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Can battery electric light commercial vehicles work for craftsmen and service enterprises?
Get PDFBattery Electric Light Commercial Vehicles (BE-LCVs) can reduce the environmental impacts of Craftsmen and Service (C&S) Enterprises transportation. These Enterprises produce vital services, using diesel vehicles for transportation of personnel, tools and materials to worksites, thus contributing to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Enterprises that have taken BE-LCVs into use report practical range challenges leading to a need to reorganize their transportation activities. The driving pattern of 7 C&S enterprises operating 115 vehicles, were logged over two weeks. The potential of using BE-LCVs can be evaluated by combining the real range of BE-LCVs in Norway, with these driving patterns. Although 42% of diesel LCVs (D-LCVs) could be replaceable by BE-LCVs with a range of 170 km. Many covered so short daily distances that the transport work would only be reduced by 13%. The replaceable vehicles and transport work can increase by redistributing vehicle assignments, daytime charging, or with longer range BE-LCVs. If all year range increases to 200 km, then almost all vehicles are potentially replaceable. Purchase incentives are required to unlock the potential, but may, not produce large effects until the range improves. BE-LCVs with 50% longer range enters the market in 2018, which should expand the market.Can battery electric light commercial vehicles work for craftsmen and service enterprises?submittedVersio
Estimating Real-World Emissions of PHEVs in Norway by Combining Laboratory Measurement with User Surveys
Get PDFThe paper presents the results of experimental testing of the exhaust emission and energy consumption of two gasoline plug-in hybrid vehicles in an emission testing laboratory with different drive cycles and drive modes and at summer and winter temperatures. One was a compact vehicle with a type approval electric mode range of 50 km, the other a mid-sized vehicle with an electric mode range of 31 km. Additionally, an online survey of 2065 private plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) owners investigated the usage pattern of the vehicles. Combining the laboratory tests with the user survey results provided an estimate for the reduction of CO2-emission of PHEVs in use in Norway. The main conclusion is that the PHEV is a vehicle type that needs to match well with the use pattern to produce low CO2- and local emissions. The achievable CO2-emission reduction was proportional to the range in electric drive-mode (E-mode), i.e., 50 km range resulted in about 50% reduction.publishedVersio
Does a tow-bar increase the risk of neck injury in rear-end collisions?
Get PDFDoes a tow-bar increase the risk of neck injury in the struck car in a rear-end collision? The rear part of a modern car has collision zones that are rendered nonoperational when the car is equipped with a tow-bar. Past crash tests have shown that a car's acceleration was higher in a car equipped with a tow-bar and also that a dummy placed in a car with a tow-bar had higher peak acceleration in the lower neck area. Method This study aimed to investigate the association between the risk of neck injury in drivers and passengers, and the presence of a registered tow-bar on the struck car in a rear-end collision. We performed a merger of police reports, the National Hospital Discharge Registry, and the National Registry of Motor Vehicles in Denmark. We identified 9,370 drivers and passengers of whom 1,519 were diagnosed with neck injury within the first year after the collision. We found a statistically insignificant 5% decrease in the risk of neck injury in the occupants of the struck car when a tow-bar was fitted compared to when it was not fitted (hazard ratio = 0.95; 95% confidence level = 0.85–1.05; p = 0.32). The result was controlled for gender, age, and the seat of the occupant. Several other collision and car characteristics and demographic information on the drivers and passengers were evaluated as confounders but were not statistically significant. Conclusions The present study may serve as valuable input for a meta-analysis on the effect of a tow-bar because negative results are necessary in order to avoid publication bias.publishedVersio
Public transport and people with impairments – exploring non-use of public transport through the case of Oslo, Norway
Get PDFDespite the attention given to universal design in recent years, many people with impairments still refrain from travelling on public transport. This explorative case study, conducted in the greater Oslo region in Norway, aims to add knowledge on why this is so. Findings indicate that insecurity while travelling and expectations of problems along the way are significant barriers. For many it is the sum of all challenges combined, from experience or anticipation that leads to non-use of public transport. The study shows that universal design policy, as of today, does not lead to accessible public transport systems that rendered impairments irrelevant. If society could safeguard the individuals’ travel needs, this might have profound societal repercussions through increased workforce participation and value added in society. Only then can society make the best use of all its inhabitants while championing inclusiveness and equality.acceptedVersio
Universal Design as a Way of Thinking About Mobility
Get PDFThe concept of universal design in reference to a strategy to counter social exclusion was first coined by the architect Ronald Mace. He defined Universal design (UD) as “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design”. This paper will look into the use of UD as a policy objective for transport policy, using Norwegian experience as an example. UD was adopted as one of the four major policy objectives in Norwegian transport policy in 2009. However, from 2018 onwards UD is no longer a main policy objective. This experience with UD as a policy objective is used as an empirical backdrop for a more principal discussion on the usefulness of UD in transport and mobility. I conclude by pointing at UD as a useful vision, but difficult policy objective.acceptedVersio
How can we explain improvements in organizational information security culture in an organization providing critical infrastructure?
No full textThe aims of the present study are to 1) Compare results from a study conducted before and a study conducted after efforts to improve organizational information security culture in an organization providing critical infrastructure, and 2) discuss the results of the comparison. In this study, we compare the results of two surveys done over a period of just over two years; the first early in 2014 (N = 323) and the second late in 2016 (N = 446). Organizational information security culture was measured with an index which was made by adding the scores of respondents’ answers to 24 items with answer alternatives ranging from 1 to 5. Thus, the minimum score of the information security index was 24 and the maximum score was 120. We found a statistically significant improvement in the index, comparing 2014 to 2016. Changes are discussed considering respondents’ experiences with the implemented measures, sample characteristics and other methodological factors. We conclude that it seems that management implementation of measures aimed at improving organizational security culture has led to improvements.publishedVersio
Organizational information security culture in critical infrastructure: Developing and testing a scale and its relationships to other measures of information security
Get PDFThe aims of the present study are to 1) develop and test a scale measuring organizational information security culture, and 2) examine its relationships to other aspects of information security. The study focuses on an organization providing critical infrastructure. We developed the scale by conducting qualitative interviews (N = 22) and three focus groups (N = 15) in an organization providing critical infrastructure, and by reviewing previous research on culture in organisations. Based on our literature review and the interviews, we chose to measure organizational information security culture by reformulating one of the few existing general organizational safety culture questionnaires. We first tested the questionnaire in a small pilot survey, and then conducted a questionnaire survey (N = 323) including all departments in the organization. Our examination of the factor structure of the scale indicated two factors. Regression analyses indicate that our adapted GAIN-scale, measuring organizational information security culture is the most important variable influencing information security behavior in the model.publishedVersio
Risk compensation theory and bicycle helmets – Results from an experiment of cycling speed and short-term effects of habituation
Get PDFIt has been suggested that the safety benefits of bicycle helmets are limited by risk compensation. The current study contributes to explaining whether the potential safety effects of bicycle helmets are reduced by cyclists’ tendency to cycle faster when wearing them (as a result of risk compensation), and if this potential reduction can be associated with a change in perceived risk. A previous study (Fyhri & Phillips, 2013) showed that non-routine helmet users did not increase their speed immediately after being given a helmet to wear, while routine helmet users cycled more slowly. The current study tests whether the previously found reduction in speed in response to helmet removal – as an indirect indicator of risk compensation – could be established in non-routine helmet users, after a period of habituation while cycling with a helmet. We did this by conducting a randomized crossover trial, in which we used GPS-derived speed calculations and self-reported risk perception. To test the effect of habituation, we used a design where each participant took part in two rounds with a break between and each round having two trips. We collected the data in June 2015. Non-routine helmet users (N = 31) were recruited in the field (along cycle routes in Oslo), and through a sample drawn from the Falck National register of bicycle owners. In the first phase of the study, all participants were asked to complete a test route (2.4 km downhill) with and without a helmet. In the second phase of the experiment, conducted after 1.5–2 h, the same participants again completed the test route with and without a helmet. In the time between the first and second phases of the experiment, all participants were given helmets, and told to use them on a predefined bicycle route. Habituation to the helmet between the first and second phases of the experiment did not produce any decrease (with helmet removal) in speed, on top of the habituation that occurred while cycling down the hill (the order effect). Mean speed difference for cycling with/without a helmet before the break was −0.76 km/h, after the break this difference was 0.32 km/h; 95% CIs [−0.5, 2.9] and [−0.9, 1.5]. We argue that risk compensation is an unlikely effect of using a bicycle helmet, and probably cannot explain any adverse effects related to helmet legislation.acceptedVersio
Vehicle registration year, age, and weight – Untangling the effects on crash risk
Get PDFThe aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of passenger cars’ first year of registration, weight, and age on the number of killed or seriously injured (KSI) car drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. Poisson regression models were developed of injury crashes involving passenger cars in Norway in 2000–2016, with the following predictor variables: The cars’ first year of registration and weight, either crash year or car age, the drivers age and gender, and in models for car-car collisions the crash partner cars’ weight and either registration year or age. The results show that there are fewer KSI car drivers in more recent, newer, and heavier cars. It is estimated that the number of KSI car drivers in all types of crashes on average decreases by 6.7% for each consecutive registration year (-7.2% in car-car collisions and -6.0% in single vehicle crashes), increases by 3.7% for each consecutive year of age (+2.1% in car-car collisions and +5.3% in single vehicle crashes), and decreases by 4.9% on average for each 100 kg weight increase (-11.1% in car-car collisions and -2.3% in single vehicle crashes). In car-car collisions there are fewer KSI car drivers when the crash partner car is more recent (-4.4% for each consecutive registration year), and more KSI car drivers when the crash partner car is older (+4.1% for each consecutive year of age), or heavier (+6.8% per 100 kg weight increase). In collisions with pedestrians or cyclists, there are fewer KSI pedestrians/cyclists when the car is more recent (-3.3% per consecutive registration year) and more KSI pedestrians/cyclists when the car is heavier (+4.6% per 100 kg weight increase). Due to the large effects of safety improvements in more recent cars, an increased renewal rate in the passenger car fleet can be expected to contribute to large safety improvements. The increasing weight of more recent cars may contribute to improved safety for those who drive heavier cars, but overall the effect of increasing weight is probably small or even negative because heavier vehicles impose greater risk on other car drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.acceptedVersio
The European road safety decision support system on risks and measures
Get PDFThe European Road Safety Decision Support System (roadsafety-dss.eu) is an innovative system providing the available evidence on a broad range of road risks and possible countermeasures. This paper describes the scientific basis of the DSS. The structure underlying the DSS consists of (1) a taxonomy identifying risk factors and measures and linking them to each other, (2) a repository of studies, and (3) synopses summarizing the effects estimated in the literature for each risk factor and measure, and (4) an economic efficiency evaluation instrument (E3-calculator). The DSS is implemented in a modern web-based tool with a highly ergonomic interface, allowing users to get a quick overview or go deeper into the results of single studies according to their own needs.acceptedVersio