Towards reducing the number of crashes during hurricane evacuation: Assessing the potential safety impact of adaptive cruise control systems

Ensuring safer mobility for evacuee drivers during a hurricane evacuation has always been a major concern for traffic managers. That concern has grown further, particularly after recent hurricanes, which forced millions of people to evacuate, causing significant congestion and a high number of traffic crashes. Though several strategies have been deployed to manage the heavy traffic demand during a hurricane evacuation, current approaches seem to have less impact on traffic safety. In a situation where people are ordered to evacuate to a safer place involving long hours of driving, perception related errors are inevitable. In such conditions, advanced driving assistance system or vehicle automation can have a positive impact. In this study, the authors assess the safety impact of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) systems during an evacuation. The authors develop a microscopic simulation model of evacuation traffic in SUMO and calibrate it using real-world traffic data collected during the evacuation period of hurricane Irma for a segment in the Interstate highway in Florida. To evaluate the safety impact of ACC systems, the authors adopt two surrogate measures: time to collision (TTC) and deceleration rate to avoid a collision (DRAC). Our simulation experiments show that, during the evacuation, about 49.7% of traffic collisions can be reduced at a 25% market penetration of ACC equipped vehicles. Our result has potential implications for hurricane evacuation management since a modest decrease in the number of crashes can help reduce the massive delays most commonly experienced during a major evacuation.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2021.103188
• Record URL:
  • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0968090X21002047
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0968090X
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Rahman, Rezaur
  • Hasan, Samiul
  • Zaki, Mohamed H
• Publication Date: 2021-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 103188
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies
  • Volume: 128
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0968-090X
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0968090X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Autonomous intelligent cruise control; Evacuation; Hurricanes; Microsimulation; Traffic safety
• Geographic Terms: Florida
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01779194
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 18 2021 9:17AM