Human Response to Longitudinal Perturbations of Standing Passengers on Public Transport During Regular Operation.

This study investigates the response of standing passengers on public transport who experience balance perturbations during non-collision incidents. The objective of the study was to analyse the effects of the perturbation characteristics on the initial responses of the passengers and their ability to maintain their balance. Sled tests were conducted on healthy volunteers aged 33.8 ± 9.2 years (13 males, 11 females) standing on a moving platform, facilitating measurements of the initial muscle activity and stepping response of the volunteers. The volunteers were exposed to five different perturbation profiles representing typical braking and accelerating manoeuvres of a public transport bus in the forward and backward direction. The sequence of muscle activations in lower-extremity muscles was consistent for the perturbation pulses applied. For the three acceleration pulses combining two magnitudes for acceleration (1.5 and 3.0 m/s2) and jerk (5.6 and 11.3 m/s3), the shortest muscle onset and stepping times for the passengers to recover their balance were observed with the higher jerk value, while the profile with the higher acceleration magnitude and longer duration induced more recovery steps and a higher rate of safety-harness deployment. The tendency for a shorter response time was observed for the female volunteers. For the two braking pulses (1.0 and 2.5 m/s2), only the lower magnitude pulse allowed balance recovery without compensatory stepping. The results obtained provide a reference dataset for human body modelling, the development of virtual test protocols, and operational limits for improving the safety of public transportation vehicles and users.

Identifying and Characterizing Types of Balance Recovery Strategies Among Females and Males to Prevent Injuries in Free-Standing Public Transport Passengers.

Free-standing passengers on public transport are subjected to perturbations during non-collision incidents caused by driver maneuvers, increasing the risk of injury. In the literature, the step strategy is described as a recovery strategy during severe perturbations. However, stepping strategies increase body displacement, ultimately subjecting passengers to higher risk of impacts and falls on public transport. This study investigates the influence of different recovery strategies on the outcome of balance recovery of free-standing public transport passengers, challenged in postural balance by the non-uniform vehicle dynamics. From high-speed video recordings, a qualitative investigation of the balance responses of volunteer participants in a laboratory experiment was provided. On a linearly moving platform, 24 healthy volunteers (11 females and 13 males) were subjected to perturbation profiles of different magnitude, shape and direction, mimicking the typical acceleration and deceleration behavior of a bus. A methodology categorizing the balancing reaction to an initial strategy and a recovery strategy, was used to qualitatively identify, characterize and, evaluate the different balance strategies. The effectiveness of different strategies was assessed with a grading criterion. Statistical analysis based on these ordinal data was provided. The results show that the current definition in the literature of the step strategy is too primitive to describe the different identified recovery strategies. In the volunteers with the most successful balancing outcome, a particularly effective balance recovery strategy not yet described in the literature was identified, labeled the fighting stance. High jerk perturbations seemed to induce faster and more successful balance recovery, mainly for those adopting the fighting stance, compared to the high acceleration and braking perturbation profiles. Compared to the pure step strategy, the characteristics of the fighting stance seem to increase the ability to withstand higher perturbations by increasing postural stability to limit body displacement.

Analysis of vehicle-bicycle interactions at unsignalized crossings: A probabilistic approach and application.

In the last decades, bicycle usage has been increasing in many countries due to the potential environmental and health benefits. Therefore, there is a need to better understand cyclists' interactions with vehicles, and to build models and tools for evaluating multimodal transportation infrastructure with respect to cycling safety, accessibility, and other planning aspects. This paper presents a modeling framework to describe driver-cyclist interactions when they are approaching a conflicting zone. In particular, the car driver yielding behavior is modeled as a function of a number of explanatory variables. A two-level hierarchical, probabilistic framework (based on discrete choice theory) is proposed to capture the driver's yielding decision process when interacting with a cyclist. The first level models the probability of the car driver perceiving a situation with a bicycle as a potential conflict whereas the second models the probability of yielding given that a conflict has been perceived by the driver. The framework also incorporates the randomness of the location of the drivers' decision point. The methodology is applied in a case study using observations at a typical Swedish roundabout. The results show that the conflict probability is affected differently depending on the user (cyclist or driver) who arrives at the interaction zone first. The yielding probability depends on the speed of the vehicle and the proximity of the cyclist.