The Floow creating a new risk assessment framework to save lives on urban roads

Overview

According to the European Commission, more than 20,000 people were killed in road accidents within the EU in 2023. Of these, 38% were killed in urban areas.

Over the past few decades, mobility planning within urban areas like European cities has typically focused almost exclusively on cars. This approach often causes unnecessary congestion, creating potentially dangerous roads that put pedestrians, cyclists and mobility vehicle users at serious risk.

To combat this problem, the Predictive Approaches for Safe Urban Environments (PHOEBE) project is developing new traffic simulation and road safety assessment tools to better anticipate potential accidents and hazards. With funding from Horizon Europe, this work aims to reduce road fatalities and improve city planning.

Three pilot programmes are currently underway in the West Midlands, Athens and Valencia, where different PHOEBE project solutions and models are being tested. Telematics and IT solutions company The Floow“. The Floow is collaborating with the PHOEBE project to provide the information and data needed within the West Midlands.

Protecting and predicting urban road behaviours

As a collaborator within the pilot programme, The Floow is part of a team collecting data from over 130 sources – a significantly wider and comprehensive network than previously used – to shape future assessment models.

Six areas have been identified as essential to creating a full understanding of risk assessment: infrastructure, road traffic incidents, mobility behaviours, environment and land use, population demographics and overall public attitudes.

“Historically, models have been based on ancient records that only show where crashes typically occur,” said Sam Chapman, co-founder of The Floow.

“A lot of science has focused on that. Since the pandemic, however, evidential data suggests that travel behaviours within cities have changed, meaning these records are now less reliable.”

Throughout the PHOEBE project, 114 sub-types of data are being monitored across all six of these established areas. The team have identified more than 190 sources of data, which can be swapped and reprioritised to best suit the needs of any given region.

The PHOEBE project also aims to streamline traffic simulation, road safety assessment, human behaviour, mode shift, induced demand modelling, and emerging mobility and telematics data.

“We want to know how factors like these could influence commuter behaviour and whether this adjusts over time,” said Sam. “This, in turn, allows us to look at new scenarios. We’re building this model so that we can adapt for the future.”

The specific data being collected varies significantly across the West Midlands.

“Information is different in every place we’re targeting. What we’re trying to do is normalise it and build flexibility into the project. This means that you could deploy an approach that uses all the available data to get the best estimation of risk and apply it on a wider scale,” explained Sam

Through this work, the PHOEBE project has the opportunity to influence local policy and highlight the importance of urban road safety. This includes taking action, specifically on speed reduction and infrastructure implementations. It’s hoped that these steps will eventually contribute to the EU’s aim of halving road death numbers by 2030.

Finding new connections through Horizon Europe

The PHOEBE project will last over three years and is backed and funded by the Innovate UK’s Horizon Europe under the Climate, Energy and Mobility programme.

Sam said that The Floow’s involvement has encouraged collaborations with other European organisations and provided valuable opportunities to network. “We’re UK-based, so we know a lot of partners here and circulate with them often. With a project like this, though, you need to find new connections.”

“There are support services that have helped us to advertise what we’re looking for. You can draw upon connections of any existing partners you may have in Europe to help bring out extended lists of organisations you need.”

The resources provided by the Horizon Europe funding programme have also given The Floow’s team space to fully expand their ambitions and explore fresh ideas. “From a risk understanding perspective, the social desire to solve road safety is always going to be there,” explained Sam.

“We’ve been able to approach new ways of thinking that may derive new products, new thoughts and new activities. As a business, these are huge opportunities that shouldn’t be missed.”

About the funding

The PHOEBE project is set to run until July 2026 and is being funded by Horizon Europe with the allocated budget of €3.3m.

This project aims to provide safer urban environments are needed for all road users to ensure the European targets to halve road deaths and injuries by 2030 are met.

Call Topic: HORIZON-CL5-2022-D6-01-06 – Predictive safety assessment framework and safer urban environment for vulnerable road users

Project Coordinator: EVROPSKI INSTITUT ZA OCENJEVANJE CEST – EURORAP, Slovenia.

To find out more, visit https://https://phoebe-project.eu//.

For more information on other projects funded under Horizon Europe, visit the official Horizon Europe Hub.

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