Safety of users in road evacuation: modelling and DSS for paths design of emergency vehicles

Abstract

This paper deals with path design for emergency vehicles (ambulances) in emergency conditions (hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.) to rescue weak users (the elderly, disabled persons, etc.). The problem of an emergency vehicle that has to pick up weak users at fixed points of the network and to take them to the refuge area is schematized with two different approaches: one-to-one and many-to-one. The first regards the minimization of generalized cost of a path that connects an origin to a destination (as a shortest-path problem); the second considers the connection of one origin to many destinations (as a vehicle routing problem). Starting from a brief review of both these problems, the available tools for planning evacuation of weak users in emergency condition in the within of oneto-one and many-to-one are analysed. Finally, on the basis of a real simulation of evacuation, we provide experimental results obtained by testing the effectiveness of a commercial tool when little time is available for planning evacuation operations.

The role of demand models in evacuation

“…A model simulating path choice for emergency vehicles was proposed by Vitetta et al [44][45][46]. In these papers procedures to be planned and activated in emergencies in order to allow the evacuation of less able users and designs the optimal path for emergency vehicles are proposed.…”

An approach to designing vehicle routes in evacuation conditions

“…Considering the path design for emergency vehicles, in [9] a model is reported to define a cost function that allows one to calculate the link (path) costs and then the best routes; in [17] some algorithms to find the shortest paths and to optimize the vehicle routes are reported; in [18] some tools to find the shortest paths and to optimize the vehicle routes are analyzed; in [19] a method to trace the emergency vehicles is reported.…”

Within-day traffic assignment and signal setting in road evacuation: a procedure with explicit path enumeration

“…The general objective is risk reduction in urban areas in terms of exposure [1]. Specifi c research lines concern travel demand models [2][3][4], planning processes and guidelines [5][6][7], route design for emergency vehicles [8][9][10], transport supply and travel demand-supply interaction [11].…”

“…The general objective is risk reduction in urban areas in terms of exposure [1]. Specifi c research lines concern travel demand models [2][3][4], planning processes and guidelines [5][6][7], route design for emergency vehicles [8][9][10], transport supply and travel demand-supply interaction [11].In the sphere of the last research line, we developed a framework for signal setting design of road intersections with endogenous estimation of path fl ows [12]. The framework has two main components: (i) an optimization procedure for signal setting design [13] and (ii) a within-day simulation procedure to capture the effects of signal setting modifi cation on path choice behaviour presented in this paper.…”