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Purpose

This study aims to investigate the safety effects of work zone advisory systems. The traditional system includes a dynamic message sign (DMS), whereas the advanced system includes an in-vehicle work zone warning application under the connected vehicle (CV) environment.

Design/methodology/approach

A comparative analysis was conducted based on the microsimulation experiments.

Findings

The results indicate that the CV-based warning system outperforms the DMS. From this study, the optimal distances of placing a DMS varies according to different traffic conditions. Nevertheless, negative influence of excessive distance DMS placed from the work zone would be more obvious when there is heavier traffic volume. Thus, it is recommended that the optimal distance DMS placed from the work zone should be shortened if there is a traffic congestion. It was also revealed that higher market penetration rate of CVs will lead to safer network under good traffic conditions.

Research limitations/implications

Because this study used only microsimulation, the results do not reflect the real-world drivers’ reactions to DMS and CV warning messages. A series of driving simulator experiments need to be conducted to capture the real driving behaviors so as to investigate the unresolved-related issues. Human machine interface needs be used to simulate the process of in-vehicle warning information delivery. The validation of the simulation model was not conducted because of the data limitation.

Practical implications

It suggests for the optimal DMS placement for improving the overall efficiency and safety under the CV environment.

Originality/value

A traffic network evaluation method considering both efficiency and safety is proposed by applying traffic simulation.


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Safety effects of work zone advisory systems under the intelligent connected vehicle environment: a microsimulation approach

Show Author's information Suyi Mao1Guiming Xiao1Jaeyoung Lee1( )Ling Wang2Zijin Wang3Helai Huang1
School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
College of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the safety effects of work zone advisory systems. The traditional system includes a dynamic message sign (DMS), whereas the advanced system includes an in-vehicle work zone warning application under the connected vehicle (CV) environment.

Design/methodology/approach

A comparative analysis was conducted based on the microsimulation experiments.

Findings

The results indicate that the CV-based warning system outperforms the DMS. From this study, the optimal distances of placing a DMS varies according to different traffic conditions. Nevertheless, negative influence of excessive distance DMS placed from the work zone would be more obvious when there is heavier traffic volume. Thus, it is recommended that the optimal distance DMS placed from the work zone should be shortened if there is a traffic congestion. It was also revealed that higher market penetration rate of CVs will lead to safer network under good traffic conditions.

Research limitations/implications

Because this study used only microsimulation, the results do not reflect the real-world drivers’ reactions to DMS and CV warning messages. A series of driving simulator experiments need to be conducted to capture the real driving behaviors so as to investigate the unresolved-related issues. Human machine interface needs be used to simulate the process of in-vehicle warning information delivery. The validation of the simulation model was not conducted because of the data limitation.

Practical implications

It suggests for the optimal DMS placement for improving the overall efficiency and safety under the CV environment.

Originality/value

A traffic network evaluation method considering both efficiency and safety is proposed by applying traffic simulation.

Keywords: Connected vehicles, Driver behaviors and assistance, Intelligent vehicles, Vehicle dynamics and control, Vehicle-to-infrastructure communication (V2I), Work zone, Dynamic message sign (DMS), In-vehicle warning, Traffic simulation

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 16 July 2020
Revised: 13 December 2020
Accepted: 05 February 2021
Published: 18 March 2021
Issue date: April 2021

Copyright

© 2021 Suyi Mao, Guiming Xiao, Jaeyoung Lee, Ling Wang, Zijin Wang and Helai Huang. Published in Journal of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence maybe seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

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