Research into weather impact on transport

Finland's VTT Technical Research Centre is heading a research project into the harmful impact of weather phenomena on transport in the EU. The EWENT project will set a precedent as no previous studies have been conducted on this scale. It will investigate evidence that heavy rainfall in particular impacts on European transport as with climate change, the occurrence of extreme weather is expected to increase. Weather is a major factor in traffic flow and safety as sudden storms and flash floods can paralyse
May 17, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Finland’s 814 VTT Technical Research Centre is heading a research project into the harmful impact of weather phenomena on transport in the EU.

The EWENT project will set a precedent as no previous studies have been conducted on this scale. It will investigate evidence that heavy rainfall in particular impacts on European transport as with climate change, the occurrence of extreme weather is expected to increase. Weather is a major factor in traffic flow and safety as sudden storms and flash floods can paralyse an entire transport system and cause serious financial and human losses.

More information on these phenomena and their impacts is needed in order to minimise or prevent damage caused. The international research project Extreme Weather Impacts on European Networks of Transport (EWENT) headed by VTT is exploring the impacts of extreme weather phenomena on various forms of transport. The aim is to determine which weather phenomena are the most harmful for transport and what the costs of their impacts might be in the EU.

The research is focusing on atmospheric phenomena, which are more severe than normal and which may pose a danger to traffic and transportation in particular.

For more information on companies in this article

VTT

Related Content

  • LRC evaluates headlight systems to improve night driving
    June 26, 2015
    Through its Transportation Lighting and Safety program, the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is evaluating the potential for new lighting technologies and approaches to improve driving safety at night, including new car headlight systems. For the study, vehicle manufacturer Audi AG has provided the LRC with an A7 equipped with adaptive high beam ‘matrix lights’ that allow drivers to benefit from using high beams all the time while selectively dimming a portion of the bea
    Read More
  • Should it be end of the road for right-turns on red?
    April 10, 2024
    Banning right-hand turns after stopping for a red light is gaining momentum in the US. But the debate continues about whether it will result in fewer incidents between vehicles and alternative mobility users. David Arminas reports
    Read More
  • Cost benefit: just $25 boosts pedestrian safety in Florida
    April 29, 2019
    A relatively straightforward change to the way that pedestrians cross the street in a Florida city has made a significant safety improvement. And what’s more, it was cheap, finds David Crawford Installing a lead pedestrian interval (LPI) system at 25 central business district signalised intersections in the Florida city of Lakeland has cut numbers of incidents involving pedestrians by some 60% - at a cost of US$25 for 30 minutes' work, according to traffic operations manager Angelo Rao.
    Read More
  • Videalert: Bath experience highlights joined-up thinking
    August 7, 2019
    Councils can achieve greater value with multi-purpose traffic enforcement and management platforms, says Tim Daniels of Videalert. But UK authorities could also help deliver solutions by committing to ‘joined up thinking’... Joined-up thinking’ used to be a commonly related governmental phrase and implied a commitment to looking at elements of a problem to deliver a holistic solution. However, the way that successive governments have addressed major issues has demonstrated their inability to achieve join
    Read More

Highlighted Content