Predicting Wintertime Pavement Conditions for Safety of Pedestrians

Kelimallin kehittaminen talvijalankulun turvallisuuden parantamiseksi

In this project, a weather and pavement condition model was developed. The model is used in the Finnish Meteorological Institute to provide winter weather service for pedestrians in whole Finland. It is expected that by giving warnings of slippery conditions the number of slipping accidents could be reduced and therefore the safety of pedestrians during winter could be improved. The weather and pavement condition model is based on the road weather model used operationally in the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The road weather model is a one-dimensional energy balance model which predicts the road surface temperature and conditions. The storage terms of the model describing e.g. the amount of ice and snow were adjusted for pavements and a new index describing the slipperiness experienced by the pedestrians was developed. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health measured the slipperiness of various walking surfaces in different weather conditions during two winter seasons. These measurements were used in the model development. Also, significant differences between the slip resistance characteristics of different footwear were found indicating the importance of the right footwear selection in prevention of slipping accidents. In addition, the measurement method was found capable for evaluating in field conditions the quality of winter maintenance measures. The weather and pavement condition model interprets pavement condition correctly in 92 % of the cases in comparison with the slipperiness measurements. However, the model tends to overpredict slipperiness. When compared with the number of patients suffering form slipping accident injuries in the Toolo Hospital Emergency in winter season 2003-2004, an overprediction of 16 % was found. According to slipping accident statistics of the Toolo Hospital Emergency, people in age group from 40 to 60 years dominate the records. Most of the hip fractures caused by slipping accidents occur to people older than 70 years. This report is available at http://www.fmi.fi

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  • Corporate Authors:

    Finnish Meteorological Institute

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  • Authors:
    • RUUHELA, R
    • Ruotsalainen, J
    • KANGAS, M
    • ASCHAN, C
    • RAJAMAKI, E
    • HIRVONEN, M
    • MANNELIN, T
  • Publication Date: 2005

Language

  • Finnish

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01015206
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: TRL
  • ISBN: 951-697-591-7
  • Files: ITRD
  • Created Date: Jan 12 2006 8:51AM