Sonstige
Im Oktober 2007 wurde die Rügenbrücke, eine der längsten Hochbrücken Europas, für den Verkehr freigegeben. Der Beitrag befasst sich mit den Erfahrungen, die bei Planung und Bau dieses bemerkenswerten Bauwerks gemacht wurden, insbesondere hinsichtlich der vielen bautechnischen Innovationen bei dem Schlüsselbauwerk des Brückenzuges, der 570 m langen Schrägseilbrücke über den Ziegelgraben. Eine der wesentlichen Erstanwendungen für Deutschland betraf die Ausführung der Schrägseile mit Litzenbündeln des Systems DYNA Grip der SUSPA DSI. Wegen des aus Gründen des Vogelschutzes erforderlichen Mindestdurchmessers der Seile von 12 cm waren vollverschlossene Seile aus ingenieurtechnischen und wirtschaftlichen Gründen benachteiligt, sodass sich der Bauherr für Seile aus Litzenbuendeln entschied. Die Schrägseilbrücke über den Ziegelgraben wird schon jetzt als modernes Wahrzeichen der Stadt Stralsund empfunden. Sie passt sich gestalterisch hervorragend in die Umgebung ein und beeinträchtigt auch nicht die zum Weltkulturerbe zählende Altstadt von Stralsund. Besonders besticht das Bauwerk durch seine Leichtigkeit und die Einpassung der Formen der Bauteile, zum Beispiel wegen der tropfenfoermigen Gestaltung des Pylons und der Pfeiler, in das maritime Umfeld. Da die verwendeten Schrägseil-Litzenbündel noch nicht allgemein bauaufsichtlich zugelassen sind, kam der Qualitätssicherung für die Seile in allen Stufen der Planung, Fertigung, Montage und Bauwerksprüfung eine herausragende Bedeutung zu. Der zugehörige Qualitätssicherungsplan wird im Bericht ausführlich mit den wesentlichen \"schrägseilspezifischen\" Maßnahmen beschrieben. Schwingungen und Ermüdungsbeanspruchungen der Seile durch Fahrverkehr und Wind liessen sich durch einen mehrstufigen, kontinuierlich verdichteten Planungsprozess unter Nutzung von Versuchsdaten und Messungen am Bauwerk wirkungsvoll beherrschen. Aus Sicht der Bauwerksprüfung bestanden anfänglich Bedenken wegen der Erreichbarkeit der bis in 80 m Höhe über dem Brückendeck gespannten Schrägseile und der nicht direkt zugänglichen Litzen innerhalb des Hüllrohres sowie der Verankerungen. Daher wurden alle verfügbaren Prüfverfahren für Schrägseile an der Rügenbrücke getestet. Daraus ergab sich eine Prüfmatrix aus Prüfverfahren, Prüfmittel und Prüfumfang für die gesamte Nutzungsdauer. Zusammenfassend wird festgestellt, dass bei der Ziegelgrabenbrücke Schrägseile aus Litzenbündeln eine den vollverschlossenen Seilen ebenbürtige Bauart darstellen.
Verschiedene Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Luftqualität in Städten waren bisher bei der Verminderung von Stickoxiden nur bedingt erfolgreich. Interessant ist, ob der Einsatz der Photokatalyse hier weiterhelfen kann. Photokatalytische Anwendungen wurden schon in einigen Pilotstudien untersucht, zum Beispiel an Straßen beziehungsweise Modell-Canyons sowie in Tunneln. Teilweise wurden international sehr positive Ergebnisse erzielt, geichzeitig liegen aus anderen internationalen Projekten Ergebnisse unterhalb der Messgenauigkeit vor. Die vorgestellten Ergebnisse werden anhand verschiedener Variablen betrachtet und die erwartbare Atmosphärenrelevanz diskutiert. Zusammengefasst wird, dass basierend auf bekannten Feldmessungen für die Photokatalyse eine mittlere NOx-Reduktion von nur wenigen Prozent (in Hauptstraßenschluchten) zu erwarten ist. Dieses Potenzial muss mit anderen Maßnahmen verglichen werden (Kosten/Nutzenanalyse). Materialien müssen vor ihrem Einsatz in der Atmosphäre sorgfältig auf ihre Aktivität untersucht werden. Erfüllen die Oberflächen die Voraussetzungen, um als aktiv eingestuft zu werden, ist ihr Einsatz zur Luftreinhaltung klar zu empfehlen.
This study aimed at comparing head Wrap Around Distance (WAD) of Vulnerable Road User (VRU) obtained from the German in-depth Accident Database (GIDAS), the China in-depth Accident Database (CIDAS) and the Japanese in-depth Accident Database (ITARDA micro). Cumulative distribution of WAD of pedestrian and cyclist were obtained for each database (AIS2+) showing that WAD of cyclists were larger than the ones of pedestrians. Comparing three regions, the 50%tile WAD of GIDAS was larger than that of both Asian accident databases. Using linear regression that might predict WAD of pedestrians and cyclists from Impact speed and VRU height, WADs were calculated to be 206cm/219cm (Pedestrian/Cyclist) for GIDAS, 170cm/192cm for CIDAS and 211cm/235cm for ITARDA. In addition, this study may be helpful for reconsideration of WAD measurement alignment between accident reconstruction and test procedures.
Since 2008, the authors inspected fatal traffic accidents on the spot every year, with the cooperation of Toyota police station in Aichi pref. In the jurisdiction, numbers of fatal accidents were 18 in 2008, 12 in 2009, 14 accidents in 2010, and 16 in 2011. We here report the results of our analysis of information obtained by detailed inspection for those that occurred from 2008 to 2010. We focused on vehicle-to-pedestrian accidents, which accounted for about 45% of all accidents in 2008. Because many accidents occurred on residential roads not far from pedestrians" homes, it was revealed that the decrease of the collision speed by traffic calming such as humps and zone speed management, was highly effective. On the other hand, pedestrian detection technologies seemed to be also effective as a countermeasure on vehicle side. Every pedestrian position against a vehicle was clarified and TTC (Time to Collision) was calculated provisionally. Pedestrian accidents in intersections were also examined. Among the intersection pedestrian accidents within the jurisdiction, compared with the national average in Japan, the ratio of intersections without a signal and the ratio without a pedestrian crossing were high. According to the comparison of the Japanese traffic accident patterns between 2001 and 2008, pedestrian accidents during turning right and turning left did not decrease much. For elderly drivers, these accidents occurred very often. Finally, single vehicle accidents were analysed with the accident pattern analysis methods used above. There were high numbers of single vehicle accidents against object on single roads. Although fatal accidents against guardrails decreased, the numbers of fatal accidents against a utility pole and a sign pole were nearly constant. As for the impact with narrow width objects such as utility poles, the fatality rate was very high, and countermeasures of both road infrastructure and vehicles seem to be effective.
Driver distraction
(2017)
This report for the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) summarises recent research and knowledge from scientific studies about distracted driving. The report defines what it means to be "distracted" when driving, discusses the impact of distraction on driver behaviour and safety, and what can be done to reduce distracted driving. The focus of distraction discussed here relates to how drivers engage with technology when driving. The report begins with a background to driver distraction, followed by discussion about what is actually meant by driver distraction. It is then considered why humans cannot successfully do two things at the same time, particularly within the context of driving. The subsequent section summarises the scientific research findings to date with regard to driver distraction and technology, and how this affects different types of road user. Recommendations for how driver distraction can be mitigated in the real world and a summary conclude the report. Responses to common questions raised by drivers are presented in Appendix A.
Die Klinik für Frührehabilitation und Geriatrie, Westküstenklinikum Heide ist Bestandteil eines Kooperationsnetzwerks und wirkt am Erhalt der Mobilität und Autonomie älterer Verkehrsteilnehmer im Landkreis Dithmarschen mit. Die Zusammenarbeit mit Seniorenbeiräten, Landesverkehrswacht, Fachdiensten, Polizei-Dienststellen, Ärzten und Psychologen sowie Fahrlehrern ermöglicht eine breite Datenerfassung zum Thema ältere Kraftfahrer, insbesondere zu ihrem Unfallgeschehen.
In einer Stichprobe von 75-jährigen Autofahrern, die in der geriatrischen Tagesklinik der Klinik für Frührehabilitation und Geriatrie rehabilitiert wurden, fanden sich relativ häufig kognitive Beeinträchtigungen, die auf das Vorliegen einer beginnenden Demenz zurückgeführt werden konnten. Darüber hinaus bestanden Störungen des Dämmerungssehens und der Sehschärfe. Auch wurde Multimorbidität diagnostiziert. Bei einer großen Gruppe (46 %) dieser Patienten war zu Behandlungsbeginn die Fahreignung nicht gegeben, und nur 29 % der Untersuchten konnte eine uneingeschränkte Fahreignung attestiert werden. Gezielte rehabilitative Interventionen trugen dazu bei, dass im Behandlungsverlauf die Fahreignung zumindest eingeschränkt wieder erreicht werden konnte.
Despite the steadily declining number of pedestrian fatalities and injuries in most European countries during recent decades, pedestrian protection is still of great importance in the European Union as well as in Germany. This is because they still constitute a large proportion of road user casualties and are more likely to suffer serious and fatal injuries than most other road users. In 1999 only car occupants suffered more fatal injuries than pedestrians in Germany. In December 1998, EEVC WG 17 completed their review and updating of the EEVC WG 10 pedestrian test procedure that made it possible to evaluate the protection afforded to pedestrians by the front of passenger cars in an accident. Within the scope of this procedure, four different impactors are used representing those parts of the body which are injured very often and/or very seriously in vehicle-pedestrian-collisions. In a project executed by IKA and BASt, a small family car was tested according to the EEVC WG 17 test procedure. Afterwards modifications to the car were carried out in order to improve the pedestrian protection provided by the vehicle design. There were certain restrictions placed on the level of modifications undertaken, e.g. only minor modifications to vehicle styling and to the vehicle structures, which provide passenger protection. The redesigned vehicle was tested again using the WG 17 test procedure. The test results of the modified vehicle were compared with those of the standard vehicle and evaluated. The results show that considered measures for pedestrian protection in many areas of the vehicle front structure and the use of innovative techniques can lead to a significant reduction of the loads of pedestrians at an acceptable expense.
With an ever rising human life expectancy the share of elderly people in society is constantly rising. This leads to the fact that at the same rate the share of people with age related diseases such as dementia and poor eyesight taking part in traffic will rise and therefore traffic accidents caused by this group of people due to the disease will play an ever greater role. This Situation will be among the future challenges of road safety work. At present this study displays specific characteristics of accidents caused by elderly car drivers (aged 65 or higher) based on the analysis of the German In-Depth Accident Study GIDAS. Herein almost 1000 elderly car drivers were identified as accident participants in the years 2008 to 2011. The focus of this study lies on identifying special types of accidents which are caused by elderly drivers and on characterizing these types with the information gathered on scene and by interviewing the participants. The main evidence analyzed is the knowledge about the accident locality, the trajectories of the participants as well as the reasons for the occurrence of the accidents. Furthermore personal information such as the personal condition before the accident and driving purposes is used to identify patterns of contributing circumstances for accidents caused by elderly traffic participants.
In the context of this study, different data sources for accident research were examined regarding their possible data access and evaluated concerning the individual quality and extent of the data. Analyses of accidents require detailed and comprehensive information in particular concerning vehicle damages, injury patterns and descriptions of the accident sequence. The police documentation supplies the basic accident statistics and is amended in the context of the forensic treatment by further information, e.g. by medical and technical appraisals and witness questionings. As a new approach to the data acquisition for the analysis of fatal traffic accidents, the information was made usable which was collected by the police and by the investigations of the public prosecutor. The best strategy for obtaining reliable, extensive and complete data consists of combining the information from these two sources: the very complete, but elementary statistic data of the Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Statistik (Lower Saxony State Authority of Statistics), based on the police documentation as well as the very extensive accident information resulting from the investigation documentation of the public prosecutor after conclusion of the procedure, the so-called Court Records. Of all 715 fatal traffic accidents, which happened in the year 2003 in the German State of Lower Saxony, 238 cases were selected by means of a statistically coincidental selective procedure based on a statistically representative manner (every third accident). These cases cover the investigation documents of the 11 responsible public prosecutor- offices, which were requested and evaluated while preserving the data security. Of the 238 cases 202 cases were available, which were individually coded and stored in a data base using 160 variables. Thus a data base of a sample of representative data for fatal accidents in Lower Saxony was set up. The data base contains extensive information concerning general accident data (35 variables), concerning road and road surface data (30 variables), concerning vehicle-specific data (68 variables) as well as concerning personal and injury data (27 variables).