Road Safety. Technical solutions to a behavioural and technological problem with a scientific approach

Pubblicato con licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione-Non Commerciale-Non opere derivate 4.0 Italia (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 IT) nella collana Varie

All governments of countries provided with a significant road network are orienting their investments towards the enhancement of existing infrastructures, particularly considering road safety.
This book is aimed to provide both the scientific background and an operational framework for safety enhancement of existing roads, applicable regardless of the specific country.
The scientific background presented includes the main theories about the crash phenomena and driver behavioural models; the basic concepts related to crashes and risk, the road safety management process and how to measure road safety performances and to identify high-risk sites, especially considering the Highway Safety Manual and the European Guidelines. A research focus on the crucial topic of tire-pavement road friction is provided. This book was strongly aimed to be an open access edition, in order to disseminate as much as possible the cutting-edge methods in road safety engineering. In fact, it is aimed at prioritising the human value thanks to the benefits from reduced severe crashes, possibly provided by the guidance of this book. Hence, it has a clear academic and educational purpose, being not intended for commercial purposes.
Based on the presented background, a new design protocol for safety interventions on existing roads is proposed. Moreover, two complete examples of design applications, both in the rural case (two-way two-lane rural road) and in the urban case (a small road network composed of segments and intersections) are provided. The main problems and possible solutions are addressed, considering also the issue of transferability of the methods to different contexts.

Why, as researchers and practitioners, do we work on road safety?
I would like to dedicate this work to all the “YOU” who were known by each of us and who lost their lives in a traffic crash, each of us could dedicate this book to a known person.
Each of us should undertake the task, through our apparently not important job, of giving back the opportunity of the gift of life to people, of being themselves and of being happy, to all the “YOU” that, even unconsciously, will avoid a traffic crash thanks to the methods that this book illustrates.
Someone will thank us.

Pasquale Colonna