Projects that are focused on professional and research work in order to better determine the current state of a particular traffic situation and, based on that, propose solutions to improve the safety of life and health of traffic users. Such solutions are the basis for decision-making by relevant traffic planners, but also for organizing educational and preventive actions.

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Professional driver

A survey of knowledge of traffic regulations and signs at the intersections of road and rail infrastructure. The survey was conducted on 100 professional drivers, i.e. bus, truck and train drivers. The survey questions are grouped into five areas: general information and the four basic areas of the safety.guru INSTITUTE: traffic, safety, psychology and culture.

The survey included only one woman, who was a train driver, which shows us that this is a profession that is mostly chosen by men. The average age of road vehicle drivers is 50 years, and that of train drivers is 39 years. They have education and experience, but not at an enviable level.

They equally participate and have experience in domestic and international traffic, and transport both people and goods according to certain given specifics.

In the field of culture and education, it is interesting to emphasize that there is reciprocity between participation in land transport and regular teaching. Although road transport covers 80% of land transport, when it comes to education, only 27.4% of professional road drivers receive regular training, and as many as 94.1% of train drivers. Both agree that 50% of road drivers and 90% of pedestrians have an unsatisfactory traffic culture and that investment in education is necessary. From the field of psychology, it is evident that the work of professional drivers is stressful and partly affects their health. From the field of traffic and safety, it is important to highlight some innovative recommendations such as video surveillance at railway crossings for train drivers or horizontal signalling and warnings about approaching railway crossings in navigation devices for road drivers. There are also recommendations for installing classic road traffic lights when approaching railway crossings, as well as changes to the rules when crossing a road with an industrial track and with a track on which railway traffic has been interrupted.

Basic assumptions of professional drivers, according to the 4 basic categories of the Institute:

Traffic: a professional driver is someone who is adequately trained and paid to transport people and goods.

Safety: a professional driver is someone who is responsible for their actions in traffic in a safe manner so as not to endanger themselves and other traffic participants.

Psychology: a professional driver is someone who thinks about safe actions in traffic.

Culture: a professional driver is someone who understands, accepts and acts in traffic according to traffic rules and regulations. Driver has love, empathy, tolerance and patience for all traffic participants.

In a world where information is currency and knowledge is the most precious commodity, investing in education is an imperative for society. Lifelong learning is the most powerful weapon, a necessity and the only right choice for every individual traffic user.

These results were presented at the 11th ILCAD conference, and will also be included as part of the professional paper for the upcoming CSR conference.

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Trespassing Vrapče

People have made trespassing over the railway for a variety of reasons. During 2019, we toured the railway from Podsused station to Sesvete station and identified over 30 trespassings or irregular crossings over the railway. One such crossing is at the Vrapčak stream, identified by the train driver as the riskiest crossing on that section of the railway. In 90 minutes of monitoring the events at the wild Vrapčak crossing, it is possible to conclude that every two minutes 7 people cross the railway, for every 15 people who cross the railway, one person passes through the underpass, and every 3 minutes a train passes. In addition to the danger of crossing the railway, there are additional aggravating factors. Over 10% of them carry a bicycle across the railway, and one man also had a child seat. Over 13% of people use either a mobile phone or headphones while crossing the railway, and some even have hoods. Almost 9% of people carry extra bags when crossing the railway.

Due to all of the above, a preventive educational campaign was organized at the trespassing along the Vrapčak stream, for which SG.I received the Croatian Great Safety Award for 2019. Participants at the ILCAD conference and the CSR conference were informed about this project, and the entire public and all interested professional organizations were informed through the media.

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SCPT Matrix – Safety, Culture, Psychology and Traffic

Railway companies invest significant resources in creating technical conditions for traffic. Special attention is paid to the high level of expertise and conscientiousness of railway workers. All this leads to the fact that the behaviour of other people, i.e. people who are not directly involved in railway traffic, is the cause of over 90% of emergency events. These facts require railway companies to consider the broader context of traffic safety. This is one of the fundamental directions of SG.I. It is no longer enough to statistically add up the number of traffic casualties and protect themselves from liability. Socially responsible transport companies are engaged in recognizing the behaviour of people in traffic and place people at the centre of the transport system.

Experts in the field of psychology are increasingly involved in considering the broader context of traffic safety and seeking solutions to the listed causes of emergency events. Traffic and psychology must increasingly go hand in hand. To this end, a matrix has been created that encompasses the areas of safety, culture, traffic and psychology. For each area, the basic elements to be monitored were first determined, and then these elements were weighted according to importance. The functionality of the matrix was tested by teams of students at the Libertas International University and the Polytechnic of Hrvatsko Zagorje Krapina. The analysis of the matrix application was carried out in order to assess the condition of a specific observed area where road and rail (rail) traffic intersect, raise awareness of traffic hazards, and encourage students to think systematically. The tests were carried out at specific locations where road and rail (rail) traffic meet. In addition to the Matrix results for individual locations, students provided their comments and suggestions on the content itself.

The SCPT Matrix was presented at the CSR conference.

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Industrial tracks

Railway level crossings are particularly important areas for traffic safety. They are “black holes” in rail and road traffic. The number of fatalities and injuries at level crossings (LC) exceeds 30% of the total number of serious accidents in rail traffic. In order to minimize the gaps within the railway system, technical and technological solutions for devices at level crossings have been brought to a high level of safety, including certification.

There is one part of road crossings over railways that has not received as much attention and activity. Such actions are not carried out at road crossings over industrial tracks. There are certain differences at these crossings. Most notably in terms of priority for crossings over road and industrial tracks. According to the existing rules, both shunting trains and road vehicles must stop when arriving at such crossings.

Drivers of road vehicles commit violations by not stopping on industrial tracks because they know from previous experience that shunting trains stop before reaching the road. These violations pose a lower risk in terms of endangering their own lives and health. However, drivers seriously violate road traffic safety rules that are not monitored by the police, which lead to the formation of bad habits among drivers. When bad habits from crossing industrial tracks continue at railway crossings, the danger increases significantly.

In addition to violations of regulations by road vehicle drivers, every unnecessary stop in front of an industrial track increases the costs of road drivers, disrupts the quality of traffic flow and negatively affects the environment. In order to determine the behaviour of road vehicles at crossing industrial tracks, a study was conducted at three road crossings over an industrial plant at the Podsused Tvornica station. Similar experiences have been made in other European Union countries, and finding a systematic solution for road crossings over industrial tracks could have broader positive socially responsible effects.

During 2020, the current state of all road intersections with industrial tracks and industrial plants in the area of ​​the city of Zagreb was recorded. The results of the survey and the identified irregularities were presented to all interested participants at a roundtable discussion.

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Botanical Garden

Over the past hundred years, the city of Zagreb has grown and developed rapidly. Both in terms of population and area. This can be seen from the location of the railway line from Zaprešić, via Zagreb Main Station (Zagreb GK) to Sesvete. During construction, this line passed through the outskirts of the city. For example, the Technical Museum used to be a tram depot, and the Student Centre in Savska was a fairground with the famous French Pavilion. Factories such as Pliva, Franck, Zvijezda, Nada Dimić, and Kraša also sprang up along this line. Zagreb Main Station is thus positioned next to the Botanical Garden and King Tomislav Square. Today, Zagreb GK is located in the very heart of the city, and the line has become an obstacle between the city centre and the newer part of the city built south of the Sava River. Such a good location of Zagreb GK attracts over 60,000 passengers a day who travel to school or work by suburban trains. When arriving at or departing from the station, passengers move to all four corners of the world. In some places, pedestrian flows are organized in a regular way, such as in the north direction: on an underpass under the railway line, through the station building and over the pedestrian crossing to the tram stop. However, there are also those where travellers have found irregular pedestrian flows. One of them leads to the west side of the city through the station area where walking is prohibited.

Along this irregular pedestrian path runs the Botanical Garden, where a shady promenade has been built with a permanent passage plan for visitors. In addition to visitors to the Botanical Garden, this promenade could become a safe and regular pedestrian flow from Zagreb Central Station to Runjaninova Street on the west side of the station. In this way, not only would the Botanical Garden be the most attractive park in the city centre, but the beauty of the greenery would become a traffic and tourist attraction for the city. The journey along the irregular path through the station area to the regular promenade through the Botanical Garden is long, and the following chapters describe in more detail Zagreb Central Station, train traffic and pedestrian flows, the Botanical Garden and the promenade, the bridge over Miramarska Road and the adrenaline park, and the possibilities of connecting activities with the aim of improving the safety of life and health of passengers. By bringing passengers closer to the Botanical Garden, the culture of living in a large city like Zagreb would improve.

A video was made about the dangers lurking along the irregular path in the Zagreb Central Station area, and a professional paper was written for Željeznice 21.

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Rijeka as a centre of historical, cultural and transport diversity and connectivity

From the aspect of railway safety, the technical level of safety and the training of railway workers are at a high level. Analyses of irregular events in railway traffic show that the majority of serious accidents are caused by other people. These are people who are not directly related to railway traffic, such as passengers or railway workers. For decades, various preventive actions have been carried out aimed at other people, such as the “Train is always faster” campaign. Occasionally, preventive actions by railway companies are related to events outside the railway system. One of such is the promotion of Rijeka as the European Capital of Culture. The European Capital of Culture is a title awarded once a year to a European city. The city of Rijeka is the “European Capital of Culture” in 2020. The title was awarded to the city of Rijeka for the “Port of Diversity” program. The city of Rijeka is a centre of historical, cultural, but also transport diversity and connectivity. Transport connectivity refers to the Port of Rijeka and the Mediterranean Corridor. This one-year event was an excellent opportunity to raise the level of safety and culture in railway transport.

Based on the above, the thesis set out in the paper is that urban, artistic intervention on railway facilities in Rijeka can be based on modern guidelines for socially responsible business and sustainable development. First of all, it was necessary to analyse the condition of railway facilities on which it is possible to carry out urban artistic intervention. These are railway bridges, railway road and pedestrian crossings, railway fences, railway tracks and other buildings. The method of observing and photographing the existing condition created a basis for synthesizing the acquired information and knowledge. The expected result of the work is the identification and implementation of preventive actions in the railway area in Rijeka and the reduction of the number of extraordinary events.

The results of the study were presented at the CSR conference.