PURPOSES : This study investigates the effects of three different three-color arrow traffic light operations on right-turn vehicles at intersections in Busan Metropolitan City. METHODS : Intersections in this study were categorized as general intersections (Type 1), intersections with right-turn pockets (Type 2), and intersections with scramble crosswalks (Type 3), and were investigated in terms of the efficiency (i.e., control delay) and safety (i.e., number of conflicts) of right-turn vehicles by employing VISSIM 2023 and SSAM3. RESULTS : From a mobility perspective (i.e., control delay), the protected/permitted operation outperformed the other two methods at the three types of intersections. The protected operation, similar to the results of the protected/permitted operation, was also superior to the permitted operation in terms of safety (i.e., number of conflicts). CONCLUSIONS : Protected/permitted operation has been proven to be a more efficient and safer measure than other operation methods for alleviating the problems of protected right-turn operation, which is currently implemented without three-color arrow traffic lights.

PURPOSES : This study investigates the factors affecting extra-long tunnel accidents by integrating data on tunnel geometry, traffic flow, and traffic accidents and derives the underlying implications to mitigate the severity of accidents. METHODS : Two processes centered on three key data points (tunnel geometry, traffic flow, and traffic accidents) were used in this study. The first is to analyze the spatial characteristics of extra-long tunnel traffic accidents and categorize them from multiple perspectives. The other was to investigate the factors affecting extra-long tunnel traffic accidents using the equivalent property-damage-only (EPDO) of individual accidents and the aforementioned data as the dependent and independent variables, respectively, by employing an ordered logistic regression model. RESULTS : Gyeonggi-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, and Gangwon-do are three metropolitan municipalities that have a significant number of extra-long tunnel accidents; Busan and Seoul have the most extra-long tunnel accidents, accounting for 23.2% (422 accidents) and 18.6% (339 accidents) of the 1,821 accidents that occurred from 2007 to 2020, respectively. In addition, approximately 70% of extra-long tunnel traffic accidents occurred along tunnels with lengths of less than 2 km, and Seoul and Busan accounted for over 60% of the top 20 extra-long tunnels with accidents. Most importantly, the Hwangryeong (down) tunnel in Busan experienced the most extra-long tunnel traffic accidents, with 77 accidents occurring during the same period. As a result of the ordered logistic regression modeling with EPDO and multiple independent variables, the significant factors affecting the severity of extra-long tunnel traffic accidents were determined to be road type (freeway, local route, and metropolitan city road), traffic flow (speed), accident time (year, summer, weekend, and afternoon), accident type (rear end), traffic law violations (safe distance violation and center line violation), and offending vehicles (van, sedan, and truck). CONCLUSIONS : Based on these results, the following measures and implications for mitigating the severity of extra-long tunnel traffic accidents must be considered: upgrading the emergency response level of all road types to that of freeways and actively promoting techniques for regulating high-speed vehicles approaching and traversing within extra-long tunnels are necessary. In addition, the emergency response and preparation system should be reinforced, particularly when the damage from extra-long tunnel traffic accidents is more serious, such as during the summer, weekends, and afternoons. Finally, traffic law violations such as safe distance and centerline violations in extra-long tunnels should be prohibited.

PURPOSES : This study aims to investigate the effect of the propagation time of variable message sign (VMS) information and drivers’ detour rate on the VMS performance under non-recurrent traffic states. METHODS: A microscopic simulation model (i.e., VISSIM and VISSIM COM User Interface) was developed at a location where VMS messages were most frequently displaced in 2018 from the Busan Regional Construction and Management Administration. The non-recurrent traffic states realized in this study were one- and two-lane close cases with scenarios involving multiple propagation times from 0 min to 20 min in 2 min increments and detour rates from 0% to 50%, in 10% increments. The measures of effectiveness are the average delay per vehicle, total travel time, and reduction rate of the total travel time based on the average value of 30 multiple simulation runs for individual scenarios. RESULTS:For the one- and two-lane close cases, the reduction rate of the total travel time increased as the propagation time shortened and the detour rate became bigger. The optimal (i.e., 0 min propagation time and 50% detour rate) and worst (i.e., 20 min propagation time and 10% detour rate) scenarios produced 41.1% (8.9 h) and 6.4% (1.4 h) and 26.4% (86.5 h) and 1.4% (4.7 h) of the total travel time for the one- and twolane close cases, respectively. CONCLUSIONS : The study results implied that the late propagation time and the low detour rate might not significantly influence the VMS system. Therefore, it is important to improve the information process time for the shorter propagation time and the reliability of the VMS information for a higher detour rate, which will result in a better VMS system performance.

PURPOSES: This study presents the results of the collection rate of various road debris dummies using Automated Road Debris Remover System(ROBOS), which is a newly developed automatic road-debris removal system. In addition, for traffic flow safety, appropriate safe deceleration distances for ROBOS are estimated using VISSIM. METHODS: A total of 12 kinds of road debris dummies were selected based on the opinions of public agencies, and randomly placed on the road. Repeated tests were performed. The road debris dummies were placed on the center of the lane, the shoulders, and the median. During the test, the ROBOS running speed was maintained at 15 km/h for an approximately 10-km-long roadway, and the collection and loading process was performed five times under the same condition. For the simulations, the road debris was assumed to be placed on Lane 1 under different traffic conditions and grades. Multiple simulations were conducted, and the average values were used to obtain appropriate safe deceleration distances for ROBOS. RESULTS: The dummies were considerably large and heavy, and the collection rate was very high for the very light dummy. The simulation results indicate that during debris collection using ROBOS, when the traffic volume is relatively low, the degree of change in traffic flow is high, and when the traffic flow rate is high, the risk of an accident is also considerable. CONCLUSIONS : We demonstrated that the debris collection efficiency of ROBOS is very high when the brush-conveyor and vacuum are used simultaneously. Further, when the exact location of road debris on specific lanes and for specific traffic volumes is known, a safe deceleration distance is recommended.