The aim of this study is to analyse whether the economic resources invested in roads—both investment in construction and expenditure on maintenance and conservation—have any influence on road fatality rates. Since this is a complex problem, and because there are many factors that can influence the fatality rate, other variables related to specific transport, socioeconomic and meteorological factors are also considered. The study was carried out using a panel data model, modelling road mortality as a function of 12 variables. The scope of the study is international, focusing on the interurban road network. Data were collected from 23 European countries for the period 1998–2016. The main results obtained are that both expenditure on road maintenance and conservation and the proportion of motorways in the total road network contribute to reducing road mortality. Contrariwise, greater investment in construction leads to an increase in the fatality rate.

Longitudinal road markings are a valuable aid in driving guidance. An increase in their width may influence driving and, therefore, road safety. Wider road markings generate a perception of a narrowing lane, which may induct drivers to reduce speed. The present study tries to verify if an increased width of longitudinal road markings actually helps one to drive more slowly, and consequently leads to enhanced road safety. For this purpose, three curves with reduced visibility were selected and driving speed was measured with normal and modified (wider) longitudinal road markings. The results showed a speed reduction effect of around 3.1% with wide road markings. The speed-reducing effect of wide marks was greater during weekends and with more intense traffic volume, while it was slightly attenuated by night. Finally, the calculation of some standard cases on a working day, and considering average traffic volume, gave the following speed reductions during the day and at night, respectively: for light vehicles, 2.24% and 1.96%; for heavy vehicles, 2.46% and 2.15%. In view of the results obtained, it may be said that using wide road markings can help reduce vehicle speed, thereby contributing to reduced traffic accidents and making road transport more sustainable.

Passenger flow modeling and station dwelling time estimation are significant elements for railway mass transit planning, but system operators usually have limited information to model the passenger flow. In this paper, an artificial-intelligence technique known as fuzzy logic is applied for the estimation of the elements of the origin-destination matrix and the dwelling time of stations in a railway transport system. The fuzzy inference engine used in the algorithm is based in the principle of maximum entropy. The approach considers passengers' preferences to assign a level of congestion in each car of the train in function of the properties of the station platforms. This approach is implemented to estimate the passenger flow and dwelling times of the recently opened Line 1 of the Panama Metro. The dwelling times obtained from the simulation are compared to real measurements to validate the approach.

En este artículo se analizan los impactos en la accesibilidad territorial en Andalucía de las actuaciones en carreteras planificadas por la Consejería de Fomento y Vivienda de la Junta de Andalucía. Para ello, se ha desarrollado una herramienta informática basada en Sistemas de Información Geográfica, y se han calculado una serie de indicadores de accesibilidad y cohesión territorial. Para llevar a cabo el análisis de los efectos del Plan de Infraestructuras para la Sostenibilidad del Transporte en Andalucía, se han contemplado dos escenarios: uno sin las actuaciones previstas y otro con todas las actuaciones planeadas implementadas. También se han estudiado los efectos de dicho plan sobre la accesibilidad a hospitales, universidades y centros logísticos, así como las mejoras inducidas por cuatro importantes actuaciones concretas. Los resultados muestran mejoras significativas, como una reducción media en los tiempos de viaje del 3,6%, y que las actuaciones del plan de infraestructuras potencian la cohesión territorial.