Naturalistic study of the risky situations faced by novice riders

This article sets out to identify the typical risky situations experienced by novice motorcyclists in the real world just after licensing. The procedure consists of a follow-up of six novices during their first two months of riding with their own motorbike instrumented with cameras. The novices completed logbooks on a daily basis in order to identify the risky situations they encountered, and were given face-to-face interviews to identify the context and their shortcomings during the reported events. Data show a large number of road configurations considered as risky by the riders (248 occurrences), especially during the first two weeks. The results revealed that a lack of hazard perception skills contributed to the majority of these incidents. These situations were grouped together to form clusters of typical incident scenarios on the basis of their similarities. The most frequent scenario corresponds to a lane change in dense traffic (15% of all incidents). The discussion shows how this has enhanced our understanding of novice riders’ behaviour and how the findings can improve training and licensing. Lastly, the main methodological limitations of the study and some guidelines for improving future naturalistic riding studies are presented.

Practitioner Summary:

This article aims to identify the risky situations of novice motorcyclists in real roads. Two hundred forty-eight events were recorded and 13 incident scenarios identified. Results revealed that a lack of hazard perception contributed to the majority of these events. The most frequent scenario corresponds to a lane change in dense traffic.     

Road Friction Coefficient Real-Time Identification Based on the Tire Dynamic Friction Model

Road friction coefficient real-time estimation methods is an important issue and problem in automotive active safety con- trol system development. First a fixed feedback gain sliding mode observer of road adhesion coefficient is designed through the es-tablishment of tire/road dynamic friction model in this article. The simulation results shows that the observer can well real-time iden-tify the current road adhesion characteristics. And more importantly, the observer only need wheel speed signal and the braking torque （brake pressure） signal, so the system is low cost, and its adaptability is good. There is no doubt this estimation method has a good application prospect.     

Indicators for choosing an optimal mix of major working postures

North American workers usually stand while working, and prolonged standing is associated with discomfort and cardiovascular problems. Since prolonged sitting is also associated with health problems, and standing postures differ as to mobility and access to seating, it is desirable to identify an optimal mix of postures. As a step towards this identification, it is desirable to develop indicators of potential health effects that respond to changes in work requirements. We observed 65 subjects who usually stood at work, in four types of workplaces. Pressure-pain threshold (PPT) recorded on the plantar surface was used as an indicator of discomfort and arterial blood pressure was used as an indicator of cardiovascular effects. PPT after work was significantly lower than that before work. Sitting for even a small part of the day appeared to be protective. The effects of static vs. dynamic work on PPT and arterial blood pressure may differ.     

Ride comfort optimization of a city bus

Ride comfort optimization of a city bus is considered in this article, using stiffness and related damping of the power unit mounts as design variables. The response of the bus, due to road irregularities, is calculated in the time domain by using a finite element (FE) model describing the complete vehicle. The body of the bus is condensed, using a substructuring technique, in order to reduce the simulation times. Operational deflection shapes (ODS) have been used to compare measured and calculated vibrations and some corrections of the FE model have been done. The response, i.e. acceleration, at three locations in the bus has been frequency-weighted according to the comfort standard ISO 2631:1997. The resulting root mean square (RMS) values of these responses are then used in the objective functions in the optimization procedure. The computational results show that it is possible to increase the ride comfort. However, the improvement of the ride comfort is probably too small to have a substantial subjective impact on the passenger in the bus. The results show that the objective function, regarding the overall ride comfort in the bus, has local optima. Received October 10, 1999     

城市古典商业街区可持续发展研究

从仿古街区的不断改进,到城市古典商业街区的兴起,都是我国都市旅游发展的必然结果．作为商、旅、文结合的特殊角色,城市古典商业街区同时具有丰富的历史文化和繁荣的现代商业,因此极具现实意义．文中在阐述城市古典商业街区基本理论的基础上,以城市辐射和业态影响为落脚点,找寻当前普遍存在的问题;并以苏州平江路为成功案例,探讨其发展模式和发展路径,以期对中国的城市古典商业街区提出富有价值的参考性建议．     

基于几何线形的立交噪声计算方法

为定量评价道路几何线形对立交噪声的影响,研究了基于几何线形计算立交噪声的方法,以车辆行驶速度为切入点,拟合噪声级和车速之间的关系.对于匝道噪声的计算,根据等效声级的定义给出了相对等效声能量的含义及计算方法,采用将匀速运动段与变速运动段噪声能量相加的方法求出总的噪声能量,建立了相对等效声能量与匝道长度之间函数关系,用对匝道长度进行积分的方法,根据等效声级的定义式推导出左、右转匝道的噪声级.根据主线设计速度、噪声级和车速之间的关系推导出主线噪声级计算公式.立交总噪声通过对各条主线和匝道的噪声级叠加求得.通过对黑龙江省鹤大立交的实例分析表明,该方法能够解决立交匝道变速运动段的噪声计算问题,能够将车辆在立交行驶产生的噪声与道路几何线形联系起来.当道路立交的几何设计条件已知,可以根据几何线形参数进行噪声污染计算,为定量评价立交噪声污染程度提供依据.     

基于DWT的路面不平度模拟的研究

为了更好地模拟实测路面不平度,提出了基于DWT的FD过程路面不平度模型.与传统的AR模型相比,该模型模拟的等级路面不平度精度高且时间开销小.利用离散小波变换对FD过程去相关,并采用平稳或非平稳FD过程最大可能性估计,对实测路面不平度进行了模拟,结果表明:所模拟的路面不平度与实测路面不平度比较相近.     

Accident history,risk perception and traffic safe behaviour

Abstract

This study clarifies the associations between accident history, perception of the riskiness of road travel and traffic safety behaviours by taking into account the number and severity of accidents experienced. A sample of 525 road users in Cameroon answered a questionnaire comprising items on perception of risk, safe behaviour and personal accident history. Participants who reported involvement in more than three accidents or involvement in a severe accident perceived road travel as less risky and also reported behaving less safely compared with those involved in fewer, or less severe accidents. The results have practical implications for the prevention of traffic accidents.

Practitioner Summary: The associations between accident history, perceived risk of road travel and safe behaviour were investigated using self-report questionnaire data. Participants involved in more than three accidents, or in severe accidents, perceived road travel as less risky and also reported more unsafe behaviour compared with those involved in fewer, or less severe accidents. Campaigns targeting people with a less serious, less extensive accident history should aim to increase awareness of hazards and the potential severity of their consequences, as well as emphasising how easy it is to take the recommended preventive actions. Campaigns targeting those involved in more frequent accidents, and survivors of serious accidents, should address feelings of invulnerability and helplessness.     

沥青混合料在冻融循环作用下的弯拉特性

通过沥青混合料在冻融循环作用下的弯曲试验,分析了冻融循环次数、油石比、级配组成对混合料弯拉特性的影响。试验结果表明:随着冻融循环次数的增多,沥青混合料的弯拉强度、弯拉应变、劲度模量均呈减小趋势。油石比、级配组成对弯拉特性有明显影响,随着油石比的增大,冻融循环作用对沥青混合料弯拉特性的影响减小,AC-13混合料的弯拉特性优于其他两种级配。在青藏高原寒冷地区采用AC-13的沥青混合料、油石比为5.5%或适当增加油石比可以提高沥青混合料在冻融循环作用下的低温弯曲特性。     

Comparison of two suspension control strategies for multi-axle heavy truck

Two simple and effective control strategies for a multi-axle heavy truck, modified skyhook damping (MSD) control and proportional-integration-derivative (PID) control, were implemented into functional virtual prototype (FVP) model and compared in terms of road friendliness and ride comfort. A four-axle heavy truck-road coupling system model was established using FVP technology and validated through a ride comfort test. Then appropriate passive air suspensions were chosen to replace the rear tandem suspensions of the original truck model for preliminary optimization. The mechanical properties and time lag of dampers were taken into account in simulations of MSD and PID semi-active dampers implemented using MATLAB/Simulink. Through co-simulations with Adams and MATLAB, the effects of semi-active MSD and PID control were analyzed and compared, and control parameters which afforded the best comprehensive performance for each control strategy were chosen. Simulation results indicate that compared with the passive air suspension truck, semi-active MSD control improves both ride comfort and road-friendliness markedly, with optimization ratios of RMS vertical acceleration and RMS tyre force ranging from 10.1% to 44.8%. However, semi-active PID control only reduces vertical vibration of the driver’s seat by 11.1%, 11.1% and 10.9% on A, B and C level roads respectively. Both strategies are robust to the variation of road level.