Eftihia Nathanail

Risk Assessment for Transportation of Hazardous Materials Through Tunnels

Two vehicle collisions involving hazardous materials (HM) occurred in 1999 in the tunnels of Mont Blanc between Italy and France and in Tauern, Austria. These collisions showed that the consequences of such crashes are catastrophic for both the motorists in the tunnel and the tunnel itself. This paper presents a methodology to help decision makers estimate the risk associated with the transportation of HM through tunnels and identify remedial measures to minimize unacceptable risk levels. A risk assessment procedure is used to identify the societal risk of the tunnel. If the risk is above an acceptable level, alternative routes are considered, and the overall risk is estimated for both the route with the tunnel and the alternative routes. The route with the minimum risk is established. If the route of minimum risk is through the tunnel, then risk reduction measures are introduced and the risk assessment methodology is implemented to verify the result. The full implementation of the methodology is demonstrated in a case study. The characteristics of the tunnels, the type of HM, and the characteristics of the traffic and accident risk at each tunnel are accounted for. Given an estimate of risk for a tunnel produced by the analytical procedure used in this paper, the applicable regulatory criteria at a given location are found to substantially affect the required response. The response may vary from “no restriction to HM traffic,” to “remedies required,” to “total restriction of HM type X is advised” for the subject tunnel. The case study considers several remedial actions and assesses their impact on risk and subsequent recommended actions.

Optimization of Decision-Making in Port Logistics Terminals: Using Analytic Hierarchy Process for the Case of Port of Thessaloniki

Abstract The management models pursued in logistics terminals determine their performance to a great extent. Terminals managed by public actors usually incorporate more social criteria into their decision-making processes. In addition, private management focuses on economic viability of the initiative. Decision-making is a complex process regardless the structure of management or the decision models useddue to the fact that a wide range of diverse criteria are embedded into this process. The objective of this paper it to determine a prioritization of a set of alternative options for investment projects which were suggested by port executives taking into account criteria and evaluation that have already validated by them. In order to perform the analysis a multi-criteria decision-making model was used: the Analytic Hierachy Process. The outcomes support a low-biased and efficient strategic planning through a balanced decision-making framework.

Do Road Safety Communication Campaigns Work? How to Assess the Impact of a National Fatigue Campaign on Driving Behavior

Road safety communication campaigns are considered an efficient strategy for reaching a wide audience. They aim at reducing the number and severity of road crashes by influencing road user behavior. Despite the large number of campaigns that have been designed and implemented in recent years, few have been formally evaluated. This paper presents the evaluation design and the implementation of a national road safety communication campaign on the effects of fatigue on driving behavior. The campaign targeted primarily professional drivers and, secondarily, all other drivers The definition of the objectives of the campaign was addressed through the health belief model. Objectives included increasing awareness of the severity of driving while fatigued and of effective countermeasures. The measurement variables of the evaluation design, also addressed by the health belief model, were knowledge, behavioral beliefs, risk comprehension, behavioral intentions, past behavior, and self-reported behavior. The evaluation was based on a nonexperimental design. The use of control groups was not feasible, since the whole population was exposed to the campaign and data were collected by means of a face-to-face questionnaire survey conducted before, during, and after campaign implementation. Process and outcome evaluations were conducted to assess the impact of the campaign on driving behavior. Results indicated that the audience was reached at a mean rate of 13%, and the distribution of campaign leaflets was the most effective media channel (70%). In addition, a statistically significant increase in the proportion of respondents who were aware of the causes and effects of fatigue while driving was observed. Similar results were indicated in testing behavioral beliefs, risk comprehension, behavioral intentions, and past behavior. The main message of the campaign reached both the primary and the secondary target groups, and its success can be seen by the increase in the percentage of professional drivers and all other drivers who self-reported that they stop and rest for 15 min in the “during” and “after” phases, as compared with the “before” phase.

Building on European scientific excellence to develop an educational program on intermodal connections for Latvia and the region

Economic and social factors, including existing trends in urban population and employment growth combined with urbanization, have led to enhanced consumption and thus, increasing freight flows in the cities. Mitigation of transport impacts has led to plans towards a more sustainable urban environment. However, managerial and regulatory barriers restrict the incorporation of technological instruments and solutions to the sustainable dimension of decision-making and planning. This paper has sought to bridge this gap by organizing an educational and training program, which involves the participation of todays and tomorrow’s researchers, decision-makers and practitioners. Towards this direction, a methodology is developed that identifies existing gaps between the transport industry and the existing research, education and training programs and converts identified requirements and gaps into training courses. The paper addresses the context of intermodal interconnections for the case of Latvia and the region for stimulating and strengthening its scientific and technological capacity by providing knowledge in the field of smart interconnecting sustainable transport networks. The 2-level gap analysis that was developed and implemented with respect to the thematic areas of (1) ‘Governance and policy development’, (2) ‘Smart solutions’, and (3) ‘Decision-making’, and the validation process that followed, has revealed several requirements that exist currently for passenger and freight interchanges and educational programs for Latvia and the region. Based on the identified educational requirements for Latvia and the region, 20 educational areas were created that resulted in 12 courses for passenger and freight transport interchanges that are going to be used for training and education in Latvia.

Does the Theme of a Road Safety Communication Campaign Affect its Success

Road safety communication campaigns are considered as an efficient strategy to approach the wide audience and influence road users towards a safe behavior, with main aim to lead to the reduction of the number and the severity of road accidents. When designing the implementation of a campaign, it is important to plan at the same time its evaluation, so that to enable the assessment of its effectiveness. For the achievement of high reliability and the development of “clear” conclusions, the campaign evaluation should be carefully organized, following a feasible scientific design. Towards this direction, three road safety campaigns, two local campaigns addressing drink driving and seat belt usage, and one national campaign addressing driving fatigue, were implemented and evaluated. Presenting the design components of the three campaigns and the evaluation results, this paper aims at revealing the similarities and differences of the effectiveness of road safety communication campaigns on driving behavior.

Assessing the Contribution of Urban Freight Terminals in Last Mile Operations

Abstract This paper introduces a multi-stakeholder multi-criteria evaluation framework, which can be used for the assessment of the last mile distribution performance of urban freight terminals. To this end, a comparative analysis is conducted addressing two Greek urban intermodal freight terminals located at the port of Thessaloniki (ThPA) and Kuehne+Nagel (K+N)’s premises. The assessment of the terminals’ performance relies on a tailored multi-criteria Key Performance Indicator (KPI)-based evaluation framework, whereas the selection and significance of the incorporated criteria and KPIs is predetermined by the relevant responsible stakeholders, who imposed their viewpoint through an analytic hierarchy process. Results showed that ThPA was ranked first according to its performance pertaining to the role of an intermodal interchange; still, K+N’s performance index was only 8.5% lower than ThPA’s, while in specific KPIs it seems that it performs in a better way.

Predicting the effectiveness of road safety campaigns through alternative research designs.

INTRODUCTION A large number of road safety communication campaigns have been designed and implemented in the recent years; however their explicit impact on driving behavior and road accident rates has been estimated in a rather low proportion. METHOD Based on the findings of the evaluation of three road safety communication campaigns addressing the issues of drinking and driving, seat belt usage, and driving fatigue, this paper applies different types of research designs (i.e., experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental designs), when estimating the effectiveness of road safety campaigns, implements a cross-design assessment, and conducts a cross-campaign evaluation. An integrated evaluation plan was developed, taking into account the structure of evaluation questions, the definition of measurable variables, the separation of the target audience into intervention (exposed to the campaign) and control (not exposed to the campaign) groups, the selection of alternative research designs, and the appropriate data collection methods and techniques. RESULTS Evaluating the implementation of different research designs in estimating the effectiveness of road safety campaigns, results showed that the separate pre-post samples design demonstrated better predictability than other designs, especially in data obtained from the intervention group after the realization of the campaign. CONCLUSIONS The more constructs that were added to the independent variables, the higher the values of the predictability were. The construct that most affects behavior is intention, whereas the rest of the constructs have a lower impact on behavior. This is particularly significant in the Health Belief Model (HBM). On the other hand, behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and descriptive norms, are significant parameters for predicting intention according to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The theoretical and applied implications of alternative research designs and their applicability in the evaluation of road safety campaigns are provided by this study.

A Decision Tree Approach for Achieving High Customer Satisfaction at Urban Interchanges

Abstract This paper introduces a decision tree approach, which can be used for the assessment of the design, operation and services provided at urban transport interchanges. Realizing a customer satisfaction survey, feedback was received from 239 users of the Riga International Coach Terminal on crucial attributes, including: travel information, wayfinding information, time and movement, access, comfort and convenience, station attractiveness, safety and security, emergency situation handling and overall satisfaction. Findings revealed the most significant parameters that need to be addressed in order to increase users’ satisfaction, which can gradually improve the overall attractiveness of the terminal and the efficient provision of its services.

Special Issue Introduction: Research in Sustainable Transport Interchanges

Abstract This introductory paper gives the readers a brief description of the scope and contents of this Special Issue that consists of papers devoted to Sustainable Transport Interchanges and intermodal networks. The issue depicts the results of the EU project ALLIANCE, which addresses the topic of intermodal interconnections and presents the results of the international collaboration teams, which were established within the context of the project.

A Multi-Agent Approach towards Designing a City Port Business Model

Abstract The present paper concerns the design of a city port business model incorporating Public Private Partnership schemes. Extensive literature review was acquired, in order to fully comprehend the organizational schemes and state of practice of Public Private Partnerships at ports. A survey was conducted at the port of Volos, based on questionnaire and interviews, to define the functions and services of the port, which could benefit from the private involvement and improve its role as a transport interchange for all involved stakeholders. The collected data were analyzed, using a modified version of Analytic Hierarchy Process, which revealed the relevant importance of port functions and services. Three different management models were considered to tackle the most important issues that came up during the analysis and they were evaluated based on the literature; the current one, a landlord management model and a partial privatization management model. The results of this process indicated, that the landlord management model would be the most effective for the particular case of the port of Volos. The landlord model seemed to perform better in improving both the operation of the organization and the level of passenger satisfaction, through its increased management flexibility, due to the segmentation of services and reduction of bureaucracy, as well as the additional investment capital that it can attract. Based on the proposed management model, actions and measures improving on the port’s business model are recommended.