Traffic safety and Traffic systems

Sustainable speeds contribute to a safe traffic environment for all road users and save lives and serious injuries in road traffic.

Sustainable speeds are a broad area of research that includes setting the right speed on the right road and ensuring that road users adhere to the speed limit. This means adapting the speed limit to the infrastructure in interaction with the road users who use it.

The area also includes setting requirements for organized traffic and that speed is an aspect that should be included in companies' sustainability reports. From that perspective, it also becomes an important work environment issue. With sustainable speeds, we can save lives and serious injuries in road traffic, reduce environmental impact and fuel costs.

Sustainable speeds also contribute to creating a safer work environment for those who have traffic and/or the road as their workplace. It also contributes to increased safety for those who live near the roads and walk and cycle in these areas.

VTI has extensive experience and expertise in the area when it comes to evaluating the effects of implemented measures, but also because of our broad competence and ability to shed light on the issue based on, for example, crash analysis, changed behavior, acceptance and legal aspects.

Examples of projects in the area are:

• Evaluation of ATK in portals
• Sustainable speeds - evaluation of the Swedish Transport Administration's procurement requirements for reporting speed compliance in contracts. Read more in the VTI report on sustainable speeds (VTI's DiVA portal)
• Evaluation of speed cameras, ATK. Read more about the study in:
  VTi report "Traffic safety cameras in Sweden: Effects on speed and traffic safety" (VTI's DiVA portal)
  
  Article "Spot speed cameras in a series - Effects on speed and traffic safety (sciencedirect.com))
• Smart urban traffic zones - geofencing, loading bay areas and construction processes
• HasT (Speed-restricted Traffic Zone) - evaluation of a large-scale trial of geofencing. See VTI report on speed-restricted traffic zones in urban environments (VTI's DiVA portal)

To reduce serious injuries and deaths in line with the Zero Vision goals, more research is needed in the area of sustainable speeds and how to achieve the greatest possible traffic safety benefit while achieving other sustainability and work environment goals.

Contact: Anna Vadeby

Intelligent transport systems can contribute to increased traffic safety, traffic efficiency, and comfort. At VTI, we conduct research and investigation activities to understand how traffic safety and traffic efficiency are affected by ITS solutions.

The research focuses on investigating how road users adapt to existing and new ITS solutions with the goal of improving traffic safety and traffic efficiency. We do this by integrating research into the development of new ITS solutions, as well as through controlled field trials and evaluation in real traffic environments. Examples of ITS systems we analyse include variable speed limit sustems, queue warning, traffic signals, driver assistance systems, geofencing, autonomous and connected vehicles. We also do research on the role of digitalization in transport systems, for example digital twins (DTs) with a focus on traffic safety.

Our core competence includes statistical methods, simulation-based analysis, design and analysis of ITS solutions. When applicable we make use of the European Common Evaluation Methodology for CCAM (EU-CEM). We use both traditional and alternative data sources, such as pneumatic tube hose measurements, vehicle data, video and radar data, satellite data and much more in our research.

Examples of projects in the area are:

• Design and evaluation of variable speed limits in Stockholm's motorway network.
• The role of connected vehicles in traffic signals.
• Analysis and evaluation of ITS in road work zones such as road signs on variable message signs, queue warnings, etc.
• Analysis of road users’ behaviour from video data and vehicle data in different ITS solutions to understand their impact on road safety and traffic efficiency.
• Incident detection using different data sources for traffic control and traffic management in cities.
• ITS in vehicles to, for example, avoid and reduce the consequences of collisions with wildlife and speed management zones (geofencing)
  

The research is carried out in close collaboration with road authorities, industry, universities, international associations, and national and international funders. We actively contribute input to relevant actors, such as road authorities and contractors, by monitoring, analysing and proposing improvements to existing ITS solutions.

Contact: Ellen Grumert

Models of the human body are used to recreate the dynamic processes resulting in a risk of injury that occur in our road transport system. The aim is to prevent us from being killed or seriously injured by the violence that our bodies are exposed to.

The research focuses on assessing how the violence of, for example, an impact or a collision, for all people in our road transport system, affects our body and how the risk of injury can be minimized. We recreate the processes where we are injured and develop models of the human body, such as the crash dummies SET 50F and 50M.
With the models of the human body, we evaluate how well we are protected by, for example, a helmet or a car seat. The area includes evaluations with both physical and mathematical models of the human body. At the heart of the Vision Zero/"Safe System" is that the human body's biomechanical tolerance limits should not be exceeded.

Contact: Astrid Linder

Safe System means creating a safe road transport system where no one is killed or seriously injured in traffic.

Safe System and Vision Zero are based on the same principles, namely that there is no acceptable level of deaths or serious injuries in traffic. It is a "forgiving" strategy for preventing traffic injuries and means that the road transport system should be designed so that it does not threaten people's lives and health.

Vision Zero accepts that crashes can occur but focuses on minimizing personal injuries by improving road infrastructure, vehicle safety and road user behavior. It also means that responsibility for road safety is shared between road authorities, the automotive industry and road users themselves. Effective prevention of serious injuries and deaths in traffic is achieved through a combination of broad political support and a well-balanced set of effective measures.

VTI has extensive experience and expertise in the area when it comes to evaluating the effects of implemented measures in line with the Vision Zero and the safe transport system, and we have broad competence and the opportunity to shed light on the issue based on, for example, crash analysis, changed behavior, acceptance and legal aspects.

Examples of projects in the area in which VTI is involved are:

• Advancing the Safe system. An international project under the leadership of the ITF (International Transport Forum) and the World Bank, where VTI led the work to develop a framework on how the safe transport system (Safe System) can be introduced and improved See report "The Safe System Approach in Action" (PDF, International Transport Forum)
  

• Baseline. An EU project that aimed to develop and compare different road safety indicators (KPIs) within the EU. The goal was to develop guidelines for data collection and analysis to be able to use KPIs in the long term to be able to follow up on which areas have the greatest potential for improving road safety.
• Trendline. Continuation of the Baseline project. Aims to improve the indicators from Baseline, develop and evaluate new indicators and highlight how the KPIs can be used to develop various policies and guidelines at national level.
• SAFESIS. A European project that aims to develop a support tool and guide national road authorities to effectively implement and improve the Safe System Approach.
  

To reduce the number of serious injuries and deaths in line with the goals in Vision Zero, more research is needed on which measures are most effective and how to integrate the goals in Vision Zero with other sustainability and work environment goals.

Contact: Anna Vadeby

The starting point of successful road safety work is: What is measured becomes your priority. Sweden has succeeded in reducing the number of deaths and injuries over time by systematically collecting and analyzing data on road traffic crashes.

VTI compiles statistics on crashes and traffic on behalf of contractors that can be used by planners, researchers and the media. The statistics are used to assess and review the development and current state of road safety. VTI also conducts research on the effects of various regulatory, legal and road network measures, as well as on the general development of traffic injuries. The results of this research are used to propose measures to further improve road safety.

The basis for the work is the national crash database Swedish Traffic Accident Acquisition (Strada), where VTI collaborates with the Swedish Transport Agency and has direct access to data on crashes and injuries reported by the Police and the medical services. In our analyses, we link several different data sources, such as the National Road Database (NVDB) and the Patient Register (PAR), and apply advanced statistical models to analyze the effects and outcomes of road safety measures. This includes, for example, analysis of the introduction of road safety cameras (ATK), reduced speeds in urban areas, the prevalence of alcohol and drugs among truck and bus drivers, and the injury consequences of pedestrian and cyclist crashes.

VTI also works with crash data at an international level through several EU projects and as a statistics supplier to the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and the Nordic Road Forum (NVF).

Contact: Christian Howard

The research area of safe active mobility focuses on creating safe and sustainable transport solutions for cyclists, pedestrians and bus passengers. Other forms of micromobility are also being studied, such as the role of electric scooters in the transport system.

By studying and improving various aspects for pedestrians, cyclists and other forms of micromobility for passenger and delivery transport, the research contributes to creating safer, more secure and more inclusive traffic environments for active mobility. VTI's work in this area aims to study and evaluate different perspectives of active travel through, among other things, statistical and data analysis, interview-based studies, etc.

• Some central aspects and projects in this area:
  Pedestrian falls, when do pedestrians fall in traffic and what are the consequences in terms of injuries and sick leave.
• Cycling, where various projects concern, among other things, bicycle battery fires, bicycle theft and the conditions for cycling of different social groups as well as the health effects of cycling.
• Falls on buses and when getting on and off the bus.
  This research contributes to creating a safer and more inclusive environment for all who choose different forms of active travel.
  

Contact: Linnea Kjeldgård