Search results for: ROAD SAFETY
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Vision Zero in Poland
PublicationPoland’s experience of road safety work is relatively short. In the early 1990s road deaths soared to a staggering 8000 a year. A diagnosis found that Poland’s lack of systemic road safety action was to blame for those figures. In response, the state set up road safety bodies and commissioned road safety programs. In 2005, Poland followed the example of Sweden and adopted Vision Zero as a far-reaching concept of changes in road...
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Assessing Tram Infrastructure Safety Using the Example of the City of Gdańsk
PublicationAnalysis of Gdańsk’s tram network statistics shows that incidents are quite frequent (about 650 within 5 years) and mostly involve collisions and crashes. As well as reducing the tram systems’ efficiency and reliability, incidents have a nega-tive effect on road safety. As Polish cities extend their tram networks, they must also ensure that their existing networks are safe. This is to be achieved by conducting safety assessments....
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The role of numerical tests in assessing road restraint system functionality
PublicationKey to understanding the needs and building road infrastructure management tools to prevent and mitigate run-off-road accidents is to identify hazards and their sources which are a result of wrong design, construction, and installation of road restraint systems. Building such tools requires advanced studies with field tests, simulations and models to demonstrate the effects of selected parameters on road user safety. The research...
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Solid road environment and its hazards
PublicationAccidents that involve vehicles departing the road tend to have very high severity, as they often result in the vehicle hitting a permanent obstacle (which can be a ree, a pole, facility pillar, front wall of a culvert or a barrier). In recent years, this type of accident caused approx. 19% of all road deaths in Poland. A particularly high risk can be observed on roads located in northern and western...
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Experiences and Challenges in Fatality Reduction on Polish Roads
PublicationAccording to the UN, road safety is the key to achieving sustainable development goals, yet the complexity of how road accidents happen makes this a difficult challenge leaving many countries struggling with the problem. For years, Poland has infamously been one of the EU’s top countries for road-accident fatality rates. Despite that, it has made significant progress in the last thirty years with a fatality reduction of more than...
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Risk assessment methodologies for pedestrian crossings without traffic lights – Warsaw case study – pedestrian safety assessment
PublicationBased on data from 2015 [1], it was found that 31% of all fatalities in road accidents in Poland were pedestrians. In places accessible to pedestrian traffic 74.2% of total accidents involving pedestrians were recorded. Approximately 53.9% of accidents involving pedestrians take place in the proximity of pedestrian crossings. In the context of improving the safety of vulnerable road users, an assessment of the condition of infrastructure...
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The guidelines and principles for planning and design of road restraint systems
PublicationThe project RID 3A Road Safety Equipment (RoSE) implemented by the Gdansk University of Technology within the RID programme, aims to conduct a comprehensive study and analyses of different vehicle containment systems (PN-EN 1317) and types of support structures (PN-EN 12767) and their performance. Within the project an analysis will be conducted of available research reports...
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LIDAR data from the measurement of a bridge structure along a S7 road in the vicinity of Ostróda.
Open Research DataThe measurement data was acquired during research aimed at utilizing LiDAR observations to assess the condition of bridge structures. The provided information originates from measurements of a road bridge located along a modernized national road near the town of Ostróda. The obtained point cloud constitutes a comprehensive set of information regarding...
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Effects of safety barrier life cycle cost factors - identification and analysis
PublicationThe costs borne by road infrastructure authorities for managing and maintaining road devices such as safety barriers may be very high. This has prompted the need for identifying and analysing in detail all factors that influence the costs of safety barriers throughout their service life. To meet that need, the authors used international experience and field data collected under the LifeRoSE project to define the cost structure...
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Numerical Analysis of TB32 Crash Tests for 4-cable Guardrail Barrier System Installed on the Horizontal Convex Curves of Road
PublicationHorizontal curves are one of the elements of road infrastructure where statistically a relatively high number of accidents have been reported. In the last ten years in Poland approx. 10% of all road accidents happened on horizontal curves of roads and was responsible for approx. 14% of all fatalities on Polish roads. Thus, this issue is important and requires extensive research and proper road safety treatments. One possible measure...
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APPLICATION OF THE GWR MODEL FOR PREDICTING THE ROAD FATALITIES RATE ON THE ROAD NETWORK IN THE NUTS 3 REGIONS IN EUROPE ON THE EXAMPLE OF KUYAVIAN- -POMERANIAN VOIVODESHIP
PublicationThe article presents the application of the GWR (Geographically Weighted Regression) model to the description of differences in the level of road traffic safety in individual counties on the example of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. The GWR model developed for counties, taking into account the diversity of NUTS 3 regions, can be a helpful tool for traffic safety management in voivodships and lower administrative units, and...
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Aleksandra Romanowska dr inż.
PeopleEmployee in the Highway and Transportation Engineering Department at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, Poland. Her research interests include: modelling of road traffic, road safety, trip generation, transport behaviour and preferences of academic societies, planning sustainable urban mobility. In 2019 she was granted a PhD degree, under the supervision of Prof. Kazimierz Jamroz...
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Why are trees still such a major hazard to drivers in Poland?
PublicationRoadside trees are one of Poland's most serious road safety issues. Since 2009 more than 2800 people have been killed as a result of tree collisions; this represents about 15% of all of Poland's accident fatalities between 2009 and 2013. In some of the country's regions striking a tree caused more than 30% of all road accident fatalities. With no proper regulations, guidelines or examples of good practice, roadside environments...
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Polish Experience of Implementing Vision Zero
PublicationPurpose of Review The aim of this study is to present an outline and the principles of Poland’s road safety strategic programming as it has developed over the last 25 years since the first Integrated Road Safety System with a strong focus on Sweden’s “Vision Zero”. Recent Findings Countries that have successfully improved road safety have done so by following strategies centred around the idea that people are not infallible and...
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Comparison of requirements for location, maintenance and removal of road advertising between polish and foreign regulations
PublicationThe article gives an overview of Polish and international formal and legal requirements for roadside advertising and the relevant road safety impacts. The analysis focussed on outdoor advertising life cycle consisting of three stages: location, operation and removal of advertising. Experience of road authorities from Australia (Queensland), Republic of South Africa and the United Kingdom was collected. The article is part of a...
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Assessment of the Influence of Road Infrastructure Parameters on the Behaviour of Drivers and Pedestrians in Pedestrian Crossing Areas
PublicationPedestrians are participants and, most likely, fatalities in every third road traffic accident in Poland. Over 30% of all fatalities on Polish roads are pedestrians. Accidents with pedestrians are very often the result of various factors related to the infrastructure and behaviour of pedestrians and drivers. The objective of the work was to assess driver and pedestrian behaviour in pedestrian crossing areas. The research also served...
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Conditions and capacity for implementing Poland’s vision zero
PublicationSince 1991 Poland has been systematically reducing its traffic hazard. Despite considerable progress Poland is still among the most dangerous countries in the European Union. The key types of actions that help to reduce fatalities include enhancement of pedestrian safety, reducing the number of speeding drivers and eliminating or reducing hazard on the road. The paper presents a brief diagnosis of the state of road safety in Poland...
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The Role of Greenery and Traffic Calming Measures in Planning of Road Infrastracture
PublicationThe role of greenery and traffi c calming measures in road infrastructure planning. The “life” of a town is connected with its infrastructure. So it is that, apart from serving their principal function, motorways, roads, airports and other facilities which make transport possible largely determine contemporary urban design. To achieve balanced forms of urban infrastructure that ensure comfort, safety and spatial order, it is necessary when...
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Numerical simulation of the influence of the selected factors on the performance of a concrete road barrier H2/W5/B
PublicationThis paper discuss the influence of selected factors on the performance of a concrete road barrier H2/W5/B. Modelling techniques of a concrete road safety system were briefly discussed. Comparison to the full scale crash test results has been shown. The concrete road safety barrier has been investigated for evaluation of the overall damage after collision under various initial conditions. The failure assessment criterion has been...
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Assessing vehicle restraint systems on horizontal curves
PublicationHorizontal curves, an element of road infrastructure, have a statistically high number of accidents. Considering that horizontal curves in the last ten years have had app. 10% of all road accidents representing app. 14% of all fatalities on Polish roads, the issue is serious and requires more research and proper road safety treatments. Data for 2007 - 2016 show that in the case of accidents on horizontal curves app. 45% of the...
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Identification of safety hazards and their sources in tram transport
PublicationBoth in Poland and in most countries of the European Union, the tram infrastructure is extensively expanding. Contemporary low-floor trams are constructed according to different technical assumptions than typical railway vehicles or high floor trams. In Poland such vehicles rides often on lines designed according to standards developed to the classical vehicles. At the same time, the intensity of road traffic and the number of...
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Assessing unsignalised pedestrian crossings
PublicationThe lack of pedestrian safety on crossings is a complex problem and one that is influenced by a number of factors such as the law, road traffic culture, the road and traffic. This paper will focus on the last two by presenting a method for assessing pedestrian crossings for their geometry and roadside using data from 930 pedestrian crossings in Warsaw. The authors of this paper have attempted to systematise the process of assessment...
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Numerical methods for the assessment of bridge safety barriers
PublicationThe paper presents a numerical study of the bus crash test for bridge safety barriers. The analysis is conducted with the use of explicit code LS-DYNA. The problem of hourglass effect in shell elements is discussed. The simulations of bus impact against the barrier show that the analyzed barrier withstands the impact forces and restrains the bus trajectory to the bridge road.
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Protection of Pedestrians as the Key Action for Implementing - Poland’s Vision Zero
PublicationWHO reports show that pedestrians account for 10 to 70% of total road crash fatalities. In Poland, pedestrians also represent a significant road safety problem. For many years, pedestrian collisions have accounted for approx. 30% of total road crashes with more than 30% of pedestrians killed. Therefore, pedestrian safety has been one of Poland’s main objectives in its road safety programs implemented over the past 20 years. The...
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System for monitoring road slippery based on CCTV cameras and convolutional neural networks
PublicationThe slipperiness of the surface is essential for road safety. The growing number of CCTV cameras opens the possibility of using them to automatically detect the slippery surface and inform road users about it. This paper presents a system of developed intelligent road signs, including a detector based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and the transferlearning method employed to the processing of images acquired with video...
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Speed management on local government managed roads – research, recommendations and guidelines
PublicationCommissioned by the National Road Safety Council Secretariat, the project “Guidelines for speed management on local government managed roads” studied car driver be haviour when subjected to selected speed management measures such a local speed restrictions, surveillance, traffic calming and restricted speed areas. In addition, analyses were conducted on the impact of selected me asures...
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PERS - QUIET ROAD SURFACE FOR URBAN AREAS
PublicationTraffic noise is one of the most important environmental problems in densely populated urban areas. At low speeds the tyre/road interaction dominates all other sources. It is anticipated that when electric and hybrid vehicles gain dominance in city traffic, the importance of tyre/road noise will still increase as electric engines are much less noisy than combustion engines. On the other hand, electric and hybrid urban vehicles...
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Determinants and effects of Poland’s road accidents in the context of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development – poviat level analysis for the years 2010-2019
PublicationThe objective of the research was to assess how selected factors influence road safety in Poland’s poviats. To that end, an analysis was conducted of road accident determinants and effects in the poviats in the years 2010-2019. The time horizon fits in with Goal 3.6. of Agenda 2030, which is to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2020. The article pres-ents the analysis results for the...
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Proposed method for estimating the costs of safety barrier life cycle
PublicationToday barrier types are frequently selected for their price with little regard for the total costs the structure will incur over its lifetime. One of the basic tools designed to manage road infrastructure is the life cycle cost method (LCC, Life cycle cost). It sums up the costs to plan, design, build, operate (use and maintain) and decommission a road structure. Having developed dynamically at the turn of the century the method...
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Examining the Impact of Distance Between VSL Road Signs on Vehicle Speed Variance
PublicationVariable speed limit (VSL) is an intelligent transportation system (ITS) solution for traffic management. The speed limits can be changed dynamically to adapt to traffic conditions such as visibility and traffic volume, curvature, and grip coefficient of the road surface. The VSL traffic sign location problem and attempts to solve it using computer simulation are presented in this paper. Experiments on a selected road segment,...
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Road surface roughness estimation employing integrated position and acceleration sensor
PublicationAssessment of a surface quality being an essential task for the authorities supervising the roads provides the subject of the paper. Information about riding quality of a pavement, important for drivers, both in terms of their comfort and safety is collected during experiments employing mobile sensors. The paper describes the use of a miniature position and acceleration sensor for evaluation of the roughness of the road surface....
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The influence of road surface unevenness on tyre rolling resistance
PublicationThe geometric characteristics of road surface substantially affect the interaction between tyre and road. Depending on pavement texture wavelength, the texture chiefly affects tyre/road friction, rolling resistance, interior and exterior noise, tyre wear, and ride comfort. The article presents results of investigations on the influence of road surface unevenness on the rolling resistance of passenger car and truck tyres. The tests...
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The safety issue of roadside advertising – comparison of polish and abu dhabi regulations
PublicationIn Poland a large number of advertisements are located by the roadside. These ads do not support road traffic management and unlike the road marking system are not subject to any regulations. The advertiser’s goal is to communicate a message to as many recipients as possible. Drivers with different individual abilities, such as attention focusing, eye accommodation, speed of information processing, can be distracted, blinded or...
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CFFT columns in road through railroad crossings
PublicationThere were 12801 road through railroad one-level crossings in Poland in 2018. 215 accidents happened at them in 2018. In order to increase safety in rail and road traffic two-level crossings should be used. They are definitely safer and make the traffic more smooth. In the design and construction of two-level intersections of railway and road or path columns of circular cross-section are often used. They can be successfully replaced...
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The multivariate multilevel analisis of different regional factors impact on road saferty in european country regions = Wielopoziomowa analiza wieloczynnikowa wpływu różnych charakterystyk regionalnych na poziom bezpieczeństwo ruchu w regionach krajów europejskich
PublicationIn this research, the effect of the European regional differences on the risk of been killed in road accident in these regions is investigated. Factors which differentiate regions can be described as automotive, economic, infrastructural, demographic, geographic. Analyzed risk, counted as regional fatality rate was modeled by the Poisson model. Because of regional diversity of Poisson distribution parameters, the Poisson distribution...
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Impact of Intelligent Transport Systems Services on the Level of Safety and Improvement of Traffic Conditions
PublicationThe positive effects of the services of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) on the level of transport systems operation was confirmed by long-term studies conducted, inter alia, in the USA, Japan and Europe. Benefits resulting from the application of ITS services can be presented through performance indicators. The indicators represent in a numerical or qualitative manner to what extent ITS services can contribute to improving...
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Analysis and design improvement of high class roads’ arched sections in Poland
PublicationAlthough Polish road network standards, in particular higher classes of roads are improving dynamically the number of fatalities on the network is still higher that EU’s average. Ensuring road safety and high maintaining standards is a complex issue and one that poses a major challenge for all road authorities. Road accidents at high speed roads characterize specially serious material and social consequences, thus research into...
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Analysis of road accident causes in the voivodships in the years 2014-2021 in the aspect of socio-economic costs – towards the implementation of sustainable development
PublicationThe article addresses the topic of road safety. The objective of the research was to assess road accidents caused by voivodships. The analysis took account of the socio-economic differences in the voivodships, which deter-mine the unit costs of fatalities and injuries. A descriptive analysis is given to show the dynamics of changes in the years 2014-2021 in the voivodships and how different factors influenced change. The article...
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Pedestrian and bicycle bridges as examples of safe collision-free road crossings
PublicationPedestrians are most at risk when they are crossing the road. This represents a significant proportion of all fatalities among pedestrians, amounting respectively to 50% in non-built-up areas and 75% in built-up areas. The most frequent reason for this accident is failure to give way. What is most terrible is that 30% of pedestrian accidents occurred at marked pedestrian crossings. Therefore, an important part of pedestrian safety...
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Technical and Economic Analysis of the Implementation of Selected Variants of Road Investment
PublicationThe aim of the article is to analyze three variants of modernization and reconstruction of a road intersection, which in practice is the cause of numerous collisions and accidents. Detailed design solutions are presented for them. The aim of the analyses is to indicate an effective solution that, taking into account technical modifications of the road system elements, will ensure the functionality of the road system to the highest...
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Ryszard Woźniak dr inż.
PeopleRyszard Woźniak received his M.Sc. (1984) from the Lublin University of Technology specializing in Cars and Tractors. In 2002, at the Gdansk University of Technology he defended his doctoral thesis on: "Tyre/road noise when large longitudinal forces are applied in tyre/road contact patch" and obtained a doctorate degree in technical sciences in the field of construction and operation of machines. Currently he is an adjunct at the...
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Machine learning applied to acoustic-based road traffic monitoring
PublicationThe motivation behind this study lies in adapting acoustic noise monitoring systems for road traffic monitoring for driver’s safety. Such a system should recognize a vehicle type and weather-related pavement conditions based on the audio level measurement. The study presents the effectiveness of the selected machine learning algorithms in acoustic-based road traffic monitoring. Bases of the operation of the acoustic road traffic...
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Machine learning applied to acoustic-based road traffic monitoring
PublicationThe motivation behind this study lies in adapting acoustic noise monitoring systems for road traffic monitoring for driver’s safety. Such a system should recognize a vehicle type and weather-related pavement conditions based on the audio level measurement. The study presents the effectiveness of the selected machine learning algorithms in acoustic-based road traffic monitoring. Bases of the operation of the acoustic road traffic...
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Selected Problems of Transport in Port Towns – Tri-City as an Example
PublicationPort towns are strategic places from the point of view of transport systems. They form integration junctions for various transport branches , apart from the traditional - road and railway ones , also for water( sea) transport which is active there. Moreover, air transport comes also into consideration , whose efficient functioning must be connected with good accessibility, that concerns sea transport as well. Efficient and...
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Development of Intelligent Road Signs with V2X Interface for Adaptive Traffic Controlling
PublicationThe objective of this paper is to present a practical project of intelligent road signs, under which a series of new products for the regulation of traffic is being created. The engineering part of the project, described in this paper, was preceded by a series of experimental studies, the results of which were described in another paper accepted for publication at the MTS-ITS conference 2019, entitled "Comparative study on the effectiveness...
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LIDAR data from the measurement of a WD113 bridge structure
Open Research DataThe measurement data was obtained during research related to the utilization of LiDAR observations to assess the condition of bridge structures. The provided data comes from measurements of viaduct WD113 located along a newly built national road near the town of Koszalin. The acquired point cloud constitutes an integral set of information regarding...
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Evaluating the convenience and safety effects of bicycle lanes in Gdańsk
PublicationBicycle lanes are lanes marked on a road and dedicated for exclusive use for cyclists.. Because they combine bike and motor traffic they provide directness and flow. However, a shared use of streets could result in bicycle-car accidents. Following up on the good practice Western countries have in planning cycle infrastructure, Gdańsk has recently introduced bike lanes on a few streets. The aim of the research was to assess the...
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Experimental and numerical analysis of the modified TB32 crash tests of the cable barrier system
PublicationRoad restraint systems, including safety barriers, are one of the means used to improve road safety. Currently, they can be allowed to general use after passing the specific crash tests. However, it is always important and desirable to evaluate their performance under various realistic conditions, which can happen on the roads. In this study, the behaviour of the cable barrier system in impact conditions different than assumed...
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Roads unsafety - social costs
PublicationThe condition of road safety has a significant impact on the quality of citizens' life. Yearly, one in a hundred families in Poland suffers because of road accidents. It is affected by them not only in material terms but first and foremost in moral terms. Road accidents are one of the main causes of degradation in the quality of life. In Poland we hardly know anything about the fate of the road traffic victims, their life problems...
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Analysis of passenger car crash with a cable barrier installed with anti-glare screens on a horizontal convex road curve with 400 m radius
PublicationHigh-tension cable barriers have been used on roads for a relatively short period compared with other types of road barriers. Hence, there remains a need for further research on various crash scenarios. An important issue is the performance of a cable barrier on a road curve, particularly when a vehicle impacts the convex side of the barrier. To address this issue, the analysis in this study considers a system of anti-glare screens...