• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.53-73
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• 2023

Although it is mandatory to wear a seat belt that can minimize human injury when traffic accident occurs, the number of traffic accident casualties not wearing seat belts still accounts for a significant proportion.The seat belt wearing detection system for all seats is a system that identifies whether all seat passengers wear a seat belt and encourages their usage, also it can be a useful technical countermeasure. Firstly, this study established the viability of system implementation by assessing the factors influencing the severity of injuries in traffic accidents through the development of an ordered probit model. Analysis results showed that the use of seat belts has statistically significant effects on the severity of traffic accidents, reducing the probability of death or serious injury by 0.054 times in the event of a traffic accident. Secondly, a meta-analysis was conducted based on prior research related to seat belts and injuries in traffic accidents to estimate the expected reduction in accident severity upon the implementation of the system.The analysis of the effect of accident severity reduction revealed that wearing seat belts would lead to a 63.3% decrease in fatal accidents, with the front seats showing a reduction of 75.7% and the rear seats showing a reduction of 58.1% in fatal accidents. Lastly, Using the results of the meta-analysis and traffic accident statistics, the expected decrease in the number of traffic accident casualties with the implementation of the system was derived to analyze the traffic safety effects of the proposed detection system. The analysis demonstrated that with an increase in the adoption rate of the system, the number of casualties in accidents where seat belts were not worn decreased. Specifically, at a system adoption rate of 60%, it is anticipated that the number of fatalities would decrease by more than three times compared to the current scenario. Based on the analysis results, operational strategies for the system were proposed to increase seat belt usage rates and reduce accident severity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.169-183
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• 2018

Aggressive driving leads to a greater crash potential because it threatens surrounding vehicles. This study conducted traffic simulation experiments using driving behavior data obtained from multi-agent driving simulations. VISSIM traffic simulator and surrogate safety assessment model (SSAM) were used to identify the impacts of aggressive driving on traffic stream in terms of safety and operational efficiency. Market penetration rates (MPR) of aggressive driving vehicle, coupled with various traffic conditions, were taken into consideration in analyzing the impacts. As expected, it was identified that aggressive driving vehicles tended to deteriorate the traffic safety performance. From the perspective of operational efficiency, interesting results were observable. Under level of service (LOS) A, B, and C, it was observed that the average travel speed increased with greater MPRs. Conversely, the average travel speed decreased with under LOS D and E conditions. The outcome of this study would be effectively used for developing safety-related policies for reducing aggressive driving behavior.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.103-114
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• 2011

In this study, we discuss a fatal accident severity model obtained from the analysis of 112 crash sites collected since 2000, and the resulting relationship between fatal accidents and roadway geometry design. From the 720 times computer simulations for improving driving safety, we then reached the following conclusions:. First, the result of cross and frequency-analyses on the car accident sites showed that 43.7% of the accidents occurred on the curved roads, 60.7% on the vertical curve section, 57.2% on the roadways with radius of curvature of 0 to 24m, 83.9% on the roads with superelevation of 0.1 to 2.0% and 49.1% on the one-way 2-lane roads; vehicle types involved are passenger vehicles (33.0%), trucks (20.5%) and buses (14.3%) in order of frequency. The results also show that the superelevation is the most influencing factor for the fatal accidents. Second, employing the Ordered Probit Model (OPM), we developed a severity model for fatal accidents being a function of on various road conditions so as to the damages can be predicted. The proposed model possibly assists the practitioners to predict dangerous roadway segments, and to take appropriate measures in advance. Third, computer simulation runs show that providing adequate superelevation on the segment where a fatal accident occurred could reduce similar fatal accidents by at least 85%. This result indicates that the regulations specified in the Rule for Road Structure and Facility Standard (description and guidelines) should be enhanced to include more specific requirement for providing the superelevation.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.83-92
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• 2007

In 2004, the number of traffic crashes and deaths in Korea are 220,755 and 6,563, respectively. Korea Road Traffic Safety Authority reported that the number of traffic accidents occupies over 25% out of total accidents, and found that traffic crash probability is extremely high at intersections since intersections have various traffic conflict points. A Safety study using Traffic Conflict Technique is much more useful than a study using reported traffic accident data. Existing traffic conflict research hardly considered conflict severity occurring at intersections. So, the study developed new criteria considering conflict severity. Analytic methods precisely detecting crashing points using field surveying data, and applied an application of our new criteria. Opposing left-turn conflict criteria was devided by three groups(high severe conflict, middle severe conflict, and less severe conflict) based on conflict boundary by means of a standard vehicle length. After analyzing field surveying data(3hours), we found totally 41 opposing left-turn conflicts. 3 cases are high severe conflict, and another 10 cases are middle severe conflicts, and the other cases are less severe. Studies related in conflict severity are considerably important to evaluate intersection's detailed safety index, and existing studies(purely conflict counting does not consider severity) have a limitation to clearly determine the level of safety of intersections for an application.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.213-223
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• 2021

It is very important to build a safe walking environment for children because children are more likely to be exposed to traffic accidents than adults due to their behavioral and physical characteristics. Therefore, this study analyzed the characteristics of road and transportation safety facilities that affect pedestrian traffic accidents around school zones using spatial poisson regression. The pedestrian-vehicle crash data in Seoul 2016-2018 was provided by the Traffic Accident Analysis System(TAAS). The main analysis results are as follow; First, the more intersections and the higher percentage of neighborhood roads in the school zone, the higher the risk of pedestrian traffic accidents. Second, the pedestrian push button was found to reduce the occurrence of pedestrian traffic accidents. Third, except for the pedestrian push button, none of the transportation safety facilities considered in this study were effective in reducing the risk of pedestrian traffic accidents. On the other hand, if not only the improvement of physical facilities but also non-physical factors such traffic safety education are supported, the effect for reducing traffic pedestrian traffic accidents in the school zone is expected to be further maximized.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2016

In Korea, the number of crash accident victims per 100,000 population is three times higher than the average of OECD. In particular, 60% of it occurs on the community road. Thus, this study intends to analyze the causes of such accidents through a pedestrian and vehicle traffic survey. The purpose is to establish practical safety enhancement measures for community roads. In recent years, lots of changes have occurred in the pedestrian environment. A traffic survey shows that 65% of pedestrians walk on the right and 17% of people use smart-phones while walking. An eye camera experiment shows that the operation load of drivers on the community roads is more than 4 times higher than those in urban roads. According to a speed survey, 62% of vehicles drive at 30km/h or above. The characteristics of accidents on community roads are as follows. First, the ratio of accidents on the edge of the road is 2.3 times as high as those on other roads. Second, when people walk on the right, the ratio of accidents is 2.5 times as high as that of walking on the left. Third, it becomes more dangerous when people cross the road from the right to the left. The majority of accidents is caused by unsafe driving (84.4%). When a vehicle makes a left turn, the likelihood of accidents is 2.3 times as high as those caused by a right turn. The ratio of accidents caused by vehicles going backwards is 14% among all accidents. In community roads, the focus of drivers should be at least 4 times higher than those on urban roads. Thus, walking in the opposite direction of vehicles and careless behaviors are highly likely lead to accidents.