George Kanellaidis

DRIVERS' RISK PERCEPTION OF ROAD DESIGN ELEMENTS

New roads are often designed without adequate investigation of driver risk perception. However, according to many researchers, it is imperative that human factors be considered during the design of new road infrastructure. In this study we investigated driver perception of risk on 3 road sections of a single highway. For the purposes of this article, 3 field experiments took place in a 2-year period, with 136 volunteer Greek drivers taking part in these experiments. Participants evaluated the risks of road sections and curves. The results show that 3 main demographic characteristics-age, familiarity, and self-assessment-affect risk perception, whereas special provisions for older drivers during road design and construction are imperative.

An Empirical Investigation of European Drivers' Self-Assessment

PROBLEM Evaluating motorists through self-assessment has attracted much interest in recent literature, which is mainly due to the profound impact various parameters of self-assessment can have on the way motorists deal with hazardous traffic situations. Much of the previous work in this area has been hampered both by the lack of adequate sample sizes and, because of the small samples, the evaluation methodologies used. METHOD This paper extends previous research in two significant directions: (a) it uses the SARTRE 2 database, which provides more than 17,000 questionnaires from most European countries; and (b) it employs the ordered probit modeling approach, which recognizes the latent nature of self-assessment and explicitly links its dimensions to a set of relevant explanatory variables such as age, gender, region, and income. RESULTS The results indicate that drivers who rate themselves as both more dangerous and faster than others are, generally, younger men, with higher incomes, break the speed limit more frequently, avoid wearing seat belts, and have been involved in more accidents in the past than other drivers. Interestingly, more experienced and more highly educated drivers assess their driving as less dangerous, but admit to driving faster than other drivers. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY The methodology used and the results obtained can be a significant help in identifying drivers with high and low self-assessment ratings, which can be useful in planning and implementing road safety information campaigns.

Highway Geometric Design from the Perspective of Recent Safety Developments

In a safe-system approach to road safety, problems are dealt with by considering how several components of the road transportation system interact rather than implementing countermeasures in isolation. In this paper, the authors propose that relevant information from the fields of the safe-system approach, including user-centered design and road safety auditing, be integrated into highway geometric design guidelines. A framework is proposed for integrating safety and human factor issues into highway geometric design guidelines. Key issues to be addressed include safety training of highway design engineers, three-dimensional highway design and implementation of a safe system. The safe system approach has already been applied in several states and countries, and has the potential to be implemented in other places.

Parameters affecting seat belt use in Greece

The objective of this research is the exploration of seat belt use in Greece and particularly the identification of the parameters affecting seat belt use in Greece. A national field survey was conducted for the analytical recording of seat belt use. A binary logistic regression model was developed, and the impact of each parameter on seat belt use in Greece was quantified. Parameters included in the model concern characteristics of car occupants (gender, age and position in the car), the type of the car and the type of the road network. The data collection revealed that in Greece, the non-use of seat belt on the urban road network was higher than on the national and rural road network and young and older men use seat belts the least. The developed model showed that travelling on a national road is negative for not wearing the seat belt. Finally, the variable with the highest impact on not wearing a seat belt is being a passenger on the back seats.

A Statistical Analysis of Motorcycle Helmet Wearing in Greece

This article reports on a study of motorcycle helmet use in Greece. The authors remind readers that wearing a helmet is the single most effective way of reducing head injuries and fatalities resulting from motorcycle crashes. They conducted an on-site observational survey and then developed a binary logistic regression model to analyze the data. The independent variables used were time of the day, motorcycle type, road type and riders’ characteristics (gender, age and position on the motorcycle, i.e., driver or passenger). Pseudo-elasticity values for all variables were calculated in order to quantify the impact of each variable on helmet use. The authors found low rates of helmet use. However, the rates were higher in rural than in urban areas and higher for drivers of large motorcycles. The authors conclude that motorcycle helmet wearing should be rigorously enforced at a population level. Community education campaigns for motorcyclists should also be promoted and public awareness of the crash risk associated with riding without a helmet should be increased.

Addressing education and training needs of road safety auditors

Abstract According to national (Greek) and European legislation on road infrastructure safety management, road safety auditing is mandatory for the Trans-European Road Network. This paper presents the development of a training course and educational material for candidate road safety auditors in Greece, aiming to adequately prepare them to conduct road safety audits. In particular, the principles upon which the road safety audit training course is based, the learning objectives, the course outline and the proposed framework of the curriculum are presented. The training course takes into consideration recent developments in road safety, as well as local conditions and needs. Because it places emphasis on the implementation of the Safe System and human factors in road design, it may contribute to the development of a positive safety culture among highway professionals involved in the road design and road operation process. The process of its development may be regarded as a proposal for good practice for the development of professional development training programmes, addressing the relevant training needs and achieving the relevant training objectives.