Application of contemporary systems-based methods to reduce trauma at rail level crossings. Crashes at railway level crossings continue to cause significant trauma across Australia. Despite being a longstanding safety problem, the design and operation of level crossings has not changed considerably for decades. This research will provide an in-depth understanding of road user, environmental and infrastructure-related factors that influence safety and performance at rail level crossings. This wil ....Application of contemporary systems-based methods to reduce trauma at rail level crossings. Crashes at railway level crossings continue to cause significant trauma across Australia. Despite being a longstanding safety problem, the design and operation of level crossings has not changed considerably for decades. This research will provide an in-depth understanding of road user, environmental and infrastructure-related factors that influence safety and performance at rail level crossings. This will be used to develop a world-first model of the level crossing system that is needed to support the development of innovative countermeasures that will improve safety. Reductions in the levels of significant trauma at level crossings, and new public policy for level crossing upgrades, are the intended real-world outcomes.Read moreRead less
The Australian naturalistic driving study: innovation in road safety research and policy. A revolutionary new approach, the naturalistic driving study, will investigate what people actually do when they drive, in normal and safety-critical situations. It will provide Australia with answers to some intractable, high priority, road safety problems that cannot be answered using current methods, thereby saving hundreds of lives.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100050
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$570,000.00
Summary
Integrated facility for recording driver and road user behaviour. The integrated facility will be used to record and analyse data on driver and road user behaviour, in normal and safety-critical situations, for thousands of Australian drivers. The data yielded will be used to develop new and improved countermeasures for reducing road deaths and serious injuries on Australian roads.
Proactive detection of motor vehicle crash black spots based on their underlying behavioural, engineering, and spatially related causes. Road traffic crashes are responsible for about 1400 fatalities and 32,500 injuries on Australian roadways each year. A significant research opportunity exists to fundamentally rethink how the profession quantitatively identifies black spots on the transport network. The first project aim is to develop, test, and validate an evidence based methodology to proacti ....Proactive detection of motor vehicle crash black spots based on their underlying behavioural, engineering, and spatially related causes. Road traffic crashes are responsible for about 1400 fatalities and 32,500 injuries on Australian roadways each year. A significant research opportunity exists to fundamentally rethink how the profession quantitatively identifies black spots on the transport network. The first project aim is to develop, test, and validate an evidence based methodology to proactively detect motor vehicle crash black spots. The second aim is decompose (statistically) observed crashes at a site into their engineering, behavioural, and unobserved spatial components. The new methods combined will lead to fundamentally novel insights and knowledge regarding transport network safety management, in turn leading to reductions in the Australian road toll.Read moreRead less
A new generation high crash energy absorbing barrier for improved road safety. The new, high energy absorbing road safety barrier developed in this project will provide better protection for all road users than current barriers by reducing the severity of car crashes. Current road barriers result in an average loss of 1600 lives in Australia annually, including a disproportionate number of young lives. The new barrier will be highly efficient in absorbing collisions from vehicles travelling at s ....A new generation high crash energy absorbing barrier for improved road safety. The new, high energy absorbing road safety barrier developed in this project will provide better protection for all road users than current barriers by reducing the severity of car crashes. Current road barriers result in an average loss of 1600 lives in Australia annually, including a disproportionate number of young lives. The new barrier will be highly efficient in absorbing collisions from vehicles travelling at speeds between 60 to over a 100 kilometres per hour. Installation of the new road safety barrier systems in high accident zones will save lives by reducing the severity of accidents involving road barriers. This will significantly benefit the community by reducing injury, medical, rehabilitation and property damage costs, and improve quality of life for all road users.Read moreRead less
Intention-aware cooperative driving behaviour model for Automated Vehicles. This project aims to investigate humans' cooperation with automated systems by conceptualising joint intention awareness. This project expects to generate knowledge about a new cooperative driving behaviour model for automated vehicles, utilising a transdisciplinary approach that mixes human-centric methods with deep learning techniques. Intended outcomes are new joint intention awareness theory, new interface for automa ....Intention-aware cooperative driving behaviour model for Automated Vehicles. This project aims to investigate humans' cooperation with automated systems by conceptualising joint intention awareness. This project expects to generate knowledge about a new cooperative driving behaviour model for automated vehicles, utilising a transdisciplinary approach that mixes human-centric methods with deep learning techniques. Intended outcomes are new joint intention awareness theory, new interface for automated vehicles, new methodology for cooperative behaviour research, and enhanced research capacity. The expected significant benefits are for automated systems to become more predictable, acceptable, readable and safer to use by everyday people.Read moreRead less
CoopEcoSafe: a new cooperative, green and safe driving system. Road transport plays a vital role in our economy but generates huge costs in road trauma and greenhouse gases. Eco-driving has been trialed as a cost-effective approach to reducing fuel consumption, but little research has examined its effects on safety. This research brings together disciplines of road safety, psychology and engineering to address the fundamental question: how can mobility be greener while being safer? It develops: ....CoopEcoSafe: a new cooperative, green and safe driving system. Road transport plays a vital role in our economy but generates huge costs in road trauma and greenhouse gases. Eco-driving has been trialed as a cost-effective approach to reducing fuel consumption, but little research has examined its effects on safety. This research brings together disciplines of road safety, psychology and engineering to address the fundamental question: how can mobility be greener while being safer? It develops: a new theoretical model that optimises environmental and safety outcomes; new persuasive in-vehicle Human Machine Interface supported by cooperative Intelligent Transport System; and, comprehensive benefits evaluation. This research will bring major improvements to both road safety and energy use. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101079
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$426,241.00
Summary
Safe distractions? Taking the danger out of competing activities. Distracted driving is an increasing safety concern in Australia and worldwide. Smartphones play key roles in today’s professional and social contexts and current road safety policies based on stopping their use while driving have shown little success. Distraction is predicted to be an even greater issue in new semi-automated vehicles. This project proposes an innovative approach that will enable safe engagement in competing tasks ....Safe distractions? Taking the danger out of competing activities. Distracted driving is an increasing safety concern in Australia and worldwide. Smartphones play key roles in today’s professional and social contexts and current road safety policies based on stopping their use while driving have shown little success. Distraction is predicted to be an even greater issue in new semi-automated vehicles. This project proposes an innovative approach that will enable safe engagement in competing tasks while driving non-automated and semi-automated vehicles. The outcomes will underpin the development of new technologies to reduce the potential adverse effects of these distractions and thus reduce deaths and serious injuries, representing significant cost savings to the health system and the community.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180101449
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$361,996.00
Summary
Human factors approaches for the safe introduction of autonomous vehicles. This project aims to address potential safety risks arising from the introduction of advanced autonomous vehicles through a novel integration of human factors and computer-based simulation techniques. While automation promises to reduce crashes, the project expects to generate new knowledge about the emergence of risks through interactions between human road users and autonomous vehicles, particularly in the initial trans ....Human factors approaches for the safe introduction of autonomous vehicles. This project aims to address potential safety risks arising from the introduction of advanced autonomous vehicles through a novel integration of human factors and computer-based simulation techniques. While automation promises to reduce crashes, the project expects to generate new knowledge about the emergence of risks through interactions between human road users and autonomous vehicles, particularly in the initial transition period. The expected outcomes include an enhanced capacity to understand how risks emerge in complex systems, and the development of specific policy and regulatory interventions. The project expects to provide significant safety benefits by preventing new types of road crash events.Read moreRead less
Developing and evaluating a theoretically grounded novice driver education program incorporating simulators. Australian young drivers are 13 per cent of the population but account for nearly a quarter of road deaths. This project aims to develop a research informed, theory-driven education intervention that includes a simulator component to improve their driving skills and attitudes. A process and outcome evaluation aims to assess the effectiveness of the training including the impact on how ind ....Developing and evaluating a theoretically grounded novice driver education program incorporating simulators. Australian young drivers are 13 per cent of the population but account for nearly a quarter of road deaths. This project aims to develop a research informed, theory-driven education intervention that includes a simulator component to improve their driving skills and attitudes. A process and outcome evaluation aims to assess the effectiveness of the training including the impact on how individuals learn to drive, changes in skill and attitudes as well as the influence on crashes and offences. It is intended that a second parallel study will adapt the intervention for Indigenous Australians and examine the effectiveness of this adaptation.Read moreRead less