Alexandros Nikitas

A Worldwide State-of-the-Art Analysis for Bus Rapid Transit: Looking for the Success Formula

This paper’s intended contribution, in terms of providing an additional angle in the existing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) state-of-the-art knowledge spectrum, is a dual one. On the one hand, it provides a detailed description of the mode, re-defining BRT as an overall concept by identifying, discussing, and categorizing in a systematic way its strengths and its weaknesses in comparison with rail-based solutions and conventional bus services. On the other hand, it presents in detail a number of selected scheme-oriented applications from around the world, looking into some of the basic ingredients behind BRT’s success (or failure) stories. This is a scientific effort that could inform the reader about the current status of BRT inter nationally and about the challenges and opportunities that exist when trying to materialize BRT’s potential as an effective urban passenger solution that could challenge the merits of more conventional mass-transit options.

Older People’s Attitudes to Road Charging: Are They Distinctive and What are the Implications for Policy?

Abstract In an ageing society older people have a growing influence on politics in general, and potentially on the acceptability of road charging in particular. They face specific types of risk of transport-related social exclusion which may influence their views on charging, although there is also evidence to suggest that older people favour, more than any other age group, what is positively valued by society – a process known as ‘pro-social value orientation’. Family and friends may also affect older peoples considerations about their intentions and choices – thus the importance of studying the influence of ‘social norms’ on older peoples attitudes to road charging. The paper develops our understanding of these issues, based on the findings of a quantitative survey conducted in Bristol, UK. Evidence indicates that the attitudes of older people to road charging do differ from those of younger people and that pro-social value orientations and social norms do contribute to the formation of these attitudes. It is concluded that the presence of pro-social attitude orientations assists in explaining why people assumed to be ‘natural supporters’ of charging schemes may hold negative attitudes, which underlines to scheme promoters the importance of understanding and overcoming strongly held, psychologically complex objections.

A Study of Fatal Pedestrian Crashes at Rural Low Volume Road Intersections in Southwest China

ABSTRACT Objective: Although intersections correspond to a small proportion of the entire roadway system, they account for a disproportionally high number of fatal pedestrian crashes, especially on rural roads situated in low- and middle-income countries. This article examines pedestrian safety at rural intersections and suggests applicable accident prevention treatments by providing an in-depth analysis of 28 fatal pedestrian crashes from 8 low-volume roads in southwest China. Methods: The driving reliability and error analysis method (DREAM) is a method to support a systematic classification of accident causation information and to facilitate aggregation of that information into patterns of contributing factors. This is the first time that DREAM was used to analyze pedestrian–vehicle crashes and provide suggestions for road improvements in China. Results: The key issues adversely affecting pedestrian safety can be organized in 4 distinctive thematic categories, namely, deficient intersection safety infrastructure, lack of pedestrian safety education, inadequate driver training, and insufficient traffic law enforcement. Given that resources for traffic safety investments in rural areas are limited, it is determined that the potential countermeasures should focus on low-cost, easily implementable, and long-lasting measures increasing the visibility and predictability of pedestrian movement and reducing speeding and irresponsible driving among drivers and risk-taking behaviors among pedestrians. Conclusions: Accident prevention treatments are suggested based on their suitability for rural areas in southwest China. These countermeasures include introducing better access management and traffic calming treatments, providing more opportunities for pedestrian education, and enhancing the quality of driver training and traffic law enforcement.

Nonconservative Nature of the Stresses Developed in a Continuum.

The stresses in an elastic continuum (i.e. a continuum with zero strains after unloading) are classically deemed to be conservative (i.e. their total work all over the continuum is a single-valued function of only the displacement distribution in the continuum). So, internal damping in an elastic continuum appears to be a contradiction in itself. Actually, the total work of the internal stresses all over a continuum does not coincide with the strain energy of the continuum, but also includes the work of the internal body forces formed by the stress derivatives, which only con-tributes to the kinetic energy of the continuum. Owing to this inclusion, the total work of the internal stresses cannot be a single-valued function of only the displacement distribution in the continuum, and hence, the internal stresses must be nonconservative, which indicates internal damping inherent in any continuum whether elastic or not. Only statically deforming continua may possess conservative internal stresses.