in Guilan province, northern Iran. Methods: Rural road accident deaths from 2009 to 2013 were extracted from Iran's Forensic Medicine System, Death Registry System and Road Trauma Research center database. Results: During the study period, the average years of life lost due to motor vehicle crashes was 13.8 per 1 000 persons, ranging from 11.9 during March 2011- 2012 to 15.8 per 1 000 persons during March 2012-2013. Conclusion: Road accident deaths in 2013 remained at the same high level as in 2009. The information obtained from this study provides a new perspective on fatal road traffic crash victims in rural settings and show us that more attention is needed in this area.