Factors contributing to injury severity in work zone related crashes in New Zealand

Roadworks take place frequently on existing roads in New Zealand. The adverse effects of poor road conditions and reduced road width due to the presence of a work zone on the safety of road users and workers at the work zone have been a matter of concern. Several studies have been conducted to examine the risk factors contributing to the occurrence of road crashes in work zones in different countries. Slow-moving and stopped vehicles near work zones have been found to be the primary cause of crashes and casualties in the work zones. Excessive speed of passing traffic has also been recognized as a crucial factor contributing to work zone related crashes in New Zealand. This study examined the effect of possible risk factors contributing to severe injury and fatality in work zone related crashes in New Zealand. A multinomial logistic regression model was established to determine the association between crash severity and factors such as road environment, vehicle attributes, driver behavior, and crash circumstances, based on the information available on 453 road crashes during the period from 2008 to 2013. The results indicated that the time period, vehicle involvement, and presence of vulnerable road users were the factors that determined the crash severity in work zones. This implies that improvements are required in traffic control and management measures in work zones to enhance road safety in the long run.     

The impact of the ‘school run’ on road traffic accidents: A spatio-temporal analysis

Engineering and improved road safety education has resulted in an overall decrease in road traffic accident numbers in Christchurch, New Zealand. The temporal trends of crash data from 1980 to 2004 reveal that lowering of crash rates is not occurring at a uniform rate throughout the day, with comparative increases in crash rates occurring during morning rush hour, and during the ’school run’. No spatial clustering around schools was identified. This suggests that policies to reduce school travel related road accidents need to be focused on reducing overall traffic levels rather than focusing geographically on areas in the immediate vicinity of schools.     

Scoping the Extent of Tourist Road Safety: Motor Vehicle Transport Accidents in New Zealand 1982-1996

There is a growing interest in tourism safety within the travel medicine and safety management literature. From this body of research, motor vehicle traffic accidents (MVTA) are identified as a leading cause of tourist morbidity and mortality. There is, however, a dearth of tourist road safety literature where the tourism context is taken into account. This paper examines the extent of overseas visitor MVTA in New Zealand, based on data collected by the New Zealand Health Information Service for the 15-year period 1982–1996. Some 1604 MVTA cases were recorded in the NZHIS database for non-New Zealand residents, representing 27.4% of all non-resident injuries resulting in hospitalisation during the period of the study. The majority of these incidents involved collisions between vehicles, with 1121 (70% of MVTA cases) involving a car. Highest counts of MVTA were found for males and females in the 20–39 years age range. Largest proportions of MVTA were observed for the Auckland, Otago and Southland regions, although highest incidence rates (based on visitor numbers in each region for the year 1995/6) were found for the Taranaki, Northland, Marlborough, Hawkes Bay and Southland regions. The paper discusses possible reasons for patterns and trends in the MVTA data, drawing on comparisons with existing international studies from the travel medicine and safety management literature.     

Attitudes,norms and difficulties underlying road sharing intentions as drivers and cyclists: Evidence from the Czech Republic

Cycling-inclusive urban planning is attracting attention worldwide because of the environmental, health, economic, and transport benefits inherent to cycling from the individual and the societal perspectives. The Czech Republic is one of the emerging cycling countries that are trying to promote and support cycling, but cycling mode shares are low because of the poor quality of the scarce infrastructure and the psychological barrier of the perceived lack of safety when cycling in mixed traffic. This study takes a multimodal approach based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour and focuses on the factors underlying the willingness to share the road from the perspective of cyclists and drivers: positive attitudes toward cycling, positive attitudes toward cyclists’ behavior, social norms toward cycling and anxiety to share the road. A web-based questionnaire was tailor-designed and administered in the Czech Republic via social networks, web forums, and the Civinet network, and a hybrid bivariate-ordered model tested the behavioral framework. Results show that the willingness to share the road as a cyclist or as a driver relates positively to positive attitudes towards cycling and cyclists’ behavior, and negatively to the anxiety of sharing the road. Moreover, mediator effects are observed and a clear relation emerges between the experience on the road as both a cyclist and a driver on the willingness to share the road as a cyclist. Lastly, results show that the factors underlying road sharing intentions are related significantly to gender, travel habits, and perceived personal and infrastructure-related barriers to cycling.     

Understanding modal choice for the trip to school

This paper examines the factors that lead parents to select travel modes for their children’s trip to school. It does so with reference to parents whose children attend a suburban school in Auckland, New Zealand, where walking and driving are the two main travel options. Four focus groups were conducted in order to understand parents’ transport decisions. This approach revealed the significance of the following factors: perceived distance and time constraints; concerns about children’s health and fitness, as well as their competence; road safety and congestion issues; and social norms. We conclude that the reasons leading parents to drive are manifold, and, as such, a variety of interventions is needed to promote walking.     

Travelling together: participatory research methods for disability inclusive road development in Papua New Guinea

Investment in road infrastructure is a recognised approach to poverty reduction in developing countries, through improving community access to essential services, social networks and economic opportunities. But in both developing and developed contexts, very few road projects involve community consultation in road planning. Road planning and assessment rarely differentiate impacts on the lives of those who are most marginalised from economic and social development, such as people with disabilities. This article provides an example of inexpensive and replicable methods that were used in partnership with a national disabled people’s organisation to undertake participatory research in Papua New Guinea on inclusive road development. Four participatory methods – focus group discussions, interviews with road decision-makers, walkabouts, and photo elicitation – are described and evaluated.     

The development of a benchmarking tool for monitoring progress towards sustainable transportation in New Zealand

Creating and maintaining a safe and sustainable transport system is a common challenge for road authorities around the world. The New Zealand government has taken this challenge one step further by incorporating it into country’s legislation. As a consequence all road land transport authorities are committed to implementing initiatives to respond to both the challenge and the legislation. A benchmarking process for the transport sector is one of these initiatives on a national level. Benchmarking is a well known and utilised technology for the measuring of performance for infrastructure, for example within the water provision sector in England. This paper presents the development of a national benchmarking process for the transport sector of New Zealand. This development is part of a strategy to encourage road land transport authorities to improve the performance of transport in achieving sustainability and environmental targets. The development involved a literature review, proof of concept and the full implementation stage. A total of nine key performance indicators were developed to indicate the status of transport sector performance. The project and its outcomes are considered to be of benefit to road land transport authorities across the world who wish to develop a benchmark process of their own.     

Eco-driving by replicating best driving practices

Some transit companies have reduced up to 25% of their fuel consumption by training their drivers on eco-driving. We propose to further reduce fuel consumption by using best driving practices, which consist of guiding drivers on the recommended ranges of vehicle speed and engine RPM that lead to minimum fuel consumptions. These recommendations are obtained by monitoring the engine operational parameters used by drivers who have shown the lowest fuel consumption while driving vehicles of similar technology and running on the same section of the road. To demonstrate the applicability of this alternative, we monitored a fleet of 15 transit buses of recent technology serving a ～72-km long route of general characteristics during eight months of normal operation. For each kilometer, trips with the lowest fuel consumption were selected, and their interquartile ranges of RPM and speed were obtained. Then, a well-trained driver in eco-driving traveled over the same road with same type of buses, using these recommended ranges. Using his eco-driving training, he obtained a 0.5% reduction in fuel consumption with respect to the average of the population, and by using the best driving practices, his savings increased up to 10.1%. These savings were linked to an increase in the average energy efficiency of the engine from 27.6% to 28.9%, which demonstrates that when drivers use these best driving practices, they tend to operate the engine under conditions closer to the load—RPM engine area of engine highest efficiency.     

Walking school buses in the Auckland region: A longitudinal assessment

This article examines the development of walking school buses (WSBs) in Auckland, New Zealand, drawing on five annual surveys. Longitudinal analysis reveals sustained growth in the number of routes, and in levels of participation, although activity remains concentrated in the wealthiest neighbourhoods. Parent coordinators identify four key benefits to WSBs: the sense of community, opportunity for exercise/health promotion, reduction in car use and local congestion, and reduced injury risk for child pedestrians. We contend that this form of supervised walking challenges some of the social practices associated with automobile dependence at the same time as it reinforces others.     

Constraints affecting mode choices by morning car commuters

In New Zealand as elsewhere, there is an increasing interest in alleviating congestion on the road transport network to improve economic productivity, reduce pollution, and to use the transport network more effectively. Governments enact various policies to encourage car drivers to change their behaviour, but often find that the full impact is not reached. We propose that car drivers have constraints influencing their mode choice for the morning peak period trip (e.g. needing to transport children, needing a car for work during the day). A stated preference experiment conducted in the three largest New Zealand urban areas not only quantifies the likely impact of a wide range of policy tools (both ‘sticks’ discouraging car use, and ‘carrots’ encouraging alternative modes) for each area, but also identifies many significant constraints.     

Coping with Crowding: Tourist Displacement in the New Zealand Backcountry

The displacement phenomenon in outdoor recreation has increased in importance in recent years. It is one of a number of cognitive and behavioural coping mechanisms that are being employed by recreationists in the New Zealand backcountry. Displacement may be divided into intra-site and inter-site displacement, and further segmented into spatial and temporal displacement. This paper, utilising data collected at 22 sites within the New Zealand backcountry, explores the extent to which displacement is occurring in our natural areas. It evaluates displacement at the key Department of Conservation tracks, namely, the Great Walks and investigates other cognitive and behavioural coping strategies that are being employed at these sites. Furthermore, management strategies that may be used to mitigate crowding and displacement are identified.     

The early days of shared micromobility: A social practices approach

Urban mobility may be entering a period of substantive changes as new transport technologies (facilitated by developments in electrification, automation, and web 2.0 technologies for distributed, real-time transactions) provide new possibilities for movement. The recent arrival of shared electric scooters in some cities has been the topic of much conversation, particularly in relation to appropriate spaces for e-scooter use, and the safety of e-scooter users and pedestrians. This paper, however, takes a wider look at the early days of shared micromobility in New Zealand cities. Mobility is intricately connected to the wider social and cultural configurations of daily life, including its power relations, equalities and inequalities, and the spatial relations between people, places and opportunities. This paper draws on an online survey completed by residents of four New Zealand cities in which shared electric scooters became available in late 2018 or early 2019. Using a social practices approach, it explores early changes in the materials, competencies, and meanings associated with urban mobility as a response to the electric scooter trial. It discusses the disruptive potential of these changes, both for urban transport and for wider social relations.     

The Aotearoa Traditional Maori Performing Arts Festival 1972–2000. A Case Study of Cultural Event Maturation

This article describes the history of the Aotearoa Traditional Maori Performing Arts Festival between the years of 1972–2000. It reveals a series of tensions between a need to express a cultural identity and financial constraint, between a wish for expressing independence, and a subsequent dependency upon state grants, between the traditional and the contemporary in performance. The history also shows the significance of key personalities. Yet through these discourses has emerged a successful and important Festival that attracts increasing numbers of participants and which is a dynamic component of Maori culture in contemporary New Zealand. A significant tourism event, by reason of primarily appealing to Maori it still, to a large extent, lies outside of the conventional tourism structures of New Zealand, dominated as these are by overseas visitors and non-Maori New Zealand domestic demand. Yet its very success is bringing it to the attention of a wider market, with all that implies for possible future development. The article also proposes dimensions of festival evolution and maturation.     

E-business in the New Zealand Tourism Industry: An Examination of Implementation and Usage

This article presents the findings of a web-based survey examining the extent of e-business uptake in the New Zealand tourism industry. It provides a snapshot of both the implementation and usage of e-business. The survey extends the earlier research on New Zealand e-business by Clark et al. (2001) and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (2000), focusing specifically on tourism. This study shows that the tourism industry is committed to the establishment of e-business, and recognises the competitive advantages of this. It also appears to be adopting e-business more quickly than other industries, reflecting the industry’s service and information bases. While this sounds positive, concern must be expressed at the superficial level of implementation of e-business, particularly from SMEs which constitute a large portion of the economy. The New Zealand tourism industry respondents seem to be basic users of the technology, rather than ‘champions’ of e-business. Unless the simple adoption of ICT can be developed into a sustained and dynamic acceptance of e-business, the New Zealand tourism industry risks missing the opportunities provided by the global marketplace, and thus, becoming increasingly marginalised.     

Safety classification using GIS in decision-making process to define priority road interventions

Given the current economic situation of the Portuguese municipalities, it is necessary to identify the priority investments in order to achieve a more efficient financial management. The classification of the road network of the municipality according to the occurrence of traffic accidents is fundamental to set priorities for road interventions. This paper presents a model for road network classification based on traffic accidents integrated in a geographic information system. Its practical application was developed through a case study in the municipality of Barcelos. An equation was defined to obtain a road safety index through the combination of the following indicators: severity, property damage only and accident costs. In addition to the road network classification, the application of the model allows to analyze the spatial coverage of accidents in order to determine the centrality and dispersion of the locations with the highest incidence of road accidents. This analysis can be further refined according to the nature of the accidents namely in collision, runoff and pedestrian crashes.     

Estimating airport efficiency of New Zealand airports

New Zealand's airport industry has experienced substantial growth over recent years, but few studies have analysed the operational efficiency of New Zealand airports. This paper aims to extend the study of Francis and Lyon (2007) by exploring the efficiency and productivity changes of New Zealand's major airports between 2010 and 2012, using slacks-based measure (SBM) model and the Malmquist productivity index (MPI). The findings suggested that the majority of New Zealand airports increased efficiency and productivity during the period under investigation, but should decrease scale of operations in order to operate at their most productive size. Decomposition of the MPI showed that most New Zealand airports experienced gains in efficiency but, in terms of technology, they have regressed. Four significant factors (i.e. airport hub status, airport operating hours, airport ownership, and the Rugby World Cup 2011) were identified by the Simar–Wilson bootstrapping regression analysis as explaining variations in airport efficiency. Importantly, the significant effect of the Rugby World Cup 2011 (a major sport tournament) on New Zealand's air transport demand and airports' efficiency has been demonstrated in this research.     

UK road freight energy use by product: trends and analysis from 1985 to 1995

Since the early 1980s, energy use in road freight has been rising much faster than overall energy use in the UK. To better understand the factors driving this rapid growth, we carried out an analysis of road freight energy use trends across 14 product sectors from 1985 to 1995. Growth in length and complexity of supply chains, rather than growth of output, is shown to be the main driver of increasing freight energy consumption, with high value products having the highest energy use per tonne lifted. Policy options and a proposal for improved estimation of energy consumption are also discussed.     

The use of a spatial model to assess conference market share – a new zealand example

This paper is obtained from research undertaken into seven events and conferences at Palmerston North, New Zealand. It applies a model derived from the Lakshmanan and Hansen retail model to conference centres in New Zealand and was used to assess the level of market share that Palmerston North could expect. The research note describes some of the results and problems found in using the model. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visitors' and locals' experiences of Rotorua,New Zealand: an interpretative study using photographs of landscapes and Q method

This paper reports on an interpretative study of locals' and visitors' experiences in Rotorua, New Zealand and shows how experiences vary among different groups. Photographs were Q sorted by a non‐random sample of locals and both overseas and New Zealand visitors, and the data were factor analysed to identify four factors or types of experience. These include experiences of Sublime Nature, Iconic Tourism, New Zealand Family and the Picturesque Landscape. These findings show that Q sort with photographs is a useful research approach which advances our understanding of destination image and provides results that have implications for the contemporary theoretical debate on the nature of tourist experience in New Zealand. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.