The Open Road

Driving in monotonous road environments may cause drivers to become bored and impair their alertness. This inattention may increase the risk of road accidents. Drivers usually respond to visual signals on the road. A large body of research has shown that the level of a driver’s visual attention is closely related to traffic accidents. Visual attention is often studied by tracking drivers’ eye movements. However, few studies to date have explored eye-movement patterns in different road environments such as open roads and tunnel expressways. This dissertation aims to address that research gap by studying drivers’ eye movements and visual characteristics in different driving conditions in real and simulated environments. In the pilot study, drivers’ eye movement patterns were recorded during high-speed driving in tunnels and on expressways in Singapore. Twenty-two drivers participated in the study; they drove a total of 55 km, which included a 9-km section of tunnel. The results of the study showed that drivers experienced longer fixation duration when driving in tunnels than on the open road but experienced a higher number of fixations, higher instantaneous velocity, acceleration, and dispersion on open roads than in tunnels. These findings suggest that drivers’ eye movements are more concentrated and have longer fixation durations in tunnels than in open road driving, indicating that drivers have a greater mental workload when driving in tunnels. However, testing drivers in a real environment has limitations. For example, weather and road characteristics cannot be manipulated. To address this limitation, Experiment 1 was conducted in a driving simulator using virtual reality simulations in UC-win/road. Experiment 1 sought to investigate drivers’ eye movements in various driving environments. Eighteen drivers participated in the experiment and drove on normal roads, expressways, and through underground tunnels in both sunny and rainy weather. The comparisons of their eye-movement patterns (e.g., saccadic parameters and pupil size) in the simulated environments were consistent with those in real open-road environments and tunnels in sunny conditions. The findings suggest that the eye-movement patterns of drivers in a simulator are comparable to those in real environments, indicating its ecological validity. Previous literature has suggested a relationship between eye movement patterns and mental workload. To verify that relationship, mental workloads in Experiments 2 and 3 were directly measured using questionnaires. Dynamic and static hazardous scenarios were simulated to induce different levels of mental workload. Experiment 2 investigated eye movements, driving performance, and mental workload of drivers who encountered static and dynamic obstacles while manual driving. The results from 23 drivers found that their mental workload in dynamic conditions was higher than in static hazardous conditions; it was also higher before encountering hazards than afterwards. The results indicated that pupil size and saccade numbers are effective indicators of mental workload. Experiment 3 was conducted under conditionally automated driving conditions, where participants were involved in tasks related to or not related to driving and requested to resume control manually when their vehicle was in semi-automated driving mode. Drivers’ eye movements and mental workloads were measured when they were driving, especially during the transitions from semi-automated to manual driving. Similar to Experiment 2, the results from 32 drivers found that mental workload was higher for dynamic hazards than for static hazards and higher before hazards were encountered than after. The results also indicated that pupil size is the only effective indicator of mental workload. Taken together, the results of these experiments reveal that pupil size is the most reliable way to measure drivers’ mental workload. Furthermore, in line with the load theory of attention and De Waard (1996)’s theory of workload and performance, it can be concluded that mental workload (indicated by pupil size) and visual workload (by saccadic dispersion) are the key determinants of driving performance and that drivers can only respond to emergencies during periods of medium levels of mental and visual workload (not underload or overload) with available attentional capacity. The findings from this thesis on eye movement and mental workload may be used to monitor drivers’ real-time attention and workload and thus provide guidance for the design of safe-driving autonomous vehicles that consider drivers’ capacity for information processing when driving. Knowledge about the limitations and capacity of human drivers in tandem with automated systems may also help improve user acceptance of autonomous vehicles in the future.

We tested performance of 3 aspects of an elk (Cervus elaphus)-road density model that has been used extensively throughout western North America but has not been sufficiently validated. First, we tested the hypothesis that elk selection of habitats increases with increasing distance away from open roads. This forms the empirical basis for the model. Second, we compared the model's predictions of relative elk habitat selection, or habitat effectiveness (HE), with observed values at varying levels of road density. And third, we examined the potentially confounding effects of different spatial patterns of roads on model predictions. We conducted our study during spring and summer, 1993-95, at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range (Starkey), northeast Oregon. Selection ratios were calculated using >100,000 recorded locations of 89 radiocollared female elk, with locations mapped in relation to 0.1-km-wide distance bands away from open roads. Selection ratios increased with increasing distance from open roads, and varied between seasons, but not among years or individual animals. Linear regression models, using distance to open roads as a predictor, accounted for significant variation in selection ratios during spring and summer. Model predictions of HE, as measured by number of elk locations, corresponded only weakly, however, with observed values of HE. The contradictory results of these 2 analyses may be explained in part by our simulation results, which showed that potential reductions in elk HE vary strongly with the spatial pattern of roads, which is not measured by the elk-road density model. Our results suggest that (1) management of roads and related human activities during spring and summer should remain an important consideration for modeling and managing the elk resource; and (2) a spatially explicit road component is needed for elk habitat models.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">China 6 (CN6) emission legislation for light duty vehicles was published in 2016, which introduced real driving emissions (RDE) requirements for new type-approval content. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particle number (PN) of RDE test are required to be monitored and reported from July 2020 in CN6a phase, fulfilled from July 2023 in CN6b phase. To meet the PN limitation of CN6 RDE, the optimized engine combustion and advanced emission control system like gasoline particle filter (GPF) are encouraged. Compared to traditional vehicle platform emission compliance which could be done in lab, much more vehicle development and validation efforts are expected on the open road for RDE compliance. High cost and complexity are expected to conduct a complete validation test matrix covering all the RDE critical boundary conditions on the open road. To investigate a logical RDE validation process from lab to open road covering various critical boundary conditions like soaking temperature, altitude and driving dynamics, and evaluate the PN RDE compliance risk on a CN6a vehicle, a group of surrogate RDE cycle lab emission tests and RDE tests on the open road were conducted on a CN6a vehicle equipped with a 1.5L TGDI engine. A developed surrogate RDE lab cycle for saving efforts on road and a complete RDE validation process for RDE compliance from lab to open road was introduced in this study. Test results showed that considering extreme conditions, such as -7°C ambient temperature, 2300m altitude and aggressive driving as well, the PN emission of the tested vehicle could fulfill the CN6b RDE PN limitations with GPF.</div></div>

Underground road systems become popular in many cities as they allow to overcome urban space constraints. Even though it is prohibited to change lanes in tunnels in China, many drivers ignore this rule. In order to research that how road tunnel environments affect vehicle interactions and drivers’ lane-changing behavior, 296 lane-changing samples on open roads and 199 in urban tunnels are obtained through a field experiment and analyzed using SPSS 20.1. The time course of lane-changing cases is explored in terms of drivers’ control, eye movements and psychological behavior in urban tunnels and on open roads. Lane-changing time frequencies are distributed according to the Gaussian distribution, where the average lane-changing time in a tunnel is shorter than that on an open road. The significantly longer fixation duration at rear view mirrors in urban tunnels and significantly larger speed variations, as well as the assessments of the RRCV and heart rates, reveal that lane-changing in tunnel environments is more dangerous from the behavioral perspective.

This paper begins by citing Lawrence’s prediction in Studies in Classic American Literature that in the near future the influence of dead Native Americans on U.S. society will begin to work in earnest and that some “real changes” will occur. I then go on to examine whether or not we in the twenty-first century actually witness Lawrence’s ‘real changes’, and to what extent they may be attributed to “the demon of the place and the unappeased ghosts of the dead Indians”, as asserted by Lawrence. This examination rests on two assumptions regarding Lawrence’s Studies: 1) that its historical narrative represents a highly iconoclastic yet essentially coherent rendering of the history of white settlers in North America and their settler colonialism; 2) that his readings of classic American authors too, for all the idiosyncrasy of expression, manage to capture the deep meaning behind the ‘duplicity’ that characterizes creative American works. In this narrative the sinking of the whaling ship Moby-Dick marks the final destruction of the white man’s ‘blood being’. Lawrence’s greatness lies, however, in his going beyond mere diagnosis and in finding in Whitman’s ‘Open Road’ a new vision of true democracy, “the bravest doctrine man has ever proposed to himself.”

To estimate the association of age and sex with the intensity of exposure of cyclists in Spain, between 1993 and 2009, in a global way and for subtypes of use. From the distribution of cyclists passively involved in collisions with other vehicles included in the register of the Spanish General Traffic Directorate between 1993 and 2009, we have estimated the increase in intensity of exposure by age groups and sex, for global exposure and for subtypes of exposure (e.g. riding with or without a helmet, or riding on an open road or in urban areas), using males aged 45-49 as a reference. Males have a greater exposure than females and this difference increases with age, although it has tended to decrease in recent years. In both sexes the exposure is greater in young people and goes down with age, while in males the excess in young people has disappeared in recent years. Regarding subtypes of use, female underexposure riding on an open road should be highlighted, as well as overexposure in both women and extreme age groups among non-helmet users. There is a close association of age and sex with the intensity of bicycle use, which changes depending on the type of use and the time period considered. Consequently, estimations of the effect of factors affecting the accident rate and the morbidity and mortality of cyclists in Spain have to be adjusted by the age and sex of the cyclist.

The objective of the ECOROADS project is to overcome the barrier established by the formal interpretation of the two Directives 2008/96/EC and 2004/54/EC, which in practice do not allow the same Road Safety Audits/Inspections to be performed inside tunnels. The projects aims at the establishment of a common enhanced approach to road infrastructure and tunnel safety management by using the concepts and criteria of the Directive 2008/96/CE on road infrastructure safety management and the results of related European Commission (EC) funded projects. ECOROADS has already implemented an analysis of national practices regarding Road Safety Inspections (RSI), two Workshops with the stakeholders, and an exchange of best practices between European tunnel experts and road safety professionals, which led to the definition of common agreed safety procedures. In the second phase of the project, different groups of experts and observers applied the above common procedures by inspecting five European road sections featuring both open roads and tunnels in Belgium, Albania, Germany, Serbia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. This paper shows the feedback of the 5 joint safety operations and how they are being used for a set of - recommendations and guidelines for the application of the RSA and RSI concepts within the tunnel safety operations.

We have previously introduced in Science Cycling 2017 an inexpensive method to assess the aerodynamic drag of a cyclist [1]. Last year we presented in the same conference a first evaluation of the method [2] where the regression method [3] was used as ground truth. In this work, the few data available had been obtained on a open road, which could increase the source of noise (wind-direction) and imprecision. In this paper we propose a consistent comparison of our method with a larger dataset. This new ground truth is still obtained with the regression method but the data were grabbed on a 200m indoor track (Bourges, France). The dataset contains records for 4 cyclists for 3 positions (top bar position, brakes hood position, bottom bar positions) at 4 different speeds (25, 30, 35, 40 km/h). All variables needed to compute aerodynamic forces are directly measured by sensors (temperature and pressure : Bosch BME280; power : Rotor inPower Powermeter; speed : Garmin 010-12103-00 speed sensor). [1] Voiry, M., Lemaitre, C., & Andre, C. (2017). Toward a robust and inexpensive method to assess the aerodynamic drag of cyclists. Journal of Science and Cycling, 6(3) [2] LemaA®tre, C., Voiry, M., & AndrA©, C. (2018). First evaluation of an automated system for cyclist’s aerodynamic drag assessment. Journal of Science and Cycling, 7(2), 9. [3]Grappe, F., Candau, R., Belli, A., & Rouillon, J. D. (1997). Aerodynamic drag in field cycling with special reference to the Obree's position. Ergonomics, 40(12), 1299-1311.

The Open Road

Vertical and horizontal fall-off of black carbon and NO2 within urban blocks

Colorum vehicles, as defined by the Land Transportation Franchising & Regulatory Board of the Philippines, are vehicles acting as Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) without proper registration or authorization. They present one of the most rampant problems in Philippine transportation, and current systems designed to detect colorum vehicles include only manual visual inspection which are prone to error and can disrupt traffic. An RF-based (Radio Frequency) system for automatically detecting registered vehicles was designed and tested to solve this problem. This system uses a pair of RF nodes - one installed in a PUV to mark it as registered and one installed in a base station to detect RF nodes in passing PUVs. Test results showed that it was possible to detect a registered PUV 100% of the time when the system is deployed at a PUV stop, and 97% of the time when deployed along an open road in a PUV route. Detection distances for registered PUVs were also measured to be at an average of 77m for base stations deployed at waiting sheds, which would grant traffic enforcers enough time to flag down a suspected colorum vehicle. Overall, the system can reduce the number of instances that traffic enforcers would have to flag down and inspect vehicles, therefore resulting in a more efficient implementation of traffic rules.

We designed a cross-sectional study in Spain, from 2014 to 2017. Our objective was to assess sex-related differences in the amount of driving exposure of car drivers, overall and stratified by the main environment-related driving conditions. We compared the sex distribution across three populations: (1) total number of person-years aged > 18 years; (2) total number of person-years aged > 18 years holding a valid car-driving license; and (3) total number of non-responsible car drivers involved in crashes with another offending driver, stratified by different environmental variables. The quasi-induced exposure approach was applied: the non-responsible drivers were considered as representative of the entire population of drivers on the road at the place and time at which the crash occurred. We calculated the female-to-male odds ratio (OR) by comparing population 2 versus 1, and population 3 versus 2. Finally, we performed separate regression models in population 3 for each environment-related variable as the dependent variable and driver’s age and sex as the independent variables. The female-to-male OR for the first comparison was 1.12, but values below 1 were found for extreme age groups. In the second comparison, an OR of 0.50 (0.49–0.51) was found, with progressively lower OR values as age increased. In population 3, women were found to drive less than men in environments known to be high risk (i.e., open roads, night-time, poor light conditions, and weekends). A significant gender gap exists in the amount and type of driving exposure. Although women obtain a driving license more frequently than men, they drive much less and tend to avoid high-risk environments. These results emphasize the need to incorporate a gender perspective in the development and implementation of road safety interventions.

The article reviews the framework work of the International Salon “PRO//Motion.Expo-2025”, held on August 28–31, 2025 in St. Petersburg in Russian Railway Museum and Baltiyskiy railway station. The event, organized by JSC Russian Railways every two years, has become a key platform for demonstrating the achievements of domestic and foreign railway engineering.The salon program included “Business Days” (August 28–29) and “Open Road Days” (August 30–31) with workshops, lectures and an exhibitions of equipment. Over 130 companies, including JSC Transmashholding, JSC Sinara — Transport Machines, NPC United Wagon Company and foreign companies from China and CIS countries, presented their developments on an area of over 5,000 m2. High–speed highways were especially important in the discussions: educational programs for training 500 specialists by 2028 was announced, and infrastructure solutions for the Moscow – St. Petersburg high-speed railway were presented. Emperor Alexander I Petersburg State Transport University demonstrated robotic platforms and interactive simulators. Treaties were signed, panel discussions on technological sovereignty and digitalization were held, and a dynamic exposition of historical rolling stock dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War was presented. The railway fair confirmed the status of the largest exhibition in the 1520 railway zone.

Innovations in production economics

It is well known that vehicles contribute to harmful air pollution in busy towns and cities. The correlation between traffic, air pollution and meteorological parameters in the city of Athens has been examined in this work. Approximately 3,000,000 vehicles circulate on the roads of Athens, of which the vast majority are private cars. Car occupancy is reaching only 1.4 passengers/vehicle, which leads to chaotic traffic conditions and health problems due to near ground air pollution. In order to have an overview of the impact of traffic on the urban air pollution level two main tasks were performed in the frame of a European Union project a) Collation and analysis of already existing air pollution, traffic and meteorological data and b) On field measurements on two typical roads (street canyon and open road) and on an urban background site. Traffic measurements were carried out during summer period (13-23 July 2003) while air pollution and meteorological parameters were recorded on a continuous basis. Spatial and temporal variations as well as the correlation of the above parameters have been examined. The above mentioned work led to interesting results regarding the way that the urban environment affects the pollution level and the dissemination of the air pollutants in the city area.