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Ahern, Aoife
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Ahern, Aoife
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Ahern, Aoife
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Now showing 1 - 10 of 32
- PublicationA review of the Irish road networks infrastructure barriers to older peoples mobility: current policy and literature(Irish Transport Research Network, 2012-08-29)
; ; Over the next thirty years in Ireland, the population aged over 65 is estimated to grow considerably. The maturation of the ‘baby boom’ generation will transform the demographics of the country. In our current and future aging society, transport and mobility are key factors in facilitating active aging. In general, older people now travel more than before, have higher levels of car ownership and are more likely to continue to drive for longer. Modal shift to more sustainable modes of transport is simply not practical for older people living in areas with limited public transport. Older people, who are suffering from ailments, will tend to cease walking long before they cease driving. Maintaining mobility is crucial in later life. The lack of transport alternatives, in the short term, can be bridged by enabling older people to continue to drive safely for longer. A need exists for alternative travel modes and will become more pertinent given the increase in the number of older people who can no longer drive but will still require mobility. While older drivers have fewer reported crashes per capita in developed countries, extreme driving conditions place excessive demand on their abilities compared to younger drivers. A reason for older drivers over representation in certain types of crashes can be contributed to road design which follows standards based primarily on measures of performance of young males. By improving the road network for older people it will encourage and assist them to stay mobile for longer and improve safety for all other users. This paper identifies the deficit in the Irish road networks design and research in catering for the older driver through a review of the research literature and highway design policy and through an interrogation of collisions involving older drivers identifies the key highway design and behaviour indicators that contribute to older driver collisions in an Irish context. The issue for road safety will be whether the increase in older driver exposure is offset by the improvement in design, training and alternative travel mechanisms. Monitoring and future research of these components will be crucial to determine the success of these measures in assisting older driver’s safety and longevity on the network.171 - PublicationNational travel statistics - travel in Europe(Irish Transport Research Network, 2012-08-29)
; ; ; This paper describes work carried out under the OPTIMSIM project, which is funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. OPTIMISM will develop strategies and methodologies for optimising passenger transport systems based on comodality ICT solutions. OPTIMISM aims to provide insight into transport systems and people’s travel behaviour, in order to identify future changes in passenger travel systems that lead to more sustainable travel. In order to understand travel patterns and travel behaviour, it is important to collect data on travel patterns. As part of the OPTIMSIM project, an assessment has been carried out of existing methodologies for collecting travel data in European countries. This paper describes how different countries collect travel data and information on travel resource in their National Travel Surveys (NTS) and assesses if existing NTS can be used to make realistic comparisons between travel patterns and travel behaviour in European countries.160 - PublicationInterpreting critical thinking for engineering education - the views of employers and academics(International Network for Engineering Education and Research, 2011-08)
; ; ; Third level educators are increasingly being called on to clarify the nature of the education they provide and the contribution of their graduates to society. There is therefore considerable interest in the generic attributes of graduates (Jones 2009), and how educational institutions can describe the quality of their graduates in ways that are meaningful to a wide range of stakeholders, including employers, professional groups and policy makers (Barrie 2006). Critical thinking is considered by some to be the primary graduate attribute yet difficulties remain in arriving at precise definitions of the concept and how it is theorised for educational practice. This paper addresses this issue and offers a theoretical framework for critical thinking as it applies to engineering education. The paper will describe: a series of interviews and documentary analysis of course work and course descriptors in the university that examine the perspective of academics from various disciplines and students of critical thinking. Together these data have been used with Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory to develop a model of critical thinking. Also described are plans for a series of interviews which draws upon the views of employers in engineering regarding the employability of university graduates and the importance of critical thinking as an attribute for newly qualified engineers. A key finding is that critical thinking, rather than being a static attribute which is at the pinnacle of student attainment, is a dynamic concept which requires educators to guide their students through cycles of engagement with grounded descriptive knowledge and knowledge which is abstract and obtuse.449 - PublicationEvaluating transport equity in a post-boom & car dominant city : the case of Dublin, IrelandTransportation equity refers to the fairness with which the impacts (benefits and costs) of transport on society are distributed. Transport infrastructure can have significant equity impacts, although many of these impacts are difficult to evaluate. Costs tend to be particularly high in societies with high levels of car-dependency. In addition, certain social and socio-economic groups can be disproportionately burdened by car-dominated infrastructure and policies, for example: the unemployed; lone-parents; the mobility impaired, and children. The paper outlines and discusses the literature on transportation related equity, which is written from a variety of viewpoints and theoretical traditions. The literature review reveals a number of ways to analyse the equity of transport, but that the scope of these is often limited to impact assessment on a particular social group, or an evaluation of an individual proposed infrastructure project. As a result, the true nature and extent of transportation inequity at the large urban scale may not be fully understood. This limits the potential for area based interventions, for example, to increase the attractiveness of multi-modal transport solutions.This paper proposes a broader methodology that brings together many of the relevant variables, but in a new spatially focussed way, using GIS. Impacts and indicators used include: transport noise; pedestrian severance and casualty risk; accessibility for non-drivers; and socio-economic metrics. This provides an overview of the equity of existing transport infrastructure at the larger urban scale, and can be used to highlight areas that should be targeted for further investigation. The application of the methodology is explored through a case study of Dublin, Ireland.
348 - PublicationTransport for the elderly - what happens in rural areas?(2010-07)
; ; This paper describes work being carried out in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland to examine the transport needs of older people in rural areas both north and south of the border. The project commenced in July 2009 and will be completed in July 2010. Therefore, at the time of writing of this paper the project is still on-going. This paper is structured as follows. The first section sets out a literature review of research into the transport needs of older people. The paper will then go on to describe the current situation regarding transport for older people in rural areas in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland and will set out some of the policies and projects that are currently in place to provide transport for older people in rural areas. The paper will also contrast the situation in the 2 countries and will set out what improvements and changes to policy are needed to bring about an improvement in the status of transport for older people in Ireland. Finally, the paper describes the project objectives, methodology and the focus groups that are currently taking place in Ireland and Northern Ireland to examine the transport needs of older people in rural areas.411 - PublicationTransport for older people in rural areas(CARDI (Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland), 2010-12-10)
; This report describes a project that examined the transport needs of older people living in rural areas in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. The project had several important objectives: To review current international research into the transport needs of older people, in particular in rural areas. To look at rural transport policy in NI and ROI, and to assess the impacts of that policy on older people in rural areas. To find out about the travel patterns of older people in rural NI and ROI (What modes do they use? What types of trips are they making?) To find out about the problems and difficulties faced by older people in rural Ireland (What trips can they not make? What modes are difficult to access?)519 - PublicationEncouraging sustainable commuting behaviour through smart policy provision: a stated preference mode-choice experiment in the Greater Dublin Area(Irish Transport Research Network, 2017-08-29)
; ; This paper explores the results of a stated preference (SP) experiment used to test the impact of policy incentives on commuting modal choice in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA). As a method of encouraging 'car-shedding' behaviour, various policy tools that improve the time, cost and convenience trip attributes of carpooling and car-sharing are examined. These measures are assessed in the literature as an empirical strategy of influencing a shift from single occupancy vehicle (SOV) use to more sustainable usage of the private car, such as carpooling and car-sharing. The SP experiment acts as an effective policy appraisal tool by analysing the behavioural responses to hypothetical choice scenarios and identifying the impact of policy incentives on modal share and choice probabilities. As a result of the analysis presented in this paper, an indication of the potential levels of 'car-shedding' in the GDA is determined. The discrete choice multinomial logit (MNL) findings suggested that a reduction in the modal share of SOVs of up to 8% could be realised given the policy implementation recommended. In addition to this, a 1% change in the time, cost and convenience attributes dictated an increase of up to 0.34% in the probability of carpooling and car-sharing being chosen. This paper provides weight to the argument that additional funding assigned to policy incentives alone is an effective strategy in reducing the number of commuters driving alone to work or education.172 - PublicationExamining Smarter Travel Options to Reduce EmissionsThis deliverable explores a strategy to encourage a realistic modal shift from the private car to sustainable travel modes such as walking, cycling, bus, rail and smarter modes like carpooling and car-sharing in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA). This research is a large component of the work that has been conducted as part of the Greening Transport project. It examines the responsiveness of a sample to a range of policy measures aiming to incentivise sustainable commuting practices to work and education in the GDA. By means of a stated preference (SP) experiment, a selection of policies was tested in various hypothetical scenarios in order to gauge their response in terms of travel behaviour change, ultimately quantified by analysing the potential modal shift. This technical report will assess relevant literature on this subject and delineate the experimental design, survey creation process and most importantly delve into the discrete-choice modelling results and analysis of this study. Motivation for this work was taken from comparable experiments from leading researchers in the field of SP and discrete-choice modelling. However, an approach such as this has to date not been conducted in the context of Ireland. This presents an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the behavioural outcomes of implementing various sustainable transport policy incentives from which a modal shift can be achieved in Ireland. The aims of this research are in line with those set-out by the Greening Transport project that is leading this work - exploring ways of promoting smarter travel options as a means of attaining emissions savings and mitigating the associated causes of climate change such as air pollution, burning of fossil fuels and noise pollution in urban areas. However, one of the principal goals of this study is to incentivise "car shedding" behaviour, i.e. promoting a reduction in car usage by making alternative and sustainable travel modes more practical and competitive in terms of time and cost amongst other attributes, in addition to being equally or more convenient modes than driving a car alone. A SP survey instrument was implemented to gather responses to a range of hypothetical scenarios, in addition to other revealed preference (current travel activity), attitudinal and socio-demographic questions to generate various types of data for analysis. The main SP component of the survey was utilised to determine the variables of statistical significance that increase or decrease the utility of the modes and predict or forecast behavioural responses and implications, in the form of direct and cross elasticities and "what if" simulations, to various policy instruments ("carrots") included in the stated choice scenario.
240 - PublicationDeprivation and access to work in Dublin city: The impact of transport disadvantageIreland's economy underwent a period of rapid expansion between 1995 and 2007, accompanied by a boom in construction. The subsequent decade saw a rapid decline in construction as Ireland went through an unprecedented recession. This paper examines how this boom and bust has influenced deprivation and accessibility in Dublin. The paper examines, through a logit model, links between transport disadvantage, deprivation and employment accessibility in the city. The paper concludes that links exist between deprivation and accessibility in the city, in particular in the newer peripheral suburbs, leaving these areas open to risk of transport poverty.
255Scopus© Citations 7 - PublicationAre psycho-social factors important in shaping non-work travel patterns in the Greater Dublin Region?Non-work travel behaviour has received considerably less attention than commuting from policy makers, transport service providers and planning agencies. Non-work journeys comprise a considerable portion of daily travel and while often discretionary in nature these trips also reflect wider activity participation choices and lifestyle choices with respect to both people's residential preferences and travel behaviour preferences. While land use transport characteristics are a key determinant of travel behaviour patterns for non-work journeys, other psycho-social and attitudinal factors also influence both the frequency and mode of non-work trips. A better understanding of non-work journey patterns is needed to ensure that effective transport policies are developed; that service provision is tailored to meet current and future demands and such that sustainable transport goals can be met. In international policy debates achieving more sustainable transport patterns involves a move away from prevalent car dependency. The paper presents research results from data collected through a postal household survey covering households across the various typologies of urban settlement in the Dublin Region. The results are based on 1298 completed surveys which represented a 21% response rate across the region. The methodology includes a novel approach whereby 6 typologies of land use-transport characteristics were defined using residential density, proximity to transport services mediated by service frequency and proximity to retail services. The population was stratified according to the typologies and households were then randomly selected from each typology. The paper presents the results of both descriptive and inferential statistics exploring the determinants of non-work journey purposes. This supports previously advanced conceptual models for example by Van Acker, which seeks to capture the relationships between daily travel behaviour and spatial, socio-economic and sociopsychological characteristics [1] and Naess (page 29) [2] who considers a behavioural model with assumed links between urban structural, individual and social conditions, accessibility to facilities, rationales for activity participation and location of activities and total travelling distance. Both suggest that subjective, habitual and lifestyle influences are important in influencing travel behaviour. Findings suggest that strategies to increase sustainable transport use need to consider both land use transport dimensions as well as focusing on specific user groups due to their differing attitudes and influences, to be effective in bringing about travel behaviour change.
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