Editor’s Choice Articles

In Spain, a new challenge is emerging due to the increase of many recreational bicyclists on two-lane rural roads. These facilities have been mainly designed for motorized vehicles, so the coexistence of cyclists and drivers produces an impact, in terms of road safety and operation. In order to analyze the occurrence of crashes and enhance safety for bicycling, it is crucial to know the cycling volume. Standard procedures recommend using data from permanent stations and temporary short counts, but bicycle volumes are rarely monitored in rural roads. However, bicyclists tend to track their leisure and exercise activities with fitness apps that use GPS. In this context, this research aims at analyzing the daily and seasonal variability of the Strava Usage Rate (SUR), defined as the proportion of bicyclists using the Strava app along a certain segment on rural highways, to estimate the Annual Average Daily Bicycle (AADB) volume on rural roads. The findings of this study offer possible solutions to policy makers in terms of planning and design of the cycling network. Moreover, the use of crowdsourced data from the Strava app will potentially save costs to public agencies, since public data could replace costly counting campaigns. Full article

Children pedestrians make up 30% of the total number of children injured in road traffic in the EU. Research shows that children are injured more often in the urban areas, in residential areas near schools and parks, often at intersections and pedestrian crossings. In this study, children’s traffic behavior was analyzed by observation of signalized pedestrian crosswalks. According to the same methodology, the research was conducted in three cities in two countries (Enna, Italy, Osijek and Rijeka, Croatia) with different urban and traffic characteristics. A total of 900 measurements were analyzed, 300 in each of the cities at 18 pedestrian crosswalks located in an urban setting in the vicinity of primary schools. A detailed statistical analysis of the influence parameters shows that, as general influence parameters, pedestrian crosswalk length, movement in a group and the age of children can be distinguished. Factors that have proven to have a significant influence on the movement of children in two of the three cities observed are gender, supervision by adults, running and cellphone use. The result can serve as a valuable input for interventions in traffic education as well as a basis for the improvement of traffic conditions at intersections where children are regularly present. Full article

The European Union policy for road safety management is based on the European Directive 2019/1936/EC. Among the safety management procedures and strategies, road safety inspections (RSI) are an effective tool for preventing accident risk and reducing crash frequency and severity for existing road networks. The European Transport Safety Council encourages the extension of these measures to the main urban and rural roads by the 5th Road Safety Action Programme. In light of the above, in this study, a safety performance evaluation through the RSI approach is carried out for a high-risk rural road in Southern Italy in order to identify all the road infrastructure-related features with poor safety conditions. Afterwards, the relationship between infrastructure deficiencies and the frequency and severity of accidents is investigated; a significant relationship between accident density/total number of injured people and road markings gap is found. Furthermore, the results confirm that a high density of driveways strongly impacts crash frequency. The analysis of the contribution of multiple infrastructure-related variables on the crash occurrences is proposed by the identification of several mathematical models. A second-order AIC (Akaike’s information criterion) approach is carried out to compare the five fitted models investigated. Finally, a prediction calibrated model is proposed. Full article

Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADASs) are used for increasing safety in the automotive domain, yet current ADASs notably operate without taking into account drivers’ states, e.g., whether she/he is emotionally apt to drive. In this paper, we first review the state-of-the-art of emotional and cognitive analysis for ADAS: we consider psychological models, the sensors needed for capturing physiological signals, and the typical algorithms used for human emotion classification. Our investigation highlights a lack of advanced Driver Monitoring Systems (DMSs) for ADASs, which could increase driving quality and security for both drivers and passengers. We then provide our view on a novel perception architecture for driver monitoring, built around the concept of Driver Complex State (DCS). DCS relies on multiple non-obtrusive sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for uncovering the driver state and uses it to implement innovative Human–Machine Interface (HMI) functionalities. This concept will be implemented and validated in the recently EU-funded NextPerception project, which is briefly introduced. Full article

Shipping is a high-risk industry and prone to accidents. A near-miss management system is an important aspect of the safety performance in shipping because the causes are the same for near-misses and accidents. Reporting, analyzing, and learning from near-misses can prevent the recurrence of accidents and thus improve safety on ships. This paper addresses near-miss management systems in shipping and provides insights into the quality of the implementation of these systems, with an emphasis on the importance of reporting. Research data were derived from two surveys and supported by data gained from near-miss reports and existing literature reviews. Professional seafarers of various ranks, ages, nationalities, and experiences, serving on tankers, cruise ships, bulk carriers, and container ships, voluntarily participated in these surveys. The first survey comprised 223 participants, and the second survey involved 22 participants. The research results indicate that near-miss reporting is inadequate, and several barriers limit appropriate near-miss reporting. The difficulty of seafarers in identifying near-miss events was found to be one of the major barriers to near-miss reporting at sea. Based on this research, a conceptual model of a near-miss management system was developed, and measures that can be applied to overcome barriers and increase reporting are proposed. Full article

Fully electric ships have been widely developed, investigated and evaluated by the maritime industry as a potential solution to respond to the emissions control required according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). This study aims at presenting a novel approach to evaluate the safety level of a battery-powered high speed catamaran. Following the Formal Safety Assessment procedure, the risk assessment of the considered ship was conducted leading to the identification of the involved hazards along with the estimation of their frequency and consequences thus allowing for the identification of the most severe hazards. Fault tree analysis is carried out for and the identified top events followed by an event tree analysis to estimate the risk and safety level of the vessel. Furthermore, a cost-benefit assessment is conducted to evaluate the financial impact of selected risk control options. The derived results indicate that the application of battery power systems for high speed ferries exhibits low and acceptable accident frequencies. It is also supported the current regulation to carry out mandatory risk assessment for battery-powered ships. Full article

A new concept in the interior design of autonomous vehicles is rotatable or swivelling seats that allow people sitting in the front row to rotate their seats and face backwards. In the current study, we used a take-over request task conducted in a fixed-based driving simulator to compare two conditions, driver front-facing and rear-facing. Thirty-six adult drivers participated in the experiment using a within-subject design with take-over time budget varied. Take-over reaction time, remaining action time, crash, situation awareness and trust in automation were measured. Repeated measures ANOVA and Generalized Linear Mixed Model were conducted to analyze the results. The results showed that the rear-facing configuration led to longer take-over reaction time (on average 1.56 s longer than front-facing, p < 0.001), but it caused drivers to intervene faster after they turned back their seat in comparison to the traditional front-facing configuration. Situation awareness in both front-facing and rear-facing autonomous driving conditions were significantly lower (p < 0.001) than the manual driving condition, but there was no significant difference between the two autonomous driving conditions (p = 1.000). There was no significant difference of automation trust between front-facing and rear-facing conditions (p = 0.166). The current study showed that in a fixed-based simulator representing a conditionally autonomous car, when using the rear-facing driver seat configuration (where participants rotated the seat by themselves), participants had longer take-over reaction time overall due to physical turning, but they intervened faster after they turned back their seat for take-over response in comparison to the traditional front-facing seat configuration. This behavioral change might be at the cost of reduced take-over response quality. Crash rate was not significantly different in the current laboratory study (overall the average rate of crash was 11%). A limitation of the current study is that the driving simulator does not support other measures of take-over request (TOR) quality such as minimal time to collision and maximum magnitude of acceleration. Based on the current study, future studies are needed to further examine the effect of rotatable seat configurations with more detailed analysis of both TOR speed and quality measures as well as in real world driving conditions for better understanding of their safety implications. Full article

Decrements to postural control manifest as an increase in muscle activity, indicating continuous attempts to maintain body equilibrium and postural stability. Extrinsic factors such as footwear, and intrinsic factors such as muscle fatigue, can affect postural stability. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of two types of military footwear and a military-type load-carrying task on lower extremity muscle activity during various postural stability tasks. Sixteen males’ (age: 26.63 ± 3.93 years; mass: 87 ± 12.4 kg; height: 178.04 ± 6.2 cm) muscle activity from knee flexors, extensors, ankle dorsiflexors, and plantar flexors were measured using electromyography in standard (STD) and minimalist (MIN) military footwear, before (PRE) and after (POST) a simulated workload during sensory organization and motor control tests on the Neurocom EquitestTM. Mean muscle activity was analyzed using 2 (footwear) × 2 (time) repeated measures ANOVA with an alpha level of 0.05. Results revealed a requirement of significantly greater muscle activity in POST and STD. MIN demonstrated lesser balance decrements POST workload, which could be attributed to its design characteristics. Results will help in suggesting footwear design characteristics to minimize muscular exertion while eliciting better postural control, and to prevent postural instability due to overexertion in military personnel. Full article

This study employed a deductive research approach and a survey strategy to assess risk perception and its influencing factors among construction workers in Malawi. Three specific construction hazards and their associated risks were selected. The hazards were “working at height (WAH)” “manual handling of loads (MHL)” and “heavy workload or intense pressure to be more productive (HWP).” The study engaged multistage sampling of 376 subjects. Univariate analysis, factor analysis and multiple linear regressions were performed in order to determine the main influencing factors among the independent variables. The study established that workers were aware of risks posed by their work. The majority perceived the risk associated with WAH, MHL and HWP as very high (62.7%, =8.80 ± 1.95); (48.5%, =8.10 ± 2.38); (57.9%, =8.49 ± 2.22) respectively. The study identified six factors as variables that showed a significant effect on workers’ perception of risk (p < 0.05). These factors were: “dreaded factor,” “avoidability and controllability,” “expert knowledge,” “personal knowledge,” “education level,” and “age”. It is concluded that contractors in the Malawian construction industry should integrate analysis of behaviors and risk perception of the workers and other players to guide the identification of better health and safety interventions at their worksites. Full article

Aquatic competencies have been proposed as a prevention strategy for children aged 2–4 years who are over-represented in drowning statistics. For this recommendation to be made, exploration of the connection between aquatic competencies and drowning is required. This review critically analyzed studies exploring aquatic competencies and their effect on drowning and/or injury severity in children 2–4 years. English language peer-reviewed literature up to 31 July 2019 was searched and the PRISMA process utilized. Data were extracted from twelve studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Findings from this study included that aquatic competencies were not found to increase risk of drowning and demonstrated children aged 2–4 years are capable of developing age-appropriate aquatic competencies. Age-appropriate aquatic competencies extracted were propulsion/locomotion, flotation/buoyancy, water familiarization, submersion and water exits. The acquisition of these competencies holds benefit for the prevention of drowning. No evidence was found relating to injury severity. There was limited exploration of the relationship between aquatic competencies attainment and age-related developmental readiness. The review highlights the need for consistent measures of exposure, clarity around skills acquisition, better age-specific data (2 years vs. 3 years vs. 4 years), studies with larger sample sizes, further exploration of the dose–response relationship and consistent skill level testing across age groups. Further investigation is required to establish the efficacy of aquatic competencies as a drowning prevention intervention, as well as exploring the relationship between aquatic competencies and age-related developmental readiness. In conclusion, early evidence suggests aquatic competencies can help to reduce drowning. Full article

Background: Drunk-driving is a major crash risk factor, and crashes resulting from this risky behavior tend to be serious and have significant economic and societal impacts. The presence of passengers and their demographics and activities can influence risky driving behaviors such as drunk-driving. However, passengers could either be an “enabling” factor to take more risks or could be an “inhibiting” factor by ensuring safe driving by a drunk-driver. Objective: This study examines whether the presence of passengers affects the contributing factors of single-vehicle (SV) drunk-driving crashes, by presenting a severity analysis of single- and multi-occupant SV drunk-driving crashes, to identify risk factors that contribute to crash severity outcomes, for the effective implementation of relevant countermeasures. Method: A total of 7407 observations for 2012–2016 from the crash database of the State of Alabama was used for this study. The variables were divided into six classes: temporal, locational, driver, vehicle, roadway, and crash characteristics and injury severities into three: severe, minor, and no injury. Two latent class multinomial logit models—one each for single- and multi-occupant crashes—were developed, to analyze the effects of significant factors on injury severity outcomes using marginal effects. Results: The estimated results show that collision with a ditch, run-off road, intersection, winter season, wet roadway, and interstate decreased the probability of severe injuries in both single- and multi-occupant crashes, whereas rural area, road with downward grade, dark and unlit roadway, unemployed driver, and driver with invalid license increased the likelihood of severe injuries for both single- and multi-occupant crashes. Female drivers were more likely to be severely injured in single-occupant crashes, but less likely in multi-occupant crashes. A significant association was found between severe injuries and weekends, residential areas, and crash location close (<25 mi ≈40.23 km) to the residence of the at-fault driver in multi-occupant crashes. Sport utility vehicles were found to be safer when driving with passengers. Conclusions: The model findings show that, although many correlates are consistent between the single- and multi-occupant SV crashes that are associated with locational, roadway, vehicle, temporal, and driver characteristics, their effect can vary across the single- and multi-occupant driving population. The findings from this study can help in targeting interventions, developing countermeasures, and educating passengers to reduce drunk-driving crashes and consequent injuries. Such integrated efforts combined with engineering and emergency response may contribute in developing a true safe systems approach. Full article

In Israel, a growing use of electric bicycles by youngsters has been noted, with an increase in related injuries. In this study, an observational survey was conducted on typical urban streets, aiming to characterize the riding speeds of young e-cyclists compared to regular cyclists and the associated risk factors in their behaviors. The survey covered 39 sites in eight cities, and included 1054 cyclists. The results showed that mean speeds of young e-cyclists were higher than those of regular cyclists at all types of sites, with a difference of 6–9 km/h. The mean speeds of e-bicycles were below 25 km/h, as prescribed by law, but the 85-percentile speeds were higher. E-cyclist speeds depend on the type of street, road layout and place of riding. More e-cyclists used the roadway compared to regular cyclists, however, on divided roads, more e-cyclists used sidewalks in spite of the law prohibition, thus endangering pedestrians. The majority of cyclists did not wear helmets. The unsafe behaviors of teenage e-cyclists increase the injury risk for themselves and for other road-users. Thus, separate bicycle infrastructure should be promoted in the cities. Road safety education and training of young e-cyclists with stronger enforcement of traffic regulations are also needed. Full article

Objectives: To quantify the odds of fatal injuries associated with drivers involved in single-vehicle, run-off-road (SVROR), injury crashes. Methods: An in-service safety evaluation was carried out using multivariate logistic regression models. Results: The odds of motorist death was lower for w-beam guardrail crashes as compared to tree, pole, and concrete barrier crashes. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant difference between the odds of motorist death in concrete barrier crashes as compared to tree or pole crashes. The odds of motorist death were lower for curbs and collision-free crashes as compared to tree, pole, and barrier crashes. Thus, obstacles should be removed whenever possible and barriers installed only whenever absolutely necessary. The lack of vehicle containment (in barrier crashes) was found: (i) to tend to occur on higher-posted-speed-limit roads and result in a higher percentage of fatal crashes, (ii) to be more prevalent with the less rigid barrier type, and (iii) to result in a consistently higher percentage of fatal crashes under the concrete barrier category. Conclusions: Findings not only support state-of-the-art roadside design guidelines and crash-testing criteria, but they may also be useful in evaluating proposed roadside safety improvements. Full article

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) represent a systems category developed and promoted in the maritime industry to automate functions and system operations. In this study, a novel Combinatorial Approach for Safety Analysis is presented, which addresses the traditional safety methods’ limitations by integrating System Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA), Events Sequence Identification (ETI) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). The developed method results in the development of a detailed Fault Tree that captures the effects of both the physical components/subsystems and the software functions’ failures. The quantitative step of the method employs the components’ failure rates to calculate the top event failure rate along with importance metrics for identifying the most critical components/functions. This method is implemented for an exhaust gas open loop scrubber system safety analysis to estimate its failure rate and identify critical failures considering the baseline system configuration as well as various alternatives with advanced functions for monitoring and diagnostics. The results demonstrate that configurations with SOx sensor continuous monitoring or scrubber unit failure diagnosis/prognosis lead to significantly lower failure rate. Based on the analysis results, the advantages/disadvantages of the novel method are also discussed. This study also provides insights for better safety analysis of the CPSs. Full article

The study investigates how the presence of traffic signalling elements (road markings and traffic signs) affects the behaviour of young drivers in night-time conditions. Statistics show that young drivers (≤30 years old) are often involved in road accidents, especially those that occur in night-time conditions. Among other factors, this is due to lack of experience, overestimation of their ability or the desire to prove themselves. A driving simulator scenario was developed for the purpose of the research and 32 young drivers took two runs using it: (a) one containing no road markings and traffic signs and (b) one containing road markings and traffic signs. In addition to the driving simulator, eye tracking glasses were used to track eye movement and an electrocardiograph was used to monitor the heart rate and to determine the level of stress during the runs. The results show statistically significant differences (dependent samples t-test) between the two runs concerning driving speed, lateral position of the vehicle, and visual scanning of the environment. The results prove that road markings and traffic signs provide the drivers with timely and relevant information related to the upcoming situation, thus enabling them to adjust their driving accordingly. The results are valuable to road authorities and provide an explicit confirmation of the importance of traffic signalling for the behaviour of young drivers in night-time conditions, and thus for the overall traffic safety. Full article

Traffic accident statistics in urban areas, both locally in Croatia and at the European level, identify children as a group of vulnerable road users. The analysis of the parameters that influence the interaction of child pedestrians and other road users requires special attention. This paper presents the results of research about the reaction time of children, measured both in laboratory conditions, via a computer reaction time test, and in actual traffic conditions. The results of the reaction time test in a situation with expected stimuli (a computer test) of children aged 6 to 10 years were compared with the results of the reaction time of adult traffic participants, drivers, who also took part in the computer test. Standard deviations of the reaction times between the control group (drivers, adults) and each subgroup of children were significantly different (p < 0.05). The results suggest that the largest developmental jump occurs between preschool children and first-grade children. In actual traffic conditions, the reaction time of children aged 4 to 16 years at the signalized intersection was measured. The model for predicting the reaction time of children in real traffic conditions was created using a neural network. The model prediction results matched well with the values measured in actual traffic conditions, for the observed intersection (correlation coefficient is 94.56%) and for the validation intersection (correlation coefficient is 92.29%). Parameters influencing children’s reaction times in real traffic conditions were identified by applying both statistical analysis and the neural network model developed. Using both methods, the same key distractors were identified—the movement of children in the group and the use of mobile phones. The case study was conducted at selected signalized intersections in the city of Osijek, Croatia. Full article

The research presented in this paper is focused on the definition of a new methodology for evaluating how illuminated crosswalks influence drivers’ behavior when approaching the zebra in nighttime conditions. The proposed methodology is based on in situ speed measurements, and cars’ speed was detected in an urban road segment of the city of Rome with a Telelaser instrument. Vehicles speed profiles are measured in the same road segment both in LED-illuminated conditions and in non-illuminated conditions. Results have shown a promising impact of the LED lighting system on pedestrian safety. In fact, cars’ mean speed decreases by 19.3% at the crosswalk section in illuminated conditions. Moreover, a positive effect on safety, in terms of mean speed reduction (−16.4%), was found even in the absence of pedestrians. Full article

Inspection authorities such as the Port State Control Memoranda of Understanding use different policies and targeting methods to select vessels for inspections and rely primarily on past inspection outcomes. One of the main goals of inspections is to improve the safety quality of vessels and to reduce the probability of future incidents. This study shows there is room for improvement in targeting vessels for inspections and in determining vessel-specific inspection priority areas (e.g., bridge management versus machinery related items). For the year 2018, sixty percent of vessels that experienced very serious or serious (VSS) incidents were not selected for inspection up to three months prior to the incident and forty percent of the vessels that were inspected still had incidents of which only four percent were detained. Furthermore, one can observe a very low correlation (−0.04) between the probabilities of detention and incidents (VSS) for the year 2018. The proposed approach treats detention and incident types as separate risk dimensions and evaluates seven targeting methods against random selection of vessels using empirical data for 2018. The analysis is based on three comprehensive data sets that cover the world fleet and shows potential gains (reduction of false negative events) of 14–27 percent compared to random selection. This can be further improved by adding eight inspection priority risk areas that help inspectors to focus inspections by providing insight in the individual risk profile of vessels. Policy makers can further customize the approach by classifying the risk of vessels into categories and by selecting inspection targets and benchmark samples. A small application example is provided to demonstrate feasibility of the proposed approach for policy makers and inspection authorities. Full article

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is a hazardous, colorless, flammable gas with a distinct rotten-egg smell at low concentration. Exposure to a concentration greater than 500 ppm of H₂S can result in irreversible health problems and death within minutes. Because of these hazards, operations such as oil and gas processing and sewage treatment that handle or produce H₂S and/or sour gas require effective and well-designed hazard controls, as well as state-of-the-art gas monitoring/detection mechanisms for the safety of workers and the public. Laboratories studying H₂S for improved understanding must also develop and continually improve upon lab-specific safety standards with unique detection systems. In this study, we discuss various H₂S detection methods and hazard control strategies. Also, we share our experience regarding a leak that occurred as a result of the failure of a perfluoroelastomer O-ring seal on a small stirred autoclave vessel used for studying H₂S hydrate dissociation/formation conditions in our laboratory, and discuss how our emergency response plan was activated to mitigate the risk of exposure to the researchers and public. Full article

In order to maximize the public health benefits of cycling, the negative impacts of cycling, such as the number and types of crashes, should be identified. Single-bicycle crashes, in which other road users are not collided with, are one of the main safety concerns in cycling, but comprehensive knowledge on these crashes is not available due to poor data sources. This study aimed to identify characteristics of commuters’ single-bicycle crashes in Finland. Firstly, insurance data covering 9268 commuter bicycle crashes in 2016 and 2017 were analyzed to find single-bicycle crashes. The insurance data are based on self-reported crashes. In total, 3448 single-bicycle crashes were found with crash descriptions that were informative enough for investigation of their characteristics. According to the results, 62.9% (95% confidence interval +/− 1.6%) of the crashes were related to the infrastructure. In the majority of infrastructure-related crashes, the road surface was slippery. The slippery road surface was typically due to icy or snowy conditions. The lack of proper data complicates the recognition of single-bicycle crashes, and hence policy actions and research projects are needed to develop better data sources for proper investigation of cycling safety. Full article

Background: This research sought to understand the perspective of mineworkers regarding incident investigations, with the objective of identifying incident investigations improvement opportunities. First, through interviews, the research sought to identify the causal factors considered during investigations and the reasons for conducting investigations in the Ghanaian mining industry. Secondly, through questionnaire surveys, the study focused on understanding the extent to which a large sample of mineworkers considered the identified causal factors and investigation reasons relevant and applicable in their mine. Method: Data were collected from 41 participants through interviews and 659 respondents through surveys, and the data were analyzed through thematic, content, and statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and correlation analysis. Result: The interviews led to the identification of five and nine categories of incident causal factors and reasons for investigating incidents, respectively. The results suggested a focus on workers’ unsafe acts as the main incident causal factor and identifying the person who caused the incident as one of the major reasons for investigating incidents, as these two factors where the modal choice from both the interviews and survey across all five mines. The results further showed that concerning the accident causal factors and the reasons for investigating incidents, no significant difference was observed between the perspectives of mineworkers involved in investigations and mineworkers with no investigation responsibilities. Conclusion: It can be concluded from the results that talking to ordinary mineworkers does not generate innovative safety responses in this context, as the workers believe whatever they are taught, without critiquing it. Again, the focus on workers’ behavior as an accident causal factor is an indication of single-loop learning in contrast to double-loop learning, and its implication as well as opportunities to strengthen incident investigation focusing on improving organizational safety have been discussed. Full article

A growing body of research has pointed out effective leadership as an important influencing factor for safety performance in various high-risk industrial contexts. However, limited systematic knowledge is available about how leaders can effectively persuade rule compliance, and stimulate actions and participation. Recognizing effective means of influence is of value for safety leadership development and evaluation. This study seeks to empirically investigate leaders’ influence tactics for safety in a maritime context. Qualitative exploration is performed with data being collected through focus group discussions and individual interviews with 41 experienced shipboard leaders from various shipping sectors. Five core influence tactics—coaching, role modeling, pressure, consultation and exchange tactics—appeared to be the shipboard leaders’ effective tactics to influence subordinates’ safety compliance and participation behaviors in ship operations. Safety leadership influences flow from exemplification, expert and personal sources of power, and being pursued through soft and rational influence tactics rather than coercion or constructive inducements. The results indicate that the more relationship-oriented the leaders are, the more effective their safety leadership would be in influencing safety behaviors. The implication of the results for maritime safety leadership research, maritime education and training are discussed. Full article