Travel And Traffic Information
Pre-trip
Portable on line interactive services using standard digital mobile networks, based on real time information have been used successfully to provide a wide range of traveller and public information services including traffic information and hazard warnings; public transport information, and tourist and visitor information. A number of static public access terminals were also installed to enable members of the public access to a core database providing a range of traveller information with one of the key objectives being to assess the success of spreading the demand for travelling services. 92% of those using the terminals found the information very adequate and 72% very accurate. In general, the public access terminals were welcomed by the survey respondents. Most people found the terminals easy to use. The Munich and Rhine Corridor Trial found RDS-TMC services were used in about 70 % of trips for pre-trip information. There was also evidence of a substantial increase in peoplesâ knowledge about public transport services after using the terminals. 60% of the users were influenced by the information provided, 40% changed their departure time, 30% changed the departure date and 20% used an alternative route. Advice given by the road operator led to a spreading use of the road network especially during rush-hours. There was, however, no significant change to other transport mode when the first choice corresponded to the road.
On-trip information on vehicle
A diversity of in-car systems have evolved during the time scales of the programme with various traffic information, navigation and dynamic route guidance functions. One of the main aims being to provide on-board information about the state of the traffic in real time and therefore improving driversâ knowledge of road network conditions. Only a small number of vehicles were equipped with on board information systems and the results obtained need to take into account the small sample of subjects. Those involved rated relevance, accuracy, timeliness, credibility and comprehensibility as being average to good.
In Birmingham, Trieste-Brescia, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhine Corridor and Kent Corridor, on average 70 % of the questioned drivers were "satisfied" or even "very satisfied" with the RDS-TMC service. In-depth studies in Munich and Rhine Corridor showed that drivers considered RDS-TMC information "useful" or "very useful" in 82 % of the trips made. The majority (92 %) of test drivers in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhine Corridor support full-scale RDS-TMC implementation in Europe. More than 50% of the drivers complied with the information. 85% of the test drivers is Rhine Corridor, Trieste Brescia, Birmingham, Kent Corridor and Munich indicated a willingness to buy in-vehicle equipment but the price for the extra RDS-TMC facility should not exceed 100 ECU. The majority (70%) of the subjects concluded that the RDS-TMC system proved to be satisfactory, contributing to a decrease in uncertainty of journey time. About 77 % of test drivers in North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhine Corridor and Munich consider the service "easy" or "very easy" to use. One of the most important features contributing to the added value is the possibility to request information when wanted. The possibilities to select messages and to repeat messages were found to be another important feature in more than one field trial.
An RDS-TMC message on congestion relevant to drivers led to a change of route in 20%-24 % of trips in trials in Munich, Kent Corridor and Rhine Corridor. A simulation study in North Rhine-Westphalia found that total travel time can be decreased by 3%-9% by using RDS-TMC service. 30% of test drivers at the sites North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhine Corridor claimed that RDS-TMC led them to reduce speed when approaching an announced incident area, before the congestion was visible.
On trip information roadside
Strategies and decision making processes have been designed and evaluated to ensure important information is presented to the driver using road side information systems that adequately reflect the network conditions and that improve route choice decisions. Typically, in Scotland, a 20% reduction in delays likely to occur following an incident on the Forth Road Bridge may be expected using VMS with other savings of 5 to 10 minutes when problems occur on other parts of the network. A large majority of people who use the route regularly (82% of those answering a questionnaire) indicated that they would follow VMS information even if it was in conflict with other sources.
Interviews carried out as part of trials on the Amsterdam Ring to assess the response to VMS recorded that 80% found the information to be correct, 98% understood what the sign meant, 68% thought there was some improvement in driver comfort and 63% reacted to the information. Trials utilising the 350 VMS around the Peripherique in Paris established that 80% of drivers preferred to be informed about travel time rather than queue length. VMS used as part of a weather traffic management system resulted in a 10% speed reduction and up to 30% less accidents in rainy conditions and 85% reduction on foggy days. A total of 2666 interviews ( 650 foreign drivers ) were carried out in France to assess the benefits of adding pictograms to text information. It was found that the pictogram improves the comprehension of the message for foreign drivers, particularly for well known pictograms, but was less effective for French drivers. The perception of the sign increased with the use of the pictogram.
Route Guidance
Dynamic route guidance trials have not been sufficient to enable full impact assessments. No trial has had more than 100 equipped vehicles. Evaluation has therefore centered on technical performance of systems and driver response, using a common questionnaire, logbooks and some data from other studies. The Dual Mode Route Guidance trials in Stuttgart involved test drivers representing a good cross section of typical first wave buyers of route guidance. It was found that 73% agreed that the system could help in guiding the user to unknown destinations, more than 80% of trip recommendations made in unknown areas were judged to be good with more than 60% in known areas as satisfactory. 48% had made additional trips on unknown routes after installation of the system. In the Rhine - Main area and in Stuttgart between 20% and 44% of drivers changed route following the recommendations of the system. The field trials of CARMINAT C3 involved 6 equipped vehicles used in the Rhône-Alpes areas .Questionnaires, black boxes and data logs were used for evaluation involving 31 people with C3 terminals. Concerning trip making overall, 5% of drivers declared that they had modified their trip planning and 13% had changed their itinerary, subsequently to the information given by CARMINAT. Overall, 20% of informed drivers modified their approach to driving. Around 50% of drivers receiving information found it generally relevant, given the stated user requirements: a better itinerary (92%), a gain in time (89%), more security (87%), reduction in stress (84%), forecast on trip duration (77%). Results obtained from a collaborative study showed that 55% of test drivers believed that the systems where useful for travel time reduction, 42% considered the recommended route better than their own choice and 50% were willing to buy route guidance equipment at a price above 750 ECU. Most would pay between 180 and 350 ECU per year for a corresponding dynamic traffic information service. It was concluded that the answers given by the drivers indicate that the system was capable of changing their driving habits either by leading them to take roads they do not usually take, or by enabling them to drive at different times. For in-vehicle route guidance in Turin, simulation results indicated a 6% reduction in travel time using a decentralised multi-routing strategy, given a penetration rate of 20% and 100% compliance with guidance advice. Advanced simulation models were used to develop DRG strategies and predict the impact of route guidance under large scale implementation addressing: new journey time prediction, new incident management strategies and new techniques for origin and destination estimation.
Ride Matching Reservations
No actual implementation has been carried out within the ATT program. The CITIES project carried out a feasibility study on car pooling in 1993 and progressed this to a detailed business plan for a scheme based on unrelated users in the Ile-de-France region. The technologies include means of communication of potential car-pooler needs, ride-matching software, and user compensation system. The business plan estimated that 3000 users would participate. The city of Madrid provided a demonstration site to CITIES where they implemented a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane. The surveys indicated that 70% of people had a positive view towards ride sharing with 40% actually willing to use the HOV lane (two thirds as bus users, one third as car user).
Traffic Management, Operations And Control back to top
Incident and Emergency Management
The most promising contribution to incident and emergency management has been in vehicle detection technology utilising computer vision analysis techniques. With a detection rate >93% combined with low false alarm rates <8% the new detection systems, combined with new algorithms, have been used as a very effective tool for operators while at the same time allowing them to see the nature of the incident. Responding to the detection of incidents and implementing emergency management procedures in the close proximity of borders, regions and international, places demands on organisations if the consequences of the change in circumstances is not to be dramatic. The transfer of information between TICs and TCCs has been addressed by a number of projects and task forces, each focusing on a specific area in the information chain. The EDIFACT standard was used for travel and traffic information interchange purposes. This has enabled a language independent facsimile form to be established in combination with cross-border procedures required to address the need for vital unambiguous exchange of information at critical times.
Emergency calls
A number of initiatives have been developed to address public safety and facilitate the means of calling for assistance. Vehicles within urban areas were fitted with the latest "emergency call system" for rapid assistance in case of accidents. Selected vehicles, for example taxis, are fitted with impact sensors which automatically trigger a radio signal in the event of a major accident. The police are informed directly who then initiate the necessary rescue measures. The data transmitted contains the location of the incident determined by GPS. The signal can be operated manually as a call for help. Emergency telegram systems have been developed which are installed inside vehicles and when activated, will transmit the location and content of any heavy goods vehicle.
Any incident involving vehicles carrying dangerous goods would implement the emergency call system utilising the satellite Global Positioning system and digital road map together with GSM for data transmission of the emergency telegram. A reduction in the response time (43%) of emergency vehicles has been measured using these systems with an increase in survival rate ( between 7 and 12 % ) and a potential reduction in the long term severity of any injury incurred.
Motorway Traffic Control
Rapid Changes in traffic speed for any reason can have major consequences for following traffic and the speed at which a queue can form against the flow of traffic, even in moderate traffic flows, is a major problem for the network operator when trying to prevent a major incident. The only known effective solution is to use an automatic system that will be responsive to changing situations and activate VMS to warn drivers of the situation in a timely and effective way. A special task force was established to examine the work undertaken by 10 of the DRIVE projects addressing this issue and a comprehensive report has been produced indicating the benefits of using a number of the technological developments, particularly in the area of video analysis. Another major contribution made towards the success of controlling motorway traffic has been the application of real time VMS control strategy selection and traffic prediction information based on a range of more than 12 models developed in the DRIVE programme to reflect different operating environments. Using these models as part of a re-routing strategy has been shown to reduce traffic delays by up to 20%. It has been estimated that reducing delays by 20% would reduce CO by up to 10%, HC by 5% and NOx by 5%.
Work within the programme has also increased the awareness of the need for an architecture framework and open system architectures for traffic management have been developed to provide a stable foundation for the integration of individual systems during many generations of computer technology development.
Urban / motorway traffic control, integration
VMS installed on motorways to provide information concerning parking or park and ride schemes have been very effective with an 80% increase in park and ride users. In Paris, control strategies using ramp metering and 350 VMS on the entire Peripherique and the Boulevard des Marechaux increased the mean speed by 21%, 16% and 19% for the motorway, parallel network and total corridor respectively. Similar results were obtained in Amsterdam when ramp metering produced a reduction in delay by 19% for all traffic on the ramps.
Traffic control for pedestrians
Trials of new microwave detection for pedestrians with new control strategies have achieved improvements for pedestrian safety with a decrease in red light violations and the number of pedestrian-vehicle encounters. The main benefits of this technology related to an increase in comfort and safety for pedestrians, with benefits to particular pedestrian groups, such as the elderly and the disabled.
Weather related traffic management
A comprehensive weather monitoring station has been developed and implemented using a range of new weather monitoring detectors together with in-vehicle systems used to warn drivers of changes in road conditions. VMS have been used extensively to present information relating to weather; speed and / or text displaying fog / ice etc. Most of the results have been achieved by implementing speed control. Up to a 10% reduction in vehicle speed was obtained in France. In Germany, the number of accidents (after a seasonal adjustment to account for the reduction that in the same period occured in the rest of the non equipped motorways) decreased by more than 20% with a concomitant reduction of more than 40% in the number of people killed or injured. The same decrease was calculated for foggy days whilst during rainy periods, a decrease of 33% was observed.
Urban Traffic Control
Traffic signals operated within Urban Traffic Control (UTC) systems form the core of Integrated Urban Traffic Management (IUTM). Europe leads the world in advanced UTC systems. Achievements in DRIVE II have included new UTC systems/strategies and new integrated functions such as public transport priority, variable message signing, Automatic Incident Detection and new facilities for pedestrians. Advanced UTC systems such as SCOOT (UK) and UTOPIA (Italy) have been proven to be cost effective in reducing vehicle delays. In DRIVE II, evaluation of PRODYN (France) and the new MOTION system (Germany) have indicated typical reductions in travel time of 10% with associated savings in fuel consumption and emissions. Pollution control in one city incorporating UTC and VMS has actually achieved in the controlled area predicted reductions in emissions of some 26-30% (CO, NOx, HC) in two instances of severe pollution. Traffic entering the central area decreased by 5%. In one leading application, a 25% reduction in journey time has been estimated for all modes once complete integration of 10 telematics applications has been completed within the IUTM system.
Public Transport back to top
Information Management
Enhanced information management systems provide an important supporting framework for the more efficient implementation of telematics services. Important aspects include systems architectures, databases, data communications and interfaces. DRIVE II projects and Task Forces have addressed these issues which are expected to provide benefits of improved integration of systems, giving increases in overall efficiency of the public transport operator: the ability to integrate with systems of the traffic authority and standardisation of platforms and interfaces, leading to a gradual downward movement of system prices.
Vehicle Scheduling and Control Systems (VSCS)
VSCS, or Automatic Vehicle Monitoring (AVM) systems, provide operational support to public transport operations, through regular real-time location of the vehicle within the system. This allows better management of services through direct intervention and through the provision of data, allowing improved planning and scheduling of services. VSCS/AVM systems, and their benefits of improved public transport services are well established in Europe. In DRIVE II, projects focused on providing higher order services, including (i) location through satellite-based GPS (Global Positioning System), (ii) location for passenger information and public transport priority systems and (iii) integration with new Demand Responsive Transport Systems. No impacts of VSCS have been assessed in DRIVE II projects, although impacts of applications supported by AVM are summarised in the following sections.
Public Transport Priority
The implementation of public transport priority in advanced Urban Traffic Control (UTC) systems has been an important telematics application in DRIVE II, supported by a range of vehicle detection/location technologies, including bus transponders with inductive road loops, bus tags with roadside beacons and AVM radio technologies. Implementations have included the advanced European UTC systems SCOOT (UK), UTOPIA (Italy), PRODYN (France) and the newer system BALANCE (Germany). A review of 20 simulation and field trial assessments of PT priority in these projects indicated consistently favourable results. Delay savings for buses and trams at signals due to priority averaged some 50% across all assessments (up to 97% in one application) with negligible impacts on private traffic. Other quantified operational benefits recorded included (i) reduced variability in PT journey times and delays (up to 29% in London and Toulouse trials), (ii) improved regularity of PT services (11% in Turin trials), (iii) savings in fuel consumption and emissions (4%-6% in simulation studies in Gothenburg, using enhanced UTC with PT priority) and (iv) some evidence of increased PT patronage (in Turin and Munich). Economic cost-benefit analyses undertaken for four systems/strategies indicated very favourable rates of return, with payback periods varying from 3-16 months.
Passenger Information
Passenger information systems have been trialled using 5 different means of dissemination. For (i), at-stop real-time information passenger response to the usefulness of the information has been positive (57-90%), with 58% of passengers advocating further investment in one study. 18%-64% of passengers perceived reduced waiting times, even though punctuality did not generally improve. No noticeable increase in bus patronage has been reported. Costs are system specific. As an example, one system for 43 bus stops and 114 buses costs 750 kECU to implement (including the AVL implementation). Economic benefits could be regained by increased patronage (6-10% required in one example), higher fares and/or passengers "willingness to pay" for information, although no economic analyses based on measurements were reported. For (ii), public access enquiry terminals, users have reported a very high acceptance of the information, with some evidence of increased public transport usage resulting. For (iii), travel centre enquiry support, one application reported increased mobility (10%) and increased public transport usage (8%) based on results of interviews. For (iv), in-home terminals and/or PC access, early developments have highlighted substantial future potential. For (v), portable personal units, surveys revealed a strong market for the product and a high usefulness of the public transport information.
Demand Responsive Transport (DRT)
DRT systems refer to public transport services which are flexible (departure time, route, vehicle, etc.) and which are modified in some way to current identified needs. Telematics provides the potential for real-time communication of user needs to the vehicle, optimisation of route and passenger assignment and management of the reservation and payment functions. The use of VSCS in one DRT project has highlighted benefits to the operator, including driver time saving of 30-60 minutes per day, and potential benefits for the community through increased mobility and reduced access time for users.
Automatic Debiting And Demand Management back to top
Automatic Toll Collection
It is expected that, using automatic multilane tolling instead of manual toll gates, travel time will be reduced because it will not be necessary to slow down for toll payment and that waiting time during peak hours can be eliminated; time variance due to toll collection is also expected to become negligible. The average time loss would be reduced from several minutes to zero, resulting in an average saving of over 40h/year for the average motorway commuter. Safety of private and commercial vehicles is also expected to be improved as a result of extensive deployment of automatic tolling on motorways due to the elimination of traffic channeling at toll plazas as well as of possible queues; this result should also improve the air quality and reduce the energy consumption of the average motorway commuter by about 5%.
If multilane automatic toll collection and enforcement could allow the implementation of toll debiting in motorway networks that are currently operated free of charge, the hybrid deployment of multilane toll gantries in combination with monolane enforcement systems, as exhaustively tested and assessed on a conventional toll motorway can lead to significant user and operator benefits with a limited investment cost.
In fact, by replacing one out of five manual toll gates with a mono-lane enforcement system (in combination with a multi-lane tolling gantry) it has been calculated that the passing time of the equipped cars could be reduced from 156 s to 45 s, irrespective of the traffic increase. Assuming a progressive increase of subscriber market penetration for cars from 5% in 95-97 to 25% in 2004-06, even non equipped vehicles would also benefit of a 30% reductionin the toll gate passing time due to the reduced demand in the manual lanes
On the other hand, an assessment of both the Vehicle Operating Costs and the economic value of travel time saving indicated an estimated saving per toll passage for equipped vehicles of 0.23 ECU for busses and of 0.13 ECU for heavy freight vehicles. Assuming a commercial cost of 50 ECU and a 5 year lifetime for each on-board unit, the minimum number of passages/year to recover the equipment costs would be 44 for busses and 77 for trucks. In turn as a result of the 60% increase in capacity and the operating cost reduction, the net benefits for the period 1995-2006 would amount to 1.15 MECU. As total costs would reach about 0.64 MECU, the payback period for the infrastructure operator would be of 6 years with an internal rate of return of 33% over the whole 12-year period.
The road maintenance costs can be significantly reduced by discouraging the overloading of Heavy Goods Vehicles through the use of automatic weighing for toll collection. The resulting improvement in the efficiency and capacity of the tolling system and the less frequent maintenance works on road pavement should help increase the infrastructure capacity.
Road Pricing
In Trondheim, Norway a toll ring is operating as a cordon around the central area with 12 entry points. Automatic fee collection is used successfully with 76 000 subscribers having AVI tags in their cars. Tolls must be paid entering the cordon during business hours, and over 85% of the locally registered vehicle stock now use the equipment successfully for payment of the tolls. From extensive surveys on road pricing, no evidence has emerged of actual reduced total car usage. However, at Trondheim, there has been a 10% reduction of crossing of the cordon during toll hours. The trips have been redistributed in time and spatial patterns in response to the tolls. Public transport usage has increased by 8% for the whole city area.
Surveys concerning user reponse have also found that citizens had less awareness of road pricing than of any other demand management measures and questioned its effectiveness in influencing modal choice and travel behaviour. Whilst road pricing measures had very low levels of acceptability with citizens, non-price related issues such as access restrictions have a high level of acceptability even among motorists. In Trondheim, the attitude towards road pricing showed that 46% of respondents have negative opinions and 37% have positive opinions. People inside the existing toll ring area are more positive towards road pricing than those outside.
Modelling of the travel impacts of Road Pricing based on user response studies in Gothenburg, showed that the implementation of a road toll over a defined area of the city would result in a 1.9% decrease in trips by car for work, and a 6% decrease in car trips in the area for shopping.
Access Control
On the basis of journey time surveys in Barcelona, an average 18% reduction of travel time inside the special events zone was identified. Concerning the variance of access time distribution for the pedestrian priority zone in Barcelona, telephone surveys with residents and visitors have shown that 31% of the visitors have anticipated the time of entry into the priority zone, whilst measurements of hourly entry volume counts indicated a 21% and a 13% increase in loading, with respect to the 12 hour average, during the two unrestricted entry periods. In terms of vehicle traffic flow during working days, the total recorded entry volumes before and after access control implementation showed a 33% reduction for the special event zone and a 78% reduction for the priority zone.
Concerning parking space availability in Barcelona, surveys also indicated for the special events zone a 15% increase in both on-street availability and in on-street space usage resulting from a shift of parking from the inside to the border zone, with a 20% perceived reduction in congestion problems. Data from the public transport operator have indicated for the special events zone a 50% increase in public transport trips city-wide, indicating a good attitude towards a modal shift.
Also the social acceptance of the access control measures by the citizens was assessed using opinion surveys. The citizensâ perception of the quality of information provided by the public authorities on the pilot implementation of Access Control systems was rated good by 89% of people surveyed about the special events zone (only 3% giving a bad rating). For the priority zone on a 1 to 9 scale residents gave an average 5.8 mark to the quality of information (compared with a 4.1 mark from visitors). In Barcelona, residents of the special events zone were 70% in favor and 24% against the measures implemented. In the priority zone residents gave to the measures an acceptance rating of 6.1 on 1 to 9 scale; the city-wide rating was 6.0; model estimates in the special events area had predicted a 50% reduction of emission inside the zone, while surveyed citizens indicated a perception of reduced air pollution (19%) and reduced noise (20%) within the priority zone.
The non-stop access control application in Bologna showed a 55% reduction of the total recorded entry volume, with major re-assignment to the Inner Ring Road. Within the Access Control trials in Bologna, pollution monitoring data showed a 50% reduction of emission in the central area. In terms of financial return on investment (excluding intangible benefits) it was estimated that the pay-back period should be between 2 and 5 years depending on the actual violation rate. In Bologna, where the card had only been used for the bus service, a survey indicated that 75% of the users were in favour of an extension to a multiservice operation.
The same city-wide survey on the acceptance of non-stop access control measures showed a rather close 40/37% split between for/against options.
Parking Control
In Munich the use of Variable Message Signs to advise motorists approaching the city of the new Park'n'Ride facility at Frottmaning resulted in modal shift due to the P'n'R availability that could reduce the use of private car by 1.6 million km/ year for that site, corresponding to a reduction of fuel consumption of at least 200,000 litres/year. From surveys made during the trials, 16% of the respondents attributed their decision to the availability of VMS information about parking space availability; over 26% of the parking facility users on weekdays and 46% of the users on special event days stated they would have otherwise used the car for the entire trip to the city centre with a corresponding increase of emissions.
On the other hand, a cost-benefit analysis of the Munich P'n'R site indicated that the provision of VMS for parking access information and guidance can only be commercially viable for P'n'R sites of 500 spaces or more.
In Cologne VMS were also used on the approach to the city to advise motorists about the availability of Park'n'Ride facilities. Usage of the P'n'R facility more than doubled with 33% of users doing so directly because of the information; many of the cars would otherwise have proceeded to the city centre.
Integrated Payment
Concerning the use of smart cards for integrated payment applications, trials user surveys indicated that 91% of the respondents in Dublin found the electronic purse a convenient way for paying for Public Transport services; 84% of the Marseille respondents highly regarded the reduction of money and ticket use and were very satisfied with the design of the portable units and the related messages. In Bologna 65-70% of respondents had no problems with the smart card use, nor with the new location-related fare structure. The integration of payment for parking was included in the multi-application smart card in Dublin, with many users using the card for other modes as well. High user satisfaction was reported by both the motorists and the parking operator. Queuing time for exit was significantly reduced for motorists with smart cards. Impacts on parking behaviour were not measured.
Freight And Fleet Management back to top
The results on travelled distance reduction per year from the use of Mobile Data Communications, Global Positioning Systems and/or Trip Recording equipment experienced on a fleet of 63 commercial vehicles over a 13-month trial, if extended to the European context, would potentially lead to an average reduction of about 150 fatal accidents per year.
On the basis of the average trials results, Freight and Fleet management functions should provide savings in travel time close to 5% (trials range 0-16.5%) and savings in dispatch time above 12% (trials range from -4.2 to 35.2%). Travelled distance should accordingly be reduced by over 6% (trials range 0.3-21.3%). As a result of EDI use, data have become more reliable and transport order cycle time has been reduced.
Experience with Inmarsat-C satellite communications, used on 32 vehicles at 5 companies, indicated an estimated saving of 2% mileage in international transport with a payback period of 4-8 years. Other results showed that up to 37,5% of the currently wasted time (waiting time, pick-up time, delay time) could be saved using Mobile Data Communications for F&F management functions and that, with the use of Transport Telematics, the number of delayed arrivals decreased by 35%.
The systems used in the IFMS trials to perform Freight Management functions had a capital cost ranging from 3.5 to 25.6 kECU per system and from 2.0 to 11.6 kECU per vehicle; with reference to an average capital cost of 12.7 and 5.5 kECU per system and vehicle it can be expected a system running cost of about 3.8 kECU/year and a vehicle running cost of about 2.2 kECU/year. On the basis of the corresponding expected benefits, an internal rate of return of about 21% can be assumed which would lead to a payback period of 3.4 years.
Cost estimations have shown that, in average, the use of Mobile Data Communications for Fleet Management applications would lead to a marginal increase of transport cost per vehicle and km in the amount of only 1 ECU/1000 km.
As a result of Freight & Fleet management functions, an average reduction of fuel consumption of 2,350 litres per vehicle and year was measured, resulting approximately in a 4.4% fuel reduction based on 150.000 km /year travelled distance and 35 l/100km specific fuel consumption.
Both drivers and dispatchers feel comfortable in using the new Fleet Management equipment, since it reduces stress, enriches work and let drivers feel more secure. It also increases the range of services that can be offered to customers. The system has increased the operator awareness of the capabilities of new technologies; while providing significant time savings, it also allowed to improve the management of vehicles and fleets, the efficiency of information management and the company competitive position.
Intermodal Tracking and Tracing
Application trials showed that the average waiting time for vehicles of the transport fleets was reduced by up to 20%, whilst, for the combined mode, the pick-up and waiting time for switching from road to rail was reduced by hours. Paper work was generally reduced and automated processing of deliveries became possible. It is therefore assumed that the number of administrative personnel could be reduced substantially. The use of Tracking and Tracing systems has also demonstrated a high potential to increase the number of customers served with the same operational resources due to the fact that just-in-time and more efficient operations become possible.
Hazardous Goods Transport
On the basis of the observed reduction of emergency response time and on the estimated high potential for reduction of accidents, accident consequences and environmental damage due to Hazardous Goods Transport incidents should be significantly reduced by the use of related Transport Telematics applications. In general emissions and noise in the field trials corridors were reduced as a result of the monitoring of speed and vehicle conditions; by also monitoring and deviating noisy vehicles from urban/public areas, noise impact was reduced in such areas.
Driver Assistance And Co-Operative Driving back to top
Driver Monitoring
For Driver Assistance and Co-operative Driving applications, the use of an Accident Data recorder on commercial vehicles for driver monitoring purposes resulted in statistically significant reduction in accident occurrence (up to a maximum 41 % reduction with respect to past historical average of the number of accidents for a fleet of 130 vehicles) and beneficial reduction in accident costs due to lower accident severity. The average user response has also indicated that the implementation of a driver monitoring function has a slightly negative impact on driver comfort but has shown a positive assessment of its contribution to a better safety. UK trials on driver monitoring showed a downtrend in the number of observed "overspeeds" per 1000 km by the fleets of equipped commercial vehicles, leading to a likely reduction of fuel consumption and related emissions; at the fleet level, a reduction of the commercial vehicles operating costs was observed as a result of reduced accident related damages, repair cost /km decreased up to 40 %; a reduction of consumption and wear out costs (fuel, tyres and other vehicle components) was also observed, often leading to a recovery of the equipment cost within one year.
Driver support
The majority of the elderly drivers who have tested route guidance support systems stated that the availability of these systems should impact on their travel behaviour in a way to lead to a higher likelihood of travelling to unfamiliar places. Vision enhancement aids allowed drivers to see/identify pedestrians and road features at a greater distance in night driving, leading to reduction of potential collisions with vulnerable road users.
The assessment of the answers to a questionnaire about the potential changes induced in the driving habits and attitudes of elderly people has shown that the availability of vision enhancement means would allow 60-70% of elderly people to drive more at night. In terms of socio-economic aspects, the results of an enhanced ability to drive by Drivers with Special Needs indicate the possibility of achieving a better social integration of DSN people.
Co-operative Driving
With reference to the use of Collision Avoidance systems on private vehicles by normal drivers, measurements of the average Headway Time (HT) indicate that the use of Collision Warning functions actually resulted in an increased average HT.
Tests on a driving simulator showed that also Intelligent Cruise Control systems use can improve safety as a result of a reduction in average vehicle speed (5% for the informative mode) and an increase of average Headway Time (30% for the informative mode). Track tests on ICC systems have indicated an average Headway Time increase in the car following scenario between 5 and 10% (from low to high speed), a modification of the Headway Time distribution (which showed a reduction at low frequency and an increase at medium frequencies) and an increase up to 35% of the average time-to-collision for the approaching phase (under stationary speed conditions).
Short-term (30 second) average speed variances were measured which, in a car following scenario, indicated an improvement in speed harmonisation (especially at higher speeds) resulting in improved safety conditions due to the lower relative speed. Tests on a driver simulator were assessed using a pre-/post-questionnaire in terms of impact on the driving comfort: with respect to the initial baseline value, informative-only Intelligent Cruise Control systems had a worse average assessment whilst ICC systems operating in the automatic mode were generally assessed as contributing to a better driving comfort.
Driver support and collision avoidance systems have so far found a higher level of acceptance from people that would otherwise suffer some limitation in their ability or willingness to drive (disabled people in general and elderly drivers with respect to congested or unknown areas and limited visibility conditions). However, in dense fog conditions, collision avoidance systems, though subjected to limited real-life testing, can find widespread good acceptance, assuming that a very low rate of false alarms could be achieved.
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Analysis of Impacts by Domain