Research report submitted to Wits School of Governance in 25% fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Public and Development, 2016 / The research investigated the high rate of road traffic accidents and the high mortality rate on the Moloto road in the western region popularly known as the Nkangala region of Mpumalanga province. The purpose of the research was to explore suggestions from the stakeholders on how to reduce road traffic accidents on the Moloto road. The research also aimed at discussing the relationship between the road traffic accidents and the road congestion. The research attempted to find the interventions suggested by stakeholders on how to reduce road traffic accidents on the Moloto road. The unprecedented number of road accidents on the Moloto road is a serious concern for both government and road users. In 2012 alone, 890 traffic accidents were recorded on the Moloto road. This research found that the majority of these accidents were caused by human behaviour such as reckless driving, over speeding, drinking and driving. The relative invisibility of traffic officials on the Moloto Road partly explains why road users engage in such behaviours. Increased visibility of traffic officials may encourage change in road user behaviour and help reduce the number of road traffic accidents on the Moloto Road. Congestion as one of the major causes of road traffic accidents can be solved by widening the Moloto road. Congestion can also be dealt with through the development of the Moloto rail corridor which is seen as a tool to remove vehicles on the Moloto road. It is also realised that both the government and the road users can play an important role in the reduction of road traffic accidents on the Moloto road. The government must develop infrastructure and the road users must obey the rules of the road. The sampling method for this qualitative case study was purposive sampling. The selection of respondents was done within stakeholders of the Moloto Road. Collection of data was done on the individuals representing their organisations. Data was analysed according to the accepted procedures for qualitative data processing. / XL2018

The role of traffic officials in road management is very important not only to ensure a smooth flow of traffic, but also to prevent negligent and reckless driving, which could result in road accidents. In light of this, the current study embarked on a research journey to investigate the challenges facing traffic officials in Windhoek (Namibia) to reduce road accidents. To achieve the goal of this study, the researcher embarked on a qualitative research approach to obtain in-depth information from traffic officials regarding their experiences in reducing road accidents in Windhoek. Following a purposive sampling method to identify the research participants, the researcher also used semi-structured interviews to guide his interviews with the research participants. The problem in this study concerns the high number of road accidents within the Windhoek area. Between 2012 and 2016, the Namibian Police Force Report (2015/2016) recorded 3 052 accidents on Namibian roads, in which 5 289 people were injured and 524 killed. Motorists’ negative attitudes towards traffic laws and regulations, unroadworthy vehicles and poor road conditions were identified as the leading causes of road accidents and presented the biggest challenges to traffic officials. Some of the challenges that traffic officials encounter are in respect of law enforcement for motorists driving under the influence of alcohol, enforcement of speed restrictions, the limited number of traffic officials to do patrols, an insufficient number of cameras monitoring traffic lights, uncooperative witnesses during car accidents as well as corruption on the side of fellow traffic officials. In order to reduce the high rate of road accidents in Windhoek, this study recommends an increase in traffic officials’ visibility on the roads, clear standards and guidelines for vehicle inspection pertaining to roadworthiness, toll free lines for reporting corrupt traffic officials, cooperation among stakeholders as well as multilingual road safety educational programmes. / Seabe sa batlhankedi ba pharakano mo tsamaisong ya tsela se botlhokwa thata mme e seng fela go netefatsa gore pharakano e elela sentle, fela le go thibela go kgweetsa go go botlhaswa go go ka bakang dikotsi tsa tsela. Go lebeletswe seno, thutopatlisiso ya ga jaana e nnile leeto la patlisiso go batlisisa dikgwetlho tse di itemogelwang ke batlhankedi ba pharakano kwa Windhoek (Namibia) malebana le go fokotsa dikotsi tsa tsela. Go fitlhelela maitlhomo a thutopatlisiso eno, mmatlisisi o tsere molebo wa patlisiso o o lebelelang mabaka go bona tshedimosetso e e tseneletseng go tswa mo batlhankeding ba pharakano malebana le maitemogelo a bona mo go fokotseng dikotsi tsa tsela kwa Windhoek. Ka go dirisa mokgwa wa go tlhopha sampole go ya ka maikemisetso a thutopatlisiso go supa bannileseabe ba patlisiso, mmatlisisi o ne a dirisa gape dipotsolotso tse di batlileng di rulagane go kaela dipotsolotso tsa gagwe le bannileseabe ba patlisiso. Bothata jo bo mo thutopatlisisong eno bo malebana le palo e e kwa godimo ya dikotsi tsa tsela mo tikologong ya Windhoek. Magareng ga 2012 le 2016, Pegelo ya Sepodisi sa Namibia (2015/2016) e rekotile dikotsi di le 3 052 mo ditseleng tsa Namibia, moo batho ba le 5 289 ba gobetseng mme ba le 524 ba tlhokafetse. Maitsholo a bakgweetsi a a nyatsang melao le melawana ya pharakano, dikoloi tse di sa siamelang tsela mmogo le maemo a a sa siamang a ditsela di supilwe e le mabaka a magolo a a bakang dikotsi tsa tsela mme e le kgwetlho e kgolo mo batlhankeding ba pharakano. Dingwe tsa dikgwetlho tse di itemogelwang ke batlhankedi ba pharakano di malebana le tiragatso ya molao mo bakgweetsing ba ba kgweetsang ba nole nnotagi, tiragatso ya dipeelo tsa lebelo, palo e e lekanyeditsweng ya batlhankedi ba pharakano ba ba paterolang, palo e e tlhaelang ya dikhamera tse di tlhokomelang mabone a pharakano, dipaki tse di se nang tirisanommogo ka nako ya dikotsi tsa tsela gammogo le bobodu mo ntlheng ya badirammogo ba batlhankedi ba pharakano. Gore go fokodiwe kelo e e kwa godimo ya dikotsi tsa tsela kwa Windhoek, thutopatlisiso eno e atlenegisa gore go okediwe ponagalo ya batlhankedi ba pharakano mo ditseleng, dipeelo le dikaedi tse di malebana le tlhatlhobo ya dikoloi malebana le go siamela go nna mo tseleng, megala e e sa duelelweng gore go begwe batlhankedi ba pharakano ba ba tletseng bobodu, tirisanommogo magareng ga baamegi gammogo le mananeo a dipuodintsi a thuto ya ipabalelo tseleng. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Policing)

Despite efforts to mitigate texting and driving in the United States, accidents as a result of distracted driving continue to increase, especially within the 16-24 age group. Considering the traits of the members of this age group, as well as the attributes of the various means that are utilized to mitigate such behavior, I hypothesize that the employment of filmed narratives in public service announcements is more effective than any other established approach. Testing the validity of this hypothesis, contributing to a lack of research, three methods of analysis were employed in this project: a textual analysis of a filmed narrative; an audience analysis of the comments accompanying the filmed narrative; and a video session followed by a self-administered questionnaire. The results of this study indicate that while the filmed narrative is more effective than the spoken narrative, more intensive analyses are necessary for further speculation. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Este trabalho analisa os impactos do novo Código de Trânsito Brasileiro no trânsito urbano e outros aspectos relacionados com o novo código. Para isso foram realizados estudos nas seguintes cidades: Ribeirão Preto (SP), São Carlos (SP), Araraquara (SP), Curitiba (PR) e Ponta Grossa (PR). São enfocados no estudo os seguintes principais tópicos: segurança viária, obediência dos usuários às leis e regras de trânsito, opinião pública sobre o novo código e sobre o sistema de trânsito e gestão do trânsito. Também é apresentado no trabalho uma análise comparativa dos sistemas de trânsito nas cidades estudadas, utilizando índices apropriados. Essa análise é complementada mediante a comparação com índices relativos a outras cidades. O novo Código de Trânsito Brasileiro tem a aprovação da grande maioria da população e tem apresentado resultados bastante satisfatórios no tocante a redução dos acidentes e das mortes no trânsito urbano. / The impacts of the new Brazillian Traffic Code at the urban traffic and others aspects related to the new code is analysed in this work. The following cities were analysed: Ribeirão Preto (SP), São Carlos (SP), Araraquara (SP), Curitiba (PR) and Ponta Grossa (PR). The main aims focussed are: traffic safety, users obedience to the laws and traffic norms, public opinion about the new code and about traffic system, traffic management, etc. lt also presented in this work a comparative analyses of the Traffic System at the studied cities, for that appropriate index are used. This analyses is complemented using the comparison with relatives indexs from others cities. The New Brazillian Traffic Code has the approval of the greatest number of the population and has presented very satisfactories results about the reduction of accidents and deaths at the urban traffic.

Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) have the potential to enable various kinds of applications aiming at improving road safety and transportation efficiency. These applications require uni-cast routing, which remains a significant challenge due to VANETs characteristics. Given VANET dynamic topology, geographic routing protocols are considered the most suitable for such network due to their scalability and low overhead. However, the optimal selection of next-hop nodes in geographic routing is a challenging problem where the routing performance is highly affected by the variable link quality and bandwidth availability. In this dissertation, a number of enhancements to improve geographic routing reliability in VANETs are proposed. To minimize packet losses, the direction and link quality of next-hop nodes using the Expected Transmission Count (ETX) are considered to select links with low loss ratios. To consider the available bandwidth, a cross-layer enchantment of geographic routing, which can select more reliable links and quickly react to varying nodes load and channel conditions, is proposed. We present a novel model of the dynamic behavior of a wireless link. It considers the loss ratio on a link, in addition to transmission and queuing delays, and it takes into account the physical interference e ect on the link. Then, a novel geographic routing protocol based on fuzzy logic systems, which help in coordinating di erent contradicting metrics, is proposed. Multiple metrics related to vehicles' position, direction, link quality and achievable throughput are combined using fuzzy rules in order to select the more reliable next-hop nodes for packet forwarding. Finally, we propose a novel link utility aware geographic routing protocol, which extends the local view of the network topology using two-hop neighbor information. We present our model of link utility, which measures the usefulness of a two-hop neighbor link by considering its minimum residual bandwidth and packet loss rate. The proposed protocol can react appropriately to increased network tra c and to frequent topology dis-connectivity in VANETs. To evaluate the performance of the proposed protocols, extensive simulation experiments are performed using network and urban mobility simulation tools. Results confirm the advantages of the proposed schemes in increased traffic loads and network density. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Traditional intersections have always caused congestion, delay, and accidents. There are numerous geometric intersection designs that best fit each situation. This study performed an operational and safety comparison with unsignalized/signalized offset, Tintersections, a two-lane roundabout, and a modified roundabout to decrease the overall travel delay and increase the safety using a case study. Using data from a government source, all designs were tested in a calibrated micro simulation model and traffic signals were optimized using a signal optimization platform. Each design was tested with various balancing schemes, left turn percentages, and hourly volumes to determine the failure point. The unsignalized/signalized offset T-intersections, two-lane roundabout, and modified roundabout were compared by throughputs, travel delay, and travel time. After analysis, it was determined that the modified roundabout performed the best out of any design. All approaches had minimum travel delay while reducing the number of conflict points considerably with the modified roundabout. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Neste trabalho é apresentada a aplicação da Técnica Sueca de Análise de Conflitos de Tráfego em 5 (cinco) interseções críticas da cidade de São Carlos. Baseado nos resultados obtidos, são propostas ações simples e de baixo custo para aumentar a segurança viária nos locais estudados. Uma das propostas foi implementada tornando possível avaliar o desempenho do cruzamento após a implantação utilizando a Técnica Sueca de Análise de Conflitos de Tráfego. Esta implantação apresentou resultados bastante satisfatórios, proporcionando redução drástica no número e gravidade dos conflitos. A experiência na aplicação da Técnica Sueca de Análise de Conflitos de Tráfego em São Carlos mostra ser a mesma uma ferramenta bastante útil para análise da segurança viária em locais críticos, sobretudo proporcionando informações fundamentais na definição de ações para reduzir os conflitos e, consequentemente, os acidentes. / In this work we present the Application of the Swedish Technique of Traffic Conflict Analysis in 5 (five) critical intersections in the city of São Carlos. Based on the obtained results, simple and low-cost actions are proposed in order to increase the traffic safety in the studied places. One of the proposals has been put in practice enabling the evaluation of the crossing performance after having implanted the Swedish Technique of Traffic Conflict Analysis. This implantation has presented quite satisfactory results, providing drastic reduction both in number and seriousness of the conflicts. The experience in the Application of the Swedish Technique of Traffic Conflict Analysis shows it to be a very useful tool for the traffic safety analysis in critical places, overall providing essential information in the action definition to reduce the conflicts, and consequently the accidents.

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a relação de características das vias com os acidentes de trânsito. A principal motivação para o desenvolvimento deste estudo está na ampla variedade de características que podem ter influência nos acidentes e na complexidade da relação entre elas, que pode tornar a análise distinta em cada caso. As vantagens decorrentes da adoção de ações baseadas no gerenciamento de riscos e no tratamento preventivo da segurança viária priorizam atuações sobre veículos e, em especial, sobre o esquema viário como alternativa viável para reduzir o peso do fator humano nos acidentes. Para isso foi elaborado um longo referencial teórico, enumerando potenciais características e as relacionando com acidentes, ressaltando a importância de avaliar e tratar aspectos concatenados ao veículo e à via, com o intuito de conseguir uma análise mais eficaz nas condições de segurança e contribuindo nas áreas acadêmica e profissional fornecendo dados e informações para ajudar na identificação e escolhas de características que mais influenciem a segurança. Também foi desenvolvido um estudo de caso, considerando a Autoestrada Grajaú-Jacarepaguá (Avenida Menezes Cortes), localizada na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. A partir de dois bancos de dados de acidentes, fornecidos pela Companhia de Engenharia de Tráfego do Rio de Janeiro (CET-Rio) e uma investigação de campo realizada na autoestrada, foram identificadas relações dos acidentes com as características viárias. Concluiu-se que as características das vias têm grande relevância sobre os acidentes ocorridos. Os resultados indicam que a consistência geométrica está relacionada aos acidentes de trânsito, porém ainda não existe um modelo de previsão que ajude a entender tal comportamento. De forma geral, as atividades de reconstrução e manutenção da via também dão apoio nas questões de segurança de tráfego. Apesar das limitações, espera-se que o estudo apresentado nesse projeto sirva como referência para futuras intervenções e melhorias das vias. / This study aims at analyzing a relationship of influence between the accidents and the road characteristics. The main study motivation is on the wide variety of characteristics that may influence the accidents, which can make the analysis distinct in each case. The advantages from the adoption of actions based on road safety risk management and the preventive treatment prioritize interventions on vehicles and, in particular, on the road system as a viable alternative to reduce the role of the human factor in accidents. For this, a long theoretical framework was developed, enumerating potential characteristics and relating them to accidents, emphasizing the importance of evaluating e treating related to the vehicle and to the highway to achieve a more effective analysis in safety conditions and contributing in the academic and professional areas providing data and information to help in the identification and selection of characteristics that influence the safety. Also, a case study was prepared, considering the Grajaú-Jacarepaguá Highway (Menezes Cortes Avenue), located in Rio de Janeiro. Based on two accidents databases provided by Agency of Engineering of Traffic of Rio de Janeiro (CET-Rio) and a highway field investigation, some relationships of accidents with roads characteristics were identified. It can be concluded that roads characteristics have great relevance on the occurred accidents. The results indicate that geometric consistency have a relationship with traffic accidents, however there isn\'t still a predictive model to support the understanding of this behavior. In general, the reconstruction and maintenance activities also support traffic safety issues. Despite the limitations, it is expected that the presented study in this project will serve as a reference for the future interventions and improvements of roads.

Este trabalho enfoca a questão da segurança viária na cidade de Belém. Para a realização do trabalho, foi feito um diagnóstico sobre a gestão da segurança viária na cidade e um estudo dos acidentes de trânsito em dez pontos considerados pelas autoridades como os mais problemáticos, que incluiu a análise das causas dos acidentes através de auditorias de campo. Também são apresentadas algumas propostas para melhoria da gestão da segurança viária na cidade, bem como propostas específicas para redução dos acidentes nos locais estudados. As propostas genéricas para a melhoria da segurança viária em Belém são: campanhas educativas mais eficientes; melhoria da gestão da segurança do trânsito; aumento do número de fiscais de trânsito e melhoria do esquema de fiscalização; montagem de uma equipe permanente de técnicos com objetivo de identificar os pontos críticos, realizar auditorias de campo para identificar as causas dos acidentes e propor e implantar soluções para redução dos mesmos; etc. / This research focuses on the traffic safety problem in Belém city. For the accomplishment of the work, it was made a diagnosis remains to the traffic safety\'s management in the city and a study of the traffic accidents in ten points considered by the authorities as the most problematic, that it included the analysis of the accidents causes through field auditing. Also some proposals for improvement of the traffic safety\'s management in the city, as well as specific proposals for accidents reduction in the studied places. The generic proposals for the traffic safety\'s improvement in Belém are: more efficient educational campaigns; improvement of the traffic safety\'s management; increase of the number of traffic district attorney and improvement of the inspection plan; assembly of a permanent technicians team with goal of identifying the critical points, to accomplish field auditing in order to identify the accidents causes and, to propose and to establish solutions for reduction of the same ones; etc.

The purpose of this project was to investigate the safety of urban arterial non-access controlled roads in Worcester, Massachusetts. An investigation into the dependent variable proved inconclusive and the historical accident rate was used. The best functional form for these roads was unclear so both linear and log-linear models were developed. A linear model was developed that predicted the total accident crash rate and log-linear model was developed to predict the same thing. A second linear model was developed to predict the total injury accident crash rate. The models were validated using independent data where the linear total accident crash rate model was found to be the most robust of the three in that both state primary roads and other arterial roads could have crash rates predicted to a better than fifty percent error.