Urban navigation systems typically prioritize the shortest or fastest routes between two points but rarely consider personal safety, a critical concern in cities characterised by elevated crime risks. In this study we delineate the safest and shortest route between any two locations in the city of Tshwane, South Africa. In a departure from previous work, we identify a safe route based on a combination of historical incivility data, the spatial distribution of various ‘risky’ facilities, as well as the location of numerous safety infrastructures such as surveillance cameras and security patrols. Results reveal substantial differences between the shortest route and various temporally-disaggregated safe routes, with the safest route being approximately 63% longer but exposing travellers to nearly half the number of recorded incivilities. Daytime, night-time, weekday and weekend routes also exhibited distinct patterns reflecting the routine activities of area users. The results offer practical implications for evidence-based safety interventions and the development of risk-aware navigation systems.
Kathmandu Valley faces acute urban mobility challenges, including severe traffic congestion, a disproportionately high share of fossil fuel dependent private vehicles, severely degraded pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, and decades of unplanned urban expansion that has consumed road reserves and public space. These conditions impose measurable costs on public health, economic productivity, and environmental sustainability, and they require a structured, evidence informed response grounded in local spatial conditions rather than generic policy templates. This study presents a planning level feasibility assessment for an integrated green urban transportation system specifically tailored to the Kathmandu Valley context, with the Gaushala-Ratopul corridor selected as a representative pilot study area. Field observations were conducted at four locations within the corridor during weekday morning peak hours (8:00–9:00 am), recording vehicle counts ranging from approximately 85 vehicles per hour at the heritage adjacent Jaya Bageshwori Road to approximately 560 vehicles per hour on the Ring Road segment, with motorcycles and microbuses constituting the dominant modes. An Origin and Destination (O&D) survey engaged 35 respondents across five stakeholder categories: daily commuters, shop owners, students, transport workers, and traffic police through purposive sampling at key corridor nodes. A pedestrianisation acceptance survey administered to eight accessible residents and business operators along Jaya Bageshwori Road recorded positive opinions from six respondents (75%), treated as an exploratory qualitative indicator rather than a statistically representative finding. Based on these field observations and secondary evidence from international case studies, the study proposes a phased framework of interventions encompassing pedestrian zone creation, dedicated cycling infrastructure across three spatial typologies, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor development on two proposed routes, electric vehicle (EV) adoption incentives, smart traffic management through Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), and integrated digital mobility platforms. Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals 6, 7, and 11 is articulated through measurable indicator linkages supported by international precedent evidence. The proposed framework explicitly acknowledges the absence of transport simulation, emission modelling, and demand forecasting limitations that constrain the study to a planning level contribution and identifies these as priorities for future engineering level investigation.
Surakshya Basnet, Namaraj Lamichhane, Nishma Rajan Magar et al.· Discover Vehicles· 0 citations
Traffic congestion can be a critical impediment to achieving safe evacuations, especially in the case of short-notice wildfire evacuations. This paper describes a quantitative assessment of traffic movements across the island of Maui, HI, before, during, and after the devastating 2023 wildfires. Traffic counts from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Traffic Monitoring System across Maui were used to reveal where, when, and how much traffic moved on the island, with a particular focus on the Lahaina area. Postdisaster assessments of wildfire events are an invaluable process to learn lessons and improve future planning, preparedness, and response efforts. In this assessment, baseline traffic patterns were established from data collected over five weeks before the fire. Then, data from three weeks during and after the fire were used to identify, quantify, and illustrate patterns of evacuation and reentry. Among the key findings of the work was the difficulty in revealing clear and indisputable patterns of evacuation or reentry out of or into the Lahaina area. This is uniquely different from similar large-scale evacuations in the past, where clear volume patterns typically emerge that show times, directions, and amounts of vehicle movement. It also suggests that evacuees did not travel far, did not travel at all, or moved by modes other than by vehicle in significant numbers. This lack of definitive evidence is both important and useful because, despite more than 100 fatalities and unprecedented levels of destruction, it suggests (1) highly congested and blocked roadway conditions; (2) low situational awareness to make decisions in sufficient time; and/or (3) highly localized transportation impacts. The study also indicates how other data sources need to be considered to capture wildfire evacuation processes to improve infrastructure, operations, and planning.
B. Wolshon, Scott A. Parr, S. Parida et al.· Natural Hazards Review· 0 citations
Ensuring a high quality of life for citizens is a fundamental objective for every city, with public safety representing one of the most critical challenges to social sustainability and equitable urban development. This study analyzes the spatiotemporal dynamics of violent crime in Mexico City across pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic periods (2019–2023) to evaluate how COVID-19 mobility restrictions were associated with changes in crime patterns. Using publicly available crime reports, we applied Seasonal-Trend decomposition using Loess (STL) and Moran’s I to examine four violent crimes: homicide, robbery, kidnapping, and rape. The results reveal crime-specific pandemic-related patterns. While robbery showed a sustained decline, its spatial clustering intensified significantly, with Moran’s I increasing from 0.22 to 0.59, indicating highly localized risk zones. Conversely, rape exhibited a steady increase that appeared unaffected by lockdown measures, while maintaining significant spatial autocorrelation. Likewise, Cuauhtémoc borough persisted as the main urban hotspot across all phases. Overall, crime did not decline uniformly during the pandemic; instead, mobility restrictions reshaped the geographic distribution and concentration of specific offenses. This research contributes to the understanding of crime dynamics during and after a public health emergency.
Yanil Contreras-Jiménez, Carolina Palma-Preciado, M. Torres-Ruiz et al.· Geographies· 0 citations
Managing vehicle speeds in rural-to-urban transition zones—where two-lane roads traverse small population centres—remains a critical challenge for road safety engineering. While various traffic calming measures (TCMs) are employed to enforce speed limits, empirical evidence comparing their relative effectiveness in sequential applications is often limited. This study presents a field analysis conducted on the BI-2604 road in Gordexola (Spain). Using radar counters at 24 sequential control points, a dataset of 23,021 valid vehicle passages was analysed to evaluate seven distinct calming configurations. The results indicate that, within this corridor, purely visual countermeasures were associated with high non-compliance: standard crosswalks (paint only) recorded a non-compliance rate of 92.9%, while the Speed Monitoring Display (SMD) registered a 72.1% violation rate. Regarding physical measures, a safety–compliance paradox was identified. Speed humps located in 50 km/h zones achieved the highest statistical compliance (41.7% violation). However, raised crosswalks in 30 km/h zones, despite registering higher non-compliance (63.6%), achieved the lowest mean speeds (approximately 34 km/h; V85 ≈ 45 km/h), a range that the previous literature associates with lower pedestrian injury risk. The findings suggest that, within the investigated corridor, physical vertical deflection was associated with lower speeds than the analysed visual/signalling measures, although it remains an imperfect solution that generates significant negative externalities (noise, emissions, and discomfort) and fails to guarantee strict legal adherence to 30 km/h limits. These limitations highlight the urgent need for alternative solutions, setting the stage for future research on optimised perceptual countermeasures.
Santiago Martin-Castresana, María Castro, Heriberto Pérez-Acebo· Engineer· 0 citations
Road intersections are critical nodes in the urban traffic network where a large proportion of crashes occur. This study presentsa comprehensive safety analysis comparing roundabouts and signalized intersections in Chandigarh, India. Using the Crash Severity Index(CSI), crash data collected from First Information Reports (FIRs) for the period 2010–2025 was analysed across nine selected locations —six signalized intersections and three roundabouts. A Road Safety Audit (RSA) was also conducted at select sites to evaluate physicalinfrastructure conditions. Results indicate that signalized intersections exhibithigher CSI values and are prone to high-severity angle andhead-on collisions, while roundabouts tend to generate lower-severity rear-end and merging conflicts. Hotspot locations identified includeKalibadi Light Point (CSI = 5.07), Centra Mall Light Points (CSI = 4.89), and Poultry Farm Chowk (CSI = 4.88). Infrastructure deficienciessuch as faded road markings, non-reflective studs, poor lighting, and obstructed signage were found across most sites. The studydemonstrates that integrating CSI with RSA findings provides a powerful framework for identifying hazardous locations and recommendingtargeted, cost-effective safety interventions.
Sandhya Yadav, Assistant Prof. Sovina Sood· International Journal For Mu...· 0 citations
Fire risk assessment in dense coastal settlements often stops at categorical vulnerability classification without informing evacuation planning. This study develops an integrated multi-scale framework that links Fire Risk Index (FRI) quantification with spatially explicit evacuation route optimization. The analysis was conducted in a high-density coastal settlement comprising 148 housing units. At the macro scale, the settlement-level FRI of 5.088 classifies the area as High risk, driven primarily by the absence of active fire protection systems rather than extreme structural combustibility. At the micro scale, building-level FRI values range from 10 to 18, with 89.86 percent of units categorized as High and 8.78 percent as Very High. Spatial overlay identifies localized clusters of Very High-risk buildings along western and central corridors. Evacuation routes were evaluated using a deterministic criteria-based approach integrating geometric distance, exposure minimization, network connectivity, and access width verification. The selected routes minimize both travel distance and intersection with clustered Very High-risk buildings, demonstrating that shortest-path logic alone does not ensure reduced exposure. The shoreline was designated as the primary safe zone based on explicit spatial separation and accessibility criteria. The proposed framework advances FRI from static classification to a spatial decision-support tool for disaster risk reduction in dense coastal settlements.
