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Search results for: ROAD ENGINEERING
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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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Regional implementation of a road safety observatory in Poland
PublicationThe paper outlines the background and goals of the Road Safety Observatory in the Polish region of Warmia and Mazury. While created it was Poland’s first road safety Observatory, both at the regional and central level. Established in line with the methodology proposed in the European project SafetyNet, together with the planned National Road Safety Observatory it will form part of a Europe-wide network of observatories linked with...
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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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Tools for road infrastructure safety management in Poland
PublicationThe objective of road safety infrastructure management is to ensure that when roads are planned, designed, built and used road risks can be systematically identified, assessed, removed and mitigated. There are a number of approaches to road safety management. European Union Directive 2008/96/EC requires EU member states to use four basic tools of road safety infrastructure management. An overview of the methods in these countries...
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The effects of selected factors on regional road fatalities – analysis of the Łódź region
PublicationAnalysis of regional accident records shows that a country’s national road safety programme does not have the same effect in each of its regions. What may be a serious problem in one region may be of marginal significance in another. Polish and international experience shows that main risk groups and types of accidents related to the level of development and quality of the road network differ from region to region. The conclusion...
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Modeling of traffic safety indictors on Polish national road network
PublicationAlthough decreased from 2001 to 2013, Poland’s road deaths improved at a slower rate than the rest of the EU, leaving Poland as one of the worst road safety performing countries in the EU. The national road network in Poland, despite the dynamic transformation and development, still does not conform to the EU safety standards. Similar situation exists in other EU countries, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe. Safety...
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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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Road safety inspection as a tool for road safety management – the polish experience
PublicationIn Poland, road inspections were implemented in June 2014 on all national roads. Previously conducted traffic surveys mainly related to the technical condition of roads, signs and markings; other safety issues were overlooked. The main problem that occurs during inspection is an inspector’s subjective qualitative assessment which affects the classification of the sources of hazard on the road.. The paper presents an analysis of...
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Comparison of road and laboratory measurements of tyre/road noise
PublicationTyre/road noise is one of the major environmental problems related to road traffic. There are several measuring methods of tyre/road noise that may be carried out on the road (for example Coast-down and Close Proximity Method) or in the laboratory (Drum Method). Road measurements are preferred for evaluations of pavement properties while laboratory methods are mostly used to evaluate tyres. One of the biggest problems associated...
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Functionality of road safety devices - identification and analysis of factors
PublicationRoad safety devices are designed to protect road users from the risk of injury or death. The principal type of restraint is the safety barrier. Deployed on sites with the highest risk of run-off-road accidents, safety barriers are mostly found on bridges, flyovers, central reservations, and on road edges which have fixed obstacles next to them. If properly designed and installed, safety barriers just as other road safety devices,...
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Safety PL - a support tool for Road Safety Impact Assessment
PublicationPublished on 19 November 2008, the European Union's Directive 2008/96/EC is one of the most important EU documents setting out a road safety orientation, in particular, road infrastructure safety management. It identifies four main areas of activity: road safety impact assessment, road safety audit, ranking of high accident concentration sections and network safety ranking and road infrastructure safety inspection. The Directive...
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Tools for road infrastructure safety management – Polish experiences
PublicationThe objective of road safety infrastructure management is to ensure that when roads are planned, designed, built and used road risks can be systematically identified, assessed, removed and mitigated. There are a number of approaches to road safety management. European Union Directive 2008/96/EC requires EU member states to use four basic tools of road safety infrastructure management. An overview of the methods in these countries...
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LS-DYNA simulations of the impacts of a 38-ton Heavy Goods Vehicle into a road cable barrier
PublicationNowadays, more and more attention is being paid to safety on roads and motorways. It is due to the continuous development of road and motorway network and a significant increase of the number of vehicles on roads. To meet the expectations of improving road safety in Poland, the Road Innovations Development (RID) research programme was implemented in 2016. The aim of the RID 3A - Road Safety Equipment (RoSE) project is a comprehensive...
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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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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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Temperature influence on tire/road noise evaluated by the drum method
PublicationAmbient air and road surface temperatures substantially affect the road vehicle noise emission. The temperature influence on tire/road noise depends mainly on tire-road combination. It is different for dense and porous pavements, for bituminous and cement ones. It differs also depending on tires. The correction procedures for temperature effect are still under consideration and preparation. Laboratory experiment was prepared to...
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Selected elements of the methodology and method of designing amphibious flood rescue vehicles
PublicationThe methodology of designing amphibious flood rescue vehicles at the preliminary stage of the design process has been presented. The study has been focused on the properties of such vehicles when afloat, with their on-land behaviour and performance characteristics having been left aside. In the study, a general assumption has been made that the amphibious flood rescue vehicles should be designed as, above all, watercraft that additionally...
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Regional Observatory as a Part of Road Safety Information System
PublicationEU experience clearly indicates that it is necessary to inform and motivate the public on road unsafety to undertake specific preventive efforts, as well as making road users feel responsible for the state of road safety and seek to improve this state gradually to protect their health and life. The implementation of the Warmia-Mazury Road Safety Observatory project will not only be an excellent addition to the activities carried...
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Regional observatory as a part of road safety information system
PublicationEU experience clearly indicates that it is necessary to inform and motivate the public on road unsafety to undertake specific preventive efforts, as well as making road users feel responsible for the state of road safety and seek to improve this state gradually to protect their health and life. The implementation of the Warmia-Mazury Road Safety Observatory project will not only be an excellent addition to the activities carried...
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The impact of the Tri-City Ring Road on surface water of small endorheic wetlands
PublicationThe paper presents the results of the impact of the Tri-City Ring Road on small endorheic catchment basins. Particular attention was paid to pollution discharged from the road to the surface water, as well as changes in hydrological conditions in the vicinity of the road. In the study, surface water samples were analysed in terms of their electrolytic conductivity, pH and content of major minerals. GIS was also used to study transformation...
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Road safety information system in Poland - supporting tools and their development
PublicationAs a signatory to the UN Declaration on road safety and member of the EU, Poland has an obligation to comply with relevant EU policies and in particular to halve the overall number of road deaths by 2020. To monitor the progress in reaching the targets, the road safety situation must be evaluated and its processes understood. For this purpose regional and national road safety observatories were launched in Poland, which triggered...
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Innovative Research Into Road Restraint Systems
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, installation and maintenance of road restraint systems [1]. Building such tools requires advanced studies with field tests, simulations and models to demonstrate the effects of selected parameters on road user 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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Assessment of Road Restraint Systems in Polish Conditions
PublicationKey to understanding the needs and tools of road infrastructure management is identifying the hazards and their sources involved in having no or faulty road restraint systems. Clarity is also needed on why the systems are wrongly designed, constructed, built and operated. To ensure that the problem is adequately understood, research and site observations were conducted and...
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Injury Prediction Models for Onshore Road Network Development
PublicationIntegrating different modes of transport (road, rail, air and water) is important for port cities. To accommodate this need, new transport hubs must be built such as airports or sea ports. If ports are to grow, they must be accessible, a feature which is best achieved by building new roads, including fast roads. Poland must develop a network of fast roads that will provide good access to ports. What is equally important is to upgrade...
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Biological hazards in low noise, poroelastic road surfaces
PublicationDrainage pavements as well as poroelastic pavements ("PERS") are a very efficient way to decrease traffic noise by reducing tire/road noise at the source as well as noise propagation over the road surface. Many noise generating mechanisms at the tire/road interface are very much reduced by road porosity (pipe resonance, "air pumping", Helmholtz resonance and the horn effect). A well-designed porous or poroelastic road surface may...
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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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Agnieszka Ubowska dr hab. inż.
PeopleAgnieszka Ubowska, PhD Dsc Eng was born in 1978 in Piła, where she graduated from the Secondary School of Environmental Protection. In the years 1998-2003 she studied at the Faculty of Technology and Chemical Engineering of the Szczecin University of Technology, majoring in environmental protection. She obtained her doctorate in technical sciences in 2008, defending her thesis entitled "Hybrid hydrophilic acrylamide (co)polymers"....
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The use of GIS tools for road infrastructure safety management
PublicationThere are many factors that influence accidents and their severity. They can be grouped within the system of man, vehicle and environment. The article focuses on how GIS tools can be used to manage road infrastructure safety. To ensure a better understanding and identification of road factors, GIS tools help with the acquisition of road parameter data. Their other role is helping with a clear and effective presentation of risk...
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Reduction of Tire Rolling Resistance by Optimization of Road Surfaces and Tires
PublicationDuring interaction between tire and road surface three very important phenomena are always in effect. One of them (very desirable) is friction that is important for traction, braking and cornering. Two other phenomena are not desirable at all, that is rolling resistance and noise. This paper discusses relations between road surface and tire parameters versus tire rolling resistance. Road surface texture, porosity, impedance, strength...
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MODEL OF MULTILEVEL STOCHASTIC ANALYSIS OF ROAD SAFETY ON REGIONAL LEVEL
PublicationIn this paper multilevel approach to the issue of road safety level on the road network of European regions, classified as NUTS 2 in statistical databases of the European Union, has been presented. Following the pattern of many publications on road safety it has been assumed that the risk calculated as the number of death casualties in road accidents per 100,000 inhabitants of a given region has Poisson distribution. Therefore,...
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Adaptive traffic optimization using Variable Speed Limits; Adaptacyjna optymalizacja ruchu drogowego przy pomocy zmiennych ograniczeń prędkości
PublicationVariable speed limits (VSL) is an intelligent transportation system (ITS) solution for traffic management. The speed limits can be changed dynamically in order to adapt to traffic, weather, or road surface conditions. This paper presents an approach for such an adaptive traffic control where the primary goal is to ensure traffic safety and efficiency of the traffic control system (fast response to dynamically changing traffic,...
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Tyre/road noise of passenger car tyres, including tyres for electric vehicles - road measurements
PublicationThe paper presents the results from CPX measurements of tyre/road noise performed for selected passenger car tyres, including the tyres especially designed for electric vehicles. The tyres have been measured when rolling on several typical road surfaces in Norway and in Poland. In addition, the tyres have been measured on some very low noise road surfaces, such as a the poroelastic road surface (PERS). The measurement results...
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Application of road map of operating condition for estimation of fuel and electric energy consumption from city transport
PublicationThe paper presents procedure of data collecting and generation of road map of operating condition in the selected urban area. This map allows forecasting the selected vehicle operating parameters for the assumed road. The main parameters calculated using the road maps of operating conditions are: total energy spent to drive the selected vehicle, consumed fuel, travel time, average speed of travel, CO2 emissions. Presented example...
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Poroelastic Low Noise Road Surfaces
PublicationNoise is one of the most important problems related to road traffic. During the last decades, noise emitted by engine and powertrain of vehicles was greatly reduced and tyres became a clearly dominant noise source. The paper describes the concept of low noise poroelastic road surfaces that are composed with mineral and rubber aggregate bound by polyurethane resin. Those surfaces have a porous structure and are much more flexible...
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Ultra Low Noise Poroelastic Road Surfaces
PublicationNoise is one of the most important environmental problems related to road traffic. During the last decades, the noise emitted by the engines and powertrains of vehicles was greatly reduced and tires became a clearly dominant noise source. The article describes the concept of low noise poroelastic road surfaces that are composed of mineral and rubber aggregate bound by polyurethane resin. Those surfaces have a porous structure and...
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Further development of the poroelastic road surface within the new Polish project SEPOR
PublicationRoad surfaces have a direct impact on noise generated by rolling tyres, the main and dominant source of noise of moving vehicles. Road surface texture, porosity and stiffness/elasticity govern the pavement contribution to tyre/road noise the most. An experimental PoroElastic Road Surface (PERS) is a wearing course with a high content of interconnected voids (pores) and with an elastic behavior due to the use of small particles...
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Study on the prevalence of mobile phone use by car drivers – the case of Poland
Publication: Distracted driving is a significant factor affecting road safety and it can occur as a result of using mobile phones while driving. The aim of the current research is to present the prevalence of mobile phone use by Polish car drivers, based on the roadside and online survey. The field study showed that 11.6% of 1867 drivers were using mobile phones while being in motion and 26.1% of 203 drivers when stopped in front of traffic...
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Characterization of diatomaceous earth coated with nitrated asphaltenes as superior adsorbent for removal of VOCs from gas phase in fixed bed column
PublicationAsphaltenes isolated from bitumen possess unusual adsorption characteristics that can be further enhanced by chemical modifications to promote interactions with VOCs’. Herein, nitrated asphaltenes are used as an active layer coated on a surface of a diatomaceous earth, in order to prepare an efficient adsorbent (AsfNitro). Breakthrough experiments with benzene, pyridine, and 1-nitropropane revealed significant increase in adsorption...
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Pedestrian safety in road traffic – studies, recommendations and proposed improvements
PublicationPedestrians are involved and most frequently the victims of every third road accident in Poland. Pedestrian accidents most frequently occur in complex circumstances, as a result of many factors related to the behaviour of drivers and pedestrians. The basic parameters that determine road safety include the perception of traffic and visibility on the road. The paper will present the results of research conducted within the project...
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INFLUENCE OF MEASURING CONDITIONS ON TYRE/ROAD NOISE
PublicationA decisive factor for the development of tyres and road surfaces is the ability to conduct representative and reproducible measurements of selected characteristics related to the interaction of tyres and road surfaces. In terms of tyre/road noise measurements in Europe two methods described in ISO/FDIS 11819-2 and ECE Regulation No.117 are used. The latter is compulsory for assigning the tyre noise labels. The methodologies differ...
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CERTIFICATION SYSTEM AS A TOOL FOR IMPROVING THE SAFETY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF SCHOOL-RELATED TRAVELS
PublicationDespite the well-established physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and spatial benefits of active and autonomous school commuting of children and adolescents', many are driven by car. Pilot surveys and field research held in 2019 in 10 Gdansk primary schools confirmed this trend. The article presents a certification system for schools, commissioned by the City of Gdańsk, which is an element of a systemic solution shaping patterns...
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Fault diagnosis of marine 4-stroke diesel engines using a one-vs-one extreme learning ensemble
PublicationThis paper proposes a novel approach for intelligent fault diagnosis for stroke Diesel marine engines, which are commonly used in on-road and marine transportation. The safety and reliability of a ship's work rely strongly on the performance of such an engine; therefore, early detection of any type of failure that affects the engine is of crucial importance. Automatic diagnostic systems are of special importance because they can...
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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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Low Noise Poroelastic Road Pavements Based On Bituminous Binder
PublicationTire/road noise is the dominant source of traffic noise. It depends both on the tire design and on the characteristics of road pavements as well as on the vehicles’ operating conditions. Due to the fact that conventional (pneumatic) car tires have almost reached the limits of their ability to further reduce their noisiness, it is widely believed that the additional reduction of tire noise will be possible mainly through modifications...
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Abstract class method use on common characteristics of UE regions for better road safety management in these regions.
PublicationRoad Safety is the significant problem requiring still a lot of attention. Despite lots of actions for road fatalities reduction, in many countries or regions situation doesn't improve as good as in the other cases. Even if these actions are very similar. It is so difficult issue, that the answer why is that happens hasn't been found yet. In this paper authors focused on the road network of European regions, classified as NUTS...
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Studying road restraint systems to develop new guidelines
PublicationThe paper will present a proposed approach to such work along with preliminary results of numerical studies for selected problems using road safety devices such as safety barriers on horizontal curves, the effect of kerbs on bridges or the location of obstacles within the barrier’s working width. The paper will discuss assumptions to a methodology of numerical models, calculations and automated processing of data to help with assessing...
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Automated Parameter Determination for Horizontal Curves for the Purposes of Road Safety Models with the Use of the Global Positioning System
PublicationThis paper presents the results of research conducted to develop an automated system capable of determining parameters for horizontal curves. The system presented in this article could calculate the actual course of a road by means of a two-stage positioning of recorded points along the road. In the first stage, measurements were taken with a Real-Time Network (RTN) receiver installed in a research vehicle. In the second stage,...
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Low noise poroelastic road pavements based on modified asphalt binder
PublicationTire/road noise is one of the most important environmental problems related to road traffic. As the most effective way to fight noise is reduction of sound emission from the source, a lot of work is being done to improve tire and road surfaces construction. This paper describes the first “road” results obtained within the SEPOR project, which is focused on developing a low noise poroelastic road surface based on bituminous binder....
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ROAD SAFETY FOR CYCLISTS BASED ON THE CALORIES NEEDED
PublicationCyclists are a vulnerable group of road users, especially when no separate infrastructure for cyclists is provided. Then, road factors such as distance and altitude differences can indirectly affect cyclists' safety. Therefore, the authors proposed a procedure based on the geometric characteristics of the road that can determine riding difficulties for cyclists. The proposed procedure can be used both by the public authorities who...