Impact of Variable Speed Limit in a Connected Vehicle Environment on Truck Driver Behavior under Adverse Weather Conditions: Driving Simulator Study

Author(s):  
Guangchuan Yang ◽  
Mohamed M. Ahmed ◽  
Sherif Gaweesh

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) selected Wyoming as one of three sites to develop, test, and deploy a suite of connected vehicle (CV) applications on a 402-mi Interstate 80 corridor. One of the Wyoming’s key CV applications is the variable speed limit (VSL) warning, which aimed to provide commercial truck drivers with real-time regulatory and advisory speed limits to help in better managing speeds under adverse weather conditions, and reducing potential speed variances that may cause traffic collisions. This paper developed a driving simulator testbed to assess the impact of the Wyoming’s CV-based VSL (CV-VSL) application on truck drivers’ behavior under adverse weather conditions. A total of 18 professional truck drivers were recruited to participate in the driving simulator experiment. Participants’ instantaneous speeds at various locations were collected to reveal the impact of the CV-VSL warnings on their driving behavior. Simulation results showed that when the advisory speed limits were lower than 55 mph, participants generally followed the VSLs displayed on the CV human–machine interface (HMI). In addition, traffic flows utilizing CV-VSL technology tend to exhibit lower average speeds and speed variances compared with baseline scenarios. These effects of CV-VSL warnings can bring potential safety benefits, as reduction in average speeds and speed variances are effective surrogate measures of safety, that is, lower risk of crashes, under adverse weather conditions.

Author(s):  
Sherif M. Gaweesh ◽  
Arash Khoda Bakhshi ◽  
Mohamed M. Ahmed

Traffic crashes can be divided into primary and secondary crashes. Secondary crashes occur as a consequence of primary crashes within their spatiotemporal distances. Secondary crashes comprise nearly 20% of all crashes and 18% of fatal crashes, in which they can possibly have a higher crash severity than the primary crash. Interstate-80 in Wyoming is a major rural corridor with a high freight traffic volumes. The Federal Highway Administration selected Wyoming in which to deploy connected vehicle (CV) technology with a focus on commercial truck safety. Distress and rerouting applications were among the suite of CV pilot applications. Very few studies have investigated the safety performance of CVs in mitigating the risk of secondary crashes on heavy trucks, more specifically under adverse weather conditions. This study filled this gap by conducting a driving simulator experiment to assess the effectiveness of CV distress and rerouting applications in mitigating the effects of secondary crashes. A total of 23 truck drivers were recruited to this study. The analysis was conducted on the vehicle kinematics obtained from the driving simulator. A CV and a nonCV scenario were designed to compare the participants’ driving behavior under adverse weather conditions. The results showed that the tested CV applications succeeded in enhancing driving behaviors by reducing the operating speed as well as the speed variation, and all the participants avoided a secondary crash in the CV environment. In addition, the distress notification coupled with the road closure reduced the average operating speed by 26% from the provided speed limit.


Author(s):  
Promothes Saha ◽  
Mohamed M. Ahmed ◽  
Rhonda Kae Young

This paper examined the interaction between roadway geometric characteristics and adverse weather conditions and their impact on crash occurrence on rural variable speed limit freeway corridors through mountainous terrain. As a quantitative measure of the effect of geometrics in adverse weather conditions, a crash frequency safety performance function that used generalized linear regression was developed with explanatory variables including snow, ice, frost, wind, horizontal curvature, and steep grades. This research concluded that the interaction between grades and horizontal curves with weather variables had a significant impact on crash occurrence. The research suggested that distinct variable speed limit strategies should be implemented on segments with challenging roadway geometry.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 282-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Chen ◽  
Xiaohua Zhao ◽  
Hao Liu ◽  
Guichao Ren ◽  
Xiaoming Liu

Abstract Adverse weather has a considerable impact on the behavior of drivers, which puts vehicles and drivers in hazardous situations that can easily cause traffic accidents. This research examines how drivers’ perceived risk changes during car following under different adverse weather conditions by using driving simulation experiment. An expressway road scenario was built in a driving simulator. Eleven types of weather conditions, including clear sky, four levels of fog, four levels of rain and two levels of snow, were designed. Furthermore, to simulate the car-following behavior, three car-following situations were designed according to the motion of the lead car. Seven car-following indicators were extracted based on risk homeostasis theory. Then, the entropy weight method was used to integrate the selected indicators into an index to represent the drivers’ perceived risk. Multiple linear regression was applied to measure the influence of adverse weather conditions on perceived risk, and the coefficients were considered as indicators. The results demonstrate that both the weather conditions and road type have significant effects on car-following behavior. Drivers’ perceived risk tends to increase with the worsening weather conditions. Under conditions of extremely poor visibility, such as heavy dense fog, the measured drivers’ perceived risk is low due to the difficulties in vehicle operation and limited visibility.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Sarnowski ◽  
Karol Kowalski ◽  
Jan Król ◽  
Piotr Radziszewski

In the course of manufacturing, transport and installation, road bitumens and asphalt mixtures can be exposed to the impact of elevated process temperatures exceeding 240 °C. This mainly applies to the mixtures used for road pavements and bridge deck insulation during adverse weather conditions. The heating process should not change the basic and rheological properties of binders and the asphalt mixtures that to a degree cause the degradation of asphalt pavement durability. The work involved analyzing the properties of non-modified bitumens and SBS polymer modified bitumens, heated at temperatures of 200 °C, 250 °C and 300 °C for 1 h. Next, the asphalt mixtures were heated in the same temperatures. Based on the developed Overheating Degradation Index (ODI) it was demonstrated that polymer-modified bitumens were characterized by higher overheating sensitivity A(ODI) than non-modified bitumens, which was confirmed by mixture test results. Overheating limit temperatures T(ODI) were determined, which in the case of polymer-modified bitumens are up to 20 °C lower than for non-modified bitumens. When the temperature increases above T(ODI), loss of viscoelastic properties occurs in the material which causes, among other effects, a loss of resistance to fatigue cracking.


2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mey Shariff ◽  
Othman Che Puan ◽  
Nordiana Mashros

Adverse weather conditions have considerable impact on traffic operation and safety as it affects drivers’ car-following behaviour. However, the quality of traffic data and its related methodologies to address these effects are under continuous enhancement. This paper intends to provide an overview of various empirical traffic data collection methodologies widely used to investigate drivers car-following behaviour under various weather conditions. These methodologies include video cameras, pneumatic tubes, floating car data, instrumented vehicle and driving simulator. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages related to methodologies have been discussed with emphasis on their suitability to work under adverse weather conditions. Furthermore, conclusion also comprises on table format of comparative review of facilities concerned with the methodologies.  


Author(s):  
Dawid Gralik

Napoleon’s Russian campaigns one of the best known examples of the impact of weather conditions on the process of military actions. In the article, on selected examples, the influence of weather on the actions and condition of both armies, mainly the Great Army, is analyzed. Adverse weather conditions accompanied the 1812 warfare from the very beginning in the form of a storm that took place at the turn of June and July. Then a period of intense heat began, which caused considerable problems for the soldiers moving in fast marches, who were also deprived of access to drinking water. Finally, the extremely cold winter, even for Russia’s climate, contributed, however not always directly, to deaths of many soldiers on both sides of conflict. Although weather is difficult to see as the main cause of Napoleon’s defeat, it was an extremely important part of 1812 military actions.


Author(s):  
Andrzej Niewiński

The article examines the impact of adverse weather conditions and astronomical occurrences on the outcome of the selected medieval military campaigns and pitch battles. Unpredictability of weather was an important factor in medieval warfare: unexpected wind, rain, snow, heat or day-to-night temperature fluctuations could influence a military operation in a significant way. As medieval chronicles recorded, troops often suffered from famine as a result of excessive rains, droughts or adverse winds which prevented supplies from being delivered by sea. Apart from causing fatigue and exhaustion bad weather contributed to disease outbreaks and equipment damage. People were weakened physically and psychologically which reduced their fighting ability.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document