With supplemental funding from NIH/NEI, the Western Michigan University bioengineering research partnership (BRP) has undertaken an evaluation of computer modelling and simulation capabilities that might be applied to the development and evaluation of alternative behavioural and engineering/design interventions aimed at improving the ability of blind pedestrians, and those with low vision, to successfully negotiate street crossings at complex intersections including roundabouts. The UNC Highway Safety Research Centre (HSRC) undertook this work, with technical assistance from the NC State University Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE). The results of this initial capabilities evaluation are presented here in two sections. The first deals with a preliminary evaluation of concepts associated with modelling the interaction of vehicle and pedestrian traffic at an unsignalised crossing location. This portion of the effort was conducted in the context of the ARENA general-purpose simulation model, and confirmed the utility of a composite queuing model and associated measures of pedestrian delay and capacity as key measures of effectiveness. The results of the work with the ARENA model are described in Section I and provide the basis for the work reported in Section II. The work discussed in Section II deals with the evaluation of two commercially available models, VISSIM and Paramics, and their application to a specific roundabout design problem. For reasons detailed in the report, VISSIM was the model selected for more extensive review. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting