No abstract

In recent decades, large sections of trail paths throughout Greece have been maintained, revived, and marked, creating a wide network with a total length of approximately 3500 km. The trail paths are one of the main levers of tourism development as they contribute to the preservation, protection, and promotion of the countryside, cultural heritage, and tradition, to the more effective protection and management of areas of exceptional natural beauty and sensitive ecosystems with wildlife. This paper investigates the view of the citizens of the regional unit of Evros, Greece, on the contribution of the trail paths to the protection and promotion of the cultural and natural environment. The research was conducted with the use of a structured questionnaire and through personal interviews. The data were collected and analyzed with the use of descriptive statistical methods as well as multivariate analysis techniques. The results of the research show that the attitudes of citizens to the contribution of paths in the protection and promotion of the cultural and natural environment are directly or indirectly influenced by various factors. In particular, age directly affects the view of citizens towards the trail paths, with the younger ones having more positive views. Other important predictors of citizens’ views were the type of activity in the trail path, with citizens using them for leisure activities or using the easy roots having more positive views towards them.

No abstract

Objective The present paper focuses on the investigation of motorcycle riders' behavior at curved road sections by introducing a new methodology based on global positioning system (GPS) technology. In the frame of the research, the determination of the optimum regression curve between the curve radius' and the corresponding velocities, was investigated. Design Within the context of the paper field measurements were conducted, with the use of appropriate velocity recording equipment in order to confirm the efficiency of the proposed methodology. The measurements were conducted taking into account various factors that potentially influence riders' behavior such as the different light conditions, the difference on riding experience level, the familiarity of the riders with the routes, the presence of pillion and the different road environments, such as width/condition of the road pavement, roadside land use, right/left hand curves etc. Setting The experimental environment that served the needs of the experiment was mountain Pelion in Magnesia region in Greece and was based upon four primary conditions: the location, the type of the road, the weather conditions and finally, the time and date that the experiment would be conducted. Participants The validation of the proposed methodology was performed by recruiting two motorcyclists. Their selection was based on demographic, psychometric and experience criteria.Results The research showed among others, that the regression curves could be used as a curve classification mean. Moreover, a significant variation was detected on the riders' behavior when carrying a pillion related to their experience levels.

The determination of the geometric vehicle movement is significant for the appropriate design of a road element, such as an intersection or a parking lot, because it ensures safe, smooth and without abrupt changes movements especially for heavy vehicles. Consequently, the accurate and correct swept path analysis of the vehicles determines the geometry of the horizontal alignment. Also, the selection of the design vehicle is a factor that affects the geometric characteristics of the analysis. The AASHTO Green Book presents the minimum turning paths, the maximum steering angle and the minimum centerline turning radius (CTR) for typical design vehicles. In order to simplify the geometrical problem of swept path analysis, the speed in sharp curve road is considered to be low and more specifically less than 15 km/h. However, this condition does not represent the actual vehicle movement, gap that the present paper aims to bridge by performing swept path analysis for increased travel speeds. There are only few cases, especially along urban road network that the lateral force applied on the vehicles that traverse horizontal transition curves are neglected due to low travel speed. On the contrary, in other road projects the transition curve is an integral design element and have advantages in geometric regularity of heavy vehicles movement because of their steering mechanism. Based on the literature review, in this study the design vehicles paths which are considered as clothoid shapes are correlated with their corresponding travel speeds. The implemented methodology considers various design vehicles which travel in various speeds, performing U-Turns.