Work-zone crashes have always drawn public attention. A number of fatalities are recorded every year nationwide within work zone areas. Most existing countermeasures have been dedicated more to the advance warning are...Work-zone crashes have always drawn public attention. A number of fatalities are recorded every year nationwide within work zone areas. Most existing countermeasures have been dedicated more to the advance warning areas, transition areas, and activity areas of work zone, than the termination areas, where drivers might play less attention to safety threats. In this study, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication based left turn warning system was applied at a work zone termination area, which is immediately followed by a T-intersection. The work-zone is located on the minor road side, while left turn vehicles will be appearing from the major street through the said T-intersection. A smart phone application was designed using Android coding system to provide several types of warning messages to drivers. Corresponding scenarios were designed in a driving simulator, and 20 subjects were recruited to participate in the simulation test followed by a questionnaire survey. The subjects received a warning message when driving to the termination area of a work zone on the coming left turn vehicles. Twenty test drivers’ driving speed, acceleration rates, and break reaction distance to the warning messages were studied in four different scenarios. Results show that the smartphone application has a great impact on driving behaviors, especially the female voice and the beep tone warning, which are recommended for possible field tests. Besides, the developed smartphone applications can be further updated for practical applications of similar needs.展开更多
Left-turning traffic without a protected left-turn signal is one of the major safety concerns at urban intersections. Though an average of only l0% - 15% of all approaching traffic turns left, significantly a large pr...Left-turning traffic without a protected left-turn signal is one of the major safety concerns at urban intersections. Though an average of only l0% - 15% of all approaching traffic turns left, significantly a large proportion of left-turn crashes occur involving 21% of all intersection fatal crashes. Where traditional safety countermeasures of signal timing-phasing and use of flashing yellow light have reportedly failed to significantly reduce the rate of crashes, an in-vehicle advance collision warning message can be helpful to reduce left-turn collisions at intersections. In this study, an in-vehicle audio warning application has been designed by providing two safety warning messages (Advance Warning Message and Safe Left-turn Maneuver Message) under the vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication system, which is triggered based on the acceptable gaps of oncoming opposing vehicles for a safe left-turn. A driving simulator test has been conducted with 30 participants to investigate the impacts of warning messages on performance measures such as speed and acceleration profiles, collision records, brake reaction distance, and intersection clearance time. Statistical results showed that with the help of these messages, all participants were able to reduce speeds and accelerations and chose suitable gaps without potential conflicts. Moreover, the results of questionnaire analysis provide a positive acceptability especially for the Safe Left-turn Maneuver Message. Based on the performance measurements, this type of safety warning messages can be recommended for possible real-road tests for practical applications.展开更多
Lane-changing behavior is an important component of traffic simulation. A lane-changing action is normally confined to a decision-making process of the task, and the action itself is sometimes assumed as an instantane...Lane-changing behavior is an important component of traffic simulation. A lane-changing action is normally confined to a decision-making process of the task, and the action itself is sometimes assumed as an instantaneous event. Besides, the lane-changing behavior is based mostly on observable positions and speeds of other vehicles, rather than on vehicles＇ intentions. In practice, changing one lane requires about 5-6 s to complete. Existing lanechanging models do not comprehensively consider drivers＇ response to work zone lanechanging signs （or other related messages, if any）. Furthermore, drivers＇ socio-demographics are normally not taken into account. With regard to this, fuzzy logic-based lane-changing models that consider drivers＇ socio-demographics were developed to improve the realism of lane-changing maneuvers in work zones. Drivers＇ Smart Advisory System （DSAS） messages were provided as one of the scenarios. Drivers＇ responses, including reactions to work zone signs and DSAS messages, and actions to change lane, were investigated. Drivers＇ socio-demographic factors were primary independent variables, while Lane-Changing Response Time （LCRT） and Distance （LCRD） were defined as output variables. The model validation process yielded acceptable error ranges. To illustrate how these models can be used in traffic simulation, the LCRT and LCRD in work zones were estimated for five geo-locations with different socio-demographic specifications. Results show that the DSAS is able to instruct all drivers to prepare and change lanes earlier, thereby shortening the duration of changing lanes. Educational background and age are essential variables, whereas the impacts of gender on the output variables are indistinctive.展开更多
基金The authors acknowledge that this research is supported in part by the United States Tier 1 University Transportation Center TranLIVE # DTRT12GUTC17/KLK900-SB-003, and the NSF （National Science Foundation） under grants #1137732 The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author（s） and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies.
文摘Work-zone crashes have always drawn public attention. A number of fatalities are recorded every year nationwide within work zone areas. Most existing countermeasures have been dedicated more to the advance warning areas, transition areas, and activity areas of work zone, than the termination areas, where drivers might play less attention to safety threats. In this study, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication based left turn warning system was applied at a work zone termination area, which is immediately followed by a T-intersection. The work-zone is located on the minor road side, while left turn vehicles will be appearing from the major street through the said T-intersection. A smart phone application was designed using Android coding system to provide several types of warning messages to drivers. Corresponding scenarios were designed in a driving simulator, and 20 subjects were recruited to participate in the simulation test followed by a questionnaire survey. The subjects received a warning message when driving to the termination area of a work zone on the coming left turn vehicles. Twenty test drivers’ driving speed, acceleration rates, and break reaction distance to the warning messages were studied in four different scenarios. Results show that the smartphone application has a great impact on driving behaviors, especially the female voice and the beep tone warning, which are recommended for possible field tests. Besides, the developed smartphone applications can be further updated for practical applications of similar needs.
文摘Left-turning traffic without a protected left-turn signal is one of the major safety concerns at urban intersections. Though an average of only l0% - 15% of all approaching traffic turns left, significantly a large proportion of left-turn crashes occur involving 21% of all intersection fatal crashes. Where traditional safety countermeasures of signal timing-phasing and use of flashing yellow light have reportedly failed to significantly reduce the rate of crashes, an in-vehicle advance collision warning message can be helpful to reduce left-turn collisions at intersections. In this study, an in-vehicle audio warning application has been designed by providing two safety warning messages (Advance Warning Message and Safe Left-turn Maneuver Message) under the vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication system, which is triggered based on the acceptable gaps of oncoming opposing vehicles for a safe left-turn. A driving simulator test has been conducted with 30 participants to investigate the impacts of warning messages on performance measures such as speed and acceleration profiles, collision records, brake reaction distance, and intersection clearance time. Statistical results showed that with the help of these messages, all participants were able to reduce speeds and accelerations and chose suitable gaps without potential conflicts. Moreover, the results of questionnaire analysis provide a positive acceptability especially for the Safe Left-turn Maneuver Message. Based on the performance measurements, this type of safety warning messages can be recommended for possible real-road tests for practical applications.
基金supported in part by the Tier 1 University Transportation Center TranLIVE# DTRT12GUTC17/KLK900-SB-003the National Science Foundation(NSF)under grants#1137732
文摘Lane-changing behavior is an important component of traffic simulation. A lane-changing action is normally confined to a decision-making process of the task, and the action itself is sometimes assumed as an instantaneous event. Besides, the lane-changing behavior is based mostly on observable positions and speeds of other vehicles, rather than on vehicles＇ intentions. In practice, changing one lane requires about 5-6 s to complete. Existing lanechanging models do not comprehensively consider drivers＇ response to work zone lanechanging signs （or other related messages, if any）. Furthermore, drivers＇ socio-demographics are normally not taken into account. With regard to this, fuzzy logic-based lane-changing models that consider drivers＇ socio-demographics were developed to improve the realism of lane-changing maneuvers in work zones. Drivers＇ Smart Advisory System （DSAS） messages were provided as one of the scenarios. Drivers＇ responses, including reactions to work zone signs and DSAS messages, and actions to change lane, were investigated. Drivers＇ socio-demographic factors were primary independent variables, while Lane-Changing Response Time （LCRT） and Distance （LCRD） were defined as output variables. The model validation process yielded acceptable error ranges. To illustrate how these models can be used in traffic simulation, the LCRT and LCRD in work zones were estimated for five geo-locations with different socio-demographic specifications. Results show that the DSAS is able to instruct all drivers to prepare and change lanes earlier, thereby shortening the duration of changing lanes. Educational background and age are essential variables, whereas the impacts of gender on the output variables are indistinctive.
