Safety, road measuring

Data can be converted into (htferent forms some common forms include percentages, rates, and indices. The national multidimensional index integrates and summarises much information and knowledge about road safety into measurable indicators that will be then converted into a single value. In this section, I will discuss the overall concept of criteria and macro-performance indicators. This will also be useful in designing a multidimensional index Road Safely Development Index (RSDI) (this will be discussed in Chapter five). Figure 3.2 shows hierarchical development of the data and availabihty from local to national level. I focus in this part of the study on the indicators that are used in national and international levels. 

I have identified eight groups of indicators (see Figure 3.3) of which each corresponds to a special area of road safety. The groups listed are traffic risk, personal risk, socioeconomic indicators, road safety organisational structure, traffic police and enforcement, vehicle safety, roads situation and road user behaviour. The groups measure road safety development in terms of output or input classes. The output... 

Traffic risk is measured in terms of deaths per 10,000 registered motor vehicles or per 100 mUhon vehicle-kilometres travelled. The latter is the most relevant risk measure in road transport but unfortunately the total number of kilometres covered by vehicles is not normally available in most ASEAN countries. If the traffic risk is defined as the number of fatalities per 10,000 vehicles, several investigations show that this indicator is not enough to explain the real situation of traffic safety. This measure does not... 

RSDI integrates and summarises a lot of information and knowledge about road safety into measurable indicators, which will be then converted into a single value. 

Proposed curve or superelevation modifications that aren t warranted, as described above, will desirably be consistent with adjacent sections of road, and will minimally not reduce the existing curve speed rating. If a deficient curve is either not reconstructed or is reconstructed to less than new construction standards, then apply appropriate safety mitigation measures. 

Measurement of performance. Quality Management requires that measures of performance be established for every activity. These measures include end-of-pipe measurement, such as amounts of material released into the environment or injury rates, and in-process measures of how efficiently you are managing, such as time to review safety improvement proposals or total resources expended on PSM. Each team should be required to identify potential performance measures for the processes they are developing and the activities these processes manage. Many of the end-of-pipe measures will already exist these should be critically examined to ensure that they truly measure performance and are not unduly influenced by other factors. For example, the number of accidents in a fleet of road vehicles is almost directly dependent on the number of miles driven with no improvement in performance, a reduction in miles driven would reduce the number of accidents. 

Firedamp Recovery. Firedamp is essentially the same as natural gas and has value as a fuel. Recovery is practiced in Europe both for safety purposes (firedamp removed from the mine is no longer an expin hazard in the mine) and as a by-product for economic reasons. Recovery by several methods is possible. Some of these are cross-measure borehole methods from working galleries, boreholes from roads outside the seam being worked, superjacent heading method, suction, pack cavity method and blowers (Ref 3)... 

Work is ongoing to develop less onerous codes and standards, but for now they greatly complicate hydrogen infrastructure efforts. Fuel-cell vehicles will require modifications to garages, maintenance facilities, and on-road infrastructure [such as tunnels] that could be costly and difficult to implement as the A. D. Little report noted. Implementation of critical safety measures for closed... 

Combinations of these control measures have resulted in a decrease in ambient carbon monoxide concentrations, and in the severity and frequency of photochemical smog incidences, where they have been applied, even though there has been a concurrent increase in the number of automobiles on the road. Nevertheless, during severe and prolonged photochemical smog episodes it may be necessary to restrict automobile use temporarily as a public safety measure, as was used in Mexico City during such an event in October-November 1996. 

The Army says it plans to implement mitigation measures to reduce potential impacts. This may include avoiding certain congested roadways, rush hours, and even compensating for improvements to local traffic safety measures and road improvements. 

Recently we have developed a new Raman sensor devoted to road de-icing application. Thus, in winter a lot of salt is applied on roads as brine (NaCl solutions in France) in order to preserve the safety of users and traffic flow. However, conventional measurement techniques such as electrical conductivity are inaccurate and difficult to implement (time consuming and dangerous for operators). We have developed a prototype sensor using RS to measure remotely (< 5 cm) and quickly ( 1 sec) the NaCl concentration (0-200 g/1) on the road with an accuracy less than 5%. A second prototype allowing measurements on board a vehiele is still under consideration. 

Safety measurement system (SMS) Quantifies the on-road safety performance of motor carriers and drivers to identify candidates for interventions, to determine the specific safety problems exhibited by a motor carrier or driver, and to monitor whether safety problems are improving or worsening. 

Standards in safety are referred to as measurable management performances. Standards are set for the level of work to be done to maintain a safe and healthy environment free from actual and potential accidental loss. Standards are established in writing for all the safety and health management systan elements. Without standards the management program has no direction or safety expectations established. (If you don t know where you re going, any road will take you there.)... 

In the last decade, considerable efforts have been made to improve the safety of healthcare. Are patients any safer than they were 10 years ago The answer to this simple question is curiously elusive. While some aspects of safety are difficult to measure for technical reasons (i.e. defining preventability) the more substantive problem is that, for all the energy and activity, measurement and evaluation have not been high on the agenda. This is a curious state of affairs. If you were engaged in trying to reduce heart disease, cancer or road accidents, your first question would be how many people have heart disease or how many road accidents are there each year and then you would want to know if numbers were reducing year on year. 

Wallman G. and H. Astrom. 2001. Friction Measurement Methods aitd the Correlation between Road Friction and Traffic Safety-A Literature Review. VTI Report 911 A. Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute. 

Pavement inventory may also contain additional data such as bridge or underpass locations, road marking, streetlights, safety barriers, street furniture in general, accident records, construction, maintenance, rehabilitation cost, contracting companies data, noise and air pollution measurements and anything else related to the road. 

Evaluation of safety measures in road tunnels based on eost-effectiveness analysis... 

Since the proposed procedure is not particularly labour intensive, it can be used to compare a high number of safety measures. Alternatively, the method may be used in a screening process to identify safety measures to be assessed in a more detailed analysis. Experience from risk analyses of Norwegian road tunnels has provided the basis for this paper. 

Tunnels are confined spaces with a potential for disastrous accidents like truck or bus fires resulting in a high number of casualties. The society expects tunnels on the public road network to be safe, implying that effective safety measures are implemented in order to prevent accidents and the possible severe consequences of accidents. 

This paper suggests a method for semi-quantitative cost-effectiveness analysis to categorise safety measures for road tunnels. The method provides a practical approach to systemise and prioritise between a large number of alternative safety measures. As a basis for categorization of alternative safety measures, attention is given to expected cost and expected risk reducing effect as in a traditional cost-effectiveness analysis, as well as imcertainties. 

In this paper we suggest a semi-quantitative approach for evaluation of safety measures in road tunnels based on cost-effectiveness. The initial part of the risk assessment process is carried out in a... 

During these overseas experiences and our visits to different countries, I had the opportunity to discuss road safety development with local professionals and consultants. There I also had the opportunities to attend various conferences, seminars and workshops and to hsten to experts from different countries. This was a rewarding learning experience, which was especially meaningful for me in terms of future contacts. There were always questions raised during this work, for instance, how do we define and measure road safety development in a country How do we determine the progress this country has achieved How do we estabhsh targets for road safety improvement in a country Until now, there is no simple answer to these questions. This has inspired me to develop sets of macro-indicators that can be used as appropriate benchmarks to compare the performance of different countries. I started to use previous results of the projects as a point of departure, in order to build a model from the conclusions drawn. 

To address national development in the area of road safely, it is desirable to view road safely level in a global context. Road safely is a complex issue and there is a high number of factors and indicators involved in the accidents. This situation leads me to examine several theories and models in order to compare the achievements in road safety between diffeient countries and regions. The problem itself is underestimated in many countries, especially in developing countries where the issue is challenging. The progress in any country will be minimum unless the country has a good and standard measurement to rely on (e.g. RSDI), in comparisons and problem formulation. 

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