Multidimensional Analysis of Road SafetyCase study of Amsterdam

100 Pages·2016·24.3 MB·English

by  Hoai Huong Nguyen

Université Paris Diderot – Paris 7
Multidimensional Analysis of Road Safety
Case study of Amsterdam
Hoai Huong Nguyen
InPartialFulfillmentoftheRequirements
fortheDegreeof
MasterofScience2–Géoprisme
ThesisAdvisor Arnaud Banos
DirecteurdeRecherche,CNRS
Géographie-Cités
Paris,France
InternshipSupervisors Dr. Gert Jan Wijlhuizen
Ing. Govert Schermers
SWOVInstituteforRoadSafetyResearch
TheHague,Netherlands
DateofDefense 20September2016

Declaration
Ideclarethatthisthesishasbeencomposedsolelybymyselfandthatithasnotbeensubmitted,
inwholeorinpart,inanypreviousapplicationforadegree. Exceptwherestatedotherwiseby
referenceoracknowledgment,theworkpresentedisentirelymyown.
HoaiHuongNguyen
iii

Abstract
ThisthesisseekstostudythemultidimensionalaspectsofroadsafetyinAmsterdam,Netherlands:
itsdevelopmentinprioritizingsafetyforcyclists,itscurrentchallenges,andthepivottowarda
new avenue of research using Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs). This work relied on the
analysesofnewspaperarticles,academicarticles,blogs,demographicdata,crashdatasets,and
scores of road geometries according to perceived quality of safety. Road safety is an integral
partofthecityofAmsterdam. Sincethesafetysituationforcyclistshasdeterioratedoncertain
arterialroads,thecityispursuingexploratoryresearchinassessingcorrectivemeasuresalready
implemented to remedy and improve its current situation. The exploratory research done in
thisthesiscouldonlyrecommendimprovementsindataandmethodologies.
Keywords: Roadsafety,cyclists,crashdata,SafetyPerformanceIndicators(SPIs),Amsterdam
Résumé
CemémoireviseàétudierlesaspectsmultidimensionnelsdelasécuritéroutièreàAmsterdam
auxPays-Bas:laprioritédonnéeàlasécuritédescyclistes,lesdéfisactuels,etlenouvelaxede
recherchequiutiliselesIndicateursdeQualitédeSécuritéRoutière(SPIs).Cetravailrepose
sur l’analyse de sources multiples : publications scientifiques et médiatiques, blogs, données
démographiques, bases des données des accidents de la route, et indicateurs de perception
delasécuritéselonlagéométrieroutière.Lasécuritéroutièrefaitpartieintégrantedelaville
d’Amsterdam.Enraisondudéclinactueldelasécuritéroutièredescyclistessurcertainesdeses
artères, la ville mène des recherches exploratoires pour évaluer la performance des mesures
correctives appliquées et dans l’objectif de trouver des solutions permettant de promouvoir
la sécurité routière. La recherche exploratoire menée dans le cadre de ce mémoire conduit à
recommanderl’améliorationdesdonnéesetdesméthodologies.
Motsclés:Sécuritéroutière,cyclistes,donnéesdesaccidentsroutiers,IndicateursdeQualitéde
SécuritéRoutière(SPIs),Amsterdam
v

Acknowledgements
Working on this thesis in combination with my internship at SWOV has been an enriching
experience. I was able to do my internship and complete my thesis with the help of many
throughouttheschoolyearandduringthelastfewmonths.
Iwouldliketothankmythesissupervisor,ArnaudBanos,forhispatience,advice,andcornucopia
ofquestions. Despitebeinghalfwayaroundtheworld,healwaysmadetimefordiscussions.
I am grateful for the guidance of my internship supervisors, Gert Jan Wijlhuizen and Govert
Schermers. Thankyouforhelpingmethoughthisproject. IalsowouldliketothankJanHendrik
vanPetegemforguidingmethroughthefirststepsofthedatasetsandmodeling. Ialsowould
liketothankJacquesCommandeur,FritsBijleveld,andJonathandeBruinforsharingtheirtime
andknowledge. IwouldliketothankShiefraazOzirandVincentKarsfortheirtimeandpatience
inexplainingthedataandcollectionmethodstohelpmeovercomesomeofthelanguageand
culturalbarriers. Iamhappytohavespentmysummerwithsuchagreatgroupofinternsand
thelunchcollective.
ThankyoutomyclassmatesMickaëlSousaandRomainLeconteforhelpingmenavigatethough
theschoolyear.
IwouldliketoexpressmyappreciationforSolomonAssefaforencouragingmetolearnnew
technologies,butneverforgetoldschoolstatistics.
ThankstomyfriendsSaraHoumair,SarahWinum-Auther,GalinaZapryanova,IvyHou,Cornelia
Dinca,andClaireSchmauchforalltheirhelp.
ThankstoCathyHoforalltheFaceTimeconversations.
Iamgratefulformyfamily,whohasbeenthroughthisjourneywithme. Thankstomymother’s
strangenotionsthatallAmericansknowhowtodrive. Ilearnedtodrive. Itcanbemaddening
sometimes. Iwouldliketothankmybrotherforallthedrivingpracticethatwedidtogether.
Finally,IamthankfulfortheloveandsupportofAmitFleischer.
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Contents
Abstract iv
Acknowledgements vii
List of Figures xi
List of Tables xiii
Foreword 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Road safety in Amsterdam: a bottom-up process 9
2.1 Stopdekindermoord: Ariseofconsciousnessandapivotforroadsafety. . . . . 9
2.1.1 Economicsuccessandexponentialgrowthoftheautomobile. . . . . . . . 9
2.1.2 Socialcostsoftheautomobileinurbanarea: consumptionofspace,noise
andcrashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.3 Grass-rootsmovementtoreclaimtheurbanstreetsgainedmomentum. . 12
2.2 Spacededicatedtoqualityofurbanlifeandareductioninconflictsofmodes . . 14
2.2.1 Woonerf: Sharingspace,aninnovativeconcept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.2 Aninstrumenttoimprovethequalityoflife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.3 Separatedcyclinglane: Asafespaceforbicycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3 DuurzaamVeiligandbeyond,advancingroadsafetywithinfrastructure . . . . . 16
2.3.1 Sustainablesafety(DuurzaamVeilig): Fromtheorytocreationofasafe
environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3.2 AssessingDuurzaamVeiligtoadvanceroadsafety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4 Conclusionofpart2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3 Road safety analysis of Amsterdam on a spatial and temporal scale 23
3.1 Amsterdam,exposureatthecitylevel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.1.1 Populationgrowthandintensificationofdensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
ix
3.1.2 Carownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.1.3 Bicycleridership,anunderrepresentedindicatorofexposure. . . . . . . . 29
3.2 Demographiccharacteristicsofcrashesandvulnerableroadusers . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2.1 Genderandcrashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2.2 Ageandcrashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.3 Spatial-temporalanalysisofcrashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.3.1 Crashesinthetemporalcontext. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.3.2 Crashesinthespatialcontext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.3.3 Highspatialconcentrationofcrashesimplicateshighsocialcosts . . . . . 33
3.4 Conclusionofpart3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4 Towards an assessment of Duurzaam Veilig and an advancement of road safety:
Modeling Safety Performance Indicators of road and cycling infrastructure in
Amsterdam 37
4.1 SafetyPerformanceIndicators(SPIs)andAmsterdam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2 Componentsanddevelopmentofmodels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.2.1 Regionofinterest: selectedstreetsandsegments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.2.2 Crashdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.2.3 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.3 Modelingfrequencyofcrashesatthestreetlevel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3.1 Exploratoryanalysisofcrashvictimsfromtheambulancedatasetatstreet
level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3.2 Summaryandinterpretationsofambulanceatstreetlevel . . . . . . . . . 56
4.3.3 ExploratoryanalysisofcrashesfromtheBRONdatasetatstreetlevel . . 58
4.3.4 SummaryandinterpretationofBRONatstreetlevel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.4 ExploratoryanalysisofcrashesfromtheBRONdatasetatsegmentlevel . . . . . 66
4.4.1 Frequencyofcrashesresultinginfatalitiesandinjuries . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.4.2 Frequencyofcrashesonasegmentresultinginfatalitiesandinjuries. . . 69
4.4.3 Frequencyofcrashesatanintersectionresultinginfatalitiesandinjuries 71
4.4.4 SummaryandinterpretationofBRONatsegmentlevel . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.5 Conclusionofpart4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.5.1 Lookingtowardthefuture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5 Conclusion 77
A Appendix 79
Bibliography 83
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