Ľubomír
ČERNICKÝ, Alica KALAŠOVÁ [1]
THE APPLICATION OF TELEMATIC TECHNOLOGIES IN
SLOVAKIA – THE POSSIBILITY OF IMPROVING ROAD SAFETY
IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC
Summary. Life on
the road with all its aftermath and consequences works as a big triangle:
driver-road-car. The main cause of road accidents is driver who can´t cope with
increase of traffic density and with more and more powerful cars. Increasing
number of new vehicles on our roads shows certain economic power of Slovakia
and improving standard of living. The annual growth of more than seventy
thousand new cars has as a result overcrowded Slovakian road network. Because of this, there is a special attention
given to road traffic safety and its various factor at the present not only in
our country, but also in the European Union. By joining the European Union we
are committed to achieve standards in all areas that are comparable with
European developed countries. In our paper we would analyze accident rate of
traffic in recent years in Slovakia and design telematic measures to reduce it.
Keywords: Traffic
safety, intelligent transport systems, development of road transport
Zastosowanie technologii telematycznych NA Słowacji –
możliwość poprawy bezpieczeństwa ruchu drogowego
w Republice Słowackiej
Streszczenie. Życie na drodze z wszystkimi jego skutkami i konsekwencjami działa jak wielki
trójkąt: kierowca-droga-samochód. Główną przyczyną wypadków drogowych jest kierowca,
który nie może poradzić sobie ze wzrostem natężenia ruchu i coraz lepszymi
samochodami. Zwiększenie liczby nowych pojazdów na naszych drogach pokazuje
pewną siłę gospodarczą Słowacji oraz poprawę standardu życia. Roczny wzrost o
ponad siedemdziesiąt tysięcy nowych samochodów skutkuje przepełnieniem sieci
drogowej Słowacji. Z tego powodu, obecnie nie tylko w naszym kraju, ale również
w Unii Europejskiej, szczególną uwagę skupia się na bezpieczeństwo ruchu
drogowego i jego różne czynniki.
Przystępując do Unii Europejskiej, jesteśmy zobowiązani do osiągnięcia
standardów we
wszystkich dziedzinach, które są porównywalne z europejskimi krajami
rozwiniętymi.
W artykule będziemy analizować liczby wypadków drogowych w ostatnich
latach na Słowacji oraz dedykowane mierniki telematyczne do ich redukcji.
Słowa kluczowe: Bezpieczeństwo ruchu drogowego, inteligentne systemy transportowe, rozwój transportu drogowego
1. INTRODUCTION
The development of the society is connected to
the development of transport in all its branches. Especially in road transport
there is annual growth of number of vehicles on the roads as well as growth of
new drivers that is connected with many negative effects. Due to lack of
conditions for implementation of traffic education, low discipline, aggressive
driving, breaking the basic duties, and little knowledge of law of driver and
other road users, there is growth in number of road accidents and their
consequences.
Traffic safety can be defined as protection of
life, health and property in the road traffic. So it reflects the ability of
the system to operate at an acceptable level of risk to its surrounding as well
as to system itself at the acceptable level [1]. Traffic accidents are
traditional method of the road safety measurement. In 2001, there were 54 302
people killed in road traffic accidents. In the same year the European
Commission in the White Paper, European transport policy for 2010: time to
decide, set the target of halving the number of road fatalities between 2000
and 2010 [2], so in 2010 the number of people killed in road traffic accidents
shouldn´t be higher than 27 000. To
achieve the target, each country of the European Union was to take a part in
improving road safety and so contributes to decreasing road fatalities by half.
Although in 2010 the target wasn´t achieved, the number of people killed in
road accidents decreased significantly. We can see at the fig. 1 how European
Fig. 1. The number of people killed in road accidents/per million
inhabitants
Rys. 1. Liczba zabitych w
wypadkach drogowych/na milion mieszkańców
countries managed to increase road safety
between 2001 and 2010. The European Union continues its efforts to decrease
road accidents and their consequences and in the next White Paper, Roadmap to a
Single European Transport Area - Towards a competitive and resource efficient
transport system, set a goal: “By 2050, move close to zero fatalities in road
transport. In line with this goal, the EU aims at halving road casualties by
2020” [3].
2.
TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN THE SLOVAK
REPUBLIC
In 2010, National plan for increasing road
safety in Slovakia for the period 2010-2012 was prepared. The Slovak Republic
tried to achieve the objectives by decisive attributes, which mean creation of
legislative conditions to eliminate irresponsible behaviour of road users to
each other and to enforce the obligations of road users in practice were
respected [4]. As you can see at the fig. 1, Slovakia can be count among
countries, which managed to achieve significant reduction in road traffic
fatalities. But despite enormous effort to prepare legislative and technical
conditions for achieving the goal of halving the traffic fatalities, the goal
wasn´t achieved. This result is caused by several circumstances, but especially
because legislative-technical and educational field wasn´t sufficiently
prepared. Therefore we can objectively say that EU Member States, which adopted
the commitment in 2001, were at these 3 areas in 3-year advance. It is clear
that Slovakia had time for 7 years to meet the goal, while the “old EU Member
States” had time for 10 years to meet the same goal.
Fig. 2. The number of traffic
accidents in the Slovak Republic
Rys. 2. Liczba wypadków w
Republice Słowackiej
If we
compare years 2001 and 2011, we can see that the number of traffic accidents
decreased from 57 258 to 14 911 (fig. 2), that influenced the number
of consequences of traffic accidents as well and we can see, that:
-
the number of people killed in road
accidents decreased from 614 people in 2001 to
324 people in 2010 (decrease of 47%);
-
the number of people seriously injured
decreased from 2 367 to 1 140 people (decrease
of 52%);
-
the number of people slightly injured
decreased from 8 472 to 5905 people (decrease
of 30%).
Because of constant
development of motoring, every year new drivers and new vehicles became a road
user and it results in increasing road traffic volume. This fact affects and
determines to a large degree the overall evolution in road safety situation.
The mobility of the population is growing as well. If we take into account the
traffic volume, which in 2011 raised by 2.5% while traffic accidents decreased
by 31% (see fig. 4), we can say that there is very positive development in the
Slovak Republic.
Fig. 3. The
consequences of traffic accidents in the Slovak Republic
Rys. 3.
Konsekwencje wypadków drogowych w Republice Słowackiej
Fig. 4. Traffic
volume and traffic accidents
Rys. 4. Natężenie
ruchu i wypadki drogowe
In
2011 Slovakia managed to decrease number of road accidents to its historical
minimum.
Thanks to
this there is in the history of the Slovak Republic the lowest:
-
number of people killed in
road accidents; 324 (annual decrease of 6%)
-
number of people seriously
injured in road accidents; 1140 (annual decrease of 6%)
-
number of people slightly
injured in road accidents; 5905 (annual decrease of 15%)
Although the decrease in numbers of traffic accidents and their
consequences was significant, consequences, such as 324 people killed and
1 140 people injured in traffic accident in such small country like
Slovakia is, are still alarming.
3.
TELEMATIC MEASURES CAN HELP
IMPROVE ROAD SAFETY IN SLOVAKIA
The development of transport in all its
sectors is linked with the integration to the advanced countries and with
developing of the society. Year by year in the road transport the number of
vehicles on the roads increases as well as the number of new drivers and with
this situation is associated lot of negative effects. The number of road
accidents and their consequences increases in the consequence to lack of
conditions for the realization of transport education, low discipline,
aggressive driving, violation of fundamental duties and low legal awareness of
drivers and other participants of road traffic [5].
Traffic
accident rate as a serious social problem requires a comprehensive and
effective solution that shows features of a coordinated and aimed procedure by
all stakeholders and institutions with a broad public support [5].
Implementation
of information technologies into transport systems is one of the most important
measures in improving of preventive part. Traffic safety solutions based on
information systems should increase in the future (with respect to repressive
component). Implementation of a good information system results in reducing
traffic accidents and also in decreasing number of seriously and slightly injured
people
During
the last decade of the 20th century, transport policy in relation to the
security went through the concept of inherently safe transport system. The
priority of this approach is not only minimizing the consequences of accidents,
but especially how to avoid them. It is necessary to minimize the level of
severity of those accidents which could not be avoided. Mentioned type of
transport system is characterized by the integration of infrastructure,
vehicles and regulatory measures that are harmonized in user´s relation.
On the basis of current trend we
can say that without radical measures Slovakia won´t be able to meet the
commitments to European Union. The only way to meet the commitments is
systematic implementation of ITS.
3.1.
Intelligent transport systems (ITS)
ITS is
generally road based , vehicle based, vehicle to road based , vehicle to
vehicle based or vehicle-to-vehicle-to-infrastructure based technologies
supporting the driver and/or the management of traffic in transport system. On
the vehicle side of ITS often two major subdivisions can be found: in-vehicle
information and communication systems (IVIS) and advanced driver assistance
systems (ADAS). IVIS and ADAS can be then subdivided into active and passive
safety systems [6].
ITS can be categorized in many ways [6].
The first one categorization is on technical
aspects:
-
vehicle systems without interaction with
data sources outside the vehicle;
-
roadside systems without interaction with
data of individual vehicles;
-
systems that allow for interaction between
individual vehicles and other data sources, such as between vehicles or between
vehicle and roadside.
The second categorization could be on primary purpose:
-
management of traffic flows;
-
driving comfort;
-
safety, subdivided into:
o systems that prevent unsafe traffic participation;
o systems that prevent unsafe actions while participating in traffic;
systems that reduce injury
severity
Assistance
systems are the main challenge. They are based on communication (data exchange)
not only among vehicles themselves but also vehicles and infrastructure. These
so called Intelligent Assistance Systems promise great benefits in the sphere
of efficiency of transport systems and road safety. These benefits include
mainly increase the capacity of the road network, reduce congestion and
pollution, shorter and more predictable time of driving, improving traffic
safety for all participants of road traffic, lower operational costs for
vehicles, better organization and management of road networks [7].
Fig.
5. Scheme of cooperative vehicle - infrastructure systems [8]
Rys. 5. Schemat działania współpracy systemu pojazd
- infrastruktura [8]
Examples
of such systems are traffic control and management systems; intersection
collision warning applications; weather and road condition warning systems;
route guidance to avoid traffic congestion and, consequently, wasting fuel; as
well as information tools, for example advice on the location of nearby car
parks with available parking spaces. Key to the delivery of such applications
is communications among vehicles (called vehicle-to-vehicle communications) and
also two-way communications between vehicles and Information and Communication
Technologies incorporated into the road infrastructure (called
vehicle-to-infrastructure communications V2V or, infrastructure-to - vehicle communications
V2I).
4.
CONCLUSION
The
European Union gives a great effort to have safe roads, so that as few as
possible people were killed or injured in traffic accidents. The Slovak
Republic, as a full EU member, respects European Commission´s recommendations
on road traffic safety and tries to fulfil them. The traffic accident rate in
the Slovak Republic has been decreasing for the last years, but without further
measures will be impossible to meet the European Union requirements of
decreasing traffic accidents. The possible way of how to continue in decreasing
of traffic accident rate is introduction of ITS. The Government of the Slovak
Republic in the Government Programme from 2010 declares among other things:
“The Government will support the development of quality, accessible and
integrated transport infrastructure, competitive transport services, and
user-friendly, environmental and energy-efficient safe transport.” Implementation
of ITS together with better training of road users, higher respecting of
traffic rules, safer cars, and good emergency services should contribute to
significant safer roads and so save numbers of lives on the Slovak roads.
This work has been
supported by the Grant Agency of Slovak Republic under the grant
"VEGA" Project no. 1/0159/13 – KALAŠOVÁ, A. and collective: Basic
Research of Telematic Systems, Conditions of Their Development and Necessity of
Long-term Strategy. University
of Žilina, the Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and
Communications,
2013-2015.
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