MEASURING ACCESSIBILITY AND ACCIDENT RISK IN MELBOURNE METROPOLITAN AREA

Speaker: Sara Moridpour, RMIT Seminar Date: Tuesday July 11 12:00pm Brief abstract: Converting routine motorised travels to public transport trips, walking, and cycling as well as reducing the number of traffic accidents have been suggested as the main solutions to improve the sustainability of transportation systems. The importance of physical activity and its impacts on health has not only attracted the attention of practitioners, but it has also turned planners and policy makers towards achieving more sustainable transportation through promoting active travel. To identify effective strategies for increasing trips by public transport, and pedestrian and bicycle transportation in local areas, planners need to identify how current levels of accessibility in neighbourhoods affect public transport, walking and cycling trips. This presentation describes new approaches for measuring public transport access as well as cycling and walking accessibility against land use features. Enhancing traffic safety is another important factor in achieving more sustainable transportation. In order to develop effective and targeted safety programs, the influence of socio-economic characteristics, land use features, and spatial and temporal specifications on traffic accidents should be evaluated. The influence of these factors on different crash types is explained and methods to identify the hotspots and hot-times for crashes are presented. Short Bio: Sara Moridpour holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering, Masters in Transportation Planning and Engineering and PhD degree in Traffic Engineering. She has 12 years of work and research experience in the field of traffic and transport. Sara has been working at RMIT University since 2010. She has more than 90 publications and received 8 national and international scientific awards in Traffic and Transportation Engineering.