Are some urban settings riskier for traffic injury or death? We know less than you think

How risky is travel in the US? It gets tricky. Despite a lot of research on the dangers of traffic injury and death, there's a lack of clarity on the role of the built environment (roadway designs and adjoining development) and its risk effects. Before we can know how risky a given built environment is, we have to know how many people are traveling there, and in many cases, for pedestrians and cyclists, this data is not available.

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Volleyball: The secret to sneaky float serves

A team of researchers performed wind tunnel experiments to determine the role of asymmetry caused by the orientation of a volleyball on its aerodynamic characteristics. They found that switching from the standard panel arrangement to a hexagonal or dimpled pattern may improve the consistency of flight, with many potential applications in aviation.

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System can minimize damage when self-driving vehicles crash

Engineers have developed decision-making and motion-planning technology to limit injuries and damage when self-driving vehicles are involved in unavoidable crashes. After recognizing that a collision of some kind is inevitable, the system works by analyzing all available options and choosing the course of action with the least serious outcome.

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Illegal urban off-road vehicles as risky as motorcycles in cities

People who illegally ride off-road vehicles, such as dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles, on city streets suffer similar crash injuries as motorcyclists, but are less likely to die even though many riders don't wear helmets, according to new research.

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Future intent: Would you let an automated car do the driving?

Researchers have surveyed more than 2000 drivers across Australia, France and Sweden for two separate studies investigating what people think about travelling in automated cars. The first international study found French drivers were more likely to one day buy an automated car than drivers in Australia or Sweden. The second study surveyed local Queensland drivers and identified what they saw as the pros and cons of letting a car drive itself.

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