ITS Approach in Iran and Criteria for the Selection of

a Pilot Road for the Application of ITS

Masoud Tabibi, Ja’far Jamili

Road Maintenance and Transport Org. (RMTO), IT Office

10 October 2004, Rasht

Contents

• Approaches for applying ITS

• Selection of the ITS Approach in Iran

• Step-by-Step Narrowing the Horizon

• Evaluation of Potential Areas

• Selection of the Pilot Area

Approaches for applying ITS

Up

Bottom

Apply various ITS technologies

See which ITS technology would be more effective

Select the more effective

ITS technologies

Bottom-Up Approach Top-Down ApproachSelect your objective and

try to narrow it

Top

Down

Apply various ITS technologies

Look for only related ITS technologies

Selection of the ITS Approach in Iran

Bottom-Up Approach

Needs a lot of investment

Requires a lot of time for monitoring and evaluation

Makes it easy to decide

Top-Down Approach

Needs more coordination among related stakeholders

More quickly could be applied

Requires less investment

Step-by-Step Narrowing the Horizon

Which Objective(s) would be the most important one(s) for the application of ITS technology?

Which type of roads has more priority for applying ITS technologies?

Which technical criteria are required to give a priority to a road for applying ITS technologies?

What are non-technical requirements to succeed in an ITS application?

Evaluation of Potential Areas

Results of questionnaires

Concerning the objective

Results of questionnaires

Concerning the road type

Results of questionnaires

Concerning the construction status

Results of questionnaires

Concerning

behavioral aspects and terrain

Results of questionnaires

Concerning the priority index

Results of questionnaires

Concerning potential capabilities of provinces

Results of questionnaires

Engineering judgement

Effectiveness and cooperation of related provincial offices in both sides of the pilot road

The following ways are taken into account to select a pilot area for the application of ITS

technology:

Selection of the Pilot Road

Results of questionnaires

Results of questionnaires indicate that the Gilan Province can be assumed as one of the most top three potential areas for

applying ITS technologies

Engineering judgement

Existence of various road sections (1)

Engineering judgement

Existence of various road sections (2)

Engineering judgement

Topography of area (road terrain)

Engineering judgement

Function of the road and the composition of heavy traffic

Engineering judgement

Safety aspects

Road safety is a serious and growing problem in Iran. In 2003, almost 26,000 people were killed in road accidents in Iran. This is equal to 3 fatalities per hour. Compared to Turkey and Azerbaijan, the number of

fatalities per 10,000 vehicles is also significantly higher, with approx. 50 in Iran, 7 in Turkey and 20 in Azerbaijan.

Safety aspects (cont.)

Rough estimations show that in Iran the economic costs of fatalities and injuries may be up to 1.8%- 4% (2-4 billion USD) of GDP.

51% of fatalities in the country are motorcyclists.

Traffic accident data indicates that about 72% of total accidents outside built-up areas happen on two lane two way roads, whereas the share of freeways is limited to 8%.

Tunnels in Iran have poor road safety performance, with more than 18 accidents per km per year, while the expressways and highways have 1.7 accidents per km per year and the remaining roads have 1.0 accidents per km per year.

Safety aspects (cont.)

Safety indexes (provincial graphs)

Num

ber

of r

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fat

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per

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habi

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Safety indexes (provincial graphs)N

umbe

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juri

es p

er 1

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inha

bita

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Safety indexes (provincial graphs)S

hare

in c

ount

ry (

%)

In the Gilan province, similar to the national level, motorcycles have a great share in road fatalities.

The provinces Semnan, Qazwin, Gilan and Mazandaran in the North, Kerman and Fars in the South, and

Khorasan in the East have larger safety problems compared to the number of inhabitants.

Safety indexes (provincial graphs)

Engineering judgement

Existence of tunnels and long bridges

Engineering judgement

Existence of other road alternatives (specially an important freeway)

Engineering judgement

Communication coverage and data existence

Within the next three months the road could be covered completely by mobile phone system

There is a good access to digital map and geographical information of the area

Two of the most effective and cooperative provincial offices of RMTO are located at two sides of the road: Qazwin and Gilan

Management aspects

There is a good distance for the selected road in which both provinces will be involved effectively

There is a good cooperation among various organizations in the framework of Road Safety Committees

Thus:

Let’s start ITS technologies for increasing the efficiency of Iranian road network, first by:

Qazwin-Rasht RoadWayAs a good Pilot Area

Thanks for your attention!