Traditional approaches to evaluating and predicting safety issues in traffic systems are via crash records. However, considering the characteristics of scarcity, inconsistency, inaccuracy, and incompleteness of crash records, conclusions and recommendations drawn purely based on crashes have limitations. Tire skid marks are considered an indication of some safety hazards, and it could have good potential to be used as surrogates for crashes. By collecting and analyzing the data based on selected arterial and freeway segments in the Reno-Sparks area in northern Nevada, a methodology was developed to categorize different tire skid marks. Sliding window and linear regression techniques were applied to determine any correlation between tire skid marks and crashes. The analyses indicated that there was a relatively strong linear correlation between skid marks and crashes on freeway segments.

TiO2/ZnO composite thin film was prepared by sequentially spread TiO2and ZnO thin film on the ground layer by layer with sol-gel method respectively. Two different natural dyes (Hehuang safflower yellow pigment and Lycium ruthenicum Murr pigment) were used as sensitizer respectively to sensitize TiO2/ZnO thin film photoanodes and be assembled into solar cells. Dipping time of photoanodes stayed in sensitizer was investigated systematically and the results show that higher photovoltaic conversion efficiency can be obtained with extension of immersing time. The phase structure, crystallinity, morphology and optical property of photoanode were characterized based on XRD, SEM and UV-vis measurements.

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