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Yasuhiro Mimura et al. / Transportation Research Procedia 3 (2014) 13 – 20
1. Introduction
The 9th Fundamental Traffic Safety Program has been devised in Japan on March 31, 2011, and street measures
were newly included as one of three main viewpoints of road safety measures in the program. The reason is that the
proportion of traffic fatalities in the streets has been increasing in recent years. In order to reduce the traffic
accidents in the streets, a proper speed reduction of the vehicle is important. Although there are many approaches to
make the vehicles reduce the speed, this study focuses on a user measures to encourage the speed reduction by
providing the information. Recent years, there was a traffic calming study in which some people stand the roadside
and then remind the drivers to decrease their driving speeds by showing the vehicle’s speed.
In this study, by referring the existed study, we tried to grasp the measurement issues from the viewpoint of
vehicle behavior such as reduction of the speed, evaluation by the drivers and neighborhoods consciousness, and
possibility of the supports by the government in this area. Specifically, we carried out the Speed Information
Provision Activities (SIPA) by the collaboration with neighborhoods for two districts in Toyota-city, Aichi and
investigated a vehicle speed change compared with before and after, and the consciousness of drivers who passed
through the streets and the neighborhoods for the activities. In addition, we carried out a hearing investigation to ask
about political problems of the SIPA for the police and the road manager who will take on an important role in the
activities promotion. The paper structure in this study is as follows. Firstly, feature of present study are described
comparing with previous studies. Secondly, details of survey methods are explained. Thirdly, results of the surveys
are pointed out. Finally, we discuss about the conclusion of this study.
1.1. Feature of present study
Previously, measures prompting the safe driving by providing information to the driver have been attempted in
various ways. These can be divided into two depending on the location of the information provided. One is from the
roadside with signboards, and the other is from the inside of the vehicle with a vehicle-mounted device. In both
viewpoints, there are lots of studies using the ITS technologies recently (e.g. Warner and Åberg (2008), Gehlert et al.
(2012), etc.). For instance, Erke et al. (2007) confirmed effects of route guidance Variable Message Signs on speed
and route choice on two sites on motorways. As a result, speed measurements of 3342 vehicles showed large speed
reductions. Using a driving simulator, Boyle and Mannering (2004) explored the effects of driving behavior with in-
vehicle and out-of-vehicle traffic advisory information relating to adverse weather and incident conditions. They
found that the advisory information are significant in reducing speeds in the area of adverse conditions, drivers tend
to compensate for this speed reduction by increasing speeds downstream when such adverse conditions do not exist.
On the other hand, in the practice field, many measures that utilize the human resources of the region have been
incorporated. One of them is the traffic safety activities by local residents.
Generally, the traffic safety activities are known to encourage safety driving at the roadside by local residents
who hold placards with a slogan. The effect of its activities is discussed in an indicator such as the number of
accidents during the period in many cases. However, a causal relationship with the activity is not always clear
because the various factors involved in that indicator. We think that there is a problem in Japanese traffic safety
activities that have been conducted with no feeling without the clarified concrete effect.
On the other hand, studies that attempt to propose the traffic safety activities that effect has been confirmed by
scientific methods have been carried out in recent years. Kojima and Kubota (2008) distributes a brochure at the
roadside utilizing the method of mobility management to encourage behavior change to the driver using rat-runs. As
a result, decrease in the traffic volumes of the rat-runs has been confirmed. Fuchu et al. (2011) performed activities
that encourage the awareness of speeding by presenting the driver’s speed using a placard from the roadside. As a
result, it was confirmed that continues to decrease the vehicle speed over a period of time, even after the end of
activities as well as in practice.
In order to carry out the activities continuously and smoothly, it is important to coordinate participants such as
police, road manager and residents. In this study, we are focusing on speed information provision activities in streets
proposed by Fuchu et al (2011), but it has the following features. First, detailed effects of the activities that are not
clearly shown in the results of Fuchu et al (2011) have been confirmed. Second, the problem of the spread of the
activities has been revealed from the viewpoint of drivers, residents, police and road manager.