General

Why road accident data correlations do not reveal causations?

By | 2017-11-25T16:20:21+00:00 June 19th, 2017|Categories: General|Tags: , |

Road accident analysis is focussing too much on accident characteristics and too little on accident causes. Very often, we look where the data are and not where the problems are. Consequently, there is imperative need for data not only on casualties but also on: -    exposure to risk (traffic kilometres of vehicles and pedestrians) to

How to measure distracted driving risk?

By | 2017-11-25T16:20:22+00:00 June 7th, 2017|Categories: General|Tags: , , , , |

Driver distraction is lately becoming a key critical road accident risk factor, equivalent or even more important than the well-known "four big road killers": speed, drink-and-drive, non-use of seat belt and helmet. Some argue that mobile phone use (talking, texting and browsing) is a key reason why road fatalities do not decrease anymore in developed

Can we safely mix road and flying vehicles traffic?

By | 2017-12-02T16:34:34+00:00 May 4th, 2017|Categories: General|Tags: , , |

Recent technological advances are bringing closer the introduction of flying vehicles (Vertically Taking off and Landing Vehicles -VTOLs) into the transport systems of the near future. Technology pioneers announce massive introduction of flying vehicles within the coming five years. Managing this new air traffic is a certainly great challenge and respective research and technological development

Can we manage the aggressive behaviour of autonomous vehicles?

By | 2017-11-25T16:20:22+00:00 May 3rd, 2017|Categories: General|Tags: , , , , , |

The connected and automated vehicles will have to cope with other automated or not vehicles and connected or not road users (drivers, riders, pedestrians) and a priority negotiation will always be necessary, especially at junctions. The behaviour of both the drivers and of the autonomous vehicles is inevitably dependent to all the other road users.

How far can go the digital integration of traffic systems?

By | 2017-11-25T16:20:22+00:00 May 2nd, 2017|Categories: General|Tags: , , |

At the digitalisation era more and more life activities are supported by digital systems and services, in which data and information are collected, processed, organised and re-directed through dedicated services to the end user but also to all parties involved in the planning, execution and management of these activities. All traffic and transport activities are

Can we manage the co-existence of autonomous and non-autonomous traffic?

By | 2017-11-25T16:20:22+00:00 September 15th, 2016|Categories: General|Tags: , , , |

Autonomous vehicles are bringing a very different new reality in road traffic. However, human factors will remain present both in the near future and in the long term, because of the: - mixed traffic of autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles during the long transition phases (different at the different places of the world), - the interaction

Can the internet of everything improve road user behaviour?

By | 2017-11-25T16:20:22+00:00 September 14th, 2016|Categories: General|Tags: , , , |

The Internet of Things and of Everything is steadily making easily available massive driving and travelling data, which present a very high potential for monitoring driving and travelling behaviour and subsequently provide customized feedback both to the driver/traveller and to the systems managers (public or private), which was never available before. It is the first

Which are the autonomous vehicles’ critical choices?

By | 2017-11-25T16:20:22+00:00 July 17th, 2016|Categories: General|Tags: , , , , |

Today the driver makes choices, tomorrow the choices will be made by the autonomous vehicles, by the autonomous traffic and by the people managing them. So there is need to "train" the vehicles, the traffic and the people managing them on how to handle a number of fundamental choices. Firstly, a number of real time

Which are the key policy orientations for safer city traffic?

By | 2017-11-25T16:20:22+00:00 November 15th, 2015|Categories: General|Tags: , , , |

The main difference between roads and the other transport modes, is that most road vehicle drivers are not professionals, not having received heavy training and not following the very high and strict behaviour standards of the professional drivers and pilots of all the other transport modes. Furthermore, the road environment, especially in urban areas, is

Which are the key safety choices in the modern city?

By | 2017-11-25T16:20:23+00:00 March 15th, 2015|Categories: General|Tags: , , , , |

The high complexity of the urban environment requires the joint consideration of several societal needs such as the environmental and energy performance, the transport and safety effectiveness, the functional urban structure and the overall quality of life, which inevitably involve difficult and often conflicting choices to be made. Furthermore, the continuous transformation of the urban