Category: Blog 2016 year

Hasselt University (Belgium, http://www.uhasselt.be/en ) has a "School of Transport Sciences". Its students study, among other subjects, road safety. We visited one of the lectures, talked with the professor and students, took photos. And also made a lecture summary in Ukrainian so that you can feel like you are at a healthy university in a healthy country for at least 10 minutes!

The main entrance to the building where they study transport[/caption] University of Hasselt, course Road Safety Evaluation: Methods and Applications (3145) Lecture "Assessment of problems in the field of road safety in different dimensions", 06.12.2016 Lecturer: Dr. Stijn Daniels, abstract: Viktor Zagreba. What is a "road safety problem (road safety)"? This is any factor that increases the likelihood and severity of the consequences of accidents (accidents). For example, not using seat belts, exceeding the established speed limit, driving under the influence of alcohol, distraction while driving, etc. An objective analysis of road safety aims to identify the problems that make the greatest contribution to road accidents and are subject to influence. For example, driving at night or in the rain increases the risks and consequences of road accidents, but is not very subject to influence. Although it is partially subject to influence - for example, in the Netherlands almost all motorways are lit, and modern cars have more effective systems to assist in driving in slippery road conditions. Other problems are affected much more. According to Elvik (2008), there are nine dimensions of MDD problems:

1. Magnitude (magnitude, importance) - population attributable risk (PAR) - the proportion of people in traffic who are "exposed" to this particular risk, that is, who may be affected.
2. Severity – what consequences does this problem lead to? Measured by fatalities, serious and minor injuries.
3. Externality – an activity of a certain actor that affects the well-being of another actor, when the actor creating this flow does not take this into account in making decisions about this activity. In road safety, these are risks that a group of road users creates for another group. For example, the externality of a road accident involving trucks is much greater than that of a road accident involving bicycles. (Vehicle categorization in road safety research and statistics in Belgium: heavy vehicles, light vehicles, motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, pedestrians)
4. Inequity – differences in risks between different groups of road users based on social, economic, geographical, gender, age, etc. characteristics
5. Complexity – whether a particular problem can be attributed to just one risk factor, or to a multiplicity of factors, each of which makes a small contribution and interacts with each other in a way that is difficult to explain and measure
6. Spatial dispersion – some problems are common across parts of the road network. This is detected by network screening, which locates locations or segments where the highest expected number of road accidents with casualties is expected.
7. Temporal stability – a problem is more important when it increases than when it decreases. For example, in Belgium, the problem of distracted driving is increasing.
8. Perceived urgency – One risk in the field of BDR can be that the problem is not perceived by users as a problem. In this case, the problem may be less amenable to solution than, for example, when it is perceived by everyone as an important problem that requires stronger intervention measures.
9. Amenability to treatment – the availability and prospects of success of possible measures that will solve the problem or mitigate its magnitude. This is influenced by public perception and the cost of investment. For example, the problem of speed is less amenable to treatment than the problem of drink-driving and the problem of visibility of pedestrians and cyclists at night.

Limitations in analyzing BDR problems by measurement:

• Some problems are difficult to observe and measure (such as distraction, falling asleep at the wheel)
• Distorted and incomplete data on road accidents. Road accident statistics are always incomplete (some accidents are not reported to the police) and are often distorted.
• Choosing the right level of analysis – for the country level, it is possible to measure problems across all 9 dimensions, but for a region or city, this is more difficult due to lack of data and small sample sizes.
• There is a correlation between MDD problems – there is an association between, for example, alcohol consumption and speeding. But it is difficult to measure the degree of influence of one on the other.

Summary Previously, the so-called PHOG Approach (prejudice – hunch – opinion – guesswork) was popular in the field of road safety. This approach should be avoided. It has been replaced by rational scientific analysis, which is what this course teaches. Understanding of road safety problems has improved significantly over the past decades and now includes the following fundamental points :

1. There is no "magic pill" that will solve everything. Problems are complex, the factors are always numerous, .
2. The concepts of "cause" and "fault" are not useful for road safety management. They are useful for law enforcement and insurance companies, but not for analyzing and impacting traffic safety.
3. It is important to analyze and reduce the consequences, not just the facts of accidents. For example, cars are becoming better at protecting people involved in accidents.
4. Exposure (i.e., the risk of getting into an accident) is an important indicator, no less important than accident data.
5. Statistical analysis is an important tool for understanding causes and making informed decisions.
6. Research results can be counterintuitive, which is why they are useful.
7. Evaluation is critical. There should be ongoing scientific evaluation of all interventions, including regulations, road design, policing tactics, etc.
8. Rational prioritization. The state's resources are always limited, so priorities must be set based on scientific analysis.

Notes:

1. The main source for this lecture is Dimensions of road safety problems and their measurement (Elvik, 2008).
2. Each point is illustrated with examples from Belgium, Norway and other countries, as well as examples and questions from the audience.
3. Statistics on drunk driving in Belgium (from slides shown at the lecture): on weekdays during the day 1% of drivers drive under the influence of alcohol, during the dark hours on weekdays 6.4% of drivers have an alcohol content up to the established limit, and 2.3% - above the limit). During the dark hours on weekends 8.7% of drivers have an alcohol content up to the limit, and 2.9% - above the limit. Methodology: random breath control by the police.
4. The social consequences of road accidents in the EU are quite high (around 40,000 deaths per year), but the individual risk in the EU and in Belgium in particular is actually very low. For example, in 2014 there were 727 deaths, while cars travelled around 150 billion kilometres on Belgian roads that year, meaning a fatality rate of around 1 case per 200 million car kilometres.
5. The course is taught in English, there are many international students. The cost of studying for a master's degree in transport sciences is 1200 euros per year, this amount includes health insurance and does not include housing, books, etc.

***

During a private trip to Belgium, a member of our team had the opportunity to meet a Belgian police officer. Here is the author's direct speech from his Facebook post: I asked him about the specifics of the work, functionality, division of duties between the local and federal police, and of course about road traffic and its safety. I didn't learn any magical secrets, everything is logical and prosaic: 

• 1) There are patrol crews, but the work is mainly carried out through response to calls (they call it "interventions"); 
• 2) For a city with a population of 120,000, the police have two unmarked patrol cars and, they do not have the inscriptions "police" on them and they have non-police colors. These two cars have a siren and flash lights (hidden near the radiator), and actively stop violators. They are also equipped with violation recording complexes that generate files for automatic processing and sending out speeding fines. These vehicles are driven by uniformed and armed police officers who have exactly the same powers as when driving in marked cars. The same means are used by the federal police on highways.

One of hundreds of unmarked patrol cars in Belgium

• 3) In Belgium, a breathalyzer test is a legal basis for stopping any vehicle at any time and anywhere in the country. Each crew has a breathalyzer. In the event of a positive result exceeding 0.2 ppm, a second breathalyzer test is performed after 15 minutes. Documents are drawn up based on its results. 
• 4) Belgium has a national plan to combat drunk driving, which includes: (a) an educational and promotional campaign "BOB" ; (b) developed tactics and plans for "alcohol control" operations (I posted a video of such an operation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s9AKpatZQg&t=1s ); (c) breathalyzer plans for the entire country, for each province and for each city. That is, there is a task, for example, to conduct 1,000 breathalyzer tests on drivers per month. And this plan is being implemented, conducting 35 breathalyzer tests every day. 
• 5) There are a huge number of speed cameras throughout the city and between cities, including recently introduced segmental speed control, when the average speed on a section is calculated.

And my friend the cop noted that Belgium lags far behind neighboring Holland in the area of traffic safety, and they are constantly learning from their neighbors. And statistics confirm that they are learning well. And it's time for us to learn at least in Belgium. I'll do that tomorrow morning -- I'm going to listen to a lecture at a local university, a Road Safety course. I'll try to publish a summary. PS The blood alcohol limit is 0.2 ppm. The fine for 0.21-0.35 ppm is from 150 to 3,000 euros. If you are drunk over 0.36 ppm, the fine is from 1,200 to 12,000 euros. The punishment depends on the degree of intoxication and the history of violations (the decision is made by the court). If you pass the test with a zero, you also receive an incentive key ring with the inscription "VOV", which means a conscious sober driver.

Viktor Zagreba, 05.12.2016

On October 25, 2016, the "Vision Zero" team, represented by Viktor Zagreba and Andriy Koman, made a one-day study visit to Uzhhorod. A rich and pleasant visit! We presented ourselves to the city council, looked at the city and its people, shared knowledge about scientific approaches and infrastructure solutions, and received a portion of positivity. Travel notes - below.

In the photo: Viktor Zagreba, Marianna Sobran, Andriy Koman, and Uzhhorod Mayor Bohdan Andriyiv.

About the city: - Uzhhorod is a compact European city. In terms of traffic safety, it has natural advantages over other cities in western Ukraine (not to mention eastern Ukraine) - narrow streets, cobblestones, low speed, many cyclists - The number of deaths per year is around 5. The distance to zero is very small. With such a baseline, Uzhhorod may well become the first regional center to reach zero mortality! Let's say, by 2020. Which is what we call for! - We did not see a single underpass or two-level interchange, and this is good for people! (although, perhaps, they exist somewhere?) - The city has many roundabouts, so much so that it "cuts the eye" - this is also good! Roundabouts are a proven and highly effective solution in terms of safety, since they: (a) reduce traffic speed (b) reduce the risks of the most traumatic collision scenarios to zero - side and frontal. We are fans of rings! - Despite the short duration of our visit, we managed to conduct (with the support of local activists -- thanks!) a study of the level of seat belt use. It turned out to be even lower here than in Frankivsk, and there it is at the level of 15%. We will publish the exact result separately. The sample consisted of over 1,300 drivers at 4 observation points. - A few more minuses: at many unregulated crossings there are rather strange large-sized "Pedestrian" signs, which we have not seen in any other city. They should attract attention, but at the same time they hide an entire pedestrian from the driver's view, and the pedestrian obscures the view of the car. A dubious practice, to be honest. It is quite possible that the harm from them in urban conditions is more than the benefit, but it needs to be investigated even more thoroughly.

About people: - The Uzhhorod municipality takes the problem of traffic safety seriously, at the highest level! Our presentation took place in the main hall of the city council, and all city leaders took part in the event, led by the mayor Bohdan Andriyiv, his first deputy, the chief architect, and heads of specialized departments. Thank you for this, Mr. Mayor and gentlemen leaders! - The patrol police of Uzhhorod and Mukachevo, as in almost all cities, are very active and open to cooperation and training - thanks for this too, especially to the head Yuriy Martsenyshyn! - Many activists and journalists came to the meeting, with whom we had an interesting discussion, from whom we asked apt and thoughtful questions. Thank you for this! - The initiator of the visit was Marianna Sobran - a public activist and recently a councilor to the mayor. She found us on Facebook, invited us and organized everything. It is very gratifying that the mayor of Uzhhorod, like the mayors of some other cities, sees value in such "agents of change" and listens to them. This is a good practice, started at one time by Andriy Sadovyi (who at one time invited Oleg Shmid to work), Volodymyr Groysman as mayor of Vinnytsia, and Vitaliy Klitschko in Kyiv (councillor Ksenia Semenova). Finally, this practice has reached other cities!

And now something not about Uzhhorod at all: - The M-06 "Kyiv-Chop" highway, which we drove twice on the section from Stryi, is a spectacle. On the Transcarpathian side, the pavement is already crumbling, pothole repairs will keep it in a tolerable condition for a couple more years, and then it will need to be average. There are significant shortcomings in the organization of traffic, although not systemic. In general, there is just a lack of systematicity -- completely identical sections are implemented differently: sometimes well, sometimes with errors that negatively affect safety. - Let us remind you, "Kyiv-Chop" is the most dangerous long highway in Ukraine, on average it has one corpse per 4 kilometers per year. - On the Carpathian section of the road there is a huge variety of types and forms of road signs in the spirit of "Caution! Dangerous section!". We took about 20 photos, even if you make an exhibition. When there are dozens of signs, sometimes 1-2 per kilometer, they simply lose their meaning and do not work at all - the driver's brain stops noticing them. Someday we will study this in more detail and prepare a separate presentation. This signophilia and amateurism of local "figures" must end. - We stopped only at OKKO on the way and everything was always great. Both the food, and the coffee, and the service. Where does this irrational loyalty to the brand come from? :) - "Hotel Uzhgorod" will easily outshine any hotel with the same name as the city in any city in the center of Ukraine. This is our hypothesis, can anyone confirm or refute it? See you, Uzhgorod!

On September 3-4, at the invitation of the city hall of Mykolaiv (population 500 thousand people), the NGO "Vision Zero" visited the " Urban Development Forum ". Our representative Viktor Zagreba had the opportunity to give two speeches in the city on the Bug - as part of the main plenary program of the forum and at the "City Workshop" in the central squares. 

 Forum organizers and speakers (not all). Both reports were devoted, of course, to our favorite things: a scientific approach to assessing traffic safety; smart and unsmart decisions in street design; the impact of infrastructure on user behavior; practical experience of high-quality projects in Ukraine. In Mykolaiv, we liked: 

• 1) Mykolaiv itself. A well-planned, green, spacious city with an ideal square-nest grid - reminiscent of Chicago or New York, and not at all Vienna or Ivano-Frankivsk. The streets are very wide, you can easily develop them and make them safer, friendly to cyclists and pedestrians. There is one beautiful, wide, pedestrian street in Mykolaiv. True, its pedestrianity is far from perfect, since it is constantly crossed by non-pedestrian streets with car traffic. But it is there, and it is pleasant and popular. And Nikolaev also has a wide expanse of water and endless kilometers of coastline. In such a city, you can live and live! 

Planning of Mykolaiv. View from space

• 2) Mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Senkevych. A modern leader and an educated, thoughtful person who came to local government from an honest IT business, and, having won the elections, fights every day for a better city and a better country. It feels like it's hard, but he already manages to show results! In the first few months, the mayor created a Development Agency with an excellent team of motivated educated people who are rocking the creative class, successfully (and honestly) cooperating with businesses, and attracting international technical assistance and intelligence. It feels like thanks to this mayor and the Development Agency, Mykolaiv is becoming more ambitious and visible every month. And that the team that works with the mayor gets pleasure from work and from the fact that with this leader many ideas get the green light and full support. For a small class of civic activists and urbanists in Ukraine, an adequate mayor is like winning a lottery you didn't even play, so it's self-evident that the local proactive class with Senkevych is simply happy and even risks falling into a personality cult (and you shouldn't!). But even the average, that is, generally passive and skeptical, residents of Mykolaiv, interviewed by us in several taxis, in a bar, and on the beach, all respect their mayor and even, as strange as it may be for them to admit it, trust him. Although the sample is not representative, it's still an indicator for us. Oleksandr, go ahead! You yourself created these high expectations, now you'll have to plow like Elon Musk! Just take care of your health.

Zagreba couldn't help but take a selfie with Senkevych. 

• 3) The reaction of listeners to our messages and our approaches. People of all ages, genders, and professions understand and feel that the old "DAI" approaches to road safety do not lead to anything meaningful, that they have exhausted their potential, if they ever had it at all. People understand that new results cannot be achieved without doing something new, and that the city's streets should not be like those in Mykolaiv. We explain what is specifically "wrong" with them and what our streets can and actually should be in terms of safety, logic, comfort, and aesthetics. We state in which direction our cities need to move in the field of traffic safety - towards zero mortality. And we are pleased that these new ideas and approaches for Ukraine are positively perceived by local leaders, planners, architects, activists, police officers, and ordinary citizens.

"City Workshop". In place of the green area with yellow flowers, a granite Lenin recently stood. It should be noted that we mostly did not like the organization of traffic on the streets of Mykolaiv. Wide lanes that encourage speed. Long zebra crossings. A strange pedestrian street, on which, if you are inattentive, you can get hit by a car traveling 60-80 km/h. Questionable conditions for cyclists, a barely functioning tram network. But all these shortcomings are far from unique - they are in all our cities, this is our Soviet heritage. And they did not outweigh our positive impressions of the visit. In addition, having felt the dynamics that the city is gaining, we believe that its street infrastructure will also begin to change for the better in the next year or two. Thank you to Mykolaiv for the invitation, high-quality organization of events, hospitable reception, energy and ambition! Personal thanks go to Roland, Daria and Vasyl! We wish your warm city sustainable development and safety on the streets, and are always open to cooperation and further professional exchange. 

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The National Police plans to return to the use of hand-held radars on the roads. This news was spread by news agencies, such as "Ukrainian News" , citing the Deputy Head of the Road Safety Department of the National Police, Vasyl Bryantsev. The non-governmental organization "Vision Zero" expresses its full support for these plans for the reasons given below:

1. In Ukraine, since 2015, there has been an incomprehensible and socially harmful situation where there is a complete lack of speed control on roads and streets, and, in our opinion, this is one of the reasons for the worsening situation with accidents and injuries on the roads, despite the successful deployment of the Patrol Police;
2. The use of mobile (hand-held) radars is a standard modern practice in all US states and all European Union countries, as it has been scientifically proven to have a direct impact on the key risk factor - excessive speeding; there is nothing "Soviet" or "traffic police" about this practice that should be feared (see photo evidence below);
3. Since the National Police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have not been able to provide the public with any concrete plans for the deployment of the automatic recording of traffic violations system for 8 months (after the creation of the so-called working group), we expect that the process of creating this system in Ukraine will take another 2 to 5 years. That is why hand-held radars must be returned to use as soon as possible in order to save hundreds or thousands of lives. Human lives should not be the price for delay or lack of competence in the National Police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the government.

In view of this, we ask the National Police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs:

• As soon as possible, implement the announced intentions to return to the use of manual speed control devices, which should be equipped with Patrol Police departments, rapid response groups, and where they are absent, preventive activity units;
• By the end of September 2016, show the public and organize discussions with interested parties (stakeholders) of plans, concepts, sketches, models, strategies or any other documents developed over the past 8 months regarding the automated traffic violation recording system, including the technical, legal and financial components of this system and the criteria and standards for selecting locations for camera placement.

We call on the conscious part of society and the automotive community, local authorities, adequate public organizations, and the media to actively support any measures to return speed control to the roads and streets of Ukraine, because these measures will save hundreds of lives.

06.09.2016

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