Improving City Roads Quality - Research Proposal Example

 Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 How to Improve Our City’s Road Quality: Traffic Accidents and Traffic Congestion According to research, traffic accidents are the main cause of sudden death ranking tenth internationally in terms of figures (Vanessa, 2004). However, whether calculated by populace or distance travelled, they are reducing consistently in developed nations as roads and vehicles become safer, even though in some incidences, definite numbers amplified as a result of bigger populace, as well as expanse covered (Kingham, 2009). Similar powers that attract people to gather in the bigger city expanses also lead to sometimes-unbearable heights of traffic congestion on city streets and main roads. Operational city governance needs vigilant harmonizing between the profits of populace increase and disadvantages of extreme overcrowding. In general, highway traffic jamming points a challenge for all big and emerging city regions. There is apparent proof in developed nations of an increasing movement for children to be driven to and from school in private motor vehicles, at the cost of other means, including biking, walking as well as communal transport. From studies, congestion takes on a significant number of faces, and it happens in various different settings caused by varied processes. Nevertheless, there are various issues that congestion administration policies should put into consideration in case they intend to achieve the goals and objectives they put in place. The main purpose or objective of this research proposal is to discuss in details the issue concerning how to improve the quality of city roads. In addition, the research has the objective of providing a proposal on how to deal with traffic accidents and traffic congestions as well. Scope of the Study The research proposal aims at exploring ways of improving city roads quality to cab accidents and in the same way ease congestion. Literature Review According to research, city traffic accidents and traffic congestion has to be comprehended in the bigger setting of city changing aspects and accumulation advantages (Mayhew and Simpson, 2002). Traffic congestion in city areas is frequently the result of successful city economic establishment, employment, housing, as well as guidelines that make individuals desire to live and work relatively close to each other and fascinate organizations to profit from profits in productivity thus derived. Although city people may not be thrilled by the prospect, they are prepared to cope up with the problem of congested roads so long as they benefit in other ways by living and working in their cities. Research further shows that congestion inhibits people from moving without restrictions, and it decelerates and otherwise interrupts the manner of business within city areas. Nevertheless, it is essential to note that unconstrained shift is not the basic profit people derive from living in cities. This is because towns offer access to a broader variety of activities, services, products, notions as well as systems. Research reveals further that road accidents and traffic congestion cause a problem on society, and it is thus vital for transport policy makers to reduce their consequences. An ideal I cadence would be that traffic congestion and accidents are condensed instantaneously. Nevertheless, this may not be easy because it has been ventured that amplified traffic congestion may be profitable in terms of road welfare (Murray, 2003). This is based on the ground that there would be scarcer terminal accidents and accidents that happened would lean towards being less austere. This is because of the small, average speediness resulting from traffic congestion. Researchers thus declares the significance of having a full comprehension concerning the association amid traffic congestion and road accidents while controlling other attributes influencing road traffic accidents. Conversely, the affiliation between traffic congestion and road accidents seems to be an under researched area. Previous scholarships frequently lack an appropriate congestion dimension and a suitable econometric model using real-world information. A series of econometric reproductions has been employed to examine the consequence of traffic congestion on both accident regularity and the severity of the accident. The model approximation outcomes propose that traffic congestion is completely linked with the regularity of terminal. It is also connected with serious damage accidents and destructively linked with the severity of accidents that have transpired. According to further studies, traffic congestion is noted to have slight influence on the regularity of minor injury accidents. Accordingly, other causative aspects have also been organized and created results dependable with earlier studies. Therefore, some researchers have made up conclusions that traffic congestion largely has an adverse effect on road safety. This may be partly because of greater speediness discrepancy among vehicles within and between lanes and erratic driving conduct in the presence of congestion. The outcomes show that movement and safety can be upgraded instantaneously, and therefore, there is momentous supplementary benefit of reducing traffic congestion in terms of road safety. In addition, a significant number of guiding principle repercussions have been recognized in order to improve the traffic movement and improve driving manners, which would be helpful to both congestion and accident decrease. Such guiding principles involve strengthening electronic cautionary signs and the Dynamic Traffic Board, implementing normal speed on an expanse of a thoroughfare and introducing slightest speed limits in the country. Thus, this research proposal contributes to awareness in terms of the association between traffic congestion and road accidents, displaying that movement and safety can be enhanced instantaneously. A new premise is projected that traffic congestion on main roads may upsurge the existence of severe injury accidents. This research also proposes a new map-matching skill so as to allocate accidents to the precise road sections and displays how a two-stage modeling process, which combines both, accident occurrence and sternness can be used in site classification with the objective of recognizing dangerous accident hotspots for further safety investigation and management. Other studies affirm that eliminating completely traffic accidents and traffic congestion is neither an affordable, nor a viable objective in an economically transforming city area. Nevertheless, a lot can be achieved in order to reduce its occurrence and to reduce its consequences on roadway users within bigger towns. This is because traffic congestion is an occurrence that can be well and more efficiently managed. In order to achieve this, there must be efficient management that involves both holistic and integrate strategy that goes beyond the noticeable occurrence of congestion on the road. Accordingly, it also spreads to the organization of the city area as a whole. In addition, traffic accidents and traffic congestion has an influence on both normal travel speediness and travel time consistency; and there is much indication that the latter may be more imperative than the former in that people can plan around dependably crowded travel but are discouraged by changeable travel circumstances. Undependable and tremendously adjustable travel times possibly enforce the utmost despair on roadway customers; despair, which can quickly be calmed by an upsurge in the consistency and expectedness of travel intervals and travel circumstances. This finding has been buoyed by studies that have found that the value to users of the road reliability being in copious settings greater than their values for travel period. Distinctive actions comprise preparation and organization of road works, immediate reaction to substandard traffic indications and to interruptions caused by accidents and wreckages. From the viewpoint of city officials, these tactics can be very gorgeous in that they can quickly distribute perceivable profits to road users for a comparatively small security, especially when associated to the cost of new set-up whose influences on complete travel intervals may not always be apparent to users of the road. According to urban mobility report, transportation leaders should increase roadway and communal transportation capacity in areas where it is necessary (Ogilvie, 2004). Additionally, it emphasizes that ideas such as ridesharing and flexible work intervals should be promoted in order to avoid modern rush hours, and offer alternatives including other paths, teleworking and toll streets for quicker and more dependable journeys. However, it will be difficult to achieve such projections because many people would not be able or willing to contribute towards developing such type of highway capacity. Therefore, the assumptions being made by the urban mobility report may not work out well in the process of reducing or improving the quality of city roads through the elimination of traffic accidents and traffic congestions. Methodology According to research, methodology is the logical, hypothetical exploration of the methods pragmatic to a field of study. It characteristically contains notions such as model, phrases, qualitative and quantitative tools. It is noted that a methodology does not set out to offer solutions; however, it provides the hypothetical reinforcement for comprehending which approach or best practices can be used in a specific incident. This research proposal aims at using various methodologies such as interviews and questionnaires as primary sources. These methods will be used because they are useful in enabling the researcher get first-hand information from the specified group of individuals chosen to take part in the research. For instance, personal interviews promote face to face dialogue with human subjects (Kerner, et al 2001). Therefore if a researcher decides to use personal interviews he or she will have to choose whether he will take notes, record the interview, depend on his or her memory, or even write in their answers, which is a closed interrogative. A personal dialogue includes a conversation program of interrogations that can be either closed or open interrogations, or a combination of all these. In closed interviews, questions are asked, and answers received concerning fixed ideas. Closed questions also enable the researcher to provide participants with a small selection of potential responses from which to choose. On the other hand, open interviews involves direct question and answer from the participants. Personal interviews will be used because it is the best method that will enable the researcher to get responses immediately concerning traffic accidents and traffic congestion in cities. In addition, this research proposal will also employ questionnaires as one of the methods chosen in achieving its set objectives. In most cases, questionnaires are a logical and a simple alternative way of gathering data from individuals. In order to achieve the research, or get the desired results from the respondents, it is always important that the set questions are clear and that the researcher has dependable ways of gathering and managing information. Therefore, to ensure that this proposal receives the best responses using questionnaires, it will set up the questionnaire that can be read clearly using an optical mark reader. This will enable the researcher to get information from a bigger number of answers and then analyze them statistically. Furthermore, to achieve the best results for this research, the researcher intends to carry out a secondary research as an additional research. The secondary research will include gathering information concerning traffic accidents and traffic congestions and also on how to reduce or improve the quality of city roads from secondary sources such as books, articles, journals, as well as magazines (Begg and Langley, 2000). This will involve visiting school libraries and searching relevant sources from other areas. The researcher chooses to use questionnaires because they are excellent in providing detailed and desired information concerning the issue in question. Thus, with all this in place, this research will be successful because it has the necessary information it requires to achieve its objectives. A self-administered questionnaire was used where the study analyzed data on road traffic accidents, involving car occupants. Here, six hundred and one students out of six hundred and eighteen participated, giving the response rate of about ninety-seven percent. The table below gives an idea concerning the gender and race of the respondents (injured car occupants and others) Coach denizens incapacitated (percentage) Others (percentage) Ninety-five percent confidence interval (Sexual category) a) Men b) Women 6(3.1) 8(2.0) 187(31.9) 400(68.1) 1.604 (0.549-4.689 (Ethnicity) a)American b) Non-American 5(35.7) 9(64.3) 14438(74.6) 9(25.4) 1.633 (0.539-4.950) Accordingly, a significant association between car occupant injury and not having a driving lesson and not having a driving license has the same magnitude in terms of percentage; ninety-five percent (Nicholson, 2009). On the other hand, it was observed that there was no significant association between car occupant injuries and not using seat belts. Statement of Ethical Issues Associated With Research and How These Issues Would Be Addressed According to studies, ethics occur because of value conflicts. These conflicts are demonstrated in different manners including rights to personal privacy and unwanted management. Research ethics helps in reuniting value skirmishes (Nicholson, 2009). Some of the ethical issues in research include causing harm to participants because of their participation. The possible harm encompasses death, stress, guilt, or lowering in self-esteem; in addition, there is unfair treatment and withheld profits. There is also misuse of concealment, which is because of careful desecration of strategies. Therefore, this may make a good number of people to fear taking part in research activities. Researchers may encounter ethical problems in considering their responsibility to provide protection on the personality of participants as they also consider the risk of contamination. The risks experienced from research may affect the society as a whole; this could be through affecting cultural values and beliefs on the provided information. On the contrary, research may give data to the extra authoritative groups in a community that assists in maintaining their advantage. In order to avoid or address such ethical issues in research, it is vital that researchers whether individual or groups take a serious role of providing protection to the respondents. This could be achieved through the assessment of risks to profits, provide informed consent, and develop research designs and processes. Through the process of developing research designs, it ensures that the research accomplishes its set goals while maximizing the protection of the respondents (World Health Organization, 2004). This may include approximating the possibility and severity of harmful consequences, the possible duration of the effects, and the extent to which any harm experienced can be reversed. It is also necessary that participants are screened; this enables the researcher to know and choose only those people who have a high tolerance for the possible risks. Therefore, with such actions in place, the concerns of exploration principles will be dealt. APPENDIX The table below gives an idea concerning the gender and race of the respondents (injured car occupants and others) Coach denizens incapacitated (percentage) Others (percentage) Ninety-five percent confidence interval (Sexual category) a) Men b) Women 6(3.1) 8(2.0) 187(31.9) 400(68.1) 1.604 (0.549-4.689 (Ethnicity) a)American b) Non-American 5(35.7) 9(64.3) 14438(74.6) 9(25.4) 1.633 (0.539-4.950) References Begg, D.J. and Langley, J.L. (2000). Seat-belt use and related behaviors among young adults. Journal of Safety Research. l31 (4), p. 211-220. Kerner, B. et al (2001), “Methods for Tracing and Forecasting Congested Traffic Patterns”, Traffic Engineering and Control, 42(8), p. 282-287. Kingham, S. (2009) .The impact of the ‘school run’ on road traffic accidents: A spatio-temporal analysis. New York, NY: Routledge. Mayhew, D. and Simpson, H.M.(2002) The safety value of driver education and training. Injury Prevention, Vol 8 .SuppII:ii3-ii7. Murray, A. (2003). Decreasing number of young license holders and reduced number of accidents A description of trends in Sweden. Accident Analysis & Prevention, Vol 900, p. 1-10. Nicholson, A. (2009). Analysis of spatial distributions of accidents. Safety Science 31(1), p. 71–91. Ogilvie, D. (2004). "Promoting walking and cycling as an alternative to using cars: systematic review". British Medical Journal (BMJ Publishing Group) 329 (7469): p.763. Vanessa, D. (2004). "Determinants of bicycle use: do municipal policies matter?". Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice (Elsevier) 38 (7): p. 531–550. World Health Organization. (2004). World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention. Journal of Traffic Med, Vol 25, p. 21-25. Read More