NTSA Research School 2024
Walkable and safe: combining sustainability and Safe System perspectives to address pedestrian issues
14–16 May 2024
Lund, Sweden
Local organizers: Kevin Gildea, Aliaksei Laureshyn, Carmelo D’Agostino
The seminar is held in close co-operation with the Traffic Safety and Behaviour group at the Department of Technology and Society, Faculty of Engineering, LTH, Lund University.
Call
The research school organised by the Nordic Traffic Safety Academy (NTSA) aims at providing insights into the challenges related to pedestrian safety as well as a broader view on walking as a transportation mode and—to some degree—as a measure to create better traffic environment and improved safety.
The Safe System approach is widely recognized as the state-of-the-art in the management of traffic safety. It departs from several fundamental principles such as acknowledging that humans are prone to mistakes, that the human body is fragile and should not be exposed to forces able to cause severe injuries, and that responsibility for providing safe environment is to a high degree in the hands of the system designers.
The recent trend is to see traffic safety as a part in a bigger puzzle of sustainable development (formalized in the UN’s Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable development goals), interconnected with the aspects such as public health and well-being, liveable cities and communities, inclusive, affordable, and resilient transportation, etc. Seen from such perspective, the road safety toolbox gets enriched with a broad collection of sustainability-oriented measures, many of them having a significant impact on safety, but traditionally not considered relevant as belonging to ‘other domains’. For example, activities directed towards increased walking and reduced car traffic are beneficial for traffic safety, effectively reducing the exposure to the danger posed by cars on vulnerable road users.
Programme
13 May 2024
18:00–19:30 Welcome reception
14 May 2024
9:00–10:20 ‘Traffic safety as a part of sustainability agenda‘
Claes Tingvall is retired from the Swedish Transport Administration where he was Director of Traffic Safety until 2015. Claes Tingvall has a PhD from Karolinska Institute in Sweden (DrMedSc) and a DSc h.c. from Emory University in Atlanta. He is an Adjunct Professor at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, as well as Monash University Accident Research Centre, Australia. Claes Tingvall was instrumental in developing Vision Zero from the very beginning. He has published in injury epidemiology, safety rating and safety management.
10:20–10:40 Coffee break
10:40–12:00 ‘Walkability and safety—a wide perspective’
Sonja Forward is a psychologist and a research leader at the Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI). Over the years she has developed great expertise in the field of transportation psychology using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Her primary areas of research focus on psychological factors predicting behaviour in traffic and how to increase the use of more sustainable modes of transport. She has presented numerous papers at different conferences, mostly as an invited speaker. Sonja Forward is the President of the Swedish Pedestrian Association (FOT) and the HUMANIST virtual centre of excellence.
12:00–13:00 Lunch
13:00–14:30 Student presentations
‘Value-based interactions between autonomous vehicles and pedestrians’
Josephine Halama
Chemnitz University of Technology
Germany
‘Decoding pedestrian road crossing behavior: Insights from behavioral experiments and cognitive models’
Max Theisen
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Germany
14:30–15:00 Coffee break
15:00–15:45 Student presentations
‘Social and spatial planning dimensions of walking’
Luisa Merlo
Luleå University of technology
Sweden
15:45–16:00 Summary and reflection
16:30–19:00 Social activity
15 May 2024
9:00–10:20 ‘Pedestrian falls as a traffic safety problem’
Glenn Berggård has been researcher and teacher at Luleå University of Technology since 1984. His main area of research is prevention of slipping and falling on snow and ice. Most of the research has been made together with experienced physiotherapists and experts on human gait combining different engineering and physiotherapist methods for measuring pedestrian safety, security and walkability.
Other research interests are mobility and public transport, particularly in sparsely populated areas.
10:20–10:40 Coffee break
10:40–12:00 ‘Policy for increased walking and its safety implications’
Rune Elvik has been a road safety researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics since 1980. His main areas of research have been evaluation studies, meta-analysis and cost-benefit analysis.
Rune Elvik served as editor-in-chief (together with Karl Kim) of Accident Analysis and Prevention from 2005 to 2013. He has participated in many European projects and contributed to the Highway Safety Manual. He has published more than 150 papers in scientific journals.
12:00–13:00 Lunch
13:00–14:30 Student presentations
‘Pedestrian behavior and road safety: microsimulation approach’
Chiara Gruden
University of Maribor
Slovenia
‘Impact of advanced driver assistance systems on pedestrian safety in Europe in 2030’
Antonio Fadel da Costa
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd
Finland
14:30–14:45 Summary and reflections
14:45–15:00 Coffee
18:00–20:00 Social dinner
16 May 2024
9:00–10:20 ‘Pedestrian safety in collisions with vehicles—what more can we do?’
Dr. Lars Ekman has a background as researcher at Lund University, Sweden. His research focused on traffic safety evaluation applied on pedestrians and bicyclists. Lars Ekman has also for a long time been involved in international collaborations in the field of traffic safety both on a European with CEDR and global arena. At present, he works as an expert in traffic safety at the Swedish Transport Administration with special emphasis on traffic safety countermeasures.
Lars Ekman popular speaker on the topic of The Vision Zero, often in connection to the Vision Zero Academy.
10:20–10:40 Coffee break
10:40–12:00 ‘Surrogate measures for evaluating and understanding pedestrian safety’
Aliaksei Laureshyn is Associate Professor in traffic safety at Lund University, Sweden. His primary research interests deal with theory and practical use of pro-active methods in road safety analysis. He is an active member in several international committees and working groups related to the subject of Surrogate Measures of Safety (SMoS). Other research interests include emerging technologies for data collection in traffic, policy and practice in road safety work, particularly in the view of Vision Zero/Safe System paradigm.
