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Peak travel times contribute to congestion formation at freeway work zones. Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) can inform drivers in real-time about the delays and travel times en-route and can provide information about an alternative route to a destination. Different ATIS display strategies are available; however, road authorities lack insights into how time display methods and sign characteristics influence the driving behavior (decelerations, lateral position), the drivers’ attention allocation ability and the subsequent route choice before the freeway diversion. A driving simulator study was conducted with 80 drivers in the State of Qatar to investigate drivers' behavior and voluntary route choices when encountering total travel time (default setting) or delay time updates for two freeway routes on Variable Message Signs (VMS) and Graphical Route Information Panels (GRIP). The GRIPs are a graphical alternative to conventional VMS that can provide drivers with a visual map of the most direct route or an alternative less congested route to a destination using different color schemes. The time difference ratio between the two routes was kept constant to compare the effectiveness of the information designs and investigate the drivers’ attention towards the signs with an eye-tracker. The results showed that the display of zero delays for a detour did influence 74–83% of the drivers to take the alternative route when being displayed on a VMS and a GRIP with free flow attribute framing. When displaying equal total travel times, the GRIP did influence 25% more drivers to follow the alternative route than the VMS. Generally, displaying zero delays for the alternative route resulted in an efficient attention allocation to the first ATIS location and fewer mean decelerations before the repeated ATIS location nearing the diversion. Road authorities are advised to activate the display of delay times to support efficient route choices among freeway drivers. This publication was made possible by the NPRP award [NPRP 9-360-2-150] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the author[s]. Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

First- and last-mile trips are becoming increasingly expensive and detrimental to the environment, especially within dense cities. Thus, new micro-mobility transportation modes such as e-scooter sharing systems have been introduced to fill the gaps in the transportation network. Furthermore, some recent studies examined e-scooters as a green option from the standpoint of environmental sustainability. Currently, e-scooter charging is conducted by competitive freelancers who do not consider the negative environmental impact resulting from not optimizing the fuel efficiency of their charging trips. Several disputes have been recorded among freelance chargers, especially when simultaneously arriving at an e-scooters location. The paper aims to find the optimal tours for all chargers to pick up e-scooters in the form of routes, such that each route contains one charger, and each e-scooter is visited only once by the set of routes, which are typically called an E-Scooter-Chargers Allocation (ESCA) solution. This study develops a mathematical model for the assignment of e-scooters to freelance chargers and adapts a simulated annealing metaheuristic to determine a near-optimal solution. We evaluated the proposed approach using real-world instances and a benchmark-simulated dataset. Moreover, we compare the proposed model benchmark dataset to the baseline (i.e., state-of-practice). The results show a reduction of approximately 61–79% in the total distance traveled, leading to shorter charging trips. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial and in-kind support from the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

The design of safe and efficient pedestrian facilities necessitates the knowledge of complex human movements, such as intersecting pedestrian streams, under different conditions. This study aims to experimentally investigate the impact of intersecting angles on collective crowd dynamics under two different urgency levels. Data were collected from a controlled laboratory experiment with scenarios consisting of three intersection angles (30°, 90°, and 150°) and two desired speed levels (normal walking and slow running). Trajectory data of individual experiment participants were extracted from the recorded video footage. The results indicate that the 30° intersection has the lowest bottleneck effect compared to the other angles. Moreover, the time-to-target analysis shows that the 150° intersection has a higher waiting time at the intersection compared to the other angles for the jogging scenarios. The speed distribution and space utilization maps implied an asymmetrical reduction in speed in the two corridors of the intersection, even though the physical and geometrical configurations are symmetric. The lane-based analysis of collective speeds revealed that the inner lane (the lane that initially encounters the intersecting flow) has the maximum reduction in speed. The outcomes of this study may be useful to evaluate the congestion effects associated with crossing configurations and in calibrating and validating simulation tools to reproduce such effects accurately.

The emergence of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) could provoke unexpected challenges in urban traffic environments. One such crucial challenge is the conflicts between pedestrians and AVs, particularly on unsignalized mid-block crosswalks (UMC), where pedestrians are exposed to the AV flow. This study investigates the efficiency and safety performance of a UMC in the presence of both AVs and pedestrians considering the diversities in their behaviors. Through empirical analyses, two pedestrians’ crossing decision models are built and four groups of speed profiles are classified. Meanwhile, based on previous literature, defensive and competitive driving strategies are assumed for AVs. The simulation is implemented on an agent-based framework that can dynamically reproduce the kinematic interactions between pedestrians and vehicles. Results indicated that with a reasonable safety margin (2.5 s), percentages of low post encroachment time events for competitive AVs with different pedestrian types are smaller than defensive AVs with differences of 0.2% to 2.9%. The average delays of competitive AVs for all pedestrian types are smaller than defensive AVs with a maximum estimated difference of 39 s. Moreover, the analysis showed that lowering the speed limit may reduce the crash rate of competitive AV up to 0%. It is also found that the pedestrians who make reckless crossing decisions and change their speed drastically during the crossing process are more likely to incur crashes with competitive AVs. Therefore, if pedestrian behaviors can be regulated reasonably, competitive AVs with appropriate parameter settings are most suitable for UMC in the future. This publication was made possible by the Qatar–Japan Research Collaboration Application Award [M-QJRC-2020-8] from Qatar University. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. This research is supported by The Kurata Grants No. 1397 of Hitachi Global Foundation .

Autistic individuals obtain their driver's licenses significantly less or significantly later than non-autistic peers. In the past, research has been done on what problems autistic individuals experience when (learning to) driv(e)ing. However, little research has been conducted on how they experience the preparation for and the actual driving tests (i.e., theoretical and practical). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to obtain preliminary insights into autistic persons' experiences with the tests to obtain a driver's license. Forty participants completed a few questions about their experiences during the licensing process. Four tentative conclusions could be drawn: (1) autistic persons seek more professional guidance than the general population, (2) the practical test is perceived to be more difficult than the theoretical test, (3) lack of predictability, communication problems, and time pressure are the most reported problems for autistic individuals, and (4) many of the reported problems could be linked to core autism traits. Moreover, after comparing the study participants' pass rates to the general pass rate in Flanders, a preliminary conclusion could be drawn that, although the participants experienced many difficulties during the practice period and the practical test, their success rates were not lower than those of the general population. These study results can be the basis for follow-up research to move towards a more autism-friendly licensing system. Abstract Autistic individuals obtain their driver's licenses significantly less or significantly later than non-autistic peers. In the past, research has been done on what problems autistic individuals experience when (learning to) driv(e)ing. However, little research has been conducted on how they experience the preparation for and the actual driving tests (i.e., theoretical and practical). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to obtain preliminary insights into autistic persons' experiences with the tests to obtain a driver's license. Forty participants completed a few questions about their experiences during the licensing process. Four tentative conclusions could be drawn: (1) autistic persons seek more professional guidance than the general population, (2) the practical test is perceived to be more difficult than the theoretical test, (3) lack of predictability, communication problems, and time pressure are the most reported problems for autistic individuals, and (4) many of the reported problems could be linked to core autism traits. Moreover, after comparing the study participants' pass rates to the general pass rate in Flanders, a preliminary conclusion could be drawn that, although the participants experienced many difficulties during the practice period and the practical test, their success rates were not lower than those of the general population. These study results can be the basis for follow-up research to move towards a more autism-friendly licensing system.

Community participation and the formation of social networks are crucial for a qualitative life. To this end, transportation plays an essential role. Many autistic people rely on public transportation for their mobility needs. However, research shows that it is not always easy for them to use it. The issues they face when using public bus transport have not yet been thoroughly studied. The current case study in Flanders aimed to give autistic people the opportunity to express the issues they face while using public bus transportation. A qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was carried out. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 17 autistic individuals. The interviews were analyzed based on the interpretative phenomenological analysis method. Three main themes emerged: creating predictability, limiting stimuli, and open and accessible communication. In addition, various coping strategies were described, such as the use of noise-canceling headphones. The results of this study may lead to a more autism-friendly public transportation environment. Lay Abstract: Transportation plays an essential role in daily life, allowing people to participate in the community and form social relationships. Many autistic people rely on public transportation to meet their mobility needs. However, research shows that it is not always easy for them to use it. The exact issues autistic individuals face when traveling with public transportation and how public transportation can be made more autism-friendly have yet to be researched. The current study allowed autistic individuals to express themselves regarding issues they face while traveling by public bus transportation, to raise awareness for making public transportation more autism-friendly. We interviewed 17 autistic individuals about their experiences riding the bus. Three main themes emerged from the results: creating predictability, limiting stimuli, and open and accessible communication. If transport companies take initiatives related to these themes, autistic people traveling by bus can have a more pleasant experience. Participants also described coping strategies for stressful or uncomfortable situations while using public bus transportation, such as using noise-cancelling headphones or digital applications for real-time route tracking, etc. These findings may lead to a more autism-friendly public transportation. This publication was supported by the NPRP award (grant no. NPRP11S-1228-170143) from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation).

This study aims to evaluate the perception of safety and security in informal transport in Tunisia. This research employs a questionnaire-based survey of passengers and drivers of informal transport in Tunisia. Interviews were conducted with 215 informal transport Tunisian drivers and 255 Tunisian passengers, all above 18 years of age. Analyses have been made by employing several multivariate statistical analyses. Results showed that personal attributes of informal transport drivers influence their decision to violate traffic laws and to display risky driving behaviors. It was also found that driver skills, personality, education, experience, quality of the car, and information about the road congestion are the main factors influencing safety and security in informal transport. Non-compliance with the law by informal drivers leads to aberrant habits and behaviors as well as to a driving style beyond recognized standards. Informal drivers, police and local authorities are the parties involved in the low safety and security aspects of informal transport. It can be concluded that this study underlines that improving safety and security in informal transport cannot be achieved without improving awareness of the role of traffic laws and the need for their enforcement.

A driving simulator study was utilized to evaluate a potential countermeasure for speeding behaviour in order to reduce speed spillover. The behaviour of 56 subjects was observed. Participants drove a freeway for 5300 metres before exiting onto a three-kilometre urban arterial. Field data from trajectory speed profiles validated the diving simulator results. The impact of the Crash Fact Sign (CFS), a sign that provides information about the number of crashes/fatalities that occurred on that particular road, and Warning Sign (W.S.) on regions affected by speed spillover was investigated. Each subject was asked to drive in four different scenarios: (1) an additional speed limit sign (SLS-2); (2) Warning Sign (W.S.); (3) Crash Fact Sign (CFS); and (4) Crash Fact Sign with Additional Speed Limit Sign (CFS&SLS-2). The study finds CFS&SLS-2 to be the most effective countermeasure because it produces significant average speed reductions, reached 7.8 km, in the area under speed spillover effect. Furthermore, the effect of a traffic signal at the exit urban arterial on speed spillover behaviour was investigated. The speed spillover effect was observed at longer distances when drivers did not stop at the signalized intersection than when drivers stopped.

BackgroundInjury poses a major threat to health and longevity in adults aged 50 years or older. The increased life expectancy in the Eastern Mediterranean region warrants a further understanding of the ageing population's inevitable changing health demands and challenges. We aimed to examine injury-related morbidity and mortality among adults aged 50 years or older in 22 Eastern Mediterranean countries. MethodsDrawing on data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, we categorised the population into adults aged 50–69 years and adults aged 70 years and older. We examined estimates for transport injuries, self-harm injuries, and unintentional injuries for both age groups, with sex differences reported, and analysed the percentage changes from 1990 to 2019. We reported injury-related mortality rates and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). The Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index were used to better understand the association of socioeconomic factors and health-care system performance, respectively, with injuries and health status in older people. Healthy life expectancy (HALE) was compared with injury-related deaths and DALYs and to the SDI and HAQ Index to understand the effect of injuries on healthy ageing. Finally, risk factors for injury deaths between 1990 and 2019 were assessed. 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) are given for all estimates. FindingsEstimated injury mortality rates in the Eastern Mediterranean region exceeded the global rates in 2019, with higher injury mortality rates in males than in females for both age groups. Transport injuries were the leading cause of deaths in adults aged 50–69 years (43·0 [95% UI 31·0–51·8] per 100 000 population) and in adults aged 70 years or older (66·2 [52·5–75·5] per 100 000 population), closely followed by conflict and terrorism for both age groups (10·2 [9·3–11·3] deaths per 100 000 population for 50–69 years and 45·7 [41·5–50·3] deaths per 100 000 population for ≥70 years). The highest annual percentage change in mortality rates due to injury was observed in Afghanistan among people aged 70 years or older (400·4% increase; mortality rate 1109·7 [1017·7–1214·7] per 100 000 population). The leading cause of DALYs was transport injuries for people aged 50–69 years (1798·8 [1394·1–2116·0] per 100 000 population) and unintentional injuries for those aged 70 years or older (2013·2 [1682·2–2408·7] per 100 000 population). The estimates for HALE at 50 years and at 70 years in the Eastern Mediterranean region were lower than global estimates. Eastern Mediterranean countries with the lowest SDIs and HAQ Index values had high prevalence of injury DALYs and ranked the lowest for HALE at 50 years of age and HALE at 70 years. The leading injury mortality risk factors were occupational exposure in people aged 50–69 years and low bone mineral density in those aged 70 years or older. InterpretationInjuries still pose a real threat to people aged 50 years or older living in the Eastern Mediterranean region, mainly due to transport and violence-related injuries. Dedicated efforts should be implemented to devise injury prevention strategies that are appropriate for older adults and cost-effective injury programmes tailored to the needs and resources of local health-care systems, and to curtail injury-associated risk and promote healthy ageing. FundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We acknowledge the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for funding this study.

This chapter discusses the principles of road traffic signal control in the State of Qatar and the United Arab Emirate (UAE). In the first section, traffic control standards used in both countries are presented with a focus on the regional differences, the implementation process used, as well as an overview of the currently implemented signal control methods. Section 14.2 discusses the criteria for selection of traffic control strategies used in the two countries and then compares it to the actual implemented strategies. Section 14.3 focuses on the process used to determine the signal timings. Section 14.4 presents the different phasing strategies used, including the typical phasing design used in both countries, the use of transit priority, as well as bicycle and pedestrian treatment. Section 14.5 explains the values and ranges of the parameters used in the timing/phasing design. Section 14.6 discusses special considerations found in the State of Qatar and the UAE. Finally, Section 14.7 presents two examples of traffic signals on intersections in the State of Qatar.

A preliminary study involving school students aged 12-18 years attempted to test whether there is difference in attitudes towards road safety between Arab and non-Arab respondents. The sampled participants were categorized according to age group, ethnicity and type of school they attend. Responses on their perceived driving ability, basic road safety knowledge and their willingness to participate in a common road safety campaign were analyzed. The results show that Arab students of pre-driving age tend to perceive that they have the skills to drive and showed poorer attitude towards road safety than non-Arab students. Older students of Arab origin and in public schools are more likely not to participate in road safety campaigns as compared to the younger age group of non-Arab origin and in private schools. Attitude change interventions that is appealing to pre-drivers of Arab origin studying in public school could be more effective strategy to raise the road safety awareness in par with the rest of the residents. Carefully designed contents for driving simulators that convey interactive road safety lessons and Variable Message Signs (VMS) can be considered and maximize effectiveness of road safety campaigns. � IEOM Society International. Eaton;INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences);Siemens Scopus

Traffic safety is one of major challenges facing most communities worldwide. To improve traffic safety, regulating traffic movement through markings, signs, channelization, and others is essential. Traffic signs are used either to regulate road user movements by highlighting priorities or to inform road users about traffic regulations and traffic conditions. In general, traffic signs are essential element in road operation. Thus, understanding these signs by road users is of prime importance for efficient and safe traffic operations. This study investigates the comprehensiveness of traffic signs by drivers and the impact of driver characteristics gender, nationality, age, language, and educational level. Clarifying the correlation between the understanding of traffic signs and driver characteristics will yield to recommendations and help in identifying proper countermeasures to enhance the communities' knowledge of traffic signs and consequently improve traffic safety level. The study used an electronic survey as a research instrument for data collection. The results have shown significant impact of some of human characteristics on their ability to recognize the metal-plate and electronic traffic signals. � IEOM Society International. Eaton;INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences);Siemens Scopus

Road traffic crashes remain one of the major causes of preventable death and injury worldwide. Human behavior is considered one of the main factors leading to such tragic losses. In this paper, we analyze the responses of an online survey questionnaire and identify the variables that are most likely to be correlated with individual driving behavior of drivers. Weights are allocated to nine risky-driving behaviors considered in the survey based on self-reported frequency of the driving behaviors the participants were involved in at the time of a recent traffic crash. Initially, weighted individual self-rated risky-driving behaviors are used to estimate the risky-driving index (RDI) for individual drivers. RDI is defined as a quantitative measure of a driver's risky-driving propensities based on basic profile and driving history. Finally, a standardized model for predicting a driver's RDI is proposed using Ridge penalization-based generalized linear regression with a standard error of estimate equal to 0.713. According to the model, female drivers have lower RDI compared to male drivers. Also, younger drivers have higher RDI than older drivers. Lastly, hours driven per day have more positive impact on RDI than the number of accidents or the driving experience of a driver. IEOM Society International. Scopus

Current signal control strategies tend to ignore the pedestrian delays that may be imposed by reducing traffic delays. Such an objective is reasonable for motorways and rural roads where vehicular traffic is dominant over pedestrian traffic. However, it is not the case in metropolitan cities with large volume of pedestrian demands. This paper developed a traffic signal optimization strategy that considers both vehicular and pedestrian flows. The objective of the proposed model is to minimize the weighted vehicular and pedestrian delays. The deterministic queuing model is used to calculate vehicular traffic delay and pedestrian delay on sidewalk. Pedestrian delay on crosswalk is calculated based on an empirical pedestrian speed model, which considers interactions of pedestrian platoons and their impacts on average walking speed. A Japanese Intersection is utilized as a numerical case study to evaluate the proposed model. MATLAB is used to solve the optimization problem and to output a set of measures of effectiveness (MOEs). The results show that the proposed model improved average person delay (APRD) by 10% without changing the existing cycle length. Moreover, the model can optimize the cycle length and further improve APRD by as much as 44%. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model for general cases, this paper also conducted sensitivity analysis. The results showed that the proposed model is most significant and necessary for two circumstances: (1) metropolitan areas with high pedestrian demands and (2) major urban arterials with high pedestrian demands crossing major streets. هدف هذه الدراسة هو تطوير نموذج لتحسين تصميم الإشارات المرورية الضوئية في التقاطعات أخذاً بالإعتبار التأخير للمركبات والمشاة في آن واحد، علما بأن تأخر المشاة لا يؤخذ عادة بعين الإعتبار في تصميم الإشارات المرورية حسب المواصفات والمراجع المعتمدة عالمياً. وقد أثبتت العديد من الدراسات أن إهمال تأخر المشاة، خاصة في مراكز المدن أو المناطق التي تتميز بكثافة مشاة عالية، قد يؤدي إلى فترة تأخير كبيرة، والتي بدورها ستؤدي إلى عدم التزام المشاة بالإشارة المرورية الضوئية، الأمر الذي قد يهدد سلامة المشاة والأمان على التقاطعات المرورية. تقترح هذه الدراسة نموذجاً يقلل التأخير للمركبات والمشاه حيث تم استخدام نموذج الطابور التحديدي لحساب تأخر المركبات والمشاة على الرصيف، بينما تم الإستعانة بنموذج تجريبي لحساب تأخر المشاه أثناء عبورهم الطريق نتيجة التفاعل بين المارة من الإتجاهين المتعاكسين. لتقييم النموذج المقترح تم إستعمال معلومات لتقاطع مروري يقع في مدينة ناغويا في اليابان، كما تم حل النوذج الرياضي بإستعمال برنامج الماتلاب. أظهرت النتائج أن النموذج المقترح يقلل تأخر الشخص المستخدم للتقاطع سواء كان من المشاة أو من راكبي السيارات بنسبة 10% بإفتراض عدم تغير الدورة الزمنية للإشارة الضوئية للتقاطع الذي تم تحليله، وبنسبة 44% إذا تم تغيير الدورة الزمنية. بشكل عام تتلخص نتيجة هذا البحث بأن إدخال تأخر المشاة في تصميم الإشارات المرورية الضوئية أمر فعال وضروري خاصة في حالتين أساسيتين: (1) في مراكز المدن حيث يتركز المشاة بأعداد كبيرة و (2) على الطرق الشريانية الرئيسة التي تتميز بتدفق كبير للمشاة عابري الطريق.

Data analysis for vehicular crash counts is essential for transportation and traffic management systems (TTMS) to develop practical and innovative road safety interventions. The crash trend analysis, in particular, is the most popular technique for extracting an underlying trend or pattern of behavior in crash data. The recent years have seen a growing concern in the State of Qatar of the consequences of motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) and their associated fatalities (MVFs) on the economy, society, and the performance of the whole road network. This paper reports on the results of using nonlinear regression for crash trend analysis highlighting the substantial enhancement of road safety level in the State of Qatar during the period between 2003 and 2015. One of the critical findings of the study is the notable decline in the increasing tendency of both the MVF/100,000 population and the MVF/100,000 car over the last thirteen years in the State of Qatar. The matter that makes this finding worthy of comment is that it occurs over the period in which the State of Qatar is witnessing a significant growth in the population density and traffic volume. Several valuable contributions and recommendations were drawn and reported. � IEOM Society International. ATTADAMOUNE MICRO - FINANCE;EATON Powering Business world wide;informs;LINDO SYSTEMS INC;SIEMENS Scopus