Recent accident statistics from the German national database state bicyclists being the second endangered group of vulnerable road users besides pedestrians. With 399 fatalities, more than 14.000 seriously injured and more than 61.000 slightly injured persons on german roads in the year 2011, the group of bicyclists is ranked second of all road user groups (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2012). While the overall bicycle helmet usage frequency in Germany is very low, evidence is given that its usage leads to a significant reduction of severe head injuries. After an estimation of the benefit of bicycle helmet usage as well as an appropriate test procedure for bicyclists, this paper describes two different approaches for the improvement of bicyclist safety. While the first one is focusing on the assessment of the vehicle based protection potential for bicyclists, the second one is concentrating on the safety assessment of bicycle helmets. Within the first part of the study the possible revision of the existing pedestrian testing protocols is being examined, using in depth accident data, full scale simulation and hardware testing. Within the second part of the study, the results of tests according to supplemental test procedures for the safety assessment of bicycle helmets developed by the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) are presented. An additional full scale test performed at reduced impact speed proves that measures of active vehicle safety as e.g. braking before the collision event do not necessarily always lead to a reduction of injury severity.
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.
The Intersection 2020 project was initiated to develop a test procedure for Automatic Emergency Braking systems in intersection car-to-car scenarios to be transferred to Euro NCAP. The project aims to address current road traffic accidents on European roads and therefore sets a priority of the identification of the most important car-to-car accidents and Use Cases. Taking into account technological and practical limitations, Test Scenarios are derived from the Use Cases in a later stage of the project. This paper presents parts of a larger study and provides an overview of common car-to-vehicle(at least four wheels) collision types at junctions in Europe and specifies seven Accident Scenarios from which the three scenarios “Straight Crossing Paths (SCP)”, “Left Turn Across Path – Opposite Direction Conflict (LTAP/OD)” and “Left Turn Across Path – Lateral Direction (LTAP/LD)” are most important due to their high relevance regarding severe car-to-car accidents. Technical details about crash parameters such as collision and initial speeds are delivered. The analysis work performed is input for the definition and selection of the Use Cases as well as for the project’s benefit estimation. The numbers of accidents and fatalities in accidents at intersections involving a passenger car were shown per intersection type. In both statistics, it was found that accidents at crossroads and T- or staggered junctions are of highest relevance, followed by roundabouts. Focusing on accidents at intersections between one passenger car and another road user shows that around one-third of all accidents and related fatalities could have been assigned to car-to-PTW accidents and one-fifth of all accidents and fatalities to car-to-car accidents. Regarding car-to-car accidents with at least serious injury outcome 38% out of 34,489 car-to-car accidents happened at intersections. These figures correspond to 18% of the fatalities (4,236 fatalities in total). Considering all intersection types, around half of all related accidents happened in urban environments whereas this number decreased to one-third of all fatalities. Further, the proportion of road fatalities per country occurring at intersections varies widely across the EU. Also, there are proportionately more fatalities in daylight or twilight conditions at junctions. Use Cases are supposed to be derived from Accident Scenarios and by adding detailed information for example about the road layout, right-of-way and the vehicle trajectories prior to the collision. Instead of applying cluster algorithms to the accident data, a pragmatic approach was finally preferred to create them. Note: Use Cases serve as an intermediate step between the Accident Scenarios and the Test Scenarios which describe the actual testing conditions. Finally, 74 Use Cases were identified. This large number indicates the complexity of intersection crashes due to the combination of several parameters.
The presentation deals with the simulation tool rateEFFECT which intends to answer the following questions: Which active safety systems should be developed to maximize safety benefit in real traffic accidents? What is the effectiveness of a specific active safety system in the real world? How many casualties could be avoided by such a system? It is shown that a lot of information is required to simulate existing accidents in order to estimate ADAS effects. This particularly includes numerical values for the pre-crash and in-crash phase. The database GIDAS provides a required minimum number of these parameters for a statistically significant sample.
Bisher liegt der Schwerpunkt der Forschungsaktivitäten im Bereich der automatisierten Fahrzeugführung auf generellen Automatisierungseffekten, die implizit einen fahrerfahrenen Fahrer annehmen. Welches Potenzial Fahrerassistenzsysteme und Fahrzeugautomatisierung für Fahrschüler und Fahranfänger während des Kompetenzerwerbs haben, ist bisher nicht ausreichend erforscht. Anhand einer Literaturrecherche und eines Expertenworkshops werden in diesem Bericht Forschungsfragen aus dem Bereich des Fahrkompetenzerwerbs im Kontext zunehmender Fahrzeugautomatisierung erarbeitet. Im Rahmen der Literaturrecherche werden zunächst relevante Begrifflichkeiten aus der Expertise- und Kompetenzforschung definiert (z.B. Experte, Experteneigenschaften) sowie allgemeingültige Modelle zum Expertise- und Kompetenzerwerb aufgeführt. Mit Hilfe dieser Grundlagen wird anschließend der Kompetenzerwerb konkret auf das Autofahren übertragen und der Prozess des Fahrkompetenzerwerbs (z.B. Lernbedingungen während der Fahrausbildung und des darauffolgenden selbstständigen Fahrens, Unfallgeschehen der Fahranfänger) betrachtet. Nach GASSER, SEECK und SMITH (2015) lassen sich Fahrerassistenzsysteme sowie die Stufen der Fahrzeugautomatisierung nach ihrer Wirkweise in drei grundlegende Funktionskategorien einteilen (Funktionen der Wirkweisen A, B und C). Heute verfügbare Systeme werden in diese drei grundlegenden Funktionskategorien eingeordnet. Schließlich werden in diesem Bericht Fahrkompetenz und Wirkweisen zusammengeführt: Für jede Wirkweise werden die bestehenden Anforderungen an den Fahrer und damit verbundene Erkenntnisse zum Erwerb und der Entwicklung von Fahrkompetenz dargestellt. Es stehen als Nutzergruppen die Fahrschüler und die Fahranfänger im Fokus. Als weitere Nutzergruppe werden fahrerfahrene Fahrer berücksichtigt. Der durchgeführte Expertenworkshop diente dazu, eine anwendungsbezogene Ergänzung zur Literaturanalyse zu schaffen. Mit Vertretern der Fahrlehrerverbände, der Forschung und fahrerfahrenen Fahrern wurden Fragen diskutiert, die sich für die Wirkweisen A, B und C im Zusammenhang mit dem Fahrkompetenzerwerb ergeben. Die Befunde der Literaturrecherche werden zusammen mit den Ergebnissen des Expertenworkshops zur Ableitung des Forschungsbedarfs herangezogen. Der Forschungsbedarf wird – strukturiert nach den Wirkweisen – für jede Nutzergruppe dargestellt. Für die Nutzergruppen allgemein (d. h. alle Fahrer) ergibt sich Forschungsbedarf bezüglich der Bestimmung des Trainingsbedarfs zum Erlernen des richtigen Umgangs mit Funktionen der Wirkweisen A bis C sowie der Entwicklung entsprechender Trainingskonzepte (Schwerpunkt: Wirkweise B). Die Entwicklung von Trainingskonzepten zur Deckung dieses Trainingsbedarfs sollte unter Berücksichtigung der Kompetenzen der einzelnen Nutzergruppen erfolgen. Weiterhin sollten in der Forschung zukünftig sowohl der Anforderungswandel an das Aufmerksamkeitsmanagement der Fahrer bei Nutzung von Funktionen der Wirkweise B als auch Veränderungen in der Kommunikation zwischen Verkehrsteilnehmern im künftigen Mischverkehr Berücksichtigung finden. Für die Nutzergruppe der Fahrschüler ergibt sich Forschungsbedarf bezüglich der kontinuierlichen Weiterentwicklung von Fahrausbildungs- und Fahrprüfungsinhalten für Funktionen der Wirkweisen A bis C. Für Funktionen der Wirkweisen A und B (Level 1) zeigt sich ein Potenzial zur Unterstützung des Kompetenzerwerbs beim Fahrenlernen, das zukünftig untersucht werden sollte. Von einem ausschließlichem Gebrauch von Funktionen der Wirkweise B während der Fahrschulausbildung sollte abgesehen werden, da potenziell ein Risiko des Nicht-Erwerbs von Fahrkompetenz besteht. Für die Nutzergruppe der Fahranfänger zeigt sich ein Potenzial zur Unterstützung des nach dem Fahrerlaubniserwerb andauernden Kompetenzerwerbs für Funktionen der Wirkweisen A und B (Level 1), welches zukünftig in der Forschung berücksichtigt werden sollte. Ähnlich wie bei der Gruppe der Fahrschüler besteht auch für Fahranfänger das potenzielle Risiko eines Nicht-Erwerbs von Fahrkompetenz bei ausschließlichem Gebrauch von Funktionen der Wirkweise B. Für die Nutzergruppe der fahrerfahrenen Fahrer ergibt sich zum einen Forschungsbedarf für die Bestimmung des notwendigen Trainingsumfangs für Funktionen der Wirkweisen A und B. Zum anderen sollte zukünftig in der Forschung die Relevanz möglicher Verschlechterungen psychomotorischer Fertigkeiten bei überdauernder Nutzung von Funktionen der Wirkweise B (hauptsächlich Level 2 und 3) berücksichtigt werden.
For the estimation of the benefit and effect of innovative Driver Assistance Systems (DAS) on the collision positions and by association on the accident severity, together with the economic benefit, it becomes necessary to simulate and evaluate a variety of virtual accidents with different start values (e.g. initial speed). Taken into account the effort necessary for a manual reconstruction, only an automated crash computation can be considered for this task. This paper explains the development of an automated crash computation based on GIDAS. The focus will be on the design of the virtual vehicle models, the method of the crash computation as well as exemplary applications of the automated crash computation. For the first time an automated crash computation of passenger car accidents has been realized. Using the automated crash computation different tasks within the field of vehicle safety can be elaborated. This includes, for example, the calculation of specific accident parameters (such as EES or delta-V) for various accident constellations and the estimation of the economic benefit of DAS using IRFs (Injury Risk Functions).
Rear-end collisions are the most frequent same and opposite-direction crashes. Common causes include momentary inattention, inadequate speed or inadequate distance. While most rear-end collisions in urban traffic only result in vehicle damage or slight injuries, rear-end collisions outside built-up areas or on motorways usually cause fatal or serious injuries. Driver assistance systems that detect dangerous situations in the longitudinal vehicle direction are therefore an essential safety plus. In view of this, for ADAC, systems that alert drivers to dangerous situations and initiate autonomous braking complement ESC as one of the most important active safety features in modern vehicles. The aim of ADAC is to provide consumers with technical advice and competent information about the systems available on the market. Reliable comparative tests that are based on standardised test criteria may provide motorists with important information and help them make a buying decision. In addition, they raise consumer awareness of the systems and speed up their market penetration. The assessment must focus on as many aspects of effectiveness as possible and include not only autonomous braking but also collision warning and autonomous brake assist. The work of the ADAC accident research is the development of the testing scenarios with direct link to accident situations and the identification of useful test criteria for testing.
For more than a decade, ADAC accident researchers have analysed road accidents with severe injuries, recording some 20,000 accidents. An important task in accident research is to determine the causative factors of road accidents. Apart from vehicle engineering and human factors, accident research also focuses on infrastructural and environmental aspects. To find out what accident scenarios are the most common in ADAC accident research and what driver assistance systems can prevent them, our first task was to conduct a detailed accident analysis. Using CarMaker, we performed a realistic simulation of accident scenarios, including crashes, with varying parameters. To begin with, we made an initial selection of driver assistance systems in order to determine those with the greatest accident prevention potential. One important finding of this study is that the safety potential of the individual driver assistance systems can actually be examined. It also turned out that active safety offers even much more potential for development and innovation than passive safety. At the same time, testing becomes more demanding, too, as new systems keep entering the market, many of them differing in functional details. ADAC will continue to test all driver assistance systems as realistically as possible so as to be able to provide advice to car buyers. Therefore, it will be essential to develop and improve test conditions and criteria.
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.
Enhanced protection of pedestrians and cyclists remains on the focus. Besides infrastructural and behavioral aspects it is necessary to exploit technical solutions placed on motorized vehicles. Accident research needs reliable data as well as national road accident statistics. Changing the view on seriously injured road users is one of the challenges which will substantially contribute to the optimization on future traffic safety. The missing accuracy in the definition of personal injury has a detrimental effect on making cost efficient road safety policy which is not only focused on fatal accidents. The European commission requested that, starting in 2015, all EU member states provide more detailed data on the injury status of road casualties, with special regard to the group of seriously injured. Conventional accident data will always be essential. But to obtain detailed data about driver behavior in real traffic situations further data sources are required. These could be EDR data, data from electronic control units, data from traffic surveys and traffic counting, naturalistic diving studies and field operational tests. Gaining insight into normal as well as critical driver behavior will enable accident researchers to deduct functions estimating the increase or decrease of accident risk associated with certain behaviors or vehicle functions. Also with view to the introduction of highly automated driving functions in the future such data is urgently needed. Computer simulation based tools to estimate the benefits of active safety systems are another step on the way towards the safety assessment of automated driving. It is now the duty of the scientific community to ask the right questions, to develop a methodology and to merge all these data sources into a common framework for the assessment of future traffic safety innovations.