Services

Our team has a wealth of experience in transportation planning and traffic engineering infrastructure. We are proficient in evaluating entire networks for Road Controlling Authorities and helping Property Developers gain resource consent to connect their projects to the broader transport system. 

We specialise in providing meticulous and tailored Traffic Impact Reports that align with the specific planning guidelines set by the Consenting Authority. If you’re looking for a fresh perspective and innovative solutions to set your project apart, we excel at pushing boundaries and delivering bespoke strategies. We have a proven track record of transforming a client’s visions into successful realities.

How are we better?:

• Working closely with your design team, we conduct detailed swept path analyses to identify site constraints and optimise your layout.
• We developed a great methodology to undertake risk assessments for challenging sites, especially those requiring discretionary consent.
• Our specialist experience helps navigate the complexities of transportation planning and traffic engineering infrastructure for public and private projects.

Disputes can be challenging to navigate, particularly when they involve parties with different interests, such as property developers and consenting authorities, or individuals and road-controlling authorities. In these situations, it can be invaluable to have an expert witness who can provide impartial insights and help to simplify complex issues. Dr Urie Bezuidenhout is a recognised expert witness in the Environment Court, District Court, and Resource Consent Hearings, with extensive expertise in transportation engineering and psychology. He is uniquely equipped to provide unparalleled insights into driver behaviour, a critical factor in transportation systems, based on his experience as an active scholarly peer reviewer. Dr Bezuidenhout’s teaching experience also means he can simplify complex issues and deliver compelling presentations during hearings.

By engaging Dr Bezuidenhout’s expertise, parties involved in disputes can benefit from his unbiased insights, which can help resolve disagreements and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

With over 35 years of expertise in modelling and analysing traffic systems, Dr Bezuidenhout brings unique knowledge to transport network analysis. His knowledge spans from network-level evaluations to intricate intersections, encompassing a profound understanding of transportation dynamics. Dr Bezuidenhout’s extensive expertise encompasses microsimulation and mesoscopic models, and teaching student engineers in the art of transport and traffic modelling at the University of Auckland.

Furthermore, he has ingeniously developed bespoke tools utilising Monte Carlo simulations to develop and assess risk profiles from a probability perspective. Leveraging powerful applications like SPSS for statistical analyses, he has also crafted forecasting models that unveil the intricate interactions underlying human behaviour. At daVinci’s, we enjoy untangling and clarifying transportation and traffic-related societal issues, providing an exceptional platform for understanding a community’s transportation needs.

Dr Urie Bezuidenhout’s doctoral research included investigating driver behaviour and the effect the road environment has on detecting traffic signs and signals. This work led to developing a novel analysis method using video-based eye-tracking. This method provides a cost-effective method to evaluate driver distraction and safety risks and provides compelling evidence to overcome disputes among professionals.

• obtaining consent for digital billboards or
• assessing infrastructure interaction of cycles and vehicle parking
• pedestrians and vehicles in driveways

His current research focuses on driver and motorcycle rider visual flaws and their role in inattentional blindness and motion camouflage, which increases collision risks.  He has developed a unique method that applies critical zone and time methods that integrate traditional deterministic vehicle flow properties with Monte Carlo simulations. This approach helps to assess the risk of crashes between vehicles. The method has proven to be useful in assisting clients to understand the effects and risks of development proposals.

Dr Bezuidenhout undertook an extensive literature review of over 80 scholarly publications representing the state-of-the-art effects of DBBs on crash rates and found no statistically relevant evidence showing DBBs increase crash rates.  The reviews indicate that the few studies that reported a statistical link have methodological flaws.  His primary research compared DBB installations with those of non-DBB control sites, and the findings were conclusive in that no statistically valid evidence was found in a before-and-after analysis.

Dr Bezuidenhout also developed a novel safety assessment methodology to objectively assess the risk of distraction based on:

• A driver’s mental workload on the approach to a DBB.
• Quantifying the exposure risk using a critical zone and critical time analysis.
• A Monte Carlo simulation to assess multiple possible scenarios and driver behaviour to produce a simple to understand risk probability graph.

Applying his sound methodology, primary research comparing DBB sites with control sites, academic qualifications in driver behaviour and extensive experience as a scholarly Peer Reviewer for prestigious journals published by Sage, Hindawi and Transport Research Reports he is able to articulate compelling evidence to experts and laymen alike.

He has not lost a hearing based on his evidence presented.

Dr Bezuidenhout undertakes applied research on behalf of his clients to provide solutions relevant to their particular needs.  At daVinci’s, we deploy many tools and software to collect and analyse data. Some of these are the use:

• Video analytics to observe road users’ data and determine collision risks.
• Machine vision software to estimate road environment saliency for distraction modelling.
• Statistical analysis and modelling using SPSS and R.
• Monte Carlo simulations for risk analysis and visualisation

A new development area is creating a DSi trend multivariate forecasting model to examine the interplay of economic and other influences on crash trends versus national policy interventions such as road safety campaigns.

Past research projects included road safety assessments using novel eye-tracking techniques, cycling facility assessment models, KPIs for NZTA motorway networks, and developing guidelines for the location and operation of Variable Message Signs.

Get In Touch to See If We’re the Right Fit for Your Project

We do not just do what our competitors do; we go a couple of steps further; why? because we can, and we are good at what we do because we love the challenge. 

We do not have large overheads of a corporation, we do not have tiers of managers and management boards to answer to. We are a boutique consultancy of clever and experienced individuals who are engineers, pragmatic engineers who have experience in designing motorways and interchanges, down to two-unit subdivisions.