New Risk Management Study Findings Have Been Reported by Researchers at University of Toronto (Using micro-simulation to investigate the safety…

New Risk Management Study Findings Have Been Reported by Researchers at University of Toronto (Using micro-simulation to investigate the safety impacts of transit design alternatives at signalized intersections)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Current study results on Risk Management have been published. According to news originating from Toronto, Canada, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "This study investigates the use of crash prediction models and micro-simulation to develop an effective surrogate safety assessment measure at the intersection level. With the use of these tools, hypothetical scenarios can be developed and explored to evaluate the safety impacts of design alternatives in a controlled environment, in which factors not directly associated with the design alternatives can be fixed."

Financial support for this research came from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Toronto, "Micro-simulation models are developed, calibrated, and validated. Traffic conflicts in the micro simulation models are estimated and linked with observed crash frequency, which greatly alleviates the lengthy time needed to collect sufficient crash data for evaluating alternatives, due to the rare and infrequent nature of crash events. A set of generalized linear models with negative binomial error structure is developed to correlate the simulated conflicts with the observed crash frequency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Crash prediction models are also developed for crashes of different impact types and for transit-involved crashes. The resulting statistical significance and the goodness-of-fit of the models suggest adequate predictive ability. Based on the established correlation between simulated conflicts and observed crashes, scenarios are developed in the micro-simulation models to investigate the safety effects of individual transit line elements by making hypothetical modifications to such elements and estimating changes in crash frequency from the resulting changes in conflicts."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "The findings imply that the existing transit signal priority schemes can have a negative effect on safety performance, and that the existing near-side stop positioning and streetcar transit type can be safer at their current state than if they were to be replaced by their respective counterparts."

For more information on this research see: Using micro-simulation to investigate the safety impacts of transit design alternatives at signalized intersections. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2017;100():123-132. Accident Analysis and Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis and Prevention - www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from L. Li, University of Toronto, Dept. of Civil Engn, Toronto, ON M5S 1A4, Canada. Additional authors for this research include B. Persaud and A. Shalaby.

Keywords for this news article include: Toronto, Ontario, Canada, North and Central America, Risk Management, University of Toronto.

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