Evaluating Impacts of Traffic Incidents on CO 2 Emissions in Express Roads
49
reduce the negative impacts of the incidents. Zhu et al. [43], for example, developed
a model that seeks to reduce the total service time by allocating patrols, considering
the possibility of occurring up to two incidents at the same time, with total time
corresponding to the sum of the first and second service times. In addition, this paper
defined a method for delimiting the service areas of each patrol. Complementarily,
Adler et al. [2] studied the location of patrols that attend incidents and inspections
of the road. The authors proposed a mathematical model, which considers that the
patrols must be close to the accidents and close to places where many traffic violations
occur. For the case of Avenida Brasil, Baltar et al. [5] explored the trade-off between
maximizing the handling of traffic incidents and minimizing CO 2 emissions to locate
tow vehicles.
It is also worth mentioning that it is possible to focus on vehicle technologies such
as autonomous driving to reduce incidents. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been
considered the sustainable future for providing greater road safety, efficient traffic
flow and lower fuel consumption and, consequently, lower CO 2 emissions, improving
urban mobility and, therefore, general well-being [9, 31]. AVs have the potential to
significantly mitigate many of the errors that drivers routinely make [3, 16, 35] and
then improve road safety consequently. The reason is that they have better perception
(for example, absence of blind spots), better decision-making (for example, more
accurate planning of complex steering maneuvers, such as parallel parking) and
better execution (for example, faster and more precise control of steering, brakes and
acceleration) [28].
In relation specifically to the results of this research, there is an expressive occurrence of broken-down vehicles that makes the incident types the main responsible for
the increase in CO 2 emissions. Therefore, public policies that increase the inspection
of vehicle conditions and more rigorous annual inspections need to be encouraged. In
addition, the need for better robustness in operations for detecting and responding to
incidents is identified, mainly between 6 am and 10 am and between 2 pm and 7 pm,
which are in the morning and afternoon peak periods, respectively. It is noteworthy
that these periods together are responsible for 82.4% of the increase in CO 2 emissions
in the region under analysis when compared to the scenario without the occurrence
of incidents. In addition, heavy and super heavy tow trucks handle incidents that
generate higher emissions, on average. The reason is that they are responsible for
serving trucks and big trucks, responsible for freight transportation. Therefore, the
adoption of a freight vehicle restriction policy during peak periods of the road may
be interesting in order to reduce incidents involving this vehicle type.
6 Conclusions
Daily traffic congestions affect the quality of life of city-dwellers, due to travel time
delays, excessive fossil fuel consumption and increased environmental pollution.
Congestion can also be intensified through traffic incidents that generate frequent
and irregular road interruptions. Thus, studies that aim to minimize the impacts of
49
reduce the negative impacts of the incidents. Zhu et al. [43], for example, developed
a model that seeks to reduce the total service time by allocating patrols, considering
the possibility of occurring up to two incidents at the same time, with total time
corresponding to the sum of the first and second service times. In addition, this paper
defined a method for delimiting the service areas of each patrol. Complementarily,
Adler et al. [2] studied the location of patrols that attend incidents and inspections
of the road. The authors proposed a mathematical model, which considers that the
patrols must be close to the accidents and close to places where many traffic violations
occur. For the case of Avenida Brasil, Baltar et al. [5] explored the trade-off between
maximizing the handling of traffic incidents and minimizing CO 2 emissions to locate
tow vehicles.
It is also worth mentioning that it is possible to focus on vehicle technologies such
as autonomous driving to reduce incidents. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been
considered the sustainable future for providing greater road safety, efficient traffic
flow and lower fuel consumption and, consequently, lower CO 2 emissions, improving
urban mobility and, therefore, general well-being [9, 31]. AVs have the potential to
significantly mitigate many of the errors that drivers routinely make [3, 16, 35] and
then improve road safety consequently. The reason is that they have better perception
(for example, absence of blind spots), better decision-making (for example, more
accurate planning of complex steering maneuvers, such as parallel parking) and
better execution (for example, faster and more precise control of steering, brakes and
acceleration) [28].
In relation specifically to the results of this research, there is an expressive occurrence of broken-down vehicles that makes the incident types the main responsible for
the increase in CO 2 emissions. Therefore, public policies that increase the inspection
of vehicle conditions and more rigorous annual inspections need to be encouraged. In
addition, the need for better robustness in operations for detecting and responding to
incidents is identified, mainly between 6 am and 10 am and between 2 pm and 7 pm,
which are in the morning and afternoon peak periods, respectively. It is noteworthy
that these periods together are responsible for 82.4% of the increase in CO 2 emissions
in the region under analysis when compared to the scenario without the occurrence
of incidents. In addition, heavy and super heavy tow trucks handle incidents that
generate higher emissions, on average. The reason is that they are responsible for
serving trucks and big trucks, responsible for freight transportation. Therefore, the
adoption of a freight vehicle restriction policy during peak periods of the road may
be interesting in order to reduce incidents involving this vehicle type.
6 Conclusions
Daily traffic congestions affect the quality of life of city-dwellers, due to travel time
delays, excessive fossil fuel consumption and increased environmental pollution.
Congestion can also be intensified through traffic incidents that generate frequent
and irregular road interruptions. Thus, studies that aim to minimize the impacts of