Unit – 5 Incident Mgmt

 Traffic Incident Management is the response to traffic

accidents, incidents and other unplanned events that occur on
the road network, often in potentially dangerous situations.
 Incident management requires
 planning,
 response,
 safety at the scene of the incident and
 recovery.
 It requires attention to three main aspects – in order of
priority – safety, mobility of traffic flow and control and
repair of damage.
Types of incidents
 breakdown of vehicles
 incidents with only material damage
 those involving injured persons, death, fire, and dangerous
goods; and
 investigation of guilt or crime .
Impacts
 delay,
 property damage,
 injuries and fatalities, and
 road safety for the road users
Process
Common phases of an incident are:
 detection - that an incident has occurred
 verification - that the incident has occurred, determining
its location and having sufficient information to enable an
appropriate response
 response - by dispatching appropriate services to resolve
the incident
 clearance, or the removal of the vehicles, damaged
property and victims from the incident scene, and complete
reopening of any blocked lanes
 recovery to normal traffic flow
ITS
 An intelligent transportation system (ITS) is an
advanced application which aims to provide innovative
services relating to different modes of transport and traffic
management and enable users to be better informed and
make safer, more coordinated, and 'smarter' use of transport
networks.
Planning effective Incident Mgmt
Program
 Incident Response Teams - deliver actual incident management
services in the field.
 The following agencies and service providers may be part of the
IRT:
 Service patrols
 Ambulance services
 Towing and recovery
 Transit
 Toxic material control
 Emergency services
 Other (Coast Guard, Railroads, etc.)
 Training: any combination of field drills; traffic operations
center training; and classroom lectures, discussion, and
exercises.
 CPR
 Basic First Aid
 Radio communication
 Removal of disabled vehicles ·
 Response vehicle equipment use policies and procedures ·
 Fatal or felony accident procedures
 Field Guides - Formal training programs provide the
knowledge and skill base that IRT members need to perform
their jobs effectively.
 ITS
 Traffic Signal Timing Adjustments
 Ramp Controls
 Response - computer and communications technologies
 Traffic Signal Pre-exemption for Emergency Vehicles
 Traffic Operations Center - serve as the hub or nerve center
of ITS and traffic control systems - central point at which
information about the transportation system is collected,
processed, and collated.
 planning, development, implementation and operation of ITS
infrastructure
 Service Patrols - effective in reducing incident detection
time, as well as the overall duration of the incident.
 Post-incident debriefings - very effective for identifying areas
for improvement, as well as confirming the value of practices
that are working well.
National importance of survival of Transportation
systems during disasters
 Transportation is often considered a critical
infrastructure since a disruption in one of its components
can have significant impact on the economic and social well
being of a region of a nation.
impact of the threats and risk level of
disasters on transportation systems:
 Increased mobility - mobility of passengers (for
commuting, tourism, business and migration) and freight has
increased notably around the world.
 Infrastructure and economic interdependency.
Infrastructures are increasingly interdependent, particularly
transportation and energy infrastructures, so a disruption in
one will have an effect on others.
 Centralization and concentration of distribution.
The principle of economies of scale often leads to a
centralization of network structures and a concentration of
economic activities.
 Urbanization. The emergence of large cities has led to
acute concentrations of populations, a pattern significantly
different than the more dispersed settlements that prevailed
in rural societies.
 With the increasing reliance on distribution systems, any
failure of transportation, due to intentional or non-
intentional causes, can have very disruptive consequences and
can compromise national security.
Natural disasters
 Extreme weather events. Many weather events such as
storms and blizzards occur regularly and tend to have
minimal impacts on transport systems with delays, partial
closures or diversions.
 The 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan is among the five
largest in recorder history. While the damage by the
earthquake was significant, it is the associated tsunamis that
caused the most extensive damage to Japanese transport
infrastructure. Further, the earthquake had significant
impacts on global supply chains as the Japanese automobile
production fell by 50% in the following months, mostly
because of disruptions in supply chains.
 Sea level rise - many cities and infrastructure are built right
above the upper tidal limit. evidence underlines a rise by one
meter by 2100 is certain. If the sea level rise accelerates, the
one meter scenario could even be reached by 2050. sea level
rise places critical transport infrastructure such as ports and
airports at risk of damage and discontinuity in operations.
For instance, a port terminal or an airport could not be
directly impaired by sea level rise, but its access roads could
be, compromising its commercial viability.
Man-made disasters
 Accidents. The outcome of technical failures or human
errors and where modes, infrastructure or terminals can be
damaged, even destroyed, which includes injuries, the loss of
life and property damage.
 Infrastructure failure. Transportation infrastructure can
fail due to a lack of (or deferred) maintenance, improper
management, design flaws or handling more traffic than they
are designed for. Bridges and other similar structures are
particularly vulnerable.
 Conflicts, terrorism and piracy. Conflicts such as wars
and civil unrest often result in the damaging of infrastructure
with transportation commonly a voluntary or involuntary
target.
 Economic and political shocks. They are likely to play a
growing role in the future, particularly financial issues as
most developed nations have accumulated a staggering
amount of debt that is likely to be defaulted on.
 Pandemics. At the intersection of natural (biological) and
anthropogenic causes (people are vectors and a virus could
be mutated by anthropogenic causes), a pandemic is an event
of potential profound ramifications.
Advanced ITS
Introduction

 Some new features in the ITS sector are covered in this section. The first basic concept in any ITS
implementation is SMART CAR. It is the car with all modern features. The SMART CAR has to be
complimented by a SMART ROAD.
 The developments in the ITS field started with the infrastructure to infrastructure
communications. They formed the basis of further development of ITS. Then the I2I
communications were upgraded with the vehicle to infrastructure communications. They are
called V2I communications. The latest development is the vehicle to vehicle communications,
i.e. V2V communications.

Smart car
As mentioned earlier the car is equipped with all the new electronic gadgets. It helps the user to use
service efficiently. Some of the features of SMART CAR are:

• GPS and on-board communications

• Anti-collision sensors

A smart car must be able to sense, analyze, predict and react to the road environment, which is the key
feature of smart cars. The car works with a central component that monitors the roadway and the
driver. It also evaluates of the potential safety benefits. It addresses navigation, obstacle avoidance and
platooning problems. The car aims at expanding the time horizon for acquiring safety relevant
information and improving precision, reliability and quality of driving.

There are some preventive safety technologies and in-vehicle systems, which sense the potential
danger. The Adaptive Integrated Driver-vehicle Interface (AIDE) project tries to maximize the efficiency
and safety of advanced driver assistance systems, while minimizing the workload and distraction
imposed by in-vehicle information systems.

Almost 95% of the accidents are due to human factors and in almost three-quarters of the cases human
behavior is solely to blame. Smart cars present promising potentials to assist drivers in improving their
situational awareness and reducing errors. With cameras monitoring the driver’s gaze and activity,
smart cars attempt to keep the driver’s attention on the road ahead. Physiological sensors can detect
whether the driver is in good condition. The actuators will execute specified control on the car without
the driver’s commands. The smart car will adopt active measures such as stopping the car in case that
the driver is unable to act properly, or applying passive protection to reduce possible harm in abrupt
accidents, for example, popping up airbags.
Smart road
As mentioned earlier SMART CAR alone cannot operate in a system. Thus along with the

SMART CAR, the infrastructure should also be improved. The infrastructure also should be

well prepared for taking care of smart car. The road equipment will communicate with the

vehicle and provide real time assistance to the user. Provision of Smart road along with Smart

car will complete the Smart features of any facility. It may be possible that the highway forms

a high density platoon of vehicles moving bumper to bumper and this platoon will move at

a speed of 70 kmph or so. That road will be equipped with some sensors may be along the

pavements and the decisions are left to the central unit. The road itself will show some messages

which can be easily read.

Infrastructure to Infrastructure Communications

This type of communication is a initial stage in formation of present ITS system. Communica-

tion takes place between infrastructures. Evolution of I2I services led to more advanced vehicle

communications. They are the easy means of communications. But handling them on a large is

an area of concern. Fig. 50:1 and 50:2 show the I2I communications in case of ramp metering.

Vehicle to infrastructure communications

These involve advanced vehicle to infrastructure interface. The communication takes place

between a vehicular device and a infrastructure equipment. It is an improvement over I2I

services. Large communication is possible with this type of communication. Some examples of

V2I communication are:

• Blind merge warning