MAY 9
NOON-1 P.M.
SAFETREC 2ND FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM, 2614 DWIGHT WAY
PRESENTATION BY MOHSEN A. JAFARI, PROFESSOR OF INDUSTRIAL & SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
Abstract: The current state of practice in traffic safety planning and engineering is mostly based on observed crashes and simplified predictive models. The engineering and planning decisions are made partially on the basis of engineering and roadway data (i.e., SLD data), and mostly on the basis of crashes, which occur rarely and with low to medium frequency, and are safety-critical in nature. This is especially true of crashes involving pedestrians and bicycles, for which data are sparse, making it difficult to determine reliable patterns. With smart and connected vehicles technology, on-board devices and infrastructure based sensors and cameras, it will be possible to significantly enhance safety analysis by including near miss/traffic conflict data and drivers' behavioral data which occur with significantly higher frequency. The integrity of these data sources also make the traffic safety analysis more robust to crash data verification issues. This talk will first review the current practices and will focus on Plan4Safety software platform that was developed by Rutgers and is being used by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and municipalities. We will also briefly present extensions of Plan4Safety to commercial vehicles and pedestrians. Finally we will discuss the adoption of Plan4Safety in China and other countries. The second part of the talk will focus on our recent works in risk-based safety analytics using multiple data streams, including near-miss data, systemic data, historical traffic accidents, and drivers’ naturalistic behavior data. The talk will conclude by briefly reviewing the data requirements for risk-based traffic safety software platform.
Speaker Bio: Mohsen A. Jafari is a professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at Rutgers University. His research application areas include energy systems, transportation, healthcare and manufacturing. His work has led to major technological advances and product development including, multi-material deposition in solid free form fabrication; decision support system for traffic safety (Plan4Safety); integrated closed loop approach to planning, operation and investment of energy systems; cyber risk assessment of power networks; building energy asset management (BEAM); and Berth Planning at ports. He has done a number of major projects in port applications including strategic planning for PANYNJ and organizing a workshop on port sustainability and energy security – recently held at Rutgers University. He actively collaborates with universities and research institutes in the US and abroad. He has advised thirteen Ph.D. theses and nine post doctoral & research fellows. Presently, he is advising additional ten Ph.D. theses focusing on energy systems, zero-net communities, risk analysis, and process improvement in healthcare. He is a member of IEEE and was recipient of the IEEE excellence award in service and research. He has been consultant to several fortune 500 companies, and national and international government agencies.