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Im Rahmen dieses Forschungsvorhabens wurde ein Verfahren entwickelt und validiert, mit dem sich reale Emissionsfaktoren für motorisierte Zweiräder in der Systematik des HBEFA generieren lassen. Das Verfahren basiert auf Fahrzeug-Emissionsmessungen in realen Testzyklen, vermessen am Rollenprüfstand oder auf der Straße, als Eingabe für ein Simulationsmodell. Das Modell erzeugt aus den Messungen Motorkennfelder, in denen die Abgasemissionen und der Kraftstoffverbrauch über normierter Motordrehzahl und normierter Motorleistung abgelegt werden. Für jedes gemessene Kfz ergibt sich ein normiertes Emissions-Motorkennfeld. Aus den einzelnen Kennfeldern können dann Durchschnittskennfelder je Fahrzeugkategorie (z.B. Motorrad über 500ccm, EURO 3) gebildet werden. Die Motordrehzahl muss in den Emissionstests entweder gemessen, oder aus Geschwindigkeit, Gang, Reifenumfang und Übersetzungen berechnet werden. Die Motorleistung kann mittels gemessenem CO2-Massenstrom und der Drehzahl aus "generischen CO2-Kennfeldern" ermittelt werden, da im Allgemeinen keine gemessene Leistung vorliegt. Um mit dem Modell dann Emissionsfaktoren für beliebige Fahrzyklen zu bestimmen, wird die Motorleistung aus der Fahrzeuglängsdynamik, den Verlusten im Antriebstrang und dem Leistungsbedarf von Nebenaggregaten aus dem jeweils vorgegebenen Geschwindigkeits- und Steigungsverlauf berechnet. Zur Bestimmung der Drehzahl wird zuerst ein passender Gang berechnet und dann aus den Übersetzungen die Motordrehzahl. Steht die geforderte Motorleistung in keinem Gang zur Verfügung, wird die Beschleunigung im betroffenen Zeitschritt so reduziert, dass sich ein Volllastbetrieb ergibt. Die Berechnungen erfolgen in 1Hz Auflösung. Für jede Sekunde werden dann aus dem zugehörigen Motorkennfeld die Emissionen entsprechend der Drehzahl und Leistung interpoliert. Die integrierten Emissionswerte über den Zyklus ergeben die Summenemissionen, die Division durch die zurückgelegte Strecke die Emissionsfaktoren in g/km. Die Methode wurde im Simulationsprogramm PHEM implementiert. Da PHEM bereits in einem ähnlichen Verfahren Emissionsfaktoren für PKW, LNF und SNF berechnet, war der Zusatzaufwand zum Einbau von Zweirädern nieder und alle Zusatzfunktionen von PHEM können auch für Zweiräder verwendet werden (z.B. Dynamikkorrekturen, automatisierte CO2-basierte Kennfelderzeugung, Batch-Modus, etc.). In dem Projekt wurde die Modellentwicklung und Validierung anhand von 4 gemessenen Zweirädern durchgeführt. Die Tests umfassten Abgasmessungen auf einem Rollenprüfstand sowie On-Road-Messungen mittels PEMS. Die Messkampagne wurde auch genutzt, um einen Vorschlag für ein einheitliches Minimalmessprogramm zur Bestimmung von Emissionsfaktoren von Zweirädern zu erarbeiten. Dazu wurden umfangreiche Fahrversuche im realen Betrieb durchgeführt, die gemessenen Zyklen in Teilstücke verschiedener Verkehrssituationen unterteilt und je Verkehrssituation ein repräsentatives Teilstück bestimmt. Diese wurden dann zu "Real World Rollenzyklen" zusammengefügt. Bei einem Motorradzyklus ist auch ein sportlicher Fahranteil mit Steigung enthalten. Damit ist sichergestellt, dass die Motorkennfelder mit diesen Rollentests gut abgedeckt sind und bei der Berechnung von Emissionsfaktoren keine Extrapolationen von Emissionswerten erforderlich sind. Die am Markt befindlichen PEMS Systeme sind für die Verwendung bei Zweirädern wegen deren Gewicht und Baugröße nicht für alle Fahrzeuge geeignet. PEMS Messungen sind vorerst nur bei größeren Motorrädern im realen Verkehr möglich. Die Emissionskennfelder enthalten jeweils CO, CO2, NOx, HC sowie optional auch die vom FTIR gemessenen Komponenten und Partikelanzahl. Die nicht limitierten Abgaskomponenten aus der FTIR Messung können, wegen der teilweise sehr niederen Emissionsniveaus, nur unsicher zeitaufgelöst gemessen und simuliert werden, so dass hier die Verwendung von Zyklusmittelwerten in [g/km] oder von mittleren Prozentwerten an den HC und NOx Emissionen empfohlen wird. Mit der entwickelten Methode und der Software PHEM bestehen nunmehr die Grundlagen, Emissionsfaktoren für Zweiräder in gleicher Qualität wie sie bei PKW und Nutzfahrzeugen bereits Standard ist, zu gerieren. Die Methoden und mögliche gemeinsame Messprogramme werden in der ERMES Gruppe bereits diskutiert und werden hoffentlich schon 2018 zu einer deutlichen Verbreiterung der Datengrundlage zum Emissionsverhalten von Zweirädern führen.
Die Schwerpunkte dieses Projekts lagen in der Untersuchung der Fahrerverfügbarkeit und Müdigkeit sowie in der Herstellung natürlichen Verhaltens bei längeren hochautomatisierten Fahrten. Es konnte im Rahmen von zwei Fahrsimulationsversuchen mit 15 und 42 Probanden gezeigt werden, dass bei hochautomatisierten Fahrten von 60 Minuten Müdigkeit auftreten kann, bei Ausprägung und Zeitpunkt des Auftretens jedoch große individuelle Unterschiede bestehen. Da eine zu kleine Stichprobe sich zum Zeitpunkt der Übernahme in einem entsprechend müden Zustand befand, kann die Auswirkung von Müdigkeit auf das Übernahmeverhalten nicht abschließend beurteilt werden. Hierfür empfehlen sich für die Zukunft Studien mit einem zustandsabhängigen Versuchsdesign. Der Einsatz von natürlichen fahrfremden Tätigkeiten, mit denen die Probanden sich frei beschäftigen durften, zeigte sowohl in der Probandstudie im Fahrsimulator als auch bei einem Expertenworkshop im Realfahrzeug eine hohe Involviertheit der Probanden in die Tätigkeiten während der gesamten 60 Minuten hochautomatisierten Fahrens. Es wird vermutet, dass dies auf die hohe intrinsische Motivation und den hohen Unterhaltungswert der selbstgewählten Aktivitäten zurückzuführen ist. Es zeigte sich außerdem, dass die Wahl der Tätigkeit vom Alter der Probanden abhängig ist. Eine Fahrtdauer von 60 Minuten wurde aufgrund der Ergebnisse aus allen drei Versuchen als realistisches Zukunftsszenario eingestuft und besitzt daher eine hohe Relevanz. Sowohl für die Bewertung von Müdigkeit als auch von Ablenkung war das Blickverhalten am meisten aufschlussreich. Für die Bewertung von Müdigkeit während der Beschäftigung mit fahrfremden Tätigkeiten wird jedoch ein kopfbasiertes Blickerfassungssystem, welches in der Lage ist, den Augenöffnungsgrad zu erfassen, oder videobasierte Verhaltensbeobachtung empfohlen.
Im Forschungsprojekt FE 82.509/2010 soll die Verkehrssicherheit in Einfahrten auf Autobahnen näher untersucht werden. Der Schwerpunkt der Untersuchungen liegt dabei auf den einstreifigen Einfahrten des Typs E1, da dieser auf Autobahnen in Deutschland am häufigsten vorkommt. Ziel des Projektes ist es, ggf. vorhandene Problembereiche bei einstreifigen Einfahrten an Autobahnen zu identifizieren sowie eine vergleichende Bewertung der Verkehrssicherheit mit zweistreifigen Einfahrten (Typ E4 und E5) sowie anderen Elementen planfreier Knotenpunkte vorzunehmen. Ein zusätzliches Augenmerk soll auf das Verhalten älterer Verkehrsteilnehmer im Bereich von Einfahrten gelegt werden. Im Rahmen der Projektbearbeitung wurden zunächst umfangreiche Unfallanalysen an 100 Einfahrten vorgenommen. Hierzu wurden die Informationen der Unfalldatenbanken der Bundesländer genutzt. An 30 besonders auffälligen Einfahrten erfolgte zusätzlich eine systematische Auswertung der Verkehrsunfallanzeigen. Als Ergänzung der Unfallanalysen wurden empirische Verkehrsbeobachtungen an 14 Einfahrten durchgeführt, um hieraus weitere Erkenntnisse zum Verhalten der Verkehrsteilnehmer beim Einfädelungsvorgang zu erhalten. Die Belange der älteren Verkehrsteilnehmer wurden sowohl im Rahmen der empirischen Beobachtungen als auch zusätzlich in einer Befragung erfasst. Die Ergebnisse der Unfallanalysen zeigen, dass die Einfahrten des Typs E1 im Hinblick auf das Unfallgeschehen grundsätzlich als unkritisch einzustufen sind. Dies wurde durch die Ergebnisse der empirischen Untersuchungen bestätigt. Hinsichtlich der Belange älterer Verkehrsteilnehmer wurden keine Unterschiede im Verhalten an Einfahrten zwischen älteren (>60) und jüngeren (<60) Fahrern festgestellt.
When assessing the consequences of accidents normally the injury severity and the damage costs are considered. The injury severity is either expressed within the police categories (slight injury, severe injury or fatal injury) or the AIS code that rates the fatality risk of a given injury. Both injury metrics are assessing the consequences of the accident directly after the accident. However, not all consequences of accidents are visible directly after the accident and the duration of the consequences are different. Besides a physiological reduction of functionality social and psychological implications such as reduced mobility options, problems to continue the original job etc. are happening. In order to assess long term consequences of accidents the MHH Accident Research Unit established a brief questionnaire that is distributed to accident involved people of the Hannover subset of the GIDAS data set approx. one year after the accident beginning with the accident year 2013. The basic idea of using a brief questionnaire (in fact only one page) is to obtain a relatively large return rate because the questionnaire appears to be simple and quickly answered. This appears to be important because it is believed that the majority of accident involved people will not report long term consequences. In order to allow a more detailed survey amongst those responders that are reporting long term consequences they are asked for a written consent for the additional questionnaire that will be distributed at a time that is not yet defined. Long term consequences are reported for all addressed areas, medical, physiological, psychological and sociological by people without injuries, with minor injuries and with severe injuries.
This paper gives an overview of the in-depth crash investigation activity conducted by the Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR) at the University of Adelaide, in South Australia. Recent changes in method include: an expansion in on-call hours for the crash investigation team, providing the option of a phone interview for crash participants to discuss the crash, and downloading objective crash data from vehicle airbag control modules. These changes have resulted in: increased representativeness of crashes by hour of day; a decrease in the over-representation of fatal crashes in our sample; an increase in the proportion of crashes that involved a pedestrian, bicycle or scooter (moped); an increase in the proportion of crash participants consenting to an interview; and an increase in the objective data available, through airbag control module downloads. Our in-depth crash investigations enabled research into road departures that found barriers were a more feasible solution than clear zones for eliminating serious and fatal injury resulting from run off road crashes.
The incidence of side impacts was investigated from GIDAS data. Both vehicle-fixed object and vehicle-vehicle collisions were analysed as these are enclosed within the consumer testing program. Vehicle-fixed object collisions were stratified according to ESC availability. Results indicated that vehicles equipped with ESC rarely have pure-lateral impacts. An increase in oblique collisions was seen for the vehicles with ESC whereby most vehicle were driving in left curves. The analysis of vehicle-vehicle collisions developed injury risk curves were developed at the AIS3+ injury severity for the vehicle-vehicle side impacts. Results suggested that greatest injury risk occurred when a Pre Euro NCAP vehicle was struck by a Post Euro-NCAP vehicle. The remaining curves did not show different behaviour, indicating that stiffness increased have been equally combated. This was attributable to the few Post Euro-NCAP vehicles that had a deployed curtain airbag available in the sample. The integration of Euro NCAP testing has shown to improve vehicle crashworthiness for pole collisions, as those vehicles with ESC rarely incur lateral impacts.
Cyclists are more likely to be injured in fatal crashes than motorised vehicles. To gain detailed and precise behavioural data of road users, i.e. trajectories, a measuring campaign was conducted. Therefore, a black-spot for accidents with cyclists in Berlin, Germany was selected. The traffic has been detected by a fully automated traffic video analysis system continuously for twelve hours. The video surveillance system is capable of automatically extracting trajectories, classifying road user types and precise determining and positioning of conflicts and accidents. Additionally, pre-conflict and pre-accident situations could be analysed to provide further in-depth understanding of accident causation. The evaluation of the measuring campaign comprised the investigation of traffic parameters, e.g. traffic flow, as well as traffic-safety related parameters based on Surrogate Safety Measures (SSM). Furthermore, the spatial and temporal distributions of conflicts involving cyclists were determined. As a result, three possible conflict clusters could be identified, of which one cluster could be confirmed by detailed video analysis, showing conflicts caused by right turning vehicles.
Car occupants have a high level of mortality in road accidents, since passenger cars are the prevalent mode of transport. In 2013, car occupant fatalities accounted for 45% of all road accident fatalities in the EU. The objective of this research is the analysis of basic road safety parameters related to car occupants in the European countries over a period of 10 years (2004-2013), through the exploitation of the EU CARE database with disaggregate data on road accidents. Data from the EU Injury Database for the period 2005 - 2008 are used to identify injury patterns, and additional insight into accident causation for car occupants is offered through the use of in-depth accident data from the EC SafetyNet project Accident Causation System (SNACS). The results of the analysis allow for a better understanding of the car occupants' safety situation in Europe, thus providing useful support to decision makers working for the improvement of road safety level in Europe.
Das Unfallgeschehen auf Landstraßen weist eine besonders hohe Unfallschwere auf. Zur Reduktion der Längsverkehrsunfälle aufgrund von fehlerhaftem Überholen halten die "Richtlinien für die Anlage von Landstraßen" (RAL 2012) für jede Entwurfsklasse ein Überholprinzip bereit. Dennoch ist das Überholen unter Benutzung des Gegenfahrstreifens auf Straßen der EKL 3 und EKL 2 nicht ausgeschlossen. Deswegen wurde in den RAL eine erforderliche Überholsichtweite von 600 m auf einbahnig zweistreifigen Straßen anhand eines theoretischen Überholmodells festgelegt. Zur Überprüfung und Aktualisierung des derzeit gültigen Überholmodells auf Landstraßen werden im Rahmen dieser Untersuchung vollständige Überholungen im realen Verkehrsgeschehen mit einer Drohne aufgenommen. Die Überholvorgänge werden hinsichtlich ihrer Kenngrößen ausgewertet. Daraus wird ein Modell zur Bestimmung der erforderlichen Überholsichtweite in Abhängigkeit der entwurfstechnischen Randbedingungen abgeleitet. Im Ergebnis werden Empfehlungen eines aktualisierten Überholmodells auf Landstraßen zur Übernahme in die RAL gegeben. Abgeleitet aus den Ergebnissen werden Empfehlungen formuliert, unter welchen Bedingungen das Überholen durch verkehrsrechtliche Maßnahmen unterbunden werden sollte.
To elucidate the risk of pedestrians, bicycle and motorbike users, data of two accident research units from 1999 to 2014 were analysed in regard to demographic data, collision details, preclinical and clinical data using SPSS. 14.295 injured vulnerable road users were included. 92 out of 3610 pedestrians ("P", 2.5%), 90 out of 8307 bicyclists ("B", 1.1%) and 115 out of 4094 motorcycle users ("M", 2.8%) were diagnosed with spinal fractures. Thoracic fractures were most frequent ahead of lumbar and cervical fractures. Car collisions were most frequent mechanism (68, 62 and 36%). MAIS was 3.8, 2.8 and 3.2 for P, B and A with ISS 32, 16 and 23. AIS-head was 2.2, 1.3 and 1.5). Vulnerable road users are at significant risk for spine fractures. These are often associated with severe additional injuries, e.g. the head and a very high overall trauma severity (polytrauma).
Although road infrastructure is developed extensively Brazil is still one of the countries with the most dangerous roads in the world. In order to stop the increasing trend of traffic fatalities of the last few years and to improve traffic safety on Brazilian roads a pilot study on behalf of SAE Brazil started in March 2016 with the goal to lay the foundations for a long-term research activity. Piloting for an in-depth accident investigation the city of Campinas, roughly 100 km north of São Paulo was chosen. The pilot project was carried out with the local partner, the Empresa Municipal de Desenvolvimento de Campinas (EMDEC). The paper reports on the initial training of evidence based accident data collection on-spot, the implementation of the new digital database, the data collection and the first results. An outlook on the planned long-term accident investigations is given.
In this study, we compared the injury severity of occupants according to the seating position and the crashing direction in motor vehicle accidents. In the driver's point of view, it was separated the seating position as "Near-side" and "Far-side". The study subjects were targeted by people who visited 4 regional emergency centers following motor vehicle accidents. Real-world investigation was performed by direct and indirect methods after patient- consent. The information of the damaged vehicle was informed by Collision Deformation Classification (CDC) code and the information of the injury of patients was informed by using the Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) and Injury Severity Score (ISS). When the column 3 in CDC code was P, damaged at the middle part of lateral side, the average point of AIS 3 was 1.91-±1.72 in near-side and 1.02-±1.31 in far-side (p<0.01). The average point of maximum AIS (MAIS) was 2.78-±1.39 in near-side and 2.02-±1.11 in far-side (p<0.01). The average point of ISS was 15.74-±14.71 in near-side and 8.11-±8.39 in far-side (p<0.01). Also, when the column 3 in CDC code was D, damaged at the whole part of lateral side, it was significant that the average point of AIS 3 and MAIS in near-side was bigger than in far-side (p=0.02).
Injury probability functions for pedestrians and bicyclists based on real-world accident data
(2017)
The paper is focusing on the modelling of injury severity probabilities, often called as Injury Risk Functions (IRF). These are mathematical functions describing the probability for a defined population and for possible explanatory factors (variables) to sustain a certain injury severity. Injury risk functions are becoming more and more important as basis for the assessment of automotive safety systems. They contribute to the understanding of injury mechanisms, (prospective) evaluation of safety systems and definition of protection criteria or are used within regulation and/or consumer ratings. In all cases, knowledge about the correlation between mechanical behavior and injury severity is needed. IRFs are often based on biomechanical data. This paper is focusing on the derivation of injury probability models from real world accident data of the GIDAS database (German In-depth Accident Study). In contrast to most academic terms there is no explicit term definition or definition of creation processes existing for injury probability models based on empirical data. Different approaches are existing for such kind of models in the field of accident research. There is a need for harmonization in terms of the used methods and data as well as the handling with the existing challenges. These are preparation of the dataset, model assumptions, censored/unknown data, evaluation of model accuracy, definition of dependent and independent variable, and others. In the presented study, several empirical, statistical and phenomenological approaches were analyzed regarding their advantages and disadvantages and also their applicability. Furthermore, the identification of appropriate prediction parameters for the injury severity of pedestrians has been considered. Due to its main effect on injuries of pedestrians and bicyclists, the importance of the secondary impact has also been analyzed. Finally, the model accuracy, evaluated by several criteria, is the rating factor that gives the quality and reliability for application of the resulting models. After the investigation and evaluation of statistical approaches one method was chosen and appropriate prediction variables were examined. Finally, all findings were summarized and injury risk functions for pedestrians in real world accidents were created. Additionally, the paper gives instructions for the interpretation and usage of such functions. The presented results include IRFs for several injury severity levels and age groups. The presented models are based on a high amount of real world accidents and describe very well the injury severity probability of pedestrians and bicyclists in frontal collisions with current vehicles. The functions can serve as basis for the evaluation of effectiveness of systems like Pedestrian-AEB or Bicycle-AEB.
Powered Two Wheeler (Motorcycle) crashes are overrepresented in EU, England, and United States casualty statistics for both fatal and serious injuries. While regional geographic differences are evident for motorcycle size, type, and engine displacement, the casualty statistics consistently indicate significantly higher injury rates for all motorcycle riders when compared to car occupants. Accident analysis and reconstruction of these motorcycle crashes is a necessary process to gain further understanding of potential injury mitigation strategies. This paper focuses on the analysis of the rider post impact trajectory in the immediate moments following a crash. The rider and motorcycle, while loosely coupled by seating position leading up to a crash, quickly decouple as the crash forces develop. As a result, the rider moves relative to the motorcycle and relative to the collision partner. This movement, or trajectory, is primarily influenced by the type and configuration of the impact, the type and configuration of the motorcycle and collision partner, and the speeds involved. Understanding the rider's post impact trajectory will assist in the development of injury mitigation strategies. Both the free flight trajectory of the rider and the rider's trajectory as influenced by interaction with the motorcycle and collision partner are examined. Rider trajectories in full scale crash testing and real world motorcycle crashes are both studied and presented. The resulting physical evidence that can be observed by an accident analyst is discussed. The application of projectile motion physics is analyzed and the necessary input parameters, such as initial launch angle, are studied. This study will assist in understanding the post-impact dynamics of a motorcyclist, and will provide useful information to analysts evaluating real world crashes.
Bus or heavy vehicle passenger accidents are rare events, compared with car accidents, but sometimes leads to a large number of victims especially in rollover crash scenarios. Two accidents occurred in Portugal in 2007 and 2013 in which 28 people died and more than 50 are injured, shown the importance of the investigation of such accidents. For the investigation of these accidents multidisciplinary teams are constituted with engineers and police officers. All the factors involved are taken into consideration including road design, traffic signs, maintenance and hardware, human factors, and vehicle factors. In this work a methodology to an accurate collection of the data is proposed. From the information collected the accident is reconstructed using the PC-CrashTM software. From this all the contribution factors are determined and recommendations to mitigate these crashes are listed. These two accidents are rollover accidents and the analysis of the injuries and its correlation with the use of retention systems is very important. From the medical data and with the dynamics of the accident determined simulations of the occupants with biomechanical models are carried out in order to evaluate the effect of the retention systems in the injuries. This analysis is based on injury criteria (such as Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) or Injury Severity Scale (ISS)). With this it is possible to determine if the seat belt was worn or not.
For the determination of the road surface roughness common methods have been established, like Skid Resistance Tester (SRT) or the Sideway-force Coefficient Routine Investigation Machine (SCRIM). Both methods are used to measure a comparable and reliable maximum friction potential value and to assess the quality of the road surface. However, the comparison of the measurements under real conditions and the results of measurements with SRT and SCRIM showed only minor correlations. The paper shows the comparison between these standardised methods and real vehicle braking tests and discusses the results.
The objectives of this paper are the analysis of the accident risk of drivers brain pathologies (Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer- disease, and Parkinson- disease), and the investigation of the impact of driver distraction on the accident risk of patients with brain pathologies, through a driving simulator experiment. The three groups of patients are compared to a healthy group of similar demographics, with no brain pathology. In particular, 125 drivers of more than 55 years old (34 "controls"" and 91 "patients") went through a large driving simulator experimental process, in which incidents were scheduled to occur. They drove in rural and urban areas, in low and high traffic volumes and in three distraction conditions (undistracted driving, conversation with a passenger and conversation through a mobile phone). The statistical analyses indicated several interesting findings; brain pathologies affect significantly accident risk and distraction affects more the groups of patients than the control one.
Motorcycle crashes in Austria: Analysis of causes and contributing factors based on in-depth data
(2017)
From CEDATU, the in-depth accident database run by the Vehicle Safety Institute at Graz University of Technology, a representative sample of 101 crashes involving at least one motorcycle was selected. The analysis focused on causes for crashes as well as on contributing factors, but also included parameters of road, riders and vehicles. Own riding speed and "unexpectable action by another road user" were the most frequent causes for accidents. Inappropriate safety distance or delayed reaction were frequent, both as causation factors and as contributing factors. Infrastructure issues never cause an accident, but they are very frequent as contributing factors; road geometry and road guidance are by far most frequent among these. This paper also discusses accidents by type and other parameters (e.g. injury severity by body region, collision speed, age and others), and compares accident causes to previous studies as well as the police reported accident statistics.
The Decision Support System (DSS) is one of the key objectives of the European co-funded research project SafetyCube in order to better support evidence-based policy making. Results will be assembled in the form of a DSS that will present for each suggested road safety measure: details of risk factor tackled, measure, best estimate of casualty reduction effectiveness, cost-benefit evaluation and analytic background. The development of the DSS presents a great potential to further support decision making at local, regional, national and international level, aiming to fill in the current gap of comparable measures effectiveness evaluation. In order to provide policy-makers and industry with comprehensive and well-structured information about measures, it is essential that a systems approach is used to ensure the links between risk factors and all relevant safety measures are made fully visible. The DSS is intended to become a major source of information for industry, policy-makers and the wider road safety community.
In most of developed countries, the progress made in passive safety during the last three decades allowed to drastically reduce the number of killed and severely injured especially for occupants of passenger cars. This reduction is mainly observed for frontal impacts for which the AIS3+ injuries has been reduced about 52% for drivers and 38% for front passengers. The stiffening of the cars' structure coupled with the generalization of airbags and the improvement of the seatbelt restraint (load limiter, pretension, etc.) allowed to protect vital body regions such as head, neck and thorax. However, the abdomen did not take advantage with so much success of this progress. The objective of this study is to draw up an inventory on the abdominal injuries of the belted car occupants involved in frontal impact, to present adapted counter-measures and to assess their potential effectiveness. In the first part the stakes corresponding to the abdominal injuries will be defined according to types of impact, seat location, occupants' age and type of injured organs. Then, we shall focus on the abdominal injury risk curves for adults involved in frontal impact and on the comparisons of the average risks according to the seat location. In the second part we will list counter-measures and we shall calculate their effectiveness. The method of case control will be used in order to estimate odds ratio, comparing two samples, given by occupants having or not having the studied safety system. For this study, two type of data sources are used: national road injured accident census and retrospective in-depth accident data collection. Abdominal injuries are mainly observed in frontal impact (52%). Fatal or severe abdominal occupant- injuries are observed at least in 27% of cases, ranking this body region as the most injured just after the thorax (51%). In spite of a twice lower occupation rate in the back seats compared to the front seats, the number of persons sustaining abdominal injuries at the rear place is higher than in the front place. In recent cars, the risk of having a serious or fatal abdominal injury in a frontal impact is 1.6% for the driver, 3.6% for the front passenger and 6.3% for the rear occupants. The most frequently hurt organs are the small intestine (17%), the spleen (16%) and the liver (13%). The most common countermeasures have a good efficiency in the reduction of the abdominal injuries for the adults: the stiffness of the structure of the seats allows decreasing the abdominal injury risk from 54% (driver) to 60% (front occupant), the seatbelt pretensioners decrease also this risk from 90% (driver) to 83% (front passenger).