Citation

Tripodi A, Mazzia E, Reina F, Borroni S, Fagnano M, Tiberi P. Transp. Res. Proc. 2020; 45: 275-284.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publications)

DOI

10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.017

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

To support the assessment of road safety risks on the primary roads, the World Bank asked for piloting a new simplified methodology to quickly identify critical sections and at low cost even without sufficient road traffic crash database. The objective was the development of a methodology for road safety assessment based on the automated analysis of video images. The methodology was tested and validated through an assessment of 500 km of National Highways in Mozambique. The methodology is based on the common definition of Risk given by the combination of Danger, Vulnerability and Exposure. Various road attributes associated with Crash Modification Factors are considered to calculate these factors. Three road user categories are considered (motor-vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians) and Danger and Vulnerability scores are calculated for each 100m road section. In addition, a Global Risk Score (GRS) is also calculated in order to consider pedestrian and cyclist flows. Risk levels are categorized so that, for pedestrians and cyclists, risk varies with the motor-vehicles' flow speed, while, for the motor-vehicles and for GSR, risk intervals are fixed. A software solution was implemented allowing to:• automatically recognise road attributes from video images;• calculate road users' risks and the GRS according to the simplified methodology;• provide outputs on assessed risks (every 100m) both graphically and through table values;• download all the computed outputs for further analysis. The software solution works with few inputs: a video of the road to be assessed, an output file from an App for assessment of road surface conditions, an image of a calibration sheet and few road attributes to be inputted manually. A survey of about 500 km of National Highways was performed in Mozambique in August and September 2018. Risk assessment performed using the simplified methodology and the software for automated video analysis are discussed in the paper.

Language: en

Keywords

Automated Analysis; Developing Countries; Risk Assessment; Road Safety