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In Nigeria, goods haulage is currently dominated through heavy trucks, whose effect on the pavement deterioration can be enormous, because the truck wheel/pavement interaction plays a key role in deterioration of pavement life. This study aims to measure the truck wheel/pavement contact characteristics with a view to develop its quantitative damaging influence on a pavement structure. Axle load distribution, tyre inflation pressure and tyre/pavement contact area of selected tyre types for different axle configurations were determined for four classes of trucks being used by a major haulage outfit in Nigeria, Messrs Dangote Industries Limited. The results obtained showed that the tyre pavement contact length depends on tyre load as the length increases with increase in tyre load, while tyre pavement contact width is averagely constant with tyre load increase. It is concluded that design and use of tyres should allow for large contact areas with small tyre pressures to lessen the menace of pavement deterioration, and also there is need for a strict control for standards of truck loads that travel on Nigerian road. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the framework of a pilot project, Lower Saxony's Ministry of the Interior and Sport (Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Inneres und Sport) decided in 2014 to implement section control in Lower Saxony. Germany's first section control system was installed over five years ago along State Road B6 near Hanover. This article outlines by means of surrogate measures of safety how traffic safety along this road section has increased since the system was set up and since the test period and enforcing period were started. In addition, this article illustrates how traffic safety has decreased to its original state as the result of a court decision, which forced the shutdown of the system. Furthermore, this article shows how traffic safety has increased after switching on the system once again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology aimed to acquire traffic flow data through the employment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The study is focused on the determination of driving behavior parameters of road users and on the reconstruction of traffic flow Origin/Destination matrix. The methodology integrates UAV flights with video image processing technique, and the capability of geographic information systems, to represent spatiotemporal phenomena. In particular, analyzing different intersections, the attention of the authors is focused on users’ gap acceptance in a naturalistic drivers’ behavior condition (drivers are not influenced by the presence of instruments and operators on the roadway) and on the reconstruction of vehicle paths. Drivers’ level of aggressiveness is determined by understanding how drivers decide that a gap is crossable and, consequently, how their behavior is critical in relation to a moving stream of traffic with serious road safety implications. The results of these experiments highlight the usefulness of the UAVs technology, that combined with video processing technique allows the capture of real traffic conditions with a good level of accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]