Correlate the practical problems and factors influencing
the transportation of a company or carrier.
Ans : The success of transportation
depends upon the co-ordination between the three primary elements, namely the
vehicles, the roadways, and the road users. Their characteristics affect the
performance of the transportation system. In order to get the best we should
have good understanding about them. Salient human, vehicle, and road factors
affecting transportation are discussed below.
Road users are drivers,
passengers, and pedestrians etc. who use the haul roads. Together, they form
the most complex element of the traffic system. Human performances varies from
individual to individual It is said to be the most complex factor. We should
deal with a variety of road user characteristics. For example, a traffic signal
timed to permit an average pedestrian to cross the street safely may cause a
severe hazard to an elderly person. The elderly persons, the children, the
handicapped, the slow and speedy, and the good and bad drivers. The human
characteristics like ability to react to a situation, vision and hearing, and
other physical and psychological factors vary from person to person and depend
on age, fatigue, nature of stimuli, presence of drugs/alcohol etc... The design
considerations should safely and efficiently accommodate these factors.
The road user characteristics
can be of two main types, some of them are quantifiable like reaction time,
visual acuity etc. while some others are less quantifiable like the
psychological factors, physical strength, fatigue, and dexterity.
The essence of this
study is to examme the factors affecting effective performance of public
enterprises. Owena Mass Transport Company, Akure was chosen as a case study on
this topic. The technique used in data collection was through administration of
pretested and validated structured questionnaire on the management and staff of
OMTC and commuters. A total number of eighty (80) questionnaires were
administered. Ten (10) copies was administered to the management, thirty (30)
was administered at random to the staff of OMTC, while forty (40) questionnaires
were administered to commuter chosen at random. From the analysis and
investigation, finding revealed that poor management style, mismanagement of
resources and corruption; government and political intervention are often the
strongest factor contributing to ineffective performance of public ventures.
Finding also show that fortunes of the company is fast declining due to fund
constraint, ageing vehicle and facilities, the company could no longer raise
capital to replace in-operative buses in the fleet. The overall performance of
the company is not meeting appropriate performance indices. Consequently, for
the company to meet its goals and objectives, there is need; to overhaul the
management structure, to put in place effective control and monitoring measures
to curb mismanagement and corruption, and to ensure management orientation
towards profitability and success. Also, the need for liberized policy
framework for operation, through effective market strategy, adequate
remuneration to workers, improved service to customers is essential for
improved performance of the company
The road user is
subjected to a series of stimuli both expected and unexpected. The time taken
to perform an action according to the stimulus involves a series of stages
like:
· Perception:
Perception is the process of perceiving the sensations received through the
sense organs, nerves and brains. It is actually the recognitions that a
stimulus on which a reaction is to happen exists.
· Intellection:
Intellection involves the identification and understanding of stimuli.
· Emotion:
This stage involves the judgment of the appropriate response to be made on the
stimuli like to stop, pass, move laterally etc.
The perception-reaction
time depends greatly on the effectiveness of driver’s vision in perceiving the
objects and traffic control measures. The PIEV time will be decreased if the
vision is clear and accurate. Visual acuity relates to the field of clearest
vision. The most acute vision is within a cone of 3 to 5 degrees, fairly clear
vision within 10 to 12 degrees and the peripheral vision will be within 120 to
180 degrees. This is important when traffic signs and signals are placed...
Glare vision and color vision are also equally important. Glare vision is
greatly affected by age. Glare recovery time is the time required to recover
from the effect of glare after the light source is passed, and will be higher
for elderly persons. Color vision is important as it can come into picture in
case of sign and signal recognition.
Hearing is required for
detecting sounds, but lack of hearing acuity can be compensated by usage of
hearing aids. Lot of experiments was carried out to test the drive vigilance
which is the ability of a drive to discern environmental signs over a prolonged
period. The results showed that the drivers who did not undergo any type of
fatiguing conditions performed significantly better than those who were
subjected to fatiguing conditions. But the mental fatigue is more dangerous
than skill fatigue. The variability of attitude of drivers with respect to age,
sex, knowledge and skill in driving etc. are also important.
The weight of the
vehicle is a major consideration during the design of pavements both flexible
and rigid. The weight of the vehicle is transferred to the pavement through the
axles and so the design parameters are fixed on the basis of the number of
axles. The power to weight ratio is a measure of the ease with which a vehicle
can move. It determines the operating efficiency of vehicles on the road. The
ratio is more important for heavy vehicles. The power to weight ratio is the
major criteria which determines the length to which a positive gradient can be
permitted taking into consideration the case of heavy vehicles
The minimum turning
radius is dependent on the design and class of the vehicle. The effective width
of the vehicle is increased on a turning. This is also important at an
intersection, round about, terminals, and parking areas.
The visibility of the
driver is influenced by the vehicular dimensions. As far as forward visibility
is concerned, the dimension of the vehicle and the slope and curvature of wind
screens, windscreen wipers, door pillars, etc should be such that:
· visibility
is clear even in bad weather conditions like fog and rain;
· It
should not mask the pedestrians, cyclists or other vehicles during intersection
maneuvers.
Equally important is
the side and rear visibility when maneuvering especially at intersections when
the driver adjusts his speed in order to merge or cross a traffic stream. Rear
vision efficiency can be achieved by properly positioning the internal or
external mirrors.
A transport strategy
depends, not only on the needs within the organisation, but varies from
organisation to organisation and from situation to situation. Some factors to
consider when developing a transport strategy are:
- how to identify transport service providers;
- how to manage the function; i.e. whether to lease, outsource or manage own fleet;
- capacity of transport modes available;
- quantities requiring movement over a period of time;
- nature of goods/products/supplies to be transported;
- distances to be covered;
- environmental issues such as climate, government legislature, infrastructure, taxes etc;
- number of destinations, hubs and pre-positioning locations;
- origins and routes;
- available transport modes & their relative costs;
- human resources;
- terrain;
- funding;
- security; and
- circumstances – such as Nature of disaster.
- carrier characteristics and capacity;
- proven efficiency;
- timely delivery;
- known integrity, reputation and reliability;
- good relationships with others carriers;
- responsiveness to urgent needs of the organisation (if previously contracted);
- financial viability to cover costs of providing the service;
- adequate communication systems to facilitate tracking to the vehicle;
- assets to safeguard organisation cargo;
- ability to provide a multi-modal service, if need be; and
The above factors would
be valid for both emergency and non-emergency situations.
Criteria influencing
transport service providers
The criteria for
selection will vary from organisation to organisation. Some factors that may
influence the selection of transport service providers are:
presentation of timely
reports and correct invoices.
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