Filtern
Dokumenttyp
- Konferenzveröffentlichung (4) (entfernen)
Schlagworte
- Safety fence (4) (entfernen)
Institut
In Deutschland werden als passive Schutzeinrichtungen an Straßen Stahlschutzplanken und in jüngerer Zeit auch vermehrt Betonschutzwände eingesetzt. Auf dem Gebiet der Schutzeinrichtungen wird es demnächst europäisch harmonisierte Normen geben. Durch ihre Einführung, vermutlich noch in 1997, kommt es auch in Deutschland zur Veränderung der Anforderungen an Schutzeinrichtungen. Die Qualifizierung der in Deutschland nach den Richtlinien für passive Schutzeinrichtungen an Straßen eingesetzten Schutzeinrichtungen nach den europäischen Vorgaben ist durch die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt) in einem Forschungsprojekt für das Bundesverkehrsministerium erfolgt. Die BASt hat ein weiteres Projekt initiiert mit dem Ziel, die wichtigsten Ausführungsformen zu untersuchen und zu weitergehenden Kenntnissen über die hier eingesetzten Schutzeinrichtungen zu kommen. Berichtet wird über wesentliche Ergebnisse aus diesem Projekt.
The paper describes the development of transitions between different safety barriers in Germany but also in the context of the European standardization. In the paper practical and impact test expriences with transitions are shown. In view of the sheer number of theoretically possible combinations of safety barriers, the demand for testing every transition, even if the connecting safety barriers differ only slightly, appears to be economically unacceptable. On the other hand the experience from accidents and also from failed impact tests shows that transitions can be a risk to traffic safety. Therefore criteria for the distinction between transitions (impact test required/impact test unnecessary) are explained. In order to distinguish transitions which do not have to be impact-tested from those that require impact tests, criteria were developed and formulated.
Among European Countries, Spain first issued a Standard, UNE 135900:2005, further updated in 2008, that deals with homologation and effectiveness evaluation of road restraint systems components designed to reduce harm for bikers impacting on them. An in depth analysis and critical review of this standard is reported in this paper. Beside a close examination of the standard requirements, numerical models of the crash test stated by the standard have been set up and simulated to study the effects of slight speed and approach angle variations on test results, remaining within tolerance gaps allowed by the standard. Model were validated against experimental data. Together with the expected increasing severity of the impact according with speed, a strong influence of approach angle on injury parameters was found. Possible improvements to the norm, in order to make it more robust, are suggested.
The European Union has set a target to reduce all road fatalities (over 40,000) with 50% in 2010. This target percentage remained unchanged with the introduction of the ten new member states within the EU as by May 1st, 2004. According to Eurostat, 34% of all fatalities in 1998 in the, then, fifteen states of the European Union were the result of single vehicle collisions. This represents over 14,000 lives lost each year of which many can likely be saved through better roadside infrastructure design. The challenge for road safety professionals is to find methods and design strategies that help to reduce these casualties. Procedures for full-scale vehicle crash testing of guard rails were first published in the US in 1962. Present European regulation is mainly based on these procedures and later developments. Since then the vehicle fleet has changed considerably. Due to the complexity of the actual safety problem the numerical simulation approach offers a good opportunity to evaluate the different parameters involved in road safety, such as infrastructure properties, vehicle type, vehicle occupants and injuries. The ideal situation would be that simulation tools are coupled or integrated and all involved effects would be related. At the moment this is not the case yet, but initiatives are taken and a new virtual era has started. This paper offers a method looking at two components that encompass the driving environment: the car and the guardrail. As part of the EC-funded project, RISER (Roadside Infrastructure for Safer European Roads) a multi body simulation program study is carried out to determine sensitivities of some parameters in car to guardrail collisions and gives insides in performance of the car with passive safety equipment, the guardrail and the interaction of these objects with each other. By offering a set of methods that includes these two aspects and their intertwining relations, more confidence can be gained in actually reducing fatalities due to single vehicle collisions with, or due to, roadside furniture. Reducing the number of fatalities of single vehicle crashes would contribute greatly to the stated goal of reducing casualties altogether.