The proportion of older road users is increasing because of demographic change (in the group 65+ from current 18% to about 24% by 2030). The mobility needs of people 65+ often differ from those of younger people. Seniors (65+) are already more involved in fatal accidents than younger road users. According to the age development, the senior share of road deaths in the EU of today is increasing nearly one-fifth to one-third. From the in-depth analysis of accidents generic simulation models were developed. Attention has been paid both to psycho-physical characteristics as well as on the social and physical environment and their specifics in conjunction with seniors. By simulating the defined scenarios and varying the defined relevant parameters, accident influencing factors were examined as a basis for avoidance. In addition, the parameters were varied to show the influence from the vehicle, the pedestrian and the infrastructure to avoid the accident or to characterize the conditions for which the accident is inevitable.
Causation of traffic accidents with children from the perspective of all involved participants
(2017)
In the year 2014 about 2,800 children between zero and 14 years got injured due to traffic accidents in Austria. More than 50% were taking part in traffic as active road users like cyclists or pedestrians. Within this study 46 real world traffic accidents between vehicles and children as pedestrians were analysed. In 39 cases, car drivers hit the crossing children. In the other cases, the collision opponents were busses, trucks or motorcycles. Most of the children got hit while crossing a road at urban sites. By analysing the traffic accidents from the perspectives of all involved participants, vehicle drivers and injured children, it is possible to identify factors for each participant, which led to the accident and factors that contributed the accident. The main task is to find patterns in the behaviour of crash victims (children and driver) before the collision. One important fact is that in more than 50% of the analysed cases sight obstructions were an important contributing factor for both, the driver and the child. From drivers view situations in which the child moved unexpected into the driven road lane were often found. For the injured child, factors like: no attention to the road traffic or no sufficient traffic observation were found to be relevant. Further it- possible to sensitise children and adults to possible source of critical traffic situations according to the findings of this study.
Within this paper different European accident data sources were used to investigate the causations and backgrounds of road traffic accidents with pedestrians. Analyses of high level national data and in-depth accident data from Germany and Great Britain was used to confirm and refine preliminary accident scenarios identified from other sources using a literature review. General observations made included that a high proportion of killed or seriously injured pedestrian casualties impacted by cars were in "dark" light conditions. Seven accident scenarios were identified (each divided into "daylight" and "dark" light conditions) which included the majority of the car front-to-pedestrian crash configurations. Test scenarios were developed using the identified accident scenarios and relevant parameters. Hypothetical parameters were derived to describe the performance of pedestrian pre-crash systems based on the assumption that these systems are designed to avoid false positives as a very high priority, i.e. at virtually all costs. As result, three "Base Test Scenarios" were selected to be developed in detail in the AsPeCSS project. However, further Enhanced Test Scenarios may be needed to address environmental factors such as darkness if it is determined that system performance is sensitive to these factors. Finally, weighting factors for the accident scenarios for Europe (EU-27) were developed by averaging and extrapolation of the available data. This paper represents interim results of Work Package 1 within the AsPeCSS project.
Die Wahl des optimalen Standortes für Grünbrücken ist in der Praxis häufig problematisch. Ein enger Planungskorridor schließt die Betrachtung weiträumiger Beziehungen zwischen Teilpopulationen raumgreifender Tierarten aus. Um Querungshilfen für Tiere im Planungsverfahren auch unter weiterem Blickwinkel optimal zu positionieren, fehlen geeignete Übersichten. In diesem Projekt wurden zunächst die Lebensgewohnheiten und Verbreitungsgebiete von Wildkatze und Rotwild in der Bundesrepublik recherchiert und in Text und Karte dargestellt. Dem hinzugefügt wurden die bekannten Fernwanderwege des Rotwildes. Die Überlagerung dieser Karten mit den Bundesfernstraßen in Deutschland ermöglichte es, Streckenabschnitte von Bundesstraßen und Autobahnen zu benennen, die innerhalb der Verbreitungsgebiete der beiden genannten Tierarten liegen bzw. deren Fernwanderrouten kreuzen. Ausgehend von der Überlegung, dass die Tiere bei ansonsten unbehinderter Ausbreitung auch zwischen ihren Verbreitungsgebieten wechseln, wurden auch zwischen diesen Gebieten verlaufende Streckenabschnitte benannt. Ausgeschlossen jedoch wurden Abschnitte mit einem durchschnittlichen täglichen Verkehr (DTV) von unter 10.000 Kfz/24 Stunden und in Städten verlaufende Abschnitte. Dem Straßenplaner werden in konzentrierter Form Informationen zu Lebensweise und Lebensraum der betrachteten Tierarten an die Hand gegeben. Die Auflistung der relevanten Streckenabschnitte mit Anfangs- und Endknotenpunkten soll für Ausbauvorhaben darauf hinweisen, wo der Untersuchungsraum über einen engen Planungskorridor hinaus zu erweitern ist. Welche Querungshilfen für Tiere schließlich eingesetzt werden ist eine Frage der Topografie und Linienführung. Neben Grünbrücken kommen Wilddurchlässe, Fließgewässerquerungen und Grünunterführungen in Betracht.