Abstract
Due to intense highway congestion in Europe, increased percentage of highway accidents, as well as mortality rate, safety is an imperative in highway planning and design. Highway design safety standards have been researched extensively, but not enough attention has been paid to the surrounding environmental impacts, foremost climate elements. Therefore, this research attempts to understand the least researched climate element — the wind, and its impact on highway safety. The highway landscape falls under the category of the wind impacts that can cause significant problems for the drivers throughout the year. The values for wind direction, frequency, and intensity were taken from the CARPATCLIM database and Meteorological Annuals. The evaluation of homogenized and harmonized set of data on a daily basis for a 20-year period documented a variety of high-intensity wind impacts on the researched highway. By using the ArcGIS and the interpolation method, it has been clearly observed at which points the effect of intense winds was present the most. In order to understand the overall problem of the impacts of winds on the researched highway, the fieldwork was conducted in various weather conditions. The checklists photo-documented and qualitatively described the observed extreme wind events (alone or combined with one more climate element). All calculated and collected data were observed and the image of the current situation was provided, and the proposal for control of the impact of wind using an adequate vegetation assembly (windbreaks) and landscape design has been offered.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Not applicable
Code availability
Not applicable
References
Alemu MM (2016) Ecological benefits of trees as windbreaks and shelterbelts. Int J Ecosyst 6(1):10–13. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.ije.20160601.02
Apaydin H, Sonmez FK, Yildirim YE (2004) Spatial interpolation techniques for climate data in the gap region in Turkey. Clim Res 28(1):31–40. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr028031
Baker JC, Reynolds S (1992) Wind-induced accidents of road vehicles. Accid Anal Prev 24(6):559–575. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-4575(92)90009-8
Bergel-Hayat R, Debbarh M, Antoniou C, Yannis G (2013) Explaining the road accident risk: weather effects. Accid Anal Prev 60:456–465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2013.03.006
Blagojević I, Đorđević J (2013) Landscape approach to flooded areas – an issue or a challenge? Geodetski Vestnik 57(4):760–776. https://doi.org/10.15292/geodetski-vestnik.2013.04.747-776
Brodsky H, Hakkert AS (1988) Risk of road accident in rainy weather. Accid Anal Prev 20(3):161–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-4575(88)90001-2
Chapman L (2007) Transport and climate change: a review. J Transp Geogr 15:354–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2006.11.008
Chen S, Chen F, Liu J, Wu J, Bienkiewicz B (2010) Mobile mapping technology of wind velocity data along highway for traffic safety evaluation. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 18(4):507–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2009.10.003
Chen F, Chen S, Ma X (2018) Analysis of hourly crash likelihood using unbalanced panel data mixed logit model and real-time driving environmental big data. J Saf Res 65:153–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2018.02.010
Cheval S, Birsan M-V, Dumitrescu A (2014) Climate variability in the Carpathian Mountains Region over 1961–2010. Glob Planet Chang 118:85–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2014.04.005
Corcoran J, Tiebei L, Rohde D, Charles-Edwards E, Mateo-Babiano D (2014) Spatio-temporal patterns of a Public Bicycle Sharing Program: the effect of weather and calendar events. J Transp Geogr 41:292–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.09.003
Deng P, Zhu J (2021) Forecast and uncertainty analysis of extreme precipitation in China from ensemble of multiple climate models. Theor Appl Climatol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-021-03660-7
Dobesch H, Dumolard P, Dyras I (2007) Spatial interpolation for climate data: the use of GIS in Climatology and Meteorology. ISTE
Đorđević J (2004) Typology of physical - geographical factors in spatial planning. Geographical Institute "Jovan Cvijic" SANU, Belgrade (In Serbian)
Dukić D (2006) Climatology. Beograd: Geografski fakultet, Univerzitet u Beogradu (In Serbian)
Dupont E, Martensen H (2007) Multilevel modelling and time series analysis in traffic research – Methodology. Deliverable D7.4 of the EU FP6 project SafetyNet. Available at: http://www.dacota-project.eu/Links/erso/safetynet/fixed/WP7/D7_4/D7.4.pdf. Accessed March 2020
Edwards J (1996) Weather-related road accidents in England and Wales: a spatial analysis. J Transp Geogr 4(3):201–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/0966-6923(96)00006-3
Eisenberg D (2004) The mixed effect of precipitation on traffic chrashes. Accid Anal Prev 36:637–647. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-4575(03)00085-X
Ferber EA (1974) Windbreaks for conservation. U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service, Washington DC
Forman TTR, Sperling D, Bissonette AJ, Clevenger PA, Cutshall DC, Dale HV, Fahrig L, France R, Goldman RC, Heanue K, Jones AJ, Swanson JF, Turrentine T, Winter CT (2003) Road ecology: science and solutions. Island Press, Washington
Frandsen S, Barthelmie R, Pryor S, Rathmann O, Larsen S, Højstrup J, Thøgersen M (2006) Analytical modelling of wind speed deficit in large offshore wind farms. Wind Energy 9:39–53. https://doi.org/10.1002/we.189
Fridstrøm L, Ifver J, Ingebrigtsen S, Kulmala R, Thomsen LK (1995) Measuring the contribution of randomness, exposure, weather, and daylight to the variation in road accident counts. Accid Anal Prev 27(1):1–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-4575(94)E0023-E
García-Montero L, Otero Pastor I, Mancebo Quintana S, Casermeiro M (2008) An environmental screening tool for assessment of land use plans covering large geographic areas. Environ Sci Pol 11(4):285–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2007.10.002
Gehl G (2006) City space qualities. In: Gehl J (ed) New City Life. The Danish architectural Press, Denmark, pp 105–170
Hassan AY, Barker JD (1999) The impact of unseasonable or extreme weather on traffic activity within Lothian region, Scotland. J Transp Geogr 7:209–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0966-6923(98)00047-7
Hermans E, Brijs T, Stiers T, Offermans C (2006) The impact of weather conditions on road safety investigated on an hourly basis. In: Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, CD-ROM Paper 06-1120
IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, Pachauri RK, Meyer LA (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland
Kim K (2018) Investigation on the effects of weather and calendar events on bike-sharing according to the trip patterns of bike rentals of stations. J Transp Geogr 66:309–320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.01.001
Knopper DL, Christopher AO (2011) Health effects and wind turbines: a review of the literature. Environ Health 10(78):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-10-78
Koetse JM, Rietveld P (2009) The impact of climate change and weather on transport: an overview of empirical findings. Transp Res D 14:205–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2008.12.004
Lakatos M, Bihari Z, Szentimrey T, Spinoni J, Szalai S (2016) Analyses of temperature extremes in the Carpathian Region in the period 1961–2010. Q J Hungarian Meteorol Serv 120(1):41–51 Available at: https://www.met.hu/en/ismeret-tar/kiadvanyok/idojaras/index.php?id=465. Accessed Sept 2018
Lalić B, Eitzinger J, Dalla Marta A, Orlandini S, Sremac A, Pacher B (2018) Agricultural meteorology and climatology. Firenze University Press, Florence, p 354. http://www.fupress.com/archivio/pdf/3808_16282.pdf. Accessed March 2022
Lettau HH, Haugen DA (1960) Wind. Handbook of Geophysics. Macimillan, New York
Löfgren S, Nilsson K, Johansson CM (2018) Considering landscape in strategic transport planning. Transp Res Part D: Transp Environ 65:396–408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2018.09.001
Loidl M, Wallentin G, Cyganski R, Graser A, Scholz J, Haslauer E (2016) GIS and Transport Modeling—Strengthening the Spatial Perspective. Int J Geoinform 5(6):84. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi5060084
Lorenz H (1980) Designing and tracing of roads and highways. IRO Building Book, Belgrade (In Serbian)
Lovelace R (2021) Open source tools for geographic analysis in transport planning. J Geogr Syst. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10109-020-00342-2
Luo W, Taylor MC, Parker SR (2008) A comparison of spatial interpolation methods to estimate continuous wind speed surfaces using irregularly distributed data from England and Wales. Internationala J Climatol J R Meteorol Soc 28(7):947–959. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1583
Martz W (2010) Validating an evaluation checklist using a mixed method design. Eval Program Plann 33(3):215–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2009.10.005
Maruyama Y, Yamazaki F (2006) Driving simulator experiment on the moving stability of an utomobile under strong crosswind. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 94(4):191–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2005.12.006
Mihailović TD (2017) Meteorology for students of the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad. Poljoprivredni fakultet, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu, Novi Sad (In Serbian)
Mitchell SJ (2013) Wind as a natural disturbance agent in forests: a synthesis. For Int J For Res 86(2):147–157. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cps058
Musk FL (2003) Climate as a factor in the planning and design of new roads and motorways. In: Perry A, Symons L (eds) Highway meteorology. E&FN SPON, London, New York, Tokyo, Melbourne, Madras, pp 5–29
Orlović S, Tomović Z (2011) Forestry. In: Puzović S, Radovanović-Jovin H (eds) Environment in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina: status - challenges - perspectives. Pokrajinski sekretarijat za urbanizam, graditeljstvo i zaštitu životne sredine, Novi Sad, pp 334–347 (In Serbian)
Oscar Júnior AC, de Assis Mendonça F (2021) Climate change and risk of arboviral diseases in the state of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Theor Appl Climatol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-021-03663-4
Palomino I, Martín F (1995) A simple method for spatial interpolation of the wind in complex terrain. J Appl Meteorol 34:1678–1693. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450-34.7.1678
Pérez de la Cruz LJ, Conejo-Muñoz R, Morales-Bueno R, Puy-Huarte J (1995) Highway design by constraint specification. Artif Intell Eng 9(2):127–139. Available at http://atarazanas.sci.uma.es/docs/articulos/16731542.pdf. Accessed July 2017
Perry A, Symons L (1994) The wind hazard in the British Isles and its effects on transportation. J Transp Geogr 2(2):122–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/0966-6923(94)90018-3
Plaznić S (1985) Tehnical meteorology. Naučna knjiga, Beograd (In Serbian)
Price B, Kaim D, Szwagrzyk M, Ostapowicz K, Kolecka N, Schmatz DR, Wypych A, Kozak J (2017) Legacies, socioeconomic and biophysical processes and drivers: the case of future forest cover expansion in the Polish Carpathians and Swiss Alps. Reg Environ Change 17:2279–2291. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-016-1079-z
Pu Y, Chen F, Chen P, Pan X (2018) Wind data collection and analysis of topographical features along a highway for traffic safety assessment based on mobile mapping technology. Transp Res Rec J Transp Res Board 2672(42):292–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118788465
Read AR (1964) Tree windbreaks for the Central Great Plains. Department of Agriculture, Washington
RHMZ - Republic Hydrometeorological Institute of Serbia (2014) Meteorological yearbook 1, catalog data. http://www.hidmet.gov.rs/podaci/meteo_godisnjaci/Meteoroloski%20godisnjak%201%20-%20klimatoloski%20podaci%20-%202014.pdf. Accessed 10 Aug 2018
RHMZ - Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia (1990-2010) Meteorological Annuals from 1990 to 2010, downloaded from https://www.hidmet.gov.rs/ciril/meteorologija/klimatologija_godisnjaci.php. Accessed Mar 2022
Scriven M (2000) The logic and methodology of checklists, retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.588.7093&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed Mar 2022
Sellier D, Fourcaud T (2009) Crown structure and wood properties: influence on tree sway and response to high winds. Am J Bot 96(5):885–896. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.0800226
Sentić I, Đorđević T (2019) Understanding physical environment through safe highway transport mobility with special review on climate - the highway route Belgrade-Novi Sad, Serbia. Geographica Pannonica 23(1):1–13. https://doi.org/10.5937/gp23-19285
Sentić I, Đorđević J, Đorđević T (2018) The impact of climate elements on the road safety: Example of the highway route Belgrade-Novi Sad. III Serbian Road Congress, Belgrade 14-15.06.2018., pp. 414-423
Shin J, Lee I (2014) Reliability-based vehicle safety assessment and design optimization of roadway radius and speed limit in windy environments. J Mech Des 136(8):081006-1–081006-13. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4027512
Spinoni J, Szalai S, Szentimrey T, Lakatos M, Bihari Z, Nagy A, Németh Á, Kovács T, Mihic D, Dacic M, Petrovic P, Kržič A, Hiebl J, Auer I, Milkovic J, Štepánek P, Zahradnícek P, Kilar P, Limanowka D et al (2015) Climate of the Carpathian Region in the period 1961-2010: climatology and trends of 10 variables. Int J Climatol 35:1322–1341. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4059
Szalai S, Auer I, Hiebl J, Milkovich J, Radim T, Stepanek P, Zahradnicek P, Bihari Z, Lakatos M, Szentimrey T, Limanowka D, Kilar P, Cheval S, Deak Gy, Mihic D, Antolovic I, Mihajlovic V, Nejedlik P, Stastny P, Mikulova K, Nabyvanets I, Skyryk O, Krakovskaya S,Vogt J, Antofie T, Spinoni J (2013) Climate of the greater carpathian Region. Final Technical Report. Available at: www.carpatclim-eu.org. Accessed June 2018
Theofilatos A, Yannis G (2014) A review of the effect of traffic and weather characteristics on roadsafety. Accid Anal Prev 72:244–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2014.06.017
Tošić I, Gavrilov BM, Marković BS, Ruman A, Putniković S (2017) Seasonal prevailing surface winds in Northern Serbia. Theor Appl Climatol 131(3-4):1273–1284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-017-2044-6
Tsapakis I, Cheng T, Bolbol A (2013) Impact of weather conditions on macroscopic urban travel times. J Transp Geogr 28:204–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2012.11.003
Ulak MB, Ozguven EE, Spainhour L, Vanli OA (2017) Spatial investigation of aging-involved chrashes: a GIS-based case study in Northwest Florida. J Transp Geogr 58:71–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.11.011
Unkašević M, Mališic J, TošićI. (1990) Some aspects of the wind ‘Koshava’ in the lowertroposphere over Belgrade. Meteorol Appl 6:69–80. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1350482799000997
Vlatković S (1981) Determining the optimal forest cover of SAP Vojvodina in order to protect and improve the environment, PhD. Šumarski fakultet, Univerzitet u Beogradu, Beograd (In Serbian)
Wang D, Cheng T (2001) A spatio-temporal data model for activity-based transport demand modelling. Int J Geogr Inf Sci 15(6):561–585. https://doi.org/10.1080/13658810110046934
Wang T, Qu Z, Yang Z, Nichol T, Clarke G, Ge Y-E (2020) Climate change research on transportation systems: Climate risks, adaptation and planning. Transp Res Part D: Transp Environ 88:102553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2020.102553
Wieringa J (1986) Roughness-dependent geographical interpolation of surface wind speed averages. Q J R Meteorol Soc 112(473):867–889. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49711247316
Wight B, Straight R (2015) Windbreaks. In: Gold M, Cernusca M, Hall M (eds) Training Manual for Applied Agroforestry Practices. University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, Columbia, pp 92–114
Yang Z, Yongqian L, Chengrong L (2011) Interpolation of missing wind data based on ANFIS. Renew Energy 36(3):993–998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2010.08.033
Zarić M (2014) Storm and hurricane gust of košava wind - blizzards and snowstorms in the northern and northeastern parts of Serbia. RHMZ Srbije, Beograd (In Serbian)
Ziakopoulos A, Yannis G (2020) A review of spatial approaches in road safety. Accid Anal Prev 135:105323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2019.105323
Low acts:
Law on Roads in Serbia („Official Gazette RS” no. 41/2018, 95/2018) (In Serbian)
Road Traffic Injury Prevention 64/255. Improving global road safety, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly (A/RES/64/255), http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/road_traffic/UN_GA_resolution-54-255-en.pdf
Spatial plan of the infrastructure corridor area of the E75 Subotica-Belgrade (Batajnica) highway („Official Gazette RS” no. 69/03, 143/14) (In Serbian)
Strategy on road safety in Republic of Serbia for the period 2015-2020 („Official Gazette RS” no. 64/2015) (In Serbian)
Internet sources:
⦋1⦌ QF-A-011 Republic of Serbia Republic Hydrometeorological Institute, retrieved from: http://www.hidmet.gov.rs/podaci/operativni_bilteni/Operativni_bilten_23112017.pdf, date 25.11.2017. (In Serbian)
⦋2⦌ RTS (2014) Snow drama near Feketić. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/125/drustvo/1510166/snezna-drama-u-vojvodini-angazovana-i-vojska.html (In Serbian)
Funding
This research is a result of PhD work; it is mostly self-funding project, supported by Faculty of Agriculture, Department for viticulture, fruit growing, horticulture and landscape architecture and Faculty of Science, Department for Tourism, Geography and Hotel Management.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
IS: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing – original draft, visualization, supervision; TĐ: methodology, software, writing – original draft, validation, visualization; JĐ: conceptualization, methodology, writing –original draft, supervision; ML: investigation, writing – review & editing; JČ: investigation, writing – review & editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
We declare that this research paper has been composed solely by ourselves and that it has not been submitted, in whole or in part, in any other journals. Except where states otherwise by reference or acknowledgment, the work presented is entirely by our own.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The paper does not include work on animals and humans, and it is not subject to ethics board approvals. Consent to participate is not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sentić, I., Đorđević, T., Đorđević, J. et al. Understanding the influence of climate elements on traffic: the wind impact approach. Theor Appl Climatol 149, 661–681 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-04067-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-04067-8