Safety

The role that human capital and occupational factors play in influencing driver safety outcomes has gained increased attention from trucking firms and policy-makers. This paper examines the role of these factors, in addition to demographic factors, in influencing crash frequency at the driver level. A unique driver-level dataset from a large truckload firm collected over a period of 26 months is used for estimating regression models of crash counts. Based on estimates from a zero inflated Poisson regression model, results suggest that human capital and occupational factors, such as...

This paper provides the data collection and research results for the Seamless Travel project. The Seamless Travel Project is a research project funded by Caltrans and managed by the University of California Traffic Safety Center, with David Ragland, PhD., as the Principal Investigator and Michael Jones as the Project Manager. The project is funded by Caltrans Division of Innovation and Research and is being conducted by the Traffic Safety Center of University of California Berkeley and Alta Planning + Design.Measuring bicycle and pedestrian activity is a key element to achieving the goals...

In order to provide reliable control algorithms on PATH automated highway system, knowledge of the transient aerodynamic forces is important from the point of the controlla- bility of the platoon and individual vehicles. In a passing maneuver, the platoon members may experience severe aerodynamic forces and yaw moment when another vehicle overtakes. Similar phenomenon can be seen in our daily life as one car passes the other but much more complicated flow field is expected when the interaction involves in a multi-vehicle platoon. It is the purpose of this study to quantify the unsteady...

Dynamically, heavy trucks are inherently different than passenger cars. In addition to the increase rollover risk arising from an elevated center of gravity height, heavy trucks possess additional failure modes such as jackknifing and excessive trailer swing. As a response to these issues, significant research has been performed in the last three decades to establish safety metrics for heavy trucks based on dynamic testing. This research has had an impact on determining acceptable size and weight restrictions for heavy vehicles and on the actual design of heavy trucks for increased safety...