Anagrafe della ricerca

The ARCADE Project proposes a revolutionary multi perspective simulative approach aimed at (i) identifying the causes of road collisions involving Vulnerable Road Users (VRU), and (ii) evaluate effective safety countermeasures, thus reducing the accident risk in the urban environment. In the ARCADE Project, VRU stands for pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and new electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) i.e. pedelecs, speed pedelecs, e mopeds, and e-scooters. The aims are fully consistent with Horizon Europe and national research programs, as well as the Road Safety initiative of the European Union (EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030; Next steps towards "Vision Zero”; Directive (EU) 2019/1936 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 amending Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management) and the Italian Parliament and Government (National Road Safety Plan 2030; National Recovery and Resilience Plan - PNRR) which have as one of their main objectives the decrease of accidents and fatalities involving VRUs. Specific project aims include the: - identification of behavioural, psychophysiological and road geometric contributing factors for road crashes involving VRU (Aim #1); - definition of effective safety countermeasures accounting for cost and time implications for their implementation on urban roads (Aim #2). Project main features consist of: - a multi-technique approach combining observational and simulation methods to evaluate the effectiveness of safety countermeasures specifically designed for three hazardous road locations (HRL) selected as case studies; - a multi-perspective assessment of the interaction between road users through driving/riding/walking simulations of the same conflicting road scenario; - a multi disciplinary integration of expertise in Road Engineering (UniRomaTre and PoliTO) and Psychometrics and Human Psychophysiology (UniPD). The main expected scientific results include: - causality process assessment of critical events that involve VRU; - detection of conflicting patterns and how they depend on the geometric configuration, lighting and traffic conditions, psychophysiological characteristics of road users; - identification of the most effective Surrogate Safety Measure (SSM) and the corresponding critical threshold for the driver-VRU interaction, to be used for the evaluation of risk conditions; - evaluation of the effects of safety countermeasures on conflicting road user behaviour; - guidance on quality requirements regarding urban road safety management for VRU. Additional expected results include new and/or implemented driver/rider/ped behavioural models including road, environmental, and human factors to improve algorithms for new vehicle generations with increasing levels of automation. Public Administrations of Rome, Turin, and Padua will be actively involved as stakeholders and final beneficiaries of research products.