The cooperation between PHOEBE and its two sister projects V4SAFETY and SOTERIA continued this Tuesday with the second edition of the joint webinar series, which was attended by more than 45 stakeholders online. The 90min-long information session included project updates with a focus on data gathering and -analysis, as well as transport modeling and a brief summary of first project achievements. In case you have missed the webinar or would like to further study the individual presentations, we suggest you to watch and download the related content at the end of this article.
PHOEBE
Besides a general introduction of the three pilots and the project plans, as well as the ‘PHOEBE framework’, presenter Sam Chapman (The Floow) highlighted the data gathering and -analysis processes. Further explanations were made related to the use of data to understand the risks for vulnerable road users, new technologies (such as autonomous driving), as well as different behaviours of road users.
In a similar structure to PHOEBE, SOTERIA started with desk research and the gathering of safety- and accident data. The use cases of the four Living Labs in Oxfordshire (UK), Saxony (DE), Madrid (ES) and Chania (GR) were defined through co-creation workshops with a wide variety of stakeholder consultations, specifically with different groups of vulnerable road users.
Additionally, novel data sources, such as cellular network data and micro-mobility will be used to understand how accidents and near-missed events affect certain population groups and vulnerable road users.
In comparison to PHOEBE and SOTERIA, V4SAFETY takes a vehicle perspective by assessing in-vehicle solutions, such as autonomous emergency braking. Besides this, the potential challenges related to safety regulations and infrastructure solutions are also assessed. This includes, inter alia, the impact of speed limit regulations or the road layout.
The project separates its data requirements into two categories: primary data, such as real-world driving data and infrastructure data, as well as secondary data, which includes models and simulations. Since accident data is an essential cornerstone of the project analysis, V4SAFETY will be able to tap into several EU- and national accident databases.
Panel discussion
The described presentations were followed by a panel discussion between the presenters of each project, who debated the wider question of ’how to use data analysis to enhance urban road safety?’, while discussing answers of several audience polls. The discussion started with the assessment of data sources for transport modeling in urban environments. The audience clearly indicated that the most important data source to enhance road safety is road user behaviour and accident data, two categories that are assessed in all three projects. In a second poll about data use was very diverse, showcasing the various opportunities of data analysis methods.