CAITR

Aerial photograph of road

SIDRA SOLUTIONS - CAITR AWARD

CAITR provides a forum for transport researchers and practitioners to discuss their work with peers and colleagues in a supportive, informal environment and to be part of a network of expertise. CAITR is particularly valuable to recently qualified researchers (PhDs, Masters and Undergraduates by Research), giving them the chance to present work in progress and receive constructive feedback. CAITR also provides opportunity for research organisations to present a summary of their research activities. 

Akcelik and Associates presented the various papers at the CAITR conferences. 

The following is a list of past CAITR events and winners.

CAITR-2017

The 35th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2017) was hosted by the University of Western Australia during 4-6 December 2017.

SIDRA SOLUTIONS Student Award at CAITR-2017 was awarded to Jordan Hedges of the School of Computer Science, The University of Western Australia for his research presented in the following paper.

HEDGES, J. and McDONALD, C. (2017). Establishing Trust Between Fully-Connected Autonomous Vehicles. Paper presented at CAITR 2017 (35th Conference of Australian Institutes of Transport Research), Rottnest Island, WA, Australia.

The communication requirements of fully-connected vehicles necessitate using localised and temporarily-formed vehicle ad-hoc networks (VANETs). Without a centralised authority, VANETs are susceptible to malicious attacks from vehicles and even roadside infrastructure, which can transmit falsified information about vehicles’ motion and road conditions. To better support the detection of falsified or simply errant information, this paper presents a decentralised system which establishes localised reputation- and trust-based networks between fully-connected vehicles. Information received by each vehicle is verified by calculations that match data from physical systems on the vehicle and the degree of consensus about the same information also received by neighbouring vehicles.

CAITR-2016

The 34th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2016) was hosted by the Queensland University of Technology during 11-12 February, 2016

SIDRA SOLUTIONS Student Award at CAITR-2016 was awarded to Keyvan Pourhassan of Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, South Australia for his research presented in the following paper.

POURHASSAN, K. (2016). How reliable is the Bluetooth-based origin-destination data? Paper presented at CAITR 2016 (34th Conference of Australian Institutes of Transport Research), Brisbane, Australia.

This paper investigated the reliability of Origin-Destination data obtained from a Bluetooth-based data collection system at ten randomly selected sites in Adelaide. The research found that further improvements are required before Bluetooth-based Origin-Destination data can be reliably used at a large scale.

CAITR-2015

The 33rd Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2015) was hosted by the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne during 12-13 Feb 2015.

SIDRA SOLUTIONS Student Award at CAITR-2015 was awarded to William Guzman of RMIT University for his research presented in the following paper.

GUZMAN, W., YOUNG, L. and PESZYNSKI, K. (2015) Departure Side Platforms: a road congestion mitigation measure. Paper presented at CAITR 2015 (33rd Conference of Australian Institutes of Transport Research), Melbourne, Australia.

This study investigates the impact of level crossing closures on traffic congestion at crossings adjacent to or in the close proximity of railway stations, proposing the theory that making alterations to the infrastructure of the station can derive a reduction of intersection closure periods at these locations.

CAITR-2014

The 32nd Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2014) was hosted by the University of New South Wales, Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation, Sydney during 17-18 February 2014.

CAITR-2014 Robert L. Pretty Memorial Prize (sponsored by SIDRA SOLUTIONS) was awarded to Aaron Hargraves, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales for his paper titled A Feasibility Study into the use of String Transport Systems for Passenger Rail in New South Wales.

CAITR-2008

The 30th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2008) was hosted by the University of Western Australia, UWA Business School, Perth during 10-12 December 2008.

Prizes

CAITR-2007

The 29th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2007) was hosted by the the Transport Systems Centre, University of South Australia, Adelaide during 5-7 December 2007.

CAITR-2006

28th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2006) was hosted by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney during 6-8 Dec 2006.

CAITR-2006 Robert L. Pretty Memorial Prize for Best Undergraduate Student Paper (sponsored by Akcelik & Associates) was awarded to Yannick Michel, University of Monash, for his paper titled The Freight Capacity Model.

CAITR-2005

The 27th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2005) was hosted by the Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland, Brisbane during 7-9 Dec 2005.

Prizes

CAITR-2004

The 26th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2004) was hosted by the CSIRO Transport Futures Team, Clayton, Melbourne during 8-10 December 2004.

Prizes

CAITR-2003

The 25th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2003) was hosted by the Transport Systems Centre, University of South Australia, Adelaide held during 3-5 December 2003. 

Prizes

CAITR-2002

The 24th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2002) was hosted by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney during 4-6 December 2002. 

Prizes

CAITR-2001

The 23rd Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2001) was hosted by the Institute of Transport Studies at Monash University, Melbourne during 10-12 December 2001.

Prizes

  • CAITR-2001 Robert L. Pretty Memorial Prize for Best Undergraduate Student Paper (sponsored by Akcelik & Associates Pty Ltd)  was awarded to Christopher Coath, Monash University, for his paper titled Special Events Planning.
  • The Rodney Vaughan Memorial Prize for Best Postgraduate Research Student Paper (sponsored by The Urban Transport Institute) was awarded to Jim Youngman, Monash University, for his paper titled Field Service Territories.

CAITR-2000

22nd Conference of Australian Institutes of Transport Research (CAITR-2000) was hosted by CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, and held at Ursula College on the Campus of the Australian National University in Canberra, during 6-8 December 2000. 

Prizes

  • CAITR-2000 Robert L. Pretty Memorial Prize for Best Undergraduate Student Paper was awarded to Neil Hutchinson, University of Queensland, for his paper titled "Development of a Cyclist Route Choice Model".
  • CAITR-2000 Rodney Vaughan Memorial Prize for Best Postgraduate Research Student Paper was awarded to Kim Thomas, University of Queensland, for her paper titled Incident Detection by Fractal Dimension Analysis of Loop Detector Data.

FURTHER HISTORY

Read more about CAITR History (1979 - 2007)

R. L. PRETTY MEMORIAL PRIZE

The CAITR-2000 meeting decided unanimously to name the undergraduate student award as the R. L. Pretty Memorial Prize for Best Undergraduate Student Paper. This award is sponsored by Akcelik and Associates Pty Ltd and was awarded each year at CAITR during 2000 - 2014. 

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Dr R. L. (Bob) Pretty - A Personal Recollection and Tribute

by Ray Brindle
Reprinted from: Road and Transport Research 3(4), p. 60, June 1994
 

When I am in congested flow on a freeway, marvelling at interruptions which have no apparent cause, I often think of Bob Pretty. Bob tried to teach me car-following theory (the key to it all) back in 1968 when he was associated with the Transport Section at Melbourne University under Nick Clark. Like most aspects of traffic theory, this had to be one of the topics about which I acknowledged Bob's superior knowledge and understanding.

Bob Pretty graduated with First Class Honours in Civil Engineering from Melbourne University in 1960, the year before I started the same course. He went on to complete a Master of Engineering Science degree with honours in 1962, before moving to Sydney to study at the School of Traffic Engineering at the University of New South Wales for his PhD, which was awarded in 1968. By that time he was a Research Officer with ARRB and in that role was involved again with Melbourne University.

After gaining his PhD, Bob spent three years as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Michigan, followed by a period in the Department of Planning and Transportation of the Greater London Council. He then accepted a position in the Civil Engineering department at the University of Queensland, and led the transport program at that University from 1972 to 1994.

Over that period, Bob maintained a high level of national and international professional leadership in traffic and transport engineering, and served both the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and the Institute of Transportation Engineers. His academic experience was complemented by periods of practical secondments with the Metropolitan Transit Authority in Brisbane, the Australian Railway Research and Development Organisation, and the Main Roads Department, Queensland. He spent sabbatical periods at University College, London, the University of Hong Kong, The Aristotelean University in Thessaloniki, Greece, and most recently at the Institute for Transport Studies at Leeds University.

Through his career he was a productive author. The 65 entries in INROADS bearing his name date from 1964, and include the pioneering "Traffic Engineering Practice" of 1967 and 1969 which he co-edited with Nick Clark. Many of his publications appeared in ARRB Conference Proceedings or in the ARRB journal; he presented at least one paper to all but four of the ARRB Conferences since 1964, the breaks coinciding with his periods overseas. Bob remained a good friend of ARRB over the years, serving on the former Road Users Committee of ARRB and as one of the four external members of the Bulletin 4 Revision Sub-Committee which was given the task of updating the Australian signalised intersection capacity guidelines. His diligent and long-serving role in the development of the current intersection capacity guidelines is specifically recognised in ARR123.

Bob never paraded his great knowledge and intellectual abilities, and was not known for pushing his personal opinions at the expense of truth and understanding. I had personal experience of this in his grateful response to my critical comments on some notes he had prepared on traffic calming while at ITS, Leeds. While humility and gentleness may not be the keys to success in today's cut-throat world, they are characteristics which encourage students and colleagues alike, and Bob had them in abundance. I loved his boyish enthusiasm and somewhat hesitant manner, which belied his depth of knowledge but which helped to demystify the complex topics at which he was an expert.

We last saw Bob in Melbourne during the Conference of Australian Institutes of Transport Research at the end of 1993. Within weeks we heard of his brief terminal illness. With his passing, ARRB loses a loyal friend and supporter, and the transport profession is the poorer. His friends and colleagues around the world will miss him, but through his work he has left his memorial in many ways. I am grateful to have known him.

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