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The development of tyre- and truck-manufacturers leads to the direction to introduce wide base single tyres (size 495/45R22,5) instead of twin tyres on the driving axle of trucks, tractors and busses. To study the driving behaviour and safety of various trucks and units with different tyre combinations and loading conditions was the aim of the study. A computer-aided simulation was used for this investigation. Drive tests with a 40 t unit with prototype single tyres on the drive axle were carried out to verify the simulation. Alterations in driving behaviour and driving safety are mainly dependent on the tyre cornering stiffness. The prototype wide single tyres had a higher lateral stiffness which leads to a higher degree of under-steering (safer driving behaviour). The altered spring base on the drive axle had no influence on the side- tilt stability of vehicle combinations but the solo truck profited from the higher rear axle roll stiffness (less danger for roll-over accidents). As far as the driving safety is concerned nothing speaks against wide base tyres on the drive axle. The simulation of a tyre defect in a bend (assuming 40% of the max. transferable side force for the flat tyre) showed no increased danger using wide single tyres. Later driving tests showed however the need of tyre run flat possibilities to avoid jack-knifing of road trains. Also tyre pressure monitoring systems and electronic stability programs for the trucks are advised.
Topics of this report are: Securing mobility and making mobility sustainable - Strategies for road safety: Safe behavior, Safe vehicles, Safe infrastructure, Telematics, International vehicle-engineering measures " Accident statistics " Accident research " Passive vehicle safety " Active vehicle safety " Driver assistance systems " Environmental protection through vehicle engineering.
A legform impactor with biofidelic characteristics (FlexPLI) which is being developed by the Japanese Automobile Research Institute (JARI) is being considered as a test tool for legislation within a proposed Global Technical Regulation on pedestrian protection (UNECE, 2006) and therefore being evaluated by the Technical Evaluation Group (TEG) of GRSP. In previous built levels it already showed good test results on real cars as well as under idealised test conditions but also revealed further need for improvement. A research study at the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) deals with the question on how leg injury risks of modern car fronts can be revealed, reflected and assessed by the FlexPLI and how the impactor can be used and implemented as a legislative instrument for the type approval of cars according to current and future legislations on pedestrian protection. The latest impactor built level (GTα ) is being evaluated by a general review and assessment of the certification procedure, the knee joint biofidelity and the currently proposed injury criteria. Furthermore, the usability, robustness and durability as a test tool for legislation is examined and an assessment of leg injuries is made by a series of tests with the FlexPLI on real cars with modern car front shapes as well as under idealised test conditions. Finally, a comparison is made between the FlexPLI and the current european legislation tool, the legform impactor according to EEVC WG 17.
The use of proper child restraint systems (CRS) is mandatory for children travelling in cars in most countries of the world. The analysis of the quantity of restrained children shows that more than 90% of the children in Germany are restrained. Looking at the quality of the protection, a large discrepancy between restrained and well protected children can be seen. Two out of three children in Germany are not properly restrained. In addition, considerable difference exists with respect to the technical performance of CRS. For that reason investigations and optimisations on two different topics are necessary: The technical improvement of CRS and the ease of use of CRS. Consideration of the knowledge gained by the comparison of different CRS in crash tests would lead to some improvements of the CRS. But improvement of child safety is not only a technical issue. People should use CRS in the correct way. Misuse and incorrect handling could lead to less safety than correct usage of a poor CRS. For that reason new technical issues are necessary to improve the child safety AND the ease of use. Only the combination of both parts can significantly increase child safety. For the assessment of the safety level of common CRS, frontal and lateral sled tests simulating different severity levels were conducted comparing pairs of CRS which were felt to be good and CRS which were felt to be poor. The safety of some CRS is currently at a high level. All well known products were not damaged in the performed tests. The performance of non-branded CRS was mostly worse than that of the well known products. Although the branded child restraint systems already show a high safety level it is still possible to further improve their technical performance as demonstrated with a baby shell and a harness type CRS.
The GRSP informal group on child restraint systems (CRS) finalised phase 1 of a new regulation for the homologation of CRS . This regulation is the subject of several discussions concerning the safety benefits and the advantages and disadvantages that certain specific points may bring. However, these discussions are sometimes not based on scientific facts and do not consider the whole package but only single items. Based on the experience of the CASPER partners in the fields of human behaviour, accident analysis, test procedures and biomechanics in the area of child safety, a consideration of the safety benefits of phase 1 of the new regulation and recommendations for phase 2 will be given.
In Germany the number of casualties in passenger car to pedestrian crashes has been reduced by a considerable amount of 40% as regards fatalities and 25% with regard to seriously injured pedestrians since the year 2001. Similar trends can be seen in other European countries. The reasons for that positive development are still under investigation. As infrastructural or behavioral changes do in general take a longer time to be effective in real world, explanations related to improved active and passive safety of passenger vehicles can be more relevant in providing answers for this trend. The effect of passive pedestrian protection " specified by the Euro NCAP pedestrian test result " is of particular interest and has already been analyzed by several authors. However, the number of vehicles with some valid Euro NCAP pedestrian score (post 2002 rating) was quite limited in most of those studies. To overcome this problem of small datasets German National Accident Records have been taken to investigate a similar objective but now based on a much bigger dataset. The paper uses German National Accident Records from the years 2009 to 2011. In total 65.140 records of pedestrian to passenger car crashes have been available. Considering crash parameters like accident location (rural / urban areas) etc., 27.143 of those crashes have been classified to be relevant for the analysis of passive pedestrian safety. In those 27.143 records 7.576 Euro NCAP rated vehicles (post 2002 rating) have been identified. In addition it was possible to identify vehicles which comply with pedestrian protection legislation (2003/102/EG) where phase 1 came into force in October 2005. A significant correlation between Euro NCAP pedestrian score and injury outcome in real-life car to pedestrian crashes was found. Comparing a vehicle scoring 5 points and a vehicle scoring 22 points, pedestrians" conditional probability of getting fatally injured is reduced by 35% (from 0.58% to 0.37%) for the later one. At the same time the probability of serious injuries can be reduced by 16% (from 27.4% to 22.9%). No significant injury reducing effect, associated with the introduction of pedestrian protection legislation (phase 1) was detected. Considerable effects have also been identified comparing diesel and gasoline cars. Higher engine displacements are associated with a lower injury risk for pedestrians. The most relevant parameter has been "time of accident", whereas pedestrians face a more than 2 times higher probability to be fatally injured during night and darkness as compared to daytime conditions.
New vehicle types are extensively tested to check almost all factors that influence ride and handling. With reference to the Association of German Car Tuners" (VDAT e.V.) valuations, approximately 10% of all cars in Germany are being modified by their owners. 28 % of those modifications" sales are divergent wheel-tire combinations, 13 % are tuning measures on the chassis suspension or wheel spacers. In almost all cases the singular modifications present a general permission for specific vehicles they have been tested in. Combined tuning measures, however, are often checked by just one inspector, following a procedure of mostly subjective assessment criteria. Today, critical attributes are only being observed, in case a vehicle is involved in an accident and the modifications are identified as crash causal factors or as a cofactor on the development of a crash. For the first time, a field study allows a survey of safety affecting chassis modifications. The test layout has to comply with some basic conditions. Different vehicle concepts with a wide margin of modifications are required to get a high transferability of the results. A total amount of more than 150 tested vehicles serves the same purpose. The tests are limited concerning the installation time of measurement techniques and the requirement that no damage, defilement or immoderate wear of the vehicles are accepted by their owners. Due to such factors as well as the driver Ìs acceptance, the vehicles are controlled by its owners instead of robots or test drivers. For keeping down the driver- influence, the lane has narrow boundaries and the driver has to drive in strictly adherence to the given instructions. After gathering all modifications, as well as static and kinematic parameters like the toe and camber angle, dynamic testing of predominantly lateral dynamics is conducted. Besides standardized tests like the ISO 3888-2 (Obstacle Avoidance) or the ISO 14512 (Braking on Surfaces with Split Coefficient of Friction), to test the influence of modified kingpin offsets caused by wheel spacers, some deviant tests are conducted. Those are required due to the demand of objective test results for road tests with vertical induced stimulation of the chassis suspension. Hence, new tests on corner braking with and without vertical stimulation have been developed. The interpretation of data includes thresholds, e.g. the maximum entrance velocity without hitting cones, on the one hand, and the analysis of characteristics of data concerning time and frequency range, "1-second values" and peak response times on the other hand. Besides the thresholds as indicators for the achievable velocities, which are mainly affected by friction coefficients, the vehicle reaction in the course of time characterizes the vehicle reaction in the threshold range and consequently the operational demands on the driver. The field study has started and promises the first long-range analysis of chassis modifications. The results offer a basis for hypothesis and resultant further test layouts for oncoming studies of the identified critical tuning measures.
For the assessment of vehicle safety in frontal collisions, the crash compatibility between the colliding vehicles is crucial. Compatibility compromises both the self protection and the partner protection properties of vehicles. For the accident data analysis, the CCIS (GB) and GIDAS (DE) in-depth data bases were used. Selection criteria were frontal car accidents with car in compliance with ECE R94. For this study belted adult occupants in the front seats sustaining MAIS 2+ injuries were studied. Following this analysis FIMCAR concluded that the following compatibility issues are relevant: - Poor structural interaction (especially low overlap and over/underriding) - Compartment strength - Frontal force mismatch with lower priority than poor structural interaction In addition injuries arising from the acceleration loading of the occupant are present in a significant portion of frontal crashes. Based on the findings of the accident analysis the aims that shall be addressed by the proposed assessment approach were defined and priorities were allocated to them. The aims and priorities shall help to decide on suitable test procedures and appropriate metrics. In general it is anticipated that a full overlap and off-set test procedure is the most appropriate set of tests to assess a vehicle- frontal impact self and partner protection.
The 2BeSafe project (2-Wheeler Behaviour and Safety) is a collaborative project (co financed by the European Commission) that aims to study the naturalistic behaviour of Powered-Two-Wheeler (PTW) riders in normal and critical riding situations. That includes the interaction between PTW riders and other road users and possible conflicts between them. One of the predominant causes of accidents involving PTWs is that PTWs are often overlooked by other road users. One task of the project lead by BASt therefore deals with possible improvements in conspicuity and the development of recommendations. Particularly using the findings of the studies on conflict situations, promising lighting arrangements to enhance conspicuity of PTWs during the day and at night are selected. An abstract recognizing pattern for PTWs is defined, enabling other road users (e.g. car drivers) to clearly identify riders. Lamps and outfit like lighting configurations of different colours, different helmet lights, reflect / luminescent clothing parts and retro-reflective markings are designed and manufactured. Then, the different solutions are tested in a laboratory setting using experimental motorcycles together with riders to which the equipment is fitted. As result a proposal for a uniform signal pattern or lamp configuration in the front of all motorcycles and riders will be outlined. The contribution first gives a short overview of the topics of the research project that deal with conflicts and their connection with poor conspicuity and then presents in detail the methods used in the activities concerning solutions for the improvement of conspicuity together with first results.
There is a need to continue to set the right vehicle safety policy priorities in the future. Research has to point out the most cost efficient and safety relevant measures to further reduce the number of road traffic casualties. The overall development shows that the constant and rapid decrease in the number of road casualties slows down. New innovations need to enter the vehicle market soon, in order to continue the success achieved in the last decade. Priorities for vehicle safety are driven by safety and mobility demands. It is necessary to keep a strong lid on all aspects of elderly and vulnerable road users. The fraction of powered-two-wheelers (PTW) is a priority group. PTWs have a risk of being involved in an accident, 14times higher than that of a passenger car. However, the figures do also show that every second fatality is a car occupant. Therefore passenger car safety remains to be top priority. Heavy goods vehicles are overly represented in fatal accidents, addressing the need to make these vehicles more compatible with other road users. These facts highlight the necessity not only to increase vehicles" self protection, but also to make cars - and trucks - more compatible and safe. Cycling is a strongly increasing mode of transport. This is a further reason to demand better protection for cyclists and pedestrians from car design and car active and integrated safety systems. Another priority for future vehicle safety is related to demographics. It is less known that the purely demographic effect will be superimposed by an increasing wish of elderly people to be mobile. However, elderly people show deficits concerning their biomechanics. This emphasizes the need for better and more adaptive restraint systems, but also further technological challenges and demands for active safety systems. However, in order to progress, current technological limitations have to be overcome. Cost benefit considerations, but also consumer acceptance and desires, will drive this process.
This paper will outline ETSC's contribution to the European Union's road safety policy 2011-2020. It will present some of the main recommendations from ETSC's Blueprint for the 4th Road Safety Action Programme and will introduce the response to the European Commission's Road Safety Policy Orientations 2011-2020 (published July 2010). The second framework document presented is the Transport White Paper (published March 2011). The paper will focus on new targets and the new vision set for Europe's Road Safety policy picking out some issues in particular such as traffic law enforcement and the protection of vulnerable road users. It will argue that by reinforcing the current Road Safety Policy Orientations, the EU will be better placed to reach its new ambitious goal of halving road deaths by 2020 and the longer term zero casualty vision.
A concept for Safe-Driving-Trainings with a focus on risky behavior and safety related attitudes has been evaluated. 519 participants have been tested before and after the training by means of a questionnaire with the topics: technical driving competence, awareness of risks, and propensity for anticipation. A control group (131 subjects) was used to check for the possibility of response artifacts. Three months later, 92 members of the treatment group and 25 members of the control group have been tested again. The results show significant positive changes in driving competence, risk awareness, and safety related attitudes, especially anticipation, due to the training. Compared to the control group the participants have become more risk aware and they regard of risk avoiding behavior as more important. The results show that this concept for Safe-Driving-Trainings has not only short-term but, more importantly, long-term positive effects on the safety-relevant attitudes and cognitions of young drivers.
Supervision of the safety performance in public transport is one of the main tasks of the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) in Switzerland. Recently a three level system of safety indicators has been defined to cover all means of Swiss public transport. The safety indicators are fed by the FOT incident database since the year 2000. In cooperation with the Institute for Traffic Safety and Automation Engineering (iVA) at TU Braunschweig, Germany, FOT is developing a suitable methodology for the definition and evaluation of the safety targets in Swiss public transport. The methodology is applied for evaluation of safety indicators on a country level and for single transport companies. In a new approach the abovementioned methodology is applied to car incident data to develop an indicator based cross-modal safety measure.
Nowadays human-created systems are increasing in complexity due to the interaction of humans and technology. Especially road traffic systems are composed of multitudinous resources (e.g. personnel, vehicles, organizations, etc.), which make it even harder to anticipate the positive and negative effects on safety. One key in achieving a significant reduction of fatalities is seen in driver assistant systems counterbalancing the lack of drivers' capabilities. But the actual outcome of implementing these sophisticated technologies especially on influencing driver's capabilities are yet unknown. Latest research exemplifies an increase of reaction times of drivers in case of dysfunctional driver assistant systems. This research paper applies STAMP/STPA (STAMP = systems-theoretic accident model and processes; STPA = systems-theoretic process analysis) to the German automobile traffic system focusing on the effects of driver assistant systems on drivers. By doing so, the potential hazards caused by technology can be identified.
In 2012 the fifth ESAR conference (Expert Symposium on Accident Research) was held in Hannover. ESAR is an international convention of experts, who analyze traffic accidents all over the world and discuss their results in this context, conducted at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover every 2 years. It connected representatives of public authorities, engineers in automotive development and scientists and offers a forum with particular emphasis on In-Depth-Analyses of accident statistics and accident analyses. Special focus is placed on research on the basis of so-called "In-Depth-Accident-Investigations" [data collections at the sites of the accidents], which are characterized by extensive documentations of the sites of the accidents, of the vehicles as well as of the injuries, encompassing several scientific fields. ESAR aims at a multi-disciplinary compilation of scientific results and at discussing them on an international, scientific level. It is thus a scientific colloquium and a platform for exchanging information for all accident researchers. Experiences in accident prevention as well as in the complex field of accident reconstruction are stated and new research fields are added. Existing results of long-term research work in Europe, the US, Australia and Japan include different infrastructural correlations and give findings on population, vehicle population and driver characteristics, which offer a basis for recommendations to be derived and measures for increasing road safety.
Im Jahr 2004 fand an der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover die erste ESAR-Konferenz (Expert Symposium on Accident Research) statt. Die Idee einer internationalen Konferenz war aus der Notwendigkeit entstanden, diejenigen Experten zusammen zu bringen, die weltweit tätig sind und Verkehrsunfälle wissenschaftlich analysieren, um ihre Ergebnisse gemeinsam zu diskutieren und einem Zielpublikum von Behördenvertretern, Entwicklungsingenieuren der Automobilindustrie und anderen Wissenschaftlern darzubringen. Die durch Professor Otte initiierte und nun zum vierten Male organisierte Konferenz fand eine breite Akzeptanz und ist mittlerweile Bestandteil einer Konferenzlandschaft mit Zielvorträgen von der Fahrzeugsicherheit bis hin zur Verletzungsanalyse und den Unfallursachen. ESAR kann als wissenschaftliches Kolloquium und Plattform für einen Informationsaustausch der Unfallforscher angesehen werden, die sich speziell mit Methoden der Unfalluntersuchung, mit Verletzungsmechanismen und der Bewertung von Verletzungen, Unfallursachen und anderen Bereichen der statistischen Unfalldatenanalyse befassen. Experten aus den Bereichen der Medizin, der Verkehrspsychologie und der Technik sowie Vertreter zuständiger Behörden kommen hier zusammen, um die Erfahrungen in der Unfallprävention und der Unfallrekonstruktion zu diskutieren und um der Forschung neue Felder zu eröffnen. Neben den Belangen der Europäischen Gemeinschaft werden auch die weltweit zu registrierenden hohen Verletztenzahlen berücksichtigt. Wissenschaftliche Vorträge aus aller Welt tragen dazu bei, geeignete Maßnahmen und Methoden zur Analyse und drastischen Verringerung der Zahl der bei Verkehrsunfällen Getöteten zu entwickeln. Die Zusammensetzung des Teilnehmerkreises dieser wie früherer ESAR-Konferenzen hat längst eine über Europa hinausgreifende Internationalitaet erreicht und bietet daher einen aufschlussreichen Überblick über die verschiedenen Standards bestehender Verkehrssicherheit und unterschiedlichen Unfallszenarien und über die Anforderungen an die Unfallanalysen. Die Ergebnisse langjähriger Forschungsarbeiten in Europa, USA, Australien und asiatischen Ländern beinhalten unterschiedliche infrastrukturelle Zusammenhänge und geben Erkenntnisse über Population, Fahrzeugbestand und Fahrereigenschaften. Derartige Informationen bilden eine exzellente Basis für abzuleitende Empfehlungen und Maßnahmen für die Erhöhung der Verkehrssicherheit international.
Entgegen populären Meinungen, welche älteren Kraftfahrern ein generelles Gefahrenpotenzial für die allgemeine Verkehrssicherheit zuschreiben, weisen die Unfallstatistiken eher auf eine besondere Gefährdung dieser Gruppe von Verkehrsteilnehmern hin, woraus sich Forderungen nach einer zielgruppenspezifischen Verkehrssicherheitsarbeit begründen. Kompetentes und damit sicheres Verhalten kann als Ergebnis der Passung zwischen den individuell verfügbaren Ressourcen und den Anforderungen der Umwelt betrachtet werden. Überschreiten die Umweltanforderungen die Verhaltenspotenziale des Individuums, kann es zu Überforderung kommen. Verdeutlichen lässt sich diese Perspektive durch genaue Betrachtung von Verkehrsunfällen unter Beteiligung älterer Kraftfahrer: So spiegeln die aktuellen Unfallstatistiken aus 2008 wider, dass ein großer Teil der Unfälle von Kraftfahrern im Alter über 65 Jahren auf sogenanntes Fehlverhalten in Knoten, wie z.B. Fehler beim Abbiegen, Ein- und Ausfahren in Kreuzungen und Vorfahrtbeachtung, zurückzuführen sind. Diese im Vergleich zu jüngeren Fahrern häufigere Verwicklung Älterer in Unfälle dieser Art legt nahe, dass es in genau diesen Situationen zu einem Ungleichgewicht zwischen individuell verfügbaren Ressourcen und den Anforderungen der Verkehrsumwelt kommt. Beispielsweise könnten in diesen Situationen Beeinträchtigungen der visuellen Wahrnehmungsfähigkeit, verlangsamte Reaktionszeiten oder auch Einschränkungen der Bewegungsausführung zu einer zu langsamen oder auch falschen Entscheidungsfindung oder Handlungsausführung im Straßenverkehr führen. Dieser Perspektive folgend können Maßnahmen zur Erhöhung der Verkehrssicherheit älterer Kraftfahrer zum einen auf Seiten des Individuums ansetzen und dazu beitragen, die Kompetenzen des älteren Kraftfahrers zu erhöhen, zum anderen Bezug auf den Kontext nehmen, indem durch Anpassungen der Bedingungen der Verkehrsumwelt zur Sicherheit " nicht nur " älterer Kraftfahrer beigetragen wird. Personenzentrierte Ansätze zielen dabei auf die Ausschöpfung der individuellen Potenziale zur Aufrechterhaltung, Verbesserung oder auch Wiederherstellung einer sicheren Verkehrsteilnahme bis ins hohe Lebensalter. Diese Ansätze umfassen Trainings- und Rehabilitationsprogramme der Fahrkompetenz gleichermaßen wie verkehrspädagogische Programme, mediale Informationskampagnen oder auch Beratungsmaßnahmen und Screening-Tests. Eine Schlüsselposition kann in diesem Kontext dem (Haus)-Arzt als Experten hinsichtlich Konstitution und Lebensverhältnissen seines Patienten und Vertrauensperson zukommen. In der Regel passen ältere Kraftfahrer ihr Fahrverhalten ihren individuell verfügbaren Kompetenzen an. Auf diese Weise können altersbegleitende oder auch mit Erkrankungen oder Medikamenteneinnahmen einhergehende Veränderungen der körperlichen oder geistigen Leistungsfähigkeit zumeist erfolgreich kompensiert werden. Personenzentrierten Ansätzen kommt jedoch eine besondere Relevanz für den kleinen Anteil älterer Fahrer zu, welche keine oder nur unzureichende Kompensation aufweisen. Kontextorientierte Ansätze beziehen sich auf Maßnahmen, welche eine möglichst optimale Gestaltung der Bedingungen der Verkehrsumwelt auf die Bedürfnisse und Anforderungen älterer Kraftfahrer herbeiführen sollen. Maßnahmen dieser Art zielen zum Beispiel auf eine Entschleunigung des Straßenverkehrs durch Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzungen oder auch bauliche Maßnahmen. Auch die Potenziale moderner Fahrzeugtechnik werden unter dieser Perspektive zur Erhöhung der Verkehrssicherheit älterer Fahrer nutzbar. So können Fahrerassistenz- oder Fahrerinformationssysteme den älteren Fahrer in komplexen Situationen unterstützen. Dabei ist der Nutzen für die Verkehrssicherheit jedoch stark von der Handhabbarkeit und Bedienqualität der technischen Hilfsmittel abhängig. Technologien, welche die Komplexität der Fahrzeugbedienung erheblich erhöhen oder die Aufmerksamkeit vom Straßenverkehr ablenken, können ggf. auch zu einer weiteren Diskrepanz zwischen Anforderungssituation und verfügbaren Kompetenzen beitragen. Neben diesen eher auf die individuelle Verkehrsteilnahme als Autofahrer bezogenen Maßnahmen sind weitere wichtige kontextorientierte Ansatzpunkte in alternativen Mobilitätsvarianten zum Auto, wie in der Verbesserung der Attraktivität von Angeboten des ÖPNV oder auch den Bedingungen für Fußgänger und Radfahrer, zu finden. In diesem Sinne erscheint ein mehrdimensionaler Ansatz für die Gestaltung von Maßnahmen zur Erhöhung der Verkehrssicherheit älterer Kraftfahrer am erfolgversprechendsten. Interventionsansätze sollten sich gegenseitig ergänzen und möglichst sowohl die Ressourcen auf Seiten des älteren Menschen selbst als auch der Umwelt umfassen.
The National Roads Authority in Ireland is responsible for planning and supervision of construction and maintenance works on the National Road network. Its primary function is "to secure the provision of a safe and efficient network of national roads". The population of Ireland has grown rapidly from 3.5 million to 4 million within the past 10 years, and vehicle ownership has also risen rapidly to 2 million vehicles, with 2.2 million drivers. Collisions rates in Ireland are at approximately 1.5 collisions per 1,000 population (in 2002), and 8.4 deaths per 1,000,000 population (in 2003). This ranked 8th out of the 15 countries in the European Union at the time. Ireland- current Road Safety Strategy includes Engineering Targets. These are to complete construction of certain lengths of new motorway, dual carriageway and 2+1 highway, to implement a certain number of accident remedial and traffic calming schemes, and to implement road safety audit on all new schemes. The accident remedial schemes, traffic calming schemes, and road safety audit are all the responsibility of the Road Safety section of NRA. The road safety programme of the NRA is divided into four main areas; a) accident remedial measures at individual sites, b) accident remedial treatment of entire routes, c) traffic calming of towns and villages on main roads, d) road safety audit. Examples of these measures are described. Evaluation of past programmes of single site accident remedial measures show a reduction in collision occurrence at these sites, but the effectiveness and the economic rate of return is decreasing over successive programmes. A similar programme has now been adopted on the rest of the country- road network, on regional and local roads. The programme of remedial treatment of entire routes has only recently started and has not been evaluated. Evaluation of the first programme of traffic calming of towns and villages shows an overall decrease in collisions and their severity, and a small reduction in speed. Road Safety Audit, examining new schemes a number of times during design and after construction, has been standard procedure on the national road network for nearly 6 years. An evaluation is currently underway.
Die EU hat für die Verkehrssicherheit in Europa ein anspruchsvolles Ziel vorgegeben: Bis 2010 soll die Anzahl der im Straßenverkehr Getöteten gegenüber 2000 halbiert werden. Für Deutschland kann eine erfolgreiche Zwischenbilanz gezogen werden: In den letzten 5 Jahren nahm trotz Vergrößerung des Kraftfahrzeugbestandes um 6% die Anzahl der Verkehrstoten um 29% ab, in den vergangenen 10 Jahren ist ein Rückgang um 43% zu verzeichnen. Diese im internationalen Vergleich überdurchschnittlichen Erfolge sind nicht zuletzt auch auf Fortschritte in der Fahrzeugtechnik zurückzuführen, wobei die zunehmende Verbreitung von Systemen der Aktiven Sicherheit wie ABS, BAS, ESP einen entscheidenden Anteil hat. Nach der deutlichen Reduzierung von Fahrunfällen durch ESP-® stehen nun die Auffahrunfälle im Fokus der Sicherheitsentwicklung von Mercedes-Benz. Das Paket aus verbessertem rückwärtigen Signalbild (Adaptives Bremslicht) und Brems-Assistent (BAS) wurde kürzlich durch radarbasierte Bremsassistenz ergänzt (BAS PLUS und PRE-SAFE-®-Bremse). Der Beitrag geht auf Funktion und Wirksamkeit der einzelnen Systeme ein und gibt einen Ausblick in die nähere Zukunft.