ENN571 Transport Safety Analysis and Evaluation

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2026, Gardens Point, Internal

Overview

Road traffic crashes represent a huge burden to society, and transport agencies have committed to zero road fatalities. Road safety decision needs appropriate modelling tools and techniques for safe infrastructure design and evidence-based and effective road safety interventions.

This unit with has two modules, where the first module will introduce you to the fundamentals of transport safety analysis using crash and injury data sources, and the second module focuses on state-of-the-art safety evaluation techniques.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Examine safety evaluation functions for transport safety
2. Implement safety models for hotspot identification and injury analysis
3. Interpret client requirements for before-after evaluation of engineering treatments
4. Select a preferred model for traffic conflict analysis and safety evaluation

Content

Learning Approaches

In this unit, you can expect to experience the following activities:

• Lectures – 2 hours per week
• Tutorials– 1 hours per week

You will undertake problem-based learning tasks in groups, emphasizing your ability to work as a team and your ability to communicate professionally.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

During tutorial classes, with your group you will share your formative ideas for your project, and you will receive feedback from teaching team. You are encouraged to view your group as a learning community and to share and discuss emergent ideas in the transport safety analysis and your understandings of transport safety professional practice. Each assessment submission will be graded against criteria and standards that will be shared with you at the beginning of semester through Assessment Task Descriptions and Marking Rubrics. Marked assessment will include feedback given by the markers against the criteria.

Assessment

Overview

Assessment in this unit has been designed to give you the opportunity to show your learning against the unit learning outcomes. You will work to prepare and submit two assessments related to transport safety analysis and evaluation during the semester. You will be expected to work independently for the assessments. You will make an engineering presentation individually during the central examination period at the end of semester, where you will show your overall learning in the unit. 

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Hotspot Identification Report

This project is for an individual student. You have been provided a dataset of a highway section having 624 Segments (variable lengths). Your task is to estimate a safety performance function establishing the relationship between crashes and road traffic factors and conduct identification of blackspots.

Each student needs to generate two columns to complete the dataset. You are required to run an R script that will require your student number to generate LnAADT and AADT.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions

The ethical and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is authorised in this assessment. See the relevant assessment details in Canvas for specific guidelines.

Assessment: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis

This project is for an individual student. You have been provided the traffic conflict data of three signalised intersections collected in 2019 at a 15-minutes block level. All intersections were recorded for 24 hours. In this data, the rear-end conflicts were extracted using a Time to Collision threshold of 3 seconds. There have been 29 rear-end crashes combined for all three intersections during the last 5 years.

Your task is to estimate the rear-end crash risk using Extreme Value Theory models, compute the expected crash frequencies and its confidence intervals, and validate these estimates with observed crashes and their confidence intervals.

Each student must generate customised NegTTC_values to complete the dataset. You are required to run an R script that will require your student number to generate NegTTC_values.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions

The ethical and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is authorised in this assessment. See the relevant assessment details in Canvas for specific guidelines.

Assessment: Engineering presentation

You will be required to formally and professionally present your solution to the engineering problem to the teaching team. Your presentation should include the proposed solution, scope assumptions, limitation and future work. It should demonstrate your understanding to the problem. More details will be available in Canvas site.

The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.

The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Risk Assessment Statement

Risks may be associated with you visiting study areas and/or project sites. You are required to have completed a valid Workplace Health and Safety course. You shall not enter project sites without the Unit Coordinator's approval. You shall not to contact members of the public, public officers or staff associated with any project without permission of the Unit Coordinator. More detailed information will be provided in your Week 1 information class.

Course Learning Outcomes

EN51 Master of Sustainable Infrastructure

1. Demonstrate and apply advanced and specialist discipline knowledge, concepts and practices as they relate to contemporary practice in Sustainable Infrastructure
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
2. Analyse and evaluate Sustainable Infrastructure problems using technical approaches informed by contemporary practice and leading edge research to achieve innovative, critically informed solutions 
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report
3. Apply innovative, systematic approaches to plan, design, deliver and manage projects in Sustainable Infrastructure in a way that assures sustainable outcomes over their whole lifecycle
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
4. Effectively communicate Sustainable Infrastructure problems, related complex data and information, and solutions in contemporary professional formats for diverse purposes and audiences
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation
5. Demonstrate ethically and socially responsible practice, recognising the importance of personal accountability and reflective practice when working in individual and collaborative modes
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation

EN56 Master of Engineering Technology

1. Demonstrate and apply advanced and specialist discipline knowledge, concepts and practices as they relate to contemporary practice in Engineering Technology
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
2. Analyse and evaluate Engineering Technology problems using technical approaches informed by contemporary practice and leading edge research to achieve innovative, critically informed solutions
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report
3. Apply innovative, systematic approaches to plan, design, deliver and manage projects in Engineering Technology in a way that assures sustainable outcomes over their whole lifecycle
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
4. Effectively communicate Engineering Technology problems, related complex data and information, and solutions in contemporary professional formats for diverse purposes and audiences
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation
5. Demonstrate ethically and socially responsible practice, recognising the importance of personal accountability and reflective practice when working in individual and collaborative modes
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation

EN61 Graduate Certificate in Smart Transport and Mobility

1. Demonstrate and apply advanced discipline knowledge, concepts and practices as they relate to contemporary practice in Smart Transport & Mobility
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
2. Analyse and evaluate Smart Transport & Mobility problems using technical approaches informed by contemporary practice to achieve innovative, critically informed solutions
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report
3. Apply innovative, systematic approaches to plan, design, deliver and manage projects in Smart Transport & Mobility in a way that assures sustainable outcomes over their whole lifecycle
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
4. Effectively communicate Smart Transport & Mobility problems, related complex data and information, and solutions in contemporary professional formats for diverse purposes and audiences
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation
5. Demonstrate ethically and socially responsible practice, recognising the importance of personal accountability and reflective practice when working in individual and collaborative modes
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation

EN71 Master of Sustainable Infrastructure with Project Management

1. Demonstrate and apply advanced and specialist discipline knowledge, concepts, methods and practices as they relate to contemporary practice in Sustainable Infrastructure and Project Management domains
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
2. Analyse and evaluate problems in Sustainable Infrastructure and Project Management domains using technical approaches informed by contemporary practice and leading-edge research to achieve evidence based, innovative, critically informed solutions and outcomes
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report
3. Apply innovative, systematic approaches to plan, design, deliver and manage projects in Sustainable Infrastructure and Project Management domains in a way that assures sustainable outcomes and strategic objectives over their whole lifecycle
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
4. Effectively communicate problems in Sustainable Infrastructure and Project Management domains, related complex data and information, and solutions in contemporary professional formats for diverse purposes and audiences
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation
5. Demonstrate ethically and socially responsible practice, recognising the importance of personal accountability, reflective practice, risk-informed judgements, and leadership
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation

EN75 Master of Sustainable Infrastructure with Data Analytics

1. Demonstrate and apply advanced and specialist discipline knowledge, concepts, methods and practices as they relate to contemporary practice in Sustainable Infrastructure and Data Analytics domains
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
2. Analyse and evaluate problems in Sustainable Infrastructure and Data Analytics domains using technical approaches informed by contemporary practice and leading-edge research to achieve evidence based, innovative, critically informed solutions and outcomes
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report
3. Apply innovative, systematic approaches to plan, design, deliver and manage projects in Sustainable Infrastructure and Data Analytics domains in a way that assures sustainable outcomes and strategic objectives over their whole lifecycle
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
4. Effectively communicate problems in Sustainable Infrastructure and Data Analytics domains, related complex data and information, and solutions in contemporary professional formats for diverse purposes and audiences
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation
5. Demonstrate ethically and socially responsible practice, recognising the importance of personal accountability, reflective practice, risk-informed judgements, and leadership
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation

EN79 Graduate Diploma in Engineering Studies

1. Demonstrate and apply advanced discipline knowledge, concepts and practices as they relate to contemporary Engineering practice
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
2. Analyse and evaluate Engineering problems using technical approaches informed by contemporary practice and leading edge research to achieve innovative, critically informed solutions
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report
3. Apply innovative, systematic approaches to plan, design, deliver and manage Engineering projects in a way that assures sustainable outcomes over their whole lifecycle
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis
4. Effectively communicate Engineering problems, related complex data and information, and solutions in contemporary professional formats for diverse purposes and audiences
   Relates to: Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation
5. Demonstrate ethically and socially responsible practice, recognising the importance of personal accountability and reflective practice when working in individual and collaborative modes
   Relates to: Hotspot Identification Report, Traffic conflict-based safety analysis, Engineering presentation