91 Fahrzeugkonstruktion
Vehicle crash research at different levels is currently being conducted by several investigation groups in Spain, in some instances within various EU-funded projects. However there is a clear opportunity for increasing compatibility and maximizing usefulness, both at national and European levels, of the information collected by these groups. After reviewing on-going activities and programs in different countries, a framework for a nationwide crash investigation project is proposed: an organizational scheme is suggested as part of a future National Road Safety Strategic Plan; a map of investigation teams located in technological centres, universities and police agencies in Spain is presented; alternatives for several practical aspects such as team composition, deployment and operational budgets and project developmental stages are also discussed.
Nigeria ranks one of the highest countries in the world with the largest accident, especially when measured by whiplash associated disorders, whereas, traffic safety education rate, data and information been widely known as preventive indicators have been grossly neglected. In Nigeria, traffic safety enlightenment, awareness, political understanding and appreciation of the problem's magnitude are lacking. This study, therefore, seeks to understand and document the fact that accident causation factors in Nigeria relate more to the problem of development, poverty, knowledge and education as evidenced in most other developing countries. Among the primary accident causation factors on Nigerian roads are: - lack of a transportation system or multi-model integration - sub-standard and obsolete vehicles and road furniture - poor road maintenance, investment and engineering management - paucity of road users' and drivers' knowledge, skill, enlightenment and education of the road Use This paper submits that Nigeria being a developing nation requires purely primitive strategies being cost effective (health wise) than curative measures. It is in this light that an enduring, comprehensive and sustainable traffic safety educational programmes information base and data inventory, analysis and implementations form the focus of this study. This effort will provide basic guidelines framework and implementation procedure for a successful prevention of whiplash associated disorder resulting from road traffic crashes in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
Because of actual developments and the continuous increase in the field of drive assistant systems, representative and detailed investigations of accident databases are necessary. This lecture describes the possibility to estimate the potential of primary and secondary safety measures by means of a computerized case by case analysis. Single primary or secondary safety measures as well as a combination of both are presented. The method is exemplarily shown for the primary safety measure "Brake Assist" in pedestrian accidents. Regarding accident prevention only the primary safety measure is determined.
In-depth road traffic accident research in Spain is a fairly recent activity. In the past, only accident data that had been retrospectively processed by the national and regional traffic police forces was available. In 1999 Applus+IDIADA set up a permanent accident research unit to carry out indepth analysis of road accidents in Spain. Since then accidents involving cars, motorcycles, coaches and vulnerable road users have been thoroughly studied. The Applus+IDIADA accident research team has carried out work for the various traffic polices in Spain and it is currently involved in several research projects in which accidentology is one of the main tasks. The working methodology of the team is presented in the first part of the paper. In the framework of the European research project "Rollover" (GRD2-2001-50086), Applus+IDIADA has collected data, inspected scenarios and performed virtual reconstructions of twenty-six of the total seventy-six rollover accidents studied. The second half of the paper describes how these accident investigations were used to develop a test procedure for identifying possible improvements to the vehicle structure which augment occupant protection in a rollover scenario. In particular, a proposal for a new drop test for rollover assessment is presented. The cases were analysed for severity, in terms of injury to the occupants and damage to the vehicle, and taking into account whether a seatbelt was worn or not. The worst possible cases were identified as those that had severe occupant injuries and sizable damage to the occupant compartment when seatbelts had been worn. The most severe cases were then analysed further for impact position (roll and pitch angles) and the impact velocity. With these parameters taken into account, the most representative combinations could be found. This resulted in a series of configurations for possible drop tests. The results of the tests indicate where passenger vehicle structures need to be improved in order to increase occupant safety in the event of a rollover crash.
Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis <Tokyo>rnAbstract: Analyses were conducted to clarify the features of rear-end collisions, using an integrated accident database developed by the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA). Focusing on neck injuries in rear-end collisions, analyses were made of the relation to struck-vehicle properties. Regarding the relation to the initial year of registration, the results did not show that newer vehicles tended to have a lower no-neck-injury rate, which was defined in this study as an index. On the contrary, in some passenger car classes, it was observed that the no-neck-injury rate was higher in newer vehicles. The effect of an active head restraint system, which is one type of anti-whiplash device, was analyzed by using not only the no-neck-injury rate but also a regression analysis. The results showed that the effect of an active head restraint system on suppressing the incidence of neck injuries was statistically significant.rn
The objective of this study was to identify aspects of the individual experience and behaviour of drivers in intersection accidents. A total of 40 accident drivers sketched their ideas and expectations relating to intersection assistance using the method of Structure Formation Technique. Using this method prepared content cards and relation cards for a subject matter are formed together in a structure through the application of an explicit set of rules. The structures generated in this process were compared with the structures of 20 control persons who have not recently experienced an accident at intersections. The basis for this comparison was a case-control design with matched samples regarding the variables age, sex, education, occupation, driving experience and annual mileage. The results of the accident reports indicate that additional assistance is instrumental in the perception of other road users. Generally the interviewed drivers were open-minded towards the use of intersection assistance systems. Drivers who have recently experienced an accident at intersections significantly more often approved of warning assistance in their vehicle than drivers who have not recently experienced an accident. Further accident experienced drivers favoured warning and information via audio warning more frequently. The ideas of the drivers were strongly shaped by the experiences with already available advanced driver assistance systems. Hence acoustic and visual warnings were generally preferred to tactile warnings. The findings also indicate a relationship between the variable age and the acceptance of automatic vehicle intervention, and the suggestion of a head up display as a configuration of a visual warning system.
The price of a new car increased almost every year for a long period. In recent years however, the budget available to most people for purchasing a car either did not grow or became even smaller. Therefore it was in the interest of some OEMs to offer economical car models in the so-called "8,000- Euro class". Here an important question arose regarding the safety of these vehicles. There is no question that the very high safety level of cars reached in Europe during the last decades should not be sacrificed as a consequence of smaller budgets. Customers with sense of responsibility have the right to be properly informed about the balance between safety and price so that they can make a deliberate decision when buying either a new or a used car. Against this background, the German magazine "AutoBILD" commissioned DEKRA to conduct fullscale frontal crash tests with a view to publishing the results. These tests have been carried out in accordance with the corresponding Euro NCAP crash test requirements and performance criteria. The tested vehicles were two new Logans produced by the manufacturer Dacia, two used cars of the type VW Golf IV (registration date 2000) and one new VW Fox. This paper describes the safety features of the vehicles and the results of the five crash tests to demonstrate state-of-the-art safety levels and what levels may be expected from vehicles in the "8,000- Euro class". Looking at real-world crashes it is of interest to think about future trends in a more detailed manner. Therefore it will be more and more necessary to supplement the federal statistics with more detailed in-depth information about the consequences of accidents and the safety performance of crashed vehicles.
In recent years the boundaries between active and passive safety blurred more and more. Passive safety in the traditional term includes all safety aspects to prevent occupants to be injured or at least injury severity should be reduced. Passive Safety starts with the collision (first vehicle contact) and ends with rescue (open vehicle doors). Within this phase the occupant has to be protected by the passenger compartment whereby no intrusion should occur. Active safety on the other side was developed to interact prior to the collision whereby the goal is to prevent accidents. The extensive interaction between active and passive safety led to the terminologies "Primary" and "Secondary" safety whereas the expression Integrated Safety Concept was generated. Within this study the most well documented single vehicle accidents with cars not equipped with ESP were identified from the PENDANT database and reconstructed. Additional cases were found in the database ZEDATU of TU Graz. In comparison each case was simulated with the assumption that the cars were equipped with ESP. The differences regarding accident avoidance or crash severity as well as reduction of injury risk were analysed.
This paper uses the national accident statistics of Great Britain to evaluate the effectiveness of Electronic Stability Control Systems (ESC) to reduce crash involvement rates. The crash experience of 8,951 cars is analysed and compared to a closely matching set of non-ESC cars using case-control methods. This is one of the largest ESC samples analysed to date. Overall the cars with ESC are involved in 3% fewer crashes although the effectiveness is substantially higher under conditions of adverse road friction. ESC equipped cars are involved in 15% fewer fatal crashes although this reduction represents the combined effect of ESC and passive safety improvements.
There is a need for detecting characteristics of pedestrian movement before car-pedestrian collisions to trigger a fully reversible pedestrian protection system. For this purpose, a pedestrian sensor system has been developed. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the sensor system, the in-depth knowledge of car-pedestrian impact scenarios is needed. This study aims at the evaluation of the sensor system. The accident data are selected from the STRADA database. The accident scenarios available in this database were evaluated and the knowledge of the most common scenarios was developed in terms of the pedestrian trajectory, the pedestrian speed, the car trajectory, the car velocity, etc. A mathematical model was then established to evaluate the sensor system with different detective angles. It was found that in order to detect all the pedestrians in the most common scenarios on time the sensor detective angle must be kept larger than 60 degrees.
Since 2005 the German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS) also records aspects of active vehicle safety. This is done because vehicles are fitted with an increasing number of active safety devices which have undoubtedly an influence on the number, severity and course of accidents. Accident researchers expect that collecting active safety data will facilitate to assess and quantify the impact of these and future devices. It is the aim of this paper to outline benefits and limitations associated with the recording of active safety aspects within indepth studies. An overview about possible areas where active safety data can be useful will be given. For that purpose single safety or comfort systems will be selected to estimate the effects of an accident database which includes variables associated with these systems. Questions with regard to the limitations of collecting active safety data will be addressed. Possible items are for example the usability of the data recorded, the real accident cause, the small number of relevant accidents, the time span needed to gather a sufficient dataset, the small share of vehicles equipped with a certain system or different functionalities of systems that are supposed to fall in the same category. As a result user needs for a reasonable data collection of active safety elements will be elaborated.
Description of road traffic related knee injuries in published investigations is very heterogeneous. The purpose of this study was to estimate the risk of knee injuries in real world car impacts in Germany focusing vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists) and restrained car drivers. The accident research unit analyses technical and medical data collected shortly after the accident at scene. Two different periods (years 1985-1993 and 1995-2003) were compared focusing on knee injuries (Abbreviated Injury Scale (AISKnee) 2/3). In order to determine the influences type of collision, direction and speed as well as the injury pattern and different injury scores (AIS, MAIS, ISS) were examined. 1.794 pedestrians, 742 motorcyclists, 2.728 bicyclists and 1.116 car drivers were extracted. 2% had serious ligamentous or bony injuries in relation to all injured. The risk of injury is higher for twowheelers than for pedestrians, but knee injury severity is higher for the latter group. Overall the current knee injury risk is low and significant reduced comparing both time periods (27%, p<0,0001). Severe injuries (AISKnee 2/3) were below 1%). Improved aerodynamic design of car fronts reduced the risk for severe knee injuries significantly (p=0,0015). Highest risk of injury is for motorcycle followed by pedestrians, respectively. Knee protectors could prevent injuries by reducing local forces. The classically described dashboard injury was rarely identified. The overall injury risk for knee injuries in road traffic is lower than estimated and reduced comparing both periods. The aerodynamic shape of current cars compared to older types reduced the incidence and severity of knee injuries. Further modification and optimization of the interior and exterior design could be a proper measurement. Classic described injury mechanisms were rarely identified. It seems that the AIS is still underestimating extremity injuries and their long term results.
Die zukünftige Entwicklung der Straßenverkehrssicherheit und damit auch der Fahrzeugsicherheit wird durch gesellschaftliche, wirtschaftliche, klimapolitische und verkehrspolitische Rand- und Rahmenbedingungen und die voranschreitende technische Entwicklung geprägt sein, die auch für den Gesetzgeber eine Herausforderung darstellen. So wird sich auch das Folgeprogramm des Bundesministeriums für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung (BMVBS) für das derzeitige aus dem Jahr 2001 stammende "Programm für mehr Sicherheit im Straßenverkehr" an den Schwerpunkten des "4th Road Safety Action Programme" ausrichten, das im Frühjahr 2010 durch die EU-Kommission veröffentlicht werden soll. Im Prozess zu einer weiteren Verbesserung der Straßenverkehrssicherheit werden unter anderem der demografische Wandel in unserer Gesellschaft, die durch eine erforderliche CO2-Reduktion bedingte Einführung alternativer Antriebe (Elektromobilität) verbunden mit Leichtbau sowie die gesetzlichen Rahmenbedingung (Wiener Abkommen) eine bedeutende Rolle spielen. Die Klärung der gesetzlichen Rahmenbedingungen ist unerlässlich, um die Vision vom unfallfreien Fahren Realität werden lassen zu können.
Mit der EU-Verordnung Nummer 661/2009 zur Typgenehmigung und allgemeinen Sicherheit von Kraftfahrzeugen wird von der EU für schwere Nutzfahrzeuge der Einbau von Spurverlassenswarnsystemen und automatischen Notbremssystemen vorgeschrieben. Mit dem obligatorischen Einbau der Systeme wird eine Reduktion der Abkommens- und Auffahrunfälle von Nutzfahrzeugen aus den Klassen M2, M3, N2 und N3, die auf Grund der hohen Masse der Fahrzeuge folgenschwer sind, erwartet. Als Einführungsdaten werden der 1. November 2013 für neue Fahrzeugtypen und der 1. November 2015 für neue Fahrzeuge genannt. Leistungsanforderungen beziehungsweise technische Spezifikationen, denen die Systeme genügen müssen, liegen jedoch noch nicht vor. Diese werden derzeit von einer Expertengruppe auf UN-ECE-Ebene entwickelt. Dabei wird versucht, technologieneutrale Beschreibungen für die Ausgestaltung der Systeme zu erstellen, die gleichzeitig sowohl den gewünschten Nutzen für die Verkehrssicherheit garantieren, sich aber auch an der derzeit vorhandenen und realisierbaren Technologie orientieren. Darüber hinaus müssen die Systemkosten in einem vernünftigen Verhältnis zum Sicherheitsnutzen stehen. Ziel ist es, im Laufe des Jahres 2011 Vorschläge für die Legislative vorzulegen. Es wird über den Stand der Arbeiten, offene Fragestellungen, Herausforderungen bei der Ausgestaltung der technischen Anforderungen sowie sich abzeichnende Ergebnisse berichtet. Dabei sind die Arbeiten in Bezug auf Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDWS) bereits weiter fortgeschritten als zu Advanced Emergency Braking Systems (AEBS).
Der Allgemeine Deutsche Automobil-Club e.V. (ADAC) und die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt) veranstalteten am 15. Oktober 2009 in Baden-Baden ihr 7. Symposium \"Sicher fahren in Europa\". Nach 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003 und zuletzt 2006 trafen sich auch dieses Mal wieder zahlreiche Fachleute aus Wissenschaft und Politik, Industrie, Wirtschaft und Verbänden aus dem In- und Ausland, trugen neue Forschungsergebnisse vor und erörterten aktuelle Ansätze zur Erhöhung der Verkehrssicherheit. Dabei ging es in den Referaten und Diskussionsbeiträgen und in den vier Workshops vor allem darum, die verkehrspolitischen Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen für die europäische Verkehrssicherheitsarbeit im Hinblick auf folgende Themen zu beleuchten: "Verkehrssicherheit Junger Fahrer", - Das "Auto der Zukunft", - "Demographischer Wandel", - "Landstraßensicherheit". Den Grundsatzreferaten folgten vertiefte Bearbeitungen in den Workshops. Die CD-ROM dokumentiert die Grußworte, Referate und Diskussionsbeiträge.
In spite of today's highly sophisticated crash test procedures like the different NCAP programs running world-wide, bad real world crash performance of cars is still an issue. There are crash situations which are not sufficiently represented by actual test configurations. This is especially true for car to car, as well as for car to object impacts. The paper describes reasons for this bad performance. The reasons are in principal bad structural interaction between the car and its impact partners (geometric incompatibility), unadjusted front end stiffness (stiffness incompatibility) and collapse of passenger compartments. To show the efficiency of improving cars' structural behaviour in accidents with different impact partners an accident data analysis has been taken out by members of European Project VC-COMPAT. Accident data analysis has shown that in Germany between 15,000 and 20,000 of the now severely injured car occupants might get less injured and between 600 and 900 car occupant fatalities might be saved. Similar results arise for the UK.
In September 2004 the first international symposium called ESAR (Expert Symposium on Accident Research) was carried out at the University of Hannover (Germany). The idea for such international conference was to bring together experts from the fields of accident investigation teams worldwide to present their results for a common audience of people from government, industry and other universities. The first conference was a really sufficient one and followed by the second symposium also at the Hannover Medical School two years later in 2006. This two year rhythm was now continued with the third conference in Hannover again in 2008. It is planned to carry out ESAR every two years also in the future. ESAR is a scientific colloquium and can be seen as a platform for exchange of information on accident research issues based on methodologies of investigation, injury mechanisms and injury assessment, accident causation and other issues of statistical accident data analysis. Representatives from authorities as well as from medical and technical institutions come together to discuss new research issues and exchange experiences on accident prevention and the complex field of accident reconstruction. Special focus was given to the target the European Union set for itself in 2000 which stipulates that within 10 years the number of person killed in road traffic accidents must be cut in half. To reach this goal, optimized measures, comprehensive research and analysis are necessary. A key hurdle comes from the European Union extension to 27 member states, each featuring different levels of traffic safety standards and different accident scenarios. Existing results from long term research projects in Europe, the USA, Australia and Japan including analyses of infrastructure, population, vehicle fleet and driver behaviour offer an excellent basis for understanding and improving countermeasures and research support needs in underdeveloped countries. ESAR's goal is to bring together researchers from all parts of the world, who will report on their methods and recommendations to improve traffic safety based on "In-Depth-Investigations" of real world accidents. These In-depth-investigations of accidents require thorough documentation and an accident data analysis on multidisciplinary levels which must be carried out immediately after it occurs. ESAR presents scientists the opportunity to present their studies on a common basis of research level.
The second ESAR Conference took place at the Medical University Hannover. This year conference presents the current state of affairs of relevant research activities in the field of in-depth investigations. The first conference on ESAR (Expert Symposium on Accident Research) was established in 2004. It is planned to hold ESAR every two years. Hannover seems to be the right place for this conference concerning the fact that the first in-depth research team was found here in the year 1973 and comprehensive studies on accident analysis were spread out from here around the world continuously. This year conference topped all expectations in terms of the numbers of participants, in the variety of papers and the interdisciplinary of presenters from medical, psychological and engineering background. More than 100 delegates from all over the world, that means 13 different countries and from 4 different continents, came to Hannover, presented their results of accident investigation and discussed countermeasures for accident prevention and injury reduction. ESAR should be a platform for exchange of knowledge to find an optimized way for increase of traffic and vehicle safety by in-depth investigation and methodology. ESAR as international conference should be a platform for consideration of all nations round the world. This seems to be very important for the current situation, having high safety in the high industrial countries of Europe, US and Australia, but low safety and high injury risk in Asia and Africa.
In recent years considerable progress in active and passive safety of road vehicles has been made. The road traffic of today is much safer than in the past. A current vehicle has a lot more safety elements resulting in an improved inner and outer technique. In most European countries the number of fatalities is decreasing despite growing traffic and road usage. Nevertheless, the number of casualties in road traffic accidents is high enough, thus more progress is needed if the number of fatalities is to be reduced by 50%, as postulated by the European Commission for the year 2010. In order to develop countermeasures and further possibilities for injury prevention, it is increasingly important to have accident data available, supplying results quickly and giving the best overview across Europe. In-Depth-Data Sampling Procedures have a huge historical development, starting in the 60ies by the car manufactures, continued during the 70ies mostly by some universities mainly in England, Sweden, France and Germany, today a net of in-depth-investigation teams are working across Europe and around the world.One of the oldest teams is located at the Hannover Medical School, founded in 1973 by the German Government on behalf of the Federal Highway Research Institute Bast. It was the only team worldwide that was equipped with blue light emergency cars, working on scene in time so directly after the event and working continuously during the years, collecting 20 thousand accidents within 30 years period. Since 1999 the order is carried out in cooperation with the German car industry, which is interested and has benefit on the data too. On the basis of the new data collection, so called GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study), that has been run at the Technical University Dresden and the Medical University Hannover), a special tool for In-Depth-Accident Analysis was founded. It is the task of this conference to build a platform for such research based on In-Depth-Investigation. The conference is specially aimed at the area of accident data analysis in order to contribute to the harmonization of different investigation methods and accumulation of different results that does exist for different countries worldwide. Up to now no special conference did exist to deal with accident data only following in the discussion for an improvement in traffic and vehicle safety. ESAR - expert symposium on accident research - should be a step forward. This first international conference is being organized by the Accident Research Unit at the Medical University Hannover jointly with the German Federal Highway Research Institute Bast and the Research Association of German Car Manufacturers FAT. The conference should be a platform for an interdisciplinary exchange of information based on the different presentations from participants around the world.
Der Allgemeine Deutsche Automobilclub e. V. (ADAC) und die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt) veranstalteten am 7. und 8. Oktober 2003 in Wiesbaden ihr 5. Symposium "Sicher fahren in Europa". Nach 1991, 1994, 1997 und 2000 trafen sich erneut über 200 Fachleute aus Wissenschaft, Politik, Verwaltung, Industrie, Wirtschaft und Verbänden aus ganz Europa und einigen außereuropäischen Ländern, trugen neue Forschungsergebnisse vor und erörterten aktuelle Ansätze zur Erhöhung der Sicherheit im Straßenverkehr. Dabei ging es in Vortrags- und Diskussionsbeiträgen vor allem darum, folgende verkehrspolitischen Herausforderungen und Entwicklungen für eine europaweite Verkehrssicherheitsarbeit zu beleuchten: - die Umsetzung des 3. Verkehrssicherheits-Aktionsprogrammes der EU-Kommission bis 2010, dessen Diskussion gerade begonnen hat, - die zusätzlichen Probleme und Herausforderungen für die Verkehrssicherheit, die ab 2004 durch den EU-Beitritt von 10 weiteren Mitgliedsländern entstehen, - das Bestreben vieler EU-Mitgliedsstaaten, ihre nationale Identität und ihre regionalen Besonderheiten auch auf dem Gebiet der Verkehrssicherheit zu bewahren, um die Akzeptanz und Effizienz von praktischen Maßnahmen zu sichern, ein Ziel, dem sich auch der "EU-Konvent zur Zukunft Europas" verschrieben hat. Diesen ebenso aktuellen wie grundsätzlichen Anforderungen entsprach das Veranstaltungsprogramm mit seinen verkehrspolitischen Eröffnungs-vorträgen und mit drei Fachsitzungen - zur Verbesserung der Fahrzeugsicherheit, - der Verbesserung der Straßensicherheit und - zur Verbesserung des Verhaltens von Verkehrsteilnehmern. Eine Podiumsdiskussion "Zur Harmonisierung von Verkehrsüberwachung und Sanktionen" schloss die Veranstaltung ab.
Mit dem Seminar SILENCE wurde ein Forschungsprojekt abgeschlossen, das aus zehn Unterprojekten bestand, und an dem 46 internationale Partner beteiligt waren. Ziel des Projektes war es, die Belästigung durch Verkehrslärm in Ballungsräumen zu reduzieren. Das Projekt wurde in den Jahren 2005 bis 2008 mit insgesamt rund 9 Millionen Euro durch die Europäische Union gefördert. Auf dem SILENCE-Seminar im Mai 2008 in den Räumen der Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen wurden die aktuellen Forschungsergebnisse von Vertretern der verschiedenen beteiligten Disziplinen präsentiert und diskutiert mit dem Ziel, die gefundenen Problemlösungen an die Anwender zu übermitteln