The PhD student Lucas Vinicius Nogueira dos Reis was selected in Call No. 26/2023 – PrInt – PDSE and carried out the internship from April to September 2024. Below is the student’s report in which he shares his experience at the Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain.

“The research plan of my Sandwich PhD was to understand how the geometric characteristics of some two-way single-lane highways can influence driver behavior, especially with regard to road alignment consistency and, consequently, how this road alignment consistency can be related to some road safety indicators, such as the frequency of traffic accidents resulting in deaths and serious injuries.

Considering that the Highway Engineering Research Group at the Universitat Politècnica de València had already studied this type of relationship for highways in the Valencian Community in Spain, the objective of my exchange was to obtain theoretical and methodological benchmarks for my PhD research, comparing my research with the methodology already applied in Europe and seeking to understand the lessons learned by them.

As a highlight of what was completed: It was possible to carry out the separation of homogeneous segments of two-way single-lane highways in the state of São Paulo based on three main characteristics: 1) Traffic Volume (VDMA), 2) Major intersections (roundabouts, etc.), 3) Segments with similar CCR (Curvature Change Rate). After that, algorithms were created in Python to determine both the operational speed profile and the inertial speed profile, according to definitions from international literature. With these speed profiles, operational and inertial speed parameters were collected in order to determine some global alignment consistency indices. Statistical analyses for determining coefficients of the predictive model for the number of traffic accidents with victims (deaths and serious injuries), based both on exposure to risk (VDMA and road length) and on global alignment consistency indices and inertial alignment consistency index, were outlined but require improvements to be implemented in the continuation of the research in Brazil.

Regarding the PhD internship in Valencia, at UPV, it was better than I had imagined. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain (behind Madrid and Barcelona), but has gained a lot of prominence because of the awards it has received (in 2023 it was considered the best city in Europe to live in and in 2024 it was considered the greenest city in Europe). The city’s public transportation system is enviable for many cities of 800,000 inhabitants (it has metro, train, tram, buses, shared bicycles, international airport, among others). The people there are very welcoming and the typical dish of Spain came from there (Paella Valenciana). The most beautiful scenery there is the “Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.” It looks like a futuristic movie set and, in fact, several films and series were shot there.

Speaking about the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), it was considered the No. 1 Polytechnical University in Spain in 2024. It has excellent infrastructure for research in the area of transportation (especially for those dedicated to the area of road and waterway transportation). The professors are very welcoming and help a lot in the development of academic research. I had no communication problems with professors or students, as everyone spoke English and Spanish.

Unfortunately, recently there was this episode of floods in the Valencian Community due to DANA, which ended up putting the place in the spotlight in a way that no one would like, due to the suffering with irreparable human losses. In any case, I feel that Valencia will overcome all of this one day and that soon it will once again be recognized for its natural beauty and the hospitality of the people who live there.”

More information about Lucas Reis can be found on his Lattes Curriculum: http://lattes.cnpq.br/4962929159492827