Large changes unnecessary for multimodal transport
Multimodal transport is not in need of redesigned networks, rather of well designed ones. This is one of the conclusions from the PhD research of Rob van Nes, who will defend his thesis on Wednesday 25 September at TU Delft. “A highway with too many on and off ramps actually becomes a main road. This might be handy, but it is not effective.” Van Nes, who carried out his research at TRAIL research school, laid the theoretical foundati
A recently released study by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) concludes that hybrid buses operate with lower emissions and greater fuel efficiency than conventional diesel buses.
The year long evaluation of 10 prototype diesel hybrid-electric buses in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit (NYCT) fleet of 4,489 buses showed that these hybrid buses have a 10 percent higher in-service fuel economy. Ac
A University of Michigan physicist and a research scientist are questioning the belief that bigger and heavier vehicles are automatically safer than other cars and trucks. U-M physicist Marc Ross and Tom Wenzel, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), recently released a report which shows that vehicle quality is actually a better predictor of safety – both for the driver and for other drivers – than weight. The two will discuss their results at a briefi
New field studies produce environment-friendly results An Arizona State University researcher is making good use of some of the 14 million Firestone tires that were recalled two years ago. The tires were used on Ford Explorers and recalled after reports of tread separation. How to dispose of all those used tires without causing serious environmental hazards once had state officials scratching their heads, but Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Han Zhu believes has the answe
A `traffic light` system that helps network operators assess how much consultation is needed when it comes to siting a new mobile phone mast plus training workshops for local authority officers and elected councillors are among the outcomes of a package of `Ten Commitments` to best practice developed by the UK?s five biggest mobile phone network operators.
In a presentation today (27 June) at the Society for Radiological Protection’s meeting on ’Radio wave exposures’, Mike Do
A mobile mannequin that will help safety officers assess the electromagnetic threat to humans flying in or working around military aircraft is being designed for use at BAE SYSTEMS Elecromagnetic test facilities. The mannequin is one of a comprehensive range of techniques used, both for testing equipment and for protecting staff, to be described today (27 June) at the Society for Radiological Protection’s meeting, ’Radio wave exposures’ by Mr Chris Lane, Radiation Protection Officer at
When solving problems in the public transport sector, the standpoint taken is often too one-sided. These types of problems need an interdisciplinary approach. This is the conclusion of Wijnand Veeneman, who will defend his thesis at TU Delft on Monday 24 June. He researched four different cases in Switzerland, the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands. Veeneman: “An integral, gradual approach is needed.”
Scientists have many useful ideas about better public transport. Veeneman: “The content of the
iver air bags offer relatively little benefit in road vehicle crashes compared with seat belts, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.
Researchers in the United States identified all passenger vehicles that crashed during 1990-2000 in which the driver or passenger, or both, died. A sample of 51,031 driver-passenger pairs was analysed to estimate the association of driver air bags with driver fatality.
Having an air bag was associated with an 8% reduction in the risk of death, whether the
Road vehicles may soon be fitted with pop-up bonnets, windscreen airbags and energy absorbing bumpers to improve pedestrian safety, according to researchers in this week’s BMJ.
Collisions between pedestrians and road vehicles are responsible for more than a third of all traffic related fatalities and injuries worldwide, yet research has so far concentrated almost exclusively on increasing the survival of vehicle occupants, argue researchers at the University of Virginia, USA.
Crash
There are no in-car methods of detecting that a driver is too drunk to drive – until now. A team at Bristol University, led by physiologist Dr Dilwyn Marple-Horvat, has found a new way of detecting whether a driver has drunk too much to be fit to be at the wheel.
To assess a driver`s fitness to drive, a new device has been created that measures the degree of co-ordination between hand and eye. It uses: an in-car eye-tracker; a system that continuously monitors steering wheel movements; and
France launches in Valenciennes a 6,4 million euro research program on transport safety. It reinforces the international position of Nord-Pas de Calais and the University of Valenciennes.
The scientific council of the New Research Action “Safety in Transport Systems”, which came together at the University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambrésis on the 31st of January 2002, has just validated and launched a program composed of 7 projects stretched out until 2006. 6,4 million euros will b
Match up folds to fight stubborn paper.
No road journey is complete without a wrestle with the map. Now a US computer scientist has worked out why the map usually wins.
Erik Demaine of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge has come up with an origami algorithm that predicts when a stubborn street plan will be re-foldable. “It’s the meeting of paper folding and computer science,” he says.
The rules governing whether a sheet of paper divided into a g
A computerised navigation system has been developed to enable wheelchair users to select the most accessible routes around a town centre. It means a journey can be planned that avoids obstacles like cobbled streets, steep areas and steps.
The work has been carried out by a team led by Professor Hugh Matthews, at University College Northampton, with funding from the Swindon based Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
The ‘Wheelyroute’ system, believed to be the first
Every citizen dreams of spending less time in traffic jams, away from polluted air, while continuing to enjoy the same level of mobility and quality of life as today. On Thursday, 31 January, Commissioner for Research Philippe Busquin will participate in the conference “Towards Sustainable Urban Mobility” jointly organised by the European Commission and the European Parliament. The objective of this Conference is to present a network of ten projects in the field of land use and transport funded unde
Controversies over new airport runways make locals more noise-sensitive.
Public controversy surrounding the impending building of a runway may make locals much more sensitive to increased aircraft noise than planners predict. A new study warns that it could be easy to underestimate the impact of changes such as those proposed for Britain’s Heathrow Airport.
A new runway began operating at Vancouver International Airport in 1996 after highly publicized local objection to
Sensors and loudspeakers reduce in-car racket.
Tired of shouting to your passenger as you drive, striving to make your voice heard over the rumble of the car? Help is on the way, in the form of strategically placed sensors and loudspeakers.
Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Taejon have developed a prototype system that shaves up to 6 decibels off the typical motoring noise of around 60 decibels. That’s more than any other co
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