A study by the Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute VTI shows that milled rumble strips at the centre of a two lane road are probably an excellent measure to reduce the number of head-on collisions which occur because tired and inattentive drivers inadvertently leave the lane they are driving in.
The study shows that one of the effects of milled rumble strips at the centre of the road is to make car drivers reduce their speed and keep further away from the centre o
Motorway Traffic Control Centres use a range of sensors for traffic surveillance and control. The shortcomings of one type, magnetic loop detectors, has led researchers to successfully develop algorithms for alternative video sensors.
“Loop detectors have a short life span of two to three years before they break,” explains project partner Jo Versavel, General Manager, Traficon, Belgium. “They are also very expensive to repair because they involve road closings. Another drawback
The best efforts of dentists don’t always mean people will look after their teeth, British researchers have found.
A study by a team at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne discovered that only up to one-third of gum disease patients, who received advice on how long to brush their teeth, followed it to the letter. Yet the same people perceived their brushing habits to be better than they were – a finding which has major implications for dentists wishing to change their patients
Two new tests by VTI (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute) have investigated traffic safety for police in their cars. The hypothesis that the personal equipment or the uniform might affect the function of the seat belt in a collision was put to test. The study points out that an alternative, professional use of vehicles ought to be more generally considered in relation to the crash safety aspects.
VTI was contacted by the National Police Board of Sweden in th
The impact that the nature and condition of the UK’s roads have on the country’s businesses is getting worse, a monthly internet survey has revealed.
Nearly 59 per cent of firms quizzed by the UK Business Barometer, run by The University of Nottingham Institute of Enterprise and Innovation, said they felt that the effect that the state of the nation’s road has on their operations is either getting worse or much worse. Less than five per cent of panellists in the UKBB said they bel
The deterrent effect of cameras that record the licence plates of cars passing through red lights at junctions reduces the numbers of accidents that cause injuries.
Current estimates suggest that by 2020 road traffic injury is likely to become the third greatest cause of death and disability in the world. Drivers running (‘jumping’) red lights are a leading cause of crashes at traffic-light controlled junctions, and incidents involving one car crashing into the side of another carr
EUREKA project E! 2727 POLCORRIDOR has been selected as the ‘backbone’ trans-European freight transport corridor to explore interoperability in the EU Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) REORIENT project. REORIENT is assessing the process of transforming European railways from nationally fragmented into internationally integrated systems to encourage a move away from total dependence on road transport.
Started in 2002, the EUREKA project set out to deliver Europe’s most advanced tran
Two centuries ago, it took Lewis and Clark three years to cross half of North America. It’s taking Michigan Technological University’s Russell Alger and his teammates only a little longer to blaze a trail to the South Pole.
Of course, Antarctica poses special challenges. Ninety-eight percent of the continent is buried under thousands of feet of ice. And it doesn’t help that the trail builders can only work for a few weeks during the summer and have to start over again every year f
For the first time last month, technicians at ESA’s research centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, including an ESA astronaut, entered inside the vertically positioned Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Jules Verne, in order to simulate the late loading of cargo bags.
An identical operation will be performed for real one week before the first ATV launch on top of an Ariane 5 launcher, from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in 2006. “This first late access dress rehe
A new system that provides real-time, intelligent, end-to-end tracking and tracing for goods being transported around the world has been developed with the help of 2.5 million euros from the EUs Framework Programme.
ParcelCall brought together a consortium of leading European industrial and academic partners to create a system that operates across all borders and carriers whatever mode of transport is being used. The system utilises RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technolo
In the first meeting of its kind, Australian industry, government, scientific, community and environmental groups will today come together to discuss the nation’s energy and transport future.
Participants of Australia’s Energy Futures Forum, holding it first full meeting in Canberra today, will begin the process of determining plausible scenarios and implications for the nation’s energy and transport future out to 2050.
Initiated by the CSIRO’s 
As part of the assessment of the Channel Tunnel after ten years of operation, the Centre for European Regional and Transport Economics (CERTE) at the University of Kent was commissioned by Eurotunnel and Kent County Council to evaluate the impact of the Tunnel on Kent and the likely trends for the future. The results of this study have now been made available as a report.
The study, carried out by Roger Vickerman, Professor of European Economics and Director of CERTE, Alan Hay,
In 2003 cell phone distraction resulted in 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries
Ninety percent of cell phone owners report that they use the phone while driving, according to a report published in 1999. Another report from 2003 indicates that cell phone distraction results in 2,600 deaths, 330,000 injuries, and 1.5 million instances of property damage in the United States each year. Can hands-free devices reduce accidents, fatalities, or damage? No, say human factors researchers p
The major players in the waterborne transport sector will come together in Bremen today to start work towards a common strategic vision for the future research needs of this sector. The Waterborne Transport Technology Platform will involve industry, national authorities, regulatory bodies, research centres and universities and will seek to stimulate more effective public and private investment in research and development and improve the coherence of research activities at European, national, reg
Europe’s ports are where land and sea traffic meet – and ways of managing them differ greatly. A variety of data and operations must be handled, from the control of crane movements and parking of lorries to loading freight onto ships.
EUREKA project E! 2351 LOGCHAIN GHADIS tackled this logistical complexity by developing a graphic database system to make the management, administration, optimisation and communications of port operations simple and efficient, saving time and reducing
Research in Florida and Kansas
Driving in rural areas can be hazardous to your health. Many factors contribute to the severity of automobile accidents. Sunanda Dissanayake, assistant professor of civil engineering at Kansas State University, said some factors continually and significantly contribute to the severity of accidents.
In her most recent research, Dissanayake studied rural highway crashes in Kansas. A previous study looked at factors contributing to the severity
Feedback
