This study aims to to provide a systematic and sustainable strategic direction for road transportation ODA projects in Mozambique to help solve economic bottlenecks and contribute to national and regional economic growth at a time when the country is recovering from the economic shock and cessation of international aid caused by the past "Tuna Bond Scandal" and showing strong commitment to improving the road transportation sector led by the government. Through this, we aim to enhance the effectiveness of Korea's ODA projects and contribute to building a mutually beneficial cooperation model between Mozambique and Korea. Key indicators were established based on literature reviews, and an AHP survey was conducted targeting local road transport officials. The results were utilized to calculate the weights for each indicator and derive the project priorities. The study identified "sustainability" as the most critical factor among the social necessity indicators, highlighting the importance of long-term stability in road transport infrastructure. In the economic necessity category, "cost-effectiveness" emerged as a key priority, emphasizing resource optimization for maximum impact. Within policy necessity, alignment with government development goals was deemed essential for project success. Prioritization of road transport ODA projects based on sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and alignment with government policies is concluded to significantly enhance their impact. By addressing the immediate and long-term needs of Mozambique's transport infrastructure, the proposed strategy ensures resource efficiency and socioeconomic benefits. This approach not only improves the effectiveness of ODA initiatives but also fosters stronger partnerships between donor and recipient countries. Ultimately, the findings contribute to the development of systematic and sustainable ODA strategies for Mozambique.

In this study, we propose an adaptive traffic control method that utilizes predictions of near-future traffic arrivals at a signalized intersection based on real-time data collected at an upstream intersection to design acyclic traffic signal timing accordingly. The proposed adaptive control method utilizes a deep learning model developed in this study to predict future traffic arrivals at downstream intersections 24 s ahead based on upstream intersection data at 4 s decision intervals. Using the predicted arrival traffic volume, signal timings were designed to minimize delays. A rolling-horizon approach was employed to correct the prediction errors during this process. The performance of the proposed traffic signal control method was validated by comparing it with the traditional time-of-day (TOD) traffic signal operation method over a 24 h period. The results of comparative validation tests conducted through simulations in a virtual environment indicate that the proposed adaptive traffic control system operates efficiently to minimize average control delays. During the morning peak period, a reduction time of 43.19 s per vehicle (57.02%) was observed, whereas the afternoon peak period exhibited a reduction of 37.91 s per vehicle (48.35%). Additionally, data analysis revealed that the optimal phase length suggested by the pre-timed method, which assumes uniform vehicle arrivals, is statistically identical at a 95% confidence level to the average phase length of the adaptive traffic control system, which assumes random vehicle arrivals. This study confirms the necessity of adopting proactive real-time signal control systems that utilize a new traffic information collection method to respond to dynamic traffic conditions and move away from conventional TOD signal operation, which primarily focuses on peak commuting hours. Additionally, it confirms the need for a fundamental shift in the underlying philosophy traditionally used in traffic signal design

Until all vehicles are equipped with autonomous driving technology, there will inevitably be mixed traffic conditions that consist of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and manual vehicles (MVs). Interactions between AVs and MVs have a negative impact on traffic flow. Cloverleaf interchanges (ICs) have a high potential to cause traffic accidents owing to merging and diverging. Analyzing the driving safety of cloverleaf ICs in mixed traffic flows is an essential element of proactive traffic management to prevent accidents. This study proposes a comprehensive simulation approach that integrates driving simulation (DS) and traffic simulation (TS) to effectively analyze vehicle interactions between AVs and MVs. The purpose of this study is to identify hazardous road spots for a freeway cloverleaf IC by integrating DS and TS in mixed traffic flow. The driving behavior data of MVs collected through a DS were used to implement vehicle maneuvering based on an intelligent driver model in the TS. The driving behavior of the AVs was implemented using the VISSIM parameters of the AVs presented in the CoEXist project. Additionally, the market penetration rate of AVs, ranging from 10% to 90% in 10% increments, was considered in the analysis. Deceleration rate to avoid crashes was adopted as the evaluation indicator, and pinpointing hazardous spot technique was used to derive hazardous road spots for the cloverleaf IC. The most hazardous road spot was identified in the deceleration lane where greater speed changes were observed. Hazardous road spots moved downstream within the deceleration lane as traffic volumes increased based on level of service. The number of AVs decelerating stably increased as traffic increased, thereby improving the safety of the deceleration lane. These results can be used to determine the critical point of warning information provision for preventing accidents when introducing AVs.

In this study, we aim to classify personal mobility (PM)-related traffic crash data into four categories: PM-to-vehicle, PM-to-pedestrian, PM-single, and vehicle-to-PM crashes, and analyze the factors influencing the severity of each crash type. To overcome the limitations of existing studies in explaining the impact of independent variables on ordinal dependent variables, a random forest model was combined with the Shapley additive explanation technique. This approach visualizes the influence of independent variables on a dependent variable, providing clearer insights and enhancing interpretability. The analysis of PM traffic accidents, categorized into at-fault, single-vehicle, and victim accidents, revealed distinct key factors for each type. The main contributors to the severity of crashes caused by PM are traffic violations by teenagers and collisions with elderly pedestrians. Single-vehicle accidents were predominantly caused by overturn incidents, with inadequate driving skills among PM users aged 40 years and older, and significantly increasing severity. Victim accidents primarily occur at intersections, where the behavior of the at-fault driver and age of the PM user are critical factors influencing the severity. We identified various factors influencing the severity of PM crashes by type, highlighting the need for tailored policy measures. Proposed policies include physically separating bicycle–pedestrian shared spaces and strictly regulating illegal PM sidewalk riding, introducing PM licenses for teenagers to ensure compliance with traffic rules, and implementing regular safety education programs for all age groups. Although this study applied a new analytical technique, it relied on limited crash data, thus limiting the results to estimates.

This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the severity of taxi traffic accidents at intersections in Busan and propose measures to improve traffic safety. This study collected data on taxi traffic accidents that occurred at intersections in the Metropolitan City of Busan during the past 3 years (2020–2022) from Traffic Accident Analysis System(TAAS) and road views, and analyzed factors affecting their severity by employing an ordered probit model. The severity of taxi traffic accidents worsened with violations of (among others) traffic signals and pedestrian protection during January, April, and September. In addition, when a major street was operated with a permissive left turn, the severity of taxi traffic accidents worsened. Measures to improve traffic safety suggested in this study included safety education that focused on particular violations for taxi drivers, mandatory education for transport employees in an experiential format, support of video storage devices for driving records, policy establishment for the promotion and certification of good and bad driving videos, time adjustment of joint safety management inspection, and left-turn signal operation with an unprotected system and P-turn guidance.

The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate hazardous road sections based on roadside friction. Using GIS mapping and clustering techniques, this study analyzed traffic accidents and roadside friction data based on latitude and longitude coordinates. The density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm was applied, with parameters of MinPts = 5 and eps = 0.0001, determined through a K-nearest neighbor analysis. The data were separated based on traffic flow direction (uphill/ downhill), and clustering was performed separately in each direction to identify specific hazard zones. The DBSCAN clustering results revealed 18 clusters in traffic accident data and 44 clusters in roadside friction data. Traffic accident clusters include various types of accidents (e.g., vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian accidents), identifying locations as high-accident zones. The clustering results from the roadside friction data highlighted areas with crosswalks, absence of curbs, and roadside parking zones as major risk sections. Future research should analyze the operational design domain (ODD) of autonomous vehicles on hazardous road sections and explore the integration of multiple data sources to establish a comprehensive safety management system for accident prevention in autonomous driving environments. Additionally, road hazard sections are categorized into stages (e.g., hazardous, cautious, and safe) to enhance the precision in assessing road conditions. This categorization, combined with a detailed analysis of ODD, serves as a foundation for future research aimed at improving the safety of autonomous driving environments.

This study proposes a method to evaluate the publicity of real-time, demand-responsive, autonomous public-transportation systems. By analyzing real-time data collected based on publicity evaluation indicators suggested in previous research studies, this study seeks to establish a system that objectively assesses the publicity of public transportation. Thus, the introduction of autonomous public transportation systems is expected to contribute to solving problems in underserved transportation areas and enable more sophisticated public transportation operations. We reviewed evaluation indicators proposed in previous studies. Based on this review, publicity evaluation indicators were derived and specific criteria were selected to assess systematically the publicity of autonomous public transportation. An AHP analysis was conducted to assess the relative importance of each indicator by analyzing the importance of the selected indicators. Additionally, to score the indicators, minimum and maximum target values were established, and a method for assigning scores to each indicator was examined. The most important factor in the publicity evaluation of autonomous demand-responsive transport (DRT) was the “success rate of allocation to weak public transportation service areas,” with a significance level p of 0.204. This was analyzed as a key evaluation criterion because of the importance of service provision in areas with low-public-transportation accessibility. Subsequently, “Accessing distance to a virtual station” (p = 0.145) was evaluated as an important factor representing the convenience of the service. “Waiting time after allocation” (p = 0.134) also appeared as an important evaluation factor, as reducing waiting time considerably affected service quality. Conversely, “compliance rate of velocity” yielded the lowest significance (p = 0.017), as speed compliance was typically guaranteed owing to autonomous driving technology. This study proposed a specific evaluation method based on publicity indicators to provide a strategic direction for improving services and enhancing the publicity of autonomous DRT systems. These results can serve as a foundational resource for improving transportation services in underserved areas and for enhancing the overall quality of public transportation services. However, the study’s limitation was its inability to use real-time autonomous public transportation data, relying instead on I-MoD data from Incheon. This limitation constrained the ability to establish universal benchmarks because data from various municipalities were not included. Future research should collect and analyze data from diverse regions to establish more reliable evaluation indicators.

This study aimed to analyze the impact of implementing a voluntary driver's license return program on reducing traffic crashes for older drivers who were previously involved in traffic accidents. The traffic crashes caused by elderly drivers were categorized by crash type. We used the Chi-square test to compare municipalities that implemented the program in 2019 and 2020 with those that did not and explored variations in crash types based on the residential areas and age groups of elderly drivers. The voluntary driver's license return program reduced considerably the number of single-vehicle crashes involving elderly drivers. Moreover, while all crash types decreased in rural areas, only pedestrian–vehicle, and single-vehicle crashes were reduced considerably in urban areas. In terms of age groups, drivers aged >75 years were associated with reduced numbers of crashes (all types). Similarly, the 70–74 age group demonstrated considerable reductions in pedestrian–vehicle and single–vehicle crashes, emphasizing the importance of encouraging and supporting license returns among these age groups. First, because the characteristics of each crash type vary, it is important to analyze the impact of voluntary driver’s license returns on crash reduction, with a focus on specific crash types. Second, voluntary license returns should be promoted in all regions. However, in rural areas with limited access to public transportation, mobility must be supported by the introduction of DRT. Third, given that drivers aged >75 years were associated with reduced numbers of crashes (for all types of crashes), priority policies should be implemented to encourage license returns within this age group, along with tailored incentives. However, as the voluntary license return program is intended to support selfinitiated cessation of driving without compulsion, strategies should also be explored to promote voluntary returns without age restrictions. Fourth, a standardized evaluation system should be established to enable older drivers to assess their driving abilities and physical conditions, further encouraging voluntary license returns.

This study aimed to develop a pavement management system suitable for the climate and traffic characteristics of Gangwon Province. This research focused on analyzing the asphalt pavement performance characteristics of national highways in Gangwon Province by region and developing prediction models for the current pavement performance and annual changes in performance. Quantitative indicators were collected to evaluate the condition of national highway pavements in Gangwon Province, including factors affecting road performance, such as weather data and traffic volume. The Gangwon region was then classified according to its topography, climate, weather, traffic volume, and pavement performance. Prediction models for the current pavement performance and annual changes in performance were developed for national highways. This study also compared the predicted values for the Gangwon region using a nationwide pavement performance-prediction model from other studies with the predicted values from the developed annual changes in the performance prediction model. This study established a foundation for implementing a pavement management system tailored to the unique climate and traffic characteristics of Gangwon Province. By developing region-specific performance prediction models, this study provided valuable insights into more effective and efficient pavement maintenance strategies in Gangwon Province.

PURPOSES : This study aimed to compare the object detection performance based on various analysis methods using point-cloud data collected from LiDAR sensors with the goal of contributing to safer road environments. The findings of this study provide essential information that enables automated vehicles to accurately perceive their surroundings and effectively avoid potential hazards. Furthermore, they serve as a foundation for LiDAR sensor application to traffic monitoring, thereby enabling the collection and analysis of real-time traffic data in road environments. METHODS : Object detection was performed using models based on different point-cloud processing methods using the KITTI dataset, which consists of real-world driving environment data. The models included PointPillars for the voxel-based approach, PartA2-Net for the point-based approach, and PV-RCNN for the point+voxel-based approach. The performance of each model was compared using the mean average precision (mAP) metric. RESULTS : While all models exhibited a strong performance, PV-RCNN achieved the highest performance across easy, moderate, and hard difficulty levels. PV-RCNN outperformed the other models in bounding box (Bbox), bird’s eye view (BEV), and 3D object detection tasks. These results highlight PV-RCNN's ability to maintain a high performance across diverse driving environments by combining the efficiency of the voxel-based method with the precision of the point-based method. These findings provide foundational insights not only for automated vehicles but also for traffic detection, enabling the accurate detection of various objects in complex road environments. In urban settings, models such as PV-RCNN may be more suitable, whereas in situations requiring real-time processing efficiency, the voxelbased PointPillars model could be advantageous. These findings offer important insights into the model that is best suited for specific scenarios. CONCLUSIONS : The findings of this study aid enhance the safety and reliability of automated driving systems by enabling vehicles to perceive their surroundings accurately and avoid potential hazards at an early stage. Furthermore, the use of LiDAR sensors for traffic monitoring is expected to optimize traffic flow by collecting and analyzing real-time traffic data from road environments.

PURPOSES : This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the severity of traffic crashes caused by personal mobility (PM) devices compared with those involving victims. METHODS : Traffic crashes involving PM devices were used to build a non-parametric statistical model using a classification tree. Based on the results, the factors influencing both at-fault and victim-related crashes caused by PM devices were analyzed. The factors affecting accident severity were also compared. RESULTS : Common factors affecting the severity of traffic crashes involving both perpetrators and victims using PM devices include occurrences at intersections, crosswalks at intersections, single roads, and inside tunnels. Traffic law violations by PM device users (perpetrators) influence the severity of crashes. Meanwhile, factors such as the behavior of perpetrators using other modes of transportation, rear-end collisions, road geometry, and weather conditions affect the severity of crashes where PM device users are the victims. CONCLUSIONS : To reduce the severity of traffic crashes involving PM devices, it is essential to extend the length of physically separated shared paths for cyclists and pedestrians, actively enforce laws to prevent violations by PM device users, and provide systematic and regular educational programs to ensure safe driving practices among PM device users.

PURPOSES : In this study, the speed limit violation behavior of drivers after experiencing traffic law punishment was analyzed. Simultaneously, the tendency of such drivers to violate other traffic laws besides the speed limit was empirically analyzed. METHODS : Over a two-month period (May–June, 2024), 1,235 responses were collected through a mobile on-line survey targeting drivers living in the urban areas of Chungnam Province, South Korea. After building a binary logit regression model on drivers’ speed limit violations with their personal attributes (e.g., gender, age, education, job, marital status, driving frequency, and driving experience) and the number of past traffic law violations as explanatory variables, the speed limit violation determinants were derived. Additionally, the relationship between the different types of traffic violations were investigated. RESULTS : As the driver age increased, the rate of speed limit violations decreased. Drivers working in relatively high-paying jobs are more likely to incur in speed limit violations. The greater the driving experience, the lower the possibility of a speed limit violation. The greater the number of fines imposed in the previous 12 months, the more likely it is to violate the speed limit. Additionally, drivers who had violated the speed limit were found to be more likely to violate laws by failing to follow stop lines at crosswalks, not activating turn signal lamps, entering intersections under a red light, and not wearing seatbelts on public roads. CONCLUSIONS : Fines work as a means of sanctioning to ensure their effectiveness in suppressing repeated law violations. Particularly, there is a limit to the fact that compulsory collection cannot be implemented when the arrears are not large, and institutional improvements are required to improve awareness of the fact that when a violator is imposed with a fine, it is not considered seriously. Meanwhile, there is a need to develop educational programs so that drivers can follow traffic laws under any circumstance, expand crackdowns on traffic violations, and strengthen preventive campaigns and promotions for traffic safety. Additionally, continuous efforts are needed to help drivers who repeatedly violate traffic laws develop negative attitudes toward violating these laws.

PURPOSES : The reliability of traffic volume estimates based on location intelligence data (LID) is evaluated using various statistical techniques. There are several methods for determining statistical significance or relationships between different database sets. We propose a method that best represents the statistical difference between actual LID-based traffic volume estimates and the VDS values (i.e., true values) for the same road segment. METHODS : A total of 2,496 datasets aggregated for 1-h LID and VDS data were subjected to various statistical analyses to evaluate the consistency of the two datasets. The VDS data were defined as the true values for comparison. Four different statistical techniques (procrutes, 2-sample t-test, paired-sample t-test, and model performance rating scale) were applied. RESULTS : In cases where there is a specific pattern (e.g., traffic volume distribution considering peak and off-peak times), distribution tests such as Procrustes or Kolmogorov-Smirnov are useful because not only the prediction accuracy but also the similarity of the data distribution shape is important. CONCLUSIONS : The findings of this study provide important insight into the reliability of LID-based traffic volume estimation. To evaluate the reliability between the two groups, a paired-sample t-test was considered more appropriate than the performance evaluation measure of the machine-learning model. However, it is important to set the acceptance criteria necessary to statistically determine whether the difference between the two groups in the paired-sample t-test varies according to the given problem.