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Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Verkehrsmedizin beschäftigt sich satzungsgemäß mit der Unfallursachenforschung, der Unfallrekonstruktion sowie den physiologischen und psychologischen Voraussetzungen beim Betrieb von Kraftfahrzeugen aller Art und den Leistungseinschränkungen in Abhängigkeit von Lebensalter, Krankheit, Arzneimitteln sowie psychotropen Substanzen. Neben Alkohol als nach wie vor prädominierender psychotroper Substanz nehmen Drogen und Medikamente, hier vor allem Cannabis, heute einen zunehmenden Stellenwert ein. Daher wurde auf der 33. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Verkehrsmedizin der Einfluss von Cannabis auf die Fahrsicherheit und Fahreignung aus Sicht der beteiligten Fachdisziplinen (Medizin, insbesondere Rechtsmedizin; Toxikologie; Psychologie) diskutiert. Kontroversen ergaben sich zu möglichen Grenzwerten absoluter Fahruntüchtigkeit bei Cannabiskonsum, während sich zur Fahreignung nach Cannabiskonsum ein homogeneres Meinungsbild abzeichnete. Vor der zunehmenden Alterspyramide sind die Auswirkungen von Erkrankungen auf Fahreignung und Fahrtüchtigkeit von nach wie vor aktueller Relevanz - auch im Hinblick auf neü Therapiemaßnahmen. Daher wurden auf der 33. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Verkehrsmedizin aus der Sicht klinischer Disziplinen die verkehrsmedizinische Relevanz großer Krankheitsgruppen erörtert und vor dem Hintergrund neuer Erkenntnisse zur Pathogenese und Therapie Begutachtungsleitlinien diskutiert, die teilweise bislang gültige Richtlinien modifizieren. Dies gilt vor allen Dingen für Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen, das Schlaf-Apnoe-Syndrom, den Diabetes mellitus, Anfallsleiden etc. Weitere Schwerpunkte waren die Ermüdung sowie die methodischen Probleme, die sich beim Zusammenwirken von Krankheiten und einer zur Behebung der Krankheitssymptome indizierten Arzneimitteltherapie und ihren jeweiligen Auswirkungen auf die Fahrsicherheit und -eignung ergeben. Zahlreiche weitere Vorträge beschäftigen sich mit der Traumatomechanik, Verletzungsrisiken neuartiger Fahrzeuge (Quads), der Epidemiologie der suchtstoffabhängigen Beeinträchtigung der Verkehrstüchtigkeit und dem beweissicheren Wirkungs- und Substanznachweis. Mehrere Beiträge befassten sich darüber hinaus mit der Begutachtung der Fahreignung aus medizinischer und psychologischer Sicht. Die insgesamt 66 Vorträge auf dem 33. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Verkehrsmedizin spiegeln aktuelle Diskussionen und künftige Entwicklungen innerhalb der Verkehrsmedizin wider.
The German highway network hast o face new challenges in the near future, e.g. increasing traffic density and loads, climate change effects and new quality requirements regarding sustainability. It is necessary to come up with foresighted concepts in the present to be prepared for these challenges. Therefore it is important to adapt and enhance innovative attempts, which take changing impacts into account. One goal of these efforts is the development of adaptive systems for the provision of information and a holistic evaluation in real time. The paper describes the recent research and developments on a system for information and holistic evaluation in real time, taking into account sensor networks, evaluation procedures and their implementation in existing maintenance and inspection strategies.
Bis zum Jahr 2000 erfolgte die Überarbeitung der Begutachtungsleitlinien zur Kraftfahrereignung stets als Gesamtwerk, in Zusammenarbeit mit den Fachgesellschaften und herausgegeben von einem Wissenschaftlichen Beirat. Diese Art der Veröffentlichung erwies sich aus verschiedenen Gründen als nicht mehr praktikabel. Von Anwenderseite wurde der Wunsch nach besserer Übersicht geäußert und es hat sich gezeigt, dass mehr Detailinformation erforderlich ist. Es wird auf die zukünftige Gestaltung und Veröffentlichung der Leitlinien eingegangen, die nun die kapitelweise Überarbeitung als Methode der Wahl definieren. Die freie Verfügbarkeit als elektronisches Dokument soll die Verbreitung weiter erhöhen, die Suche nach Begriffen vereinfachen und eine schnellere Aktualisierung ermöglichen. Änderungen bei der Europäischen Führerscheinrichtlinie (Annex III) sowie bei deren Umsetzung in Deutschland (Anlage 4 der Fahrerlaubnisverordnung) gingen Überarbeitungen bei verschiedenen Kapiteln der Begutachtungsleitlinien voraus. Schon seit 2009 veröffentlicht ist das überarbeitete Kapitel "Epilepsie". Es wird auf die Änderungen in den Kapiteln Diabetes, Tagesschläfrigkeit, Hörvermögen und Gleichgewicht eingegangen, die als nächste folgen sollen. Für den Abstimmungsprozess mit Bund und Ländern wurde das zukünftige Vorgehen bei Änderungsbedarf abgestimmt. Die Begutachtungsleitlinien sind kostenlos zum Download auf www.bast.de verfügbar, einschließlich ergänzender Informationen.
In the paper it is investigated to what extend one can extrapolate the detailed accident database GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study), with survey area Hanover and Dresden region, to accident behavior in other regions and countries within Europe and how such an extrapolation can be implemented and evaluated. Moreover, it is explored what extent of accident data for the target country is necessary for such an extrapolation and what can be done in situations with sparse and low accident information in a target region. It will be shown that a direct transfer of GIDAS injury outcomes to other regions does not lead to satisfactory results. But based on GIDAS and using statistical decision tree methods, an extrapolation methodology will be presented which allows for an adequate prediction of the distribution of injury severity in severe traffic accidents for European countries. The method consists essentially of a separation of accidents into well-described subgroups of accidents within which the accident severity distribution does not vary much over different regions. In contrast the distribution over the various subgroups of accidents typically is rather different between GIDAS and the target. For the separation into the subgroups meaningful accident parameters (like accident type, traffic environment, type of road etc.) have been selected. The developed methodology is applied to GIDAS data for the years 1999-2012 and is evaluated with police accident data for Sweden (2002 to 2012) and the United Kingdom (2004 to 2010). It is obtained that the extrapolation proposal has good to very good predictive power in the category of severe traffic accidents. Moreover, it is shown that iterative proportional fitting enables the developed extrapolation method to lead to a satisfactory extrapolation of accident outcomes even to target regions with sparse accident information. As an important potential application of the developed methodology the a priori extrapolation of effects of (future) safety systems, the operation of which can only be well assessed on the basis of very detailed GIDAS accident data, is presented. Based on the evaluation of the presented extrapolation method it will be shown that GIDAS very well represents severe accidents, i.e. accidents with at least one severely or fatally injured person involved, for other countries in Europe. The developed extrapolation method reaches its limits in cases for which only very little accident information is available for the target region.
The EVERSAFE project addressed many safety issues for electric vehicles including the crash and post-crash safety. The project reviewed the market shares of full electric and hybrid vehicles, latest road traffic accident data involving severely damaged electric vehicles in Europe, and identified critical scenarios that may be particular for electric vehicles. Also, recent results from international research on the safety of electric vehicles were included in this paper such as results from performed experimental abuse cell and vehicle crash tests (incl. non-standardized tests with the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and the BMW i3), from discussions in the UN IG REESS and the GTR EVS as well as guidelines (handling procedures) for fire brigades from Germany, Sweden and the United States of America. Potential hazards that might arise from damaged electric vehicles after severe traffic accidents are an emerging issue for modern vehicles and were summarized from the perspective of different national approaches and discussed from the practical view of fire fighters. Recent rescue guidelines were reviewed and used as the basis for a newly developed rescue procedure. The paper gives recommendations in particular towards fire fighters, but also to vehicle manufacturers and first-aiders.
Topics of the status report are: Road accidents in Germany ; Socio-economic costs due to road traffic accidents in Germany , German Road Safety Programme. Finished projects: Turning Assist Systems for Trucks ; Handbook „Accessibility in long-distance bus transport“ ; EU project PROSPECT ; Intersection assistance (Euro NCAP) ; Personal Light Electric Vehicles (PLEV) ; Automatic Emergency Braking for Heavy Goods Vehicles ; KO-HAF ; AFAS ; SENIORS ; Adoption of UN-GTR9-PH2. Ongoing and planned research: Safety potential and testing of reversing assistants for passengers cars (M1) and LGV´s (N1) ; Study on winter tires ; Automatic Emergency Braking for passenger cars ; Motorcyclist-friendly safety barriers ; Active motorcycle safety ; EU-Project PIONEERS ; Friction prediction ; Bus safety: smoke gas toxicity ; HMI aspects on Camera-Monitor-Systems ; Activities with regard to UN R 22 and helmets for S-Pedelecs ; Seriously injured road accident casualties ; UNECE IWG on Deployable Pedestrian Protection Systems (Active bonnets) ; GIDAS – new requirements to address new vehicle technology ; Human Body Modelling ; Child Safety at the UNECE with regard to R 129 ; Development of requirements on automated driving functions for vehicle regulations ; EU-Project L3-Pilot ; Development of evaluation methods for driver interaction with assistance and automation (national research and Euro NCAP) ; EU-Project OSCCAR ; PEGASUS ; Development of basic scenarios for the description of control-relevant requirements for continuous automated vehicle guidance ; EU project HEADSTART ; C-Roads Germany ; Practical Test for the Quality of Congestion-Tail Information ; Research program road safety.
Cycling and designing for cyclist in Germany: an overview of road safety, research and guidelines
(2016)
Cycling is considered a social, eco-friendly, pollution-free, low noise and healthy activity and mode of transportation. There are currently around 67 million bicycles in Germany. This number is expected to increase in the near future with greater use of electromotive assisted bicycles. Regarding the expected increase, there should be additional attention given to road traffic accidents involving cyclists. In 2014, 396 cyclists were killed in road accidents in Germany, which is 12 % of all road fatalities. Also in 2014, Germany reported over 78,000 injuries to cyclists. The majority of the fatalities (about 58 %) and 83 % of the serious injuries to cyclists occurred in urban areas. This paper will examine three aspects concerning cyclists. First, the paper will show the main current developments, for example the National Cycling Plan 2020, the effects of the road safety programme and provide an analysis of the German national accident statistics. Second, the paper will give an overview of the regulations, guidelines for road traffic and designing of cycling facilities. Lastly, this study will detail the current and completed research in Germany addressing cyclist. For example, the paper will discuss the topic "Accidents between Turning-off Trucks and Cyclists" Accidents between right turning trucks and straight riding cyclists often show massive consequences. Accident severity is much higher than in other accidents. The situation is critical especially due to the fact that, in spite of the six mirrors that are mandatory for ensuring a minimum field of sight for the truck drivers, cyclists in some situations cannot be seen or are not seen by the driver. Either the cyclist is overlooked or is in a blind spot area that results from the turning manoeuvre of the truck. At present driver assistance systems are discussed that can support the driver in the turning situation by giving a warning when cyclists are riding parallel to the truck just before or in the turning manoeuvre. The paper will describe the requirements for turning assist systems for trucks. The outcome of the study is an overview of the accident situation between right turning trucks and straight driving cyclists in Germany as well as a corresponding test procedure for driver assistance systems. Below are several other projects which will be investigated, too: Accident Risk and Acceptance of Traffic-Rules by Cyclists ; Safety Improvement in Terms of Using Bicycle Paths in the Opposite Direction ; Cycling in Mixed-Traffic ; Observation of Pedal Electric Cycles Riders to Identify Safety Concerns. These three aspects will provide the current situation on the topic of cyclist safety in Germany.
The field of safety in road tunnels has always been an important issue for operators, owners and the responsible authorities. After the tunnel accidents in 1999 the subject gained however in importance. On European level the Directive 2004/54 EC on "Minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the Trans European Road network" has been published. This guideline has to be implemented into national law by all Member States. According to the guideline all Member States of the European Community shall develop a methodology for risk analyses to be applied in certain cases. For Germany, a standardized methodology for a probabilistic quantitative risk assessment has been worked out.
The Federal Highway Network of Germany represents considerable fixed assets. Construction and maintenance activities not only require a high budget, but also influence the traffic infrastructure and, thus, the economy and society as a whole. The present safety of the network has to be ensured under consideration of environmental aspects. At the same time the network owner has to make sure that the civil works are carried out in the most efficient way. Considering the fact that financial resources are restricted, the costs have to be spent in a way to obtain the greatest possible benefit. This task is supported by the application of a comprehensive Asset Management, which is subdivided into operational and controlling tasks respectively. The paper describes the current management procedures.
Allein im Netz der Bundesfernstraßen sind etwa 35.000 Brücken mit einer Fläche von 25 Millionen Quadratmetern enthalten. Ihr Wiederbeschaffungswert beträgt etwa 70 Milliarden DM. Es wird über die notwendigen Aktivitäten zur Erhaltung dieser für die Aufrechterhaltung des auf den Bundesfernstraßen rollenden Verkehrs besonders wichtigen Bauwerke berichtet. Aufgrund des weiter stärker werdenden Verkehrs, der zunehmenden Fahrzeuggewichte sowie der wachsenden Anzahl von Schwertransporten unterliegen insbesondere die älteren Bauwerke größerer Beanspruchung, als man bei ihrer Planung in Rechnung stellen musste. Hinzu kommt die natürliche Alterung aus sonstigen äußeren Einflüssen wie Temperatur, Witterung und erhöhter Umweltbelastung. Die Verwendung von Auftausalzen führt insbesondere bei älteren Brückenüberbauten zu Korrosionsschäden an der Bewehrung des Betons. Durch die Entwicklung eines Bauwerks-Management-Systems (BMS) wird die Verbesserung der Erhaltung von Brücken und sonstigen Ingenieurbauten angestrebt. Der Aufbau und die Wirkungsweise des BMS werden dargelegt. Des Weiteren werden die schon seit langem eingeführten Prüfvorschriften für Bauwerke im Zuge von Straßen und Wegen (DIN 1076) sowie gängige Prüfverfahren beschrieben.
The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing is aiming for a comprehensive Management System taking into account state-specific and federal requirements as well as existing regulations in the frame of maintenance planning. The system is subdivided into three processes, each comprising special tools for valuation, analysing and planning. Some of the sub-modules have already been realised, eg the database at state level, the inspection procedure in combination with the procedures of damage and condition assessment and the estimation of future maintenance costs at federal level. Other sub-modules are currently being prepared, eg tools for evaluation and selection of measures. However, a large portion of the essential issues are still in the planning phase, eg program creation by taking restrictions into account. The realisation of the complete Management System will be finished by the year 2005.
Germany's road infrastructure grew over centuries to become the arteries and lifelines of our society. The present safety of the infrastructure has to be ensured under consideration of environmental aspects. At the same time the owner has to make sure that the maintenance activities are carried out in the most efficient way. Considering the fact that financial resources are restricted, maintenance costs have to be spent in a way to obtain the greatest possible benefit. In the case of bridges, which are one of the most important parts of the road infrastructure in Germany, this task is supported by the application of a bridge management system (BMS). The existing German BMS contains assessment and optimization procedures on object and network level and is the basis for advancements to meet future demands. Developments concern life cycle and quality-oriented, holistically optimized procedures. Reasonable infrastructure management will contribute to meeting efficiency and sustainability objectives and to achieving interoperability. Here holistic network infrastructure management methods are required. There is a strong need for management solutions during the whole service life of a structure. The definition of criteria for evaluation of the relevance of failure mechanisms, including acceptance thresholds, requires the availability of relevant data for management procedure. Tools for innovative investigation methods and an effective data management will help in meeting the requirements. Relevant fields of research are improved maintenance strategies to meet future demands concerning heavy goods traffic, application and further development of nondestructive testing methods for efficient and sustainable management structures, and the improvement of analytic management tools to meet future demands.
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.
Since its creation in 2011 the Pre-Crash-Matrix (PCM) offers the possibility to observe the pre-crash phase until five seconds before crash for a wide range of accidents. Currently the PCM contains more than 8.000 reconstructed accidents out of the GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study) database and is enlarged continuously by more than 1.000 cases per year. Hence, a detailed investigation of active safety systems in real accident situations has been made feasible. The PCM contains all relevant data in database format to simulate the pre-crash phase until the first collision of the accident for a maximum of two participants. This includes the definition of the participants and their characteristics, the dynamic behavior of the participants as time-dependent course for five seconds before crash as well as the geometry of the traffic infrastructure. The digital sketch of the accident and information from GIDAS as well as from supplementary databases represent the main input for the simulation of the pre-crash phase of an accident with the VUFO simulation model VAST (Vufo Accident Simulation Tool). This simulation in turn embodies the foundation of the PCM. The PCM underlies continual improvements and enhancements in consultation with its users. In addition to collisions of cars with other cars, pedestrians, bicycles and motorcycles the PCM now also covers car to object and car to truck collisions. The paper illustrates car to truck collisions as a showcase and explains perspectives for further developments. In 2016 a more detailed definition of the contour of the vehicle was added. Furthermore, the geometrical surroundings of the accident site will be provided in a new structure with a higher level of detail. Thus, a precise classification of road marks and objects is possible to further improve the support of developing and evaluating ADAS. This paper gives an overview about the latest developments of the PCM with its innovations and provides an outlook to upcoming enhancements. Besides potential areas of application for the development of ADAS are shown.
This work describes the results of the experimental activity, illustrating the driving behavior observed in different conditions, relating them to the different methods of ADAS intervention and comparing the driver behavior without ADAS. In the present study, driver behavior was studied in road accidents involving elderly pedestrians, with different ADAS HMIs, as a base to develop a driver model in near missing pedestrian accidents. A literature research was conducted with the aim of finding out the main influencing factors, including environment, boundary conditions, configuration of impact, pedestrian and driver information, when pedestrian fatalities occur and an analysis of frequent road accidents was conducted to get more detailed information about the driver- behavior. In order to obtain more detailed information about pedestrian accidents, real road accidents were reconstructed with multibody simulations on PC-Crash and, by the comparison between literature findings and reconstructions, a generic accident scenario was defined. The generic accident scenario was implemented on the full scale dynamic driving simulator in use at the Laboratory for Safety and Traffic Accident Analysis (LaSIS, University of Florence, Italy) in order to analyse the driving behaviors of volunteers, also considering the influence of ADAS devices. Forty-five young volunteers were enrolled for this study, resulting in forty valid tests on different testing scenarios. Two different scenarios consisted in driving with or without ADAS in the vehicle. Different kinds of ADAS, acoustic and optical, with different time of intervention were tested in order to study the different reactions of the driver. The tests showed some interesting differences between driver's behavior when approaching the critical situation. Drivers with ADAS reacted earlier, but more slowly, depending also on the type of alarm, and often with double reaction when braking. In fact, the results of the activity showed that with ADAS intervention the time to collision (TTC) increases, but the reaction time and braking modality change: a) there is a sort of "latency" time between the accelerator pedal release and the brake pressure; b) the brake pressure is initially less intense. So the driver only partially takes advance from the TTC increase. These differences were valued not only qualitatively, but quantitatively as well. This work revealed to be useful to improve the knowledge of drivers" behavior, in order to realize a driver model that can be implemented to help attaining and assessing higher levels of automation through new technology.
The advent of active safety systems calls for the development of appropriate testing methods. These methods aim to assess the effectivity of active safety systems based on criteria such as their capability to avoid accidents or lower impact speeds and thus mitigate the injury severity. For prospective effectivity studies, simulation becomes an important tool that needs valid models not only to simulate driving dynamics and safety systems, but also to resolve the collision mechanics. This paper presents an impact model which is based on solving momentum conservation equations and uses it in an effectivity study of a generic collision mitigation system in reconstructed real accidents at junctions. The model assumes an infinitely short crash duration and computes output parameters such as post-crash velocities, delta-v, force directions, etc. and is applicable for all impact collision configurations such as oblique, excentric collisions. Requiring only very little computational effort, the model is especially useful for effectivity studies where large numbers of simulations are necessary. Validation of the model is done by comparison with results from the widely used reconstruction software PC-Crash. Vehicles involved in the accidents are virtually equipped with a collision mitigation system for junctions using the software X-RATE, and the simulations (referred to as system simulations) are started sufficiently early before the collision occurred. In order to assess the effectivity, the real accident (referred to as baseline) is compared with the system simulations by computing the reduction of the impact speeds and delta-v.
Causation of traffic accidents with children from the perspective of all involved participants
(2017)
In the year 2014 about 2,800 children between zero and 14 years got injured due to traffic accidents in Austria. More than 50% were taking part in traffic as active road users like cyclists or pedestrians. Within this study 46 real world traffic accidents between vehicles and children as pedestrians were analysed. In 39 cases, car drivers hit the crossing children. In the other cases, the collision opponents were busses, trucks or motorcycles. Most of the children got hit while crossing a road at urban sites. By analysing the traffic accidents from the perspectives of all involved participants, vehicle drivers and injured children, it is possible to identify factors for each participant, which led to the accident and factors that contributed the accident. The main task is to find patterns in the behaviour of crash victims (children and driver) before the collision. One important fact is that in more than 50% of the analysed cases sight obstructions were an important contributing factor for both, the driver and the child. From drivers view situations in which the child moved unexpected into the driven road lane were often found. For the injured child, factors like: no attention to the road traffic or no sufficient traffic observation were found to be relevant. Further it- possible to sensitise children and adults to possible source of critical traffic situations according to the findings of this study.
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.
The proportion of older road users is increasing because of demographic change (in the group 65+ from current 18% to about 24% by 2030). The mobility needs of people 65+ often differ from those of younger people. Seniors (65+) are already more involved in fatal accidents than younger road users. According to the age development, the senior share of road deaths in the EU of today is increasing nearly one-fifth to one-third. From the in-depth analysis of accidents generic simulation models were developed. Attention has been paid both to psycho-physical characteristics as well as on the social and physical environment and their specifics in conjunction with seniors. By simulating the defined scenarios and varying the defined relevant parameters, accident influencing factors were examined as a basis for avoidance. In addition, the parameters were varied to show the influence from the vehicle, the pedestrian and the infrastructure to avoid the accident or to characterize the conditions for which the accident is inevitable.
Twenty-eight percent of traffic accidents in Japan are rear-end collisions, and of these, 13% are multiple collisions (three or more vehicles and/or roadside objects). A post-crash braking system enables the driver to stop the vehicle in a short distance after a rear-end collision to prevent secondary collisions. In this study, the effectiveness of a post-crash braking system was examined using a drive recorder database. In 64% of rear-end collisions, the driver's braking was interrupted after the collision. The stopping distance was estimated with time data from the drive recorder. We predict that the brake assist would be effective in preventing secondary collisions in 21% of cases.
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.
In this study, the mean profile depth (MPD) that expresses roughness of road pavements was calculated using the road survey equipment vehicle and the calculated MPD was compared with the real number of traffic accidents. The analysis method used in this study was to classify the appropriate clustering in relation to traffic accidents using the K-means clustering and to compare this with the presence of traffic accidents via the MPDs to derive the result. K-means clustering was used in the analysis method and four clusters were found using the clustering analysis results. The center of each cluster was 0.627, 0.850, 1.118, and 1.237, respectively. The result of this study is expected to be utilized as foundational research in the traffic safety area.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[Introduction:] A large number of road users involved in road traffic crashes recover from their injuries, but some of them never recover fully and suffer from some kind of permanent disability. In addition to loss of life or reduced quality of life, road accidents carry many and diverse consequences to the survivors such as legal implications, economic burden, job absences, need of care from a third person, home and vehicle adaptations as well as psychological consequences. Within an EU funded project MOVE/C4/SUB/2011-294/SI2.628846 (REHABIL AID) these consequences were analyzed more detailed.
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.
Whiplash injuries are characterized by the high variability of its symptoms and by the subjectivity of its diagnosis, which sometimes leads to frauds perpetrated by victims of rear-end impacts. It is estimated that whiplash injuries cost annually about 10.000 million Euros in Europe. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the dynamics of the accident in which the victim was involved in the probability of development of whiplash associated injuries. In the presented methodology, first an accident reconstruction is performed where the dynamics of the accident is determined. This is carried out using the software PC-Crash, police and insurance companies' data. Then biomechanical injuries criteria related with whiplash injuries are evaluated. For the evaluation of the probability of having whiplash injuries, the Neck Injury Criterion (NIC) of the victim and the mean acceleration of the vehicle were evaluated. Then, with medical reports, the results of the accident reconstruction are correlated with the reported injuries. Some examples are presented. The results obtained indicate that the study of the dynamics of the road accidents in which the victims were involved could be used as an auxiliary of the prognosis of whiplash injuries and is important for a precise diagnosis of this type of injuries.
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).
Still correlated with high mortality rates in traffic accidents traumatic aortic ruptures were frequently detected in unprotected car occupants in the early years. This biomechanical analysis investigates the different kinds of injury mechanisms leading to traumatic aortic injuries in todays traffic accidents and how the way of traffic participation affects the frequency of those injuries over the years. Based on GIDAS reported traffic accidents from 1973 to 2014 are analyzed. Results show that traumatic aortic injuries are mainly observed in high-speed accidents with high body deceleration and direct load force to the chest. Mostly chest compression is responsible for the load direction to the cardiac vessels. The main observed load vector is from caudal-ventral and from ventral solely, but also force impact from left and right side and in roll-over events with chest compression lead to traumatic aortic injuries. Classically, the injury appeares at the junction between the well-fixed aortic arch and the pars decendens following a kind of a scoop mechanism, a few cases with a hyperflexion mechanism are also described. In our analysis the deceleration effect alone never led to an aortic rupture. Comparing the past 40 years aortic injuries shift from unprotected car occupants to today's unprotected vulnerable road users like pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Still the accident characteristics are linked with chest compression force under high speed impact, no seatbelt and direct body impact.
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).
While cyclists and pedestrians are known to be at significant risk for severe injuries when exposed to road traffic accidents (RTAs) involving trucks, little is known about RTA injury risk for truck drivers. The objective of this study is to analyze the injury severity in truck drivers following RTAs. Between 1999 and 2008 the Hannover Medical School Accident Research Unit prospectively documented 43,000 RTAs involving 582 trucks. Injury severity including the abbreviated injury scale (AIS) and the maximum abbreviated injury scale (MAIS) were analyzed. Technical parameters (e.g. delta-v, direction of impact), the location of accident, and its dependency on the road type were also taken into consideration. The results show that the safety of truck drivers is assured by their vehicles, the consequence being that the risk of becoming injured is likely to be low. However, the legs especially are at high risk for severe injuries during RTAs. This probability increases in the instance of a collision with another truck. Nevertheless, in RTAs involving trucks and regular passenger vehicles, the other party is in higher risk of injury.
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).
In-depth accident investigation offers many advantages for the analysis and comprehension of crash mechanisms. IFSTTAR makes such investigations since 1992 without interruption. The corresponding database contains more than 1200 accident case studies. Currently, in-depth accident investigation is one of the best ways to determine the speed or cars involved in accidents. This paper first presents the methods used for accident investigation and for accident kinematic reconstruction. Then, in order to illustrate the interest and possible applications of such accident data, it shows some results from a recent study based on the IFSTTAR in-depth accident study programme (IDAS) and dealing with the link between travelling speed and accident risk.
For the avoidance of traffic accidents by means of advanced driver assistance systems the knowledge of failures and deficiencies a few seconds before the crash is of increasing importance. This information e.g. is collected in the German accident survey GIDAS by an interview derived from the ACAS methodology. However to display the whole range of accident causation factors additional information is needed on enduring factors of the system components "human", "infrastructure" and "machine". On the strategic level these accident moderating factors include long term influences such as medical preconditions or a general higher risk taking behavior as well as influences on the immediate conflict level such as an aggressive response to a perceived previous traffic conflict. This study was conducted to examine the feasibility of collecting such causation information in the scope of an in-depth accident investigation like GIDAS. Due to the comprehensive amount of information necessary to estimate the moderating factors the collection of the information is distributed to different methods. 5 cases of real world crashes have been investigated where information was collected on-scene and retrospective by interviews. The identified moderating factors of the accidents and the method for collecting the information are displayed.
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.
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.
From an automotive safety occupant protection standpoint, effective occupant restraint requires a system capable of providing non-injurious occupant ride down of anticipated crash forces. This is not only the case for frontal collisions, where occupant restraint is provided primarily by seatbelts and airbags, but is also critical for other crash modes such as side impacts, rear impacts, rollovers, as well as multiple impact events. In the rear impact crash mode, occupant restraint is provided primarily by the seatbacks and to some extent the seatbelts. Foundationally, therefore, what becomes fundamental to the seatback's role in rear occupant protection is its ability to contain the occupant within the seat, preventing occupant ramping, as well as preventing the seat's, and/or its occupant's, dangerous intrusion into the rear occupant's survival space where contact with rear compartment components and/ or rear seated occupants can present a significant injury risk. An analysis is presented of a series of rear impact sled testing conducted by the authors that evaluates the timing, position and extent of the front seatback's reward displacement toward and into the rear occupant compartment as well as consideration of the front seat occupant' ramping potential and its injury potential relative to the rear compartment. Additionally, three other series of testing are presented which assess various seat designs occupant retention capabilities. Lastly, a matched-pair comparison test series is presented which evaluates occupant motion in rear impact with and without use of a typical vehicle body mounted 3-point seatbelt. Discussion of restraint system performance observed in all the testing is included along with ATD biofidelity and thigh-gap considerations. The data collected and presented includes accelerometer instrumentation and high speed video analysis.
This study investigates the protection offered by passive head-restraints with different stiffness and energy dissipation properties. For this purpose, computational multi-body models of a generic car seat and a biofidelic 50thpercentile male human for rear impact are used to study different seat designs and passive head-restraints. The validated seat-occupant model is also used in the design of two different car-seat models which are shown to effectively mitigate whiplash by utilising a crash-energy distribution technique. Five different passive head-restraints with varying stiffness (low-medium-high) and energy dissipation percentages (low-high) are successively attached to four different car-seat models. The simulation results indicate that the protection offered by head restraints is strongly dependent on the seat design. It has also been shown that the stiffness of the passive head-restraint has much more influence on whiplash-risk in comparison to its energy dissipation capacity.
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.
Recently, EuroNCAP updated the upper legform test protocols. The main objective of this study is to establish the upper legform test in KIDAS (Korean In-depth Accident Study) taking into account domestic pedestrian accident data as well as anthropometric data to protect elderly pedestrians whose average height and weight is much smaller and lighter than other age groups, especially compared to Europeans. Therefore 230 cases of pedestrian accidents from KIDAS were investigated to explore the injury severity of body regions as well as age related injury patterns. Injuries of all body regions were examined, with a special focus on injuries of abdomen and pelvic area. On the other hand, in order to explore Korea's pedestrian accident environment, national police data and KIDAS (Korean In-depth Accident Study) data were compared. The results should be taken into account in future analyses and possible improvements, such as regulations and KNCAP test protocols, of the pedestrian safety policy in Korea.
At IAM RoadSmart we share the excitement about autonomous cars " who wouldn't! However over half of the drivers we polled supported concentrating on making drivers safer " among IAM RoadSmart members it was 70%. Driverless cars are still years away but delivering safer drivers can help reduce death and injury from tomorrow. Governments, academics and car makers need to work hard to convince sceptical British and American drivers that autonomous cars can deliver the benefits promised such as a 90% plus reduction in road deaths.
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.
Millions of kilometers are driven and recorded by car manufacturers and researchers every year to gather information about realistic traffic situations. The focus of these studies is often the recording of critical situations to create test scenarios for the development of new systems before introducing them into the market. This paper shows a novel Analysis and Investigation Method for All Traffic Scenarios (AIMATS) based on real traffic scenes. It also shows how to get detailed information about speeds, trajectories and behavior of all participants without driving thousands of kilometers at the example of conflict situations with animals. Basis of the AIMATS is the identification of the most relevant locations as "Points of Interest" (POI), the recording of the critical situations and their "base lines" at these POI. This paper presents a new method to identify critical scenarios involving both vehicles and animals as well as preliminary results of a study done in Saxony using this new method.
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.
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.
Interdisciplinary accident research and research projects of AARU Audi Accident Research Unit
(2017)
AARU (Audi Accident Research Unit) is an interdisciplinary research project of the University Hospital Regensburg in cooperation with AUDI AG. Specific objective is to comprehend the respective accident scenario and retrieve generally applicable findings as to technical, medical and psychological processes. In order to prevent traffic accidents and to alleviate vehicle accident consequences, postulates of general traffic safety, human-machine interaction, technical design and function of new vehicles and occupant as well as third party protection shall be inferred from these findings. Specifically, each accident with new Audi, Lamborghini and Ducati vehicles involved is analyzed interdisciplinary, discussed in a case meeting and anonymously documented with more than 2,000 parameters. The database is continually used for solving safety relevant issues. Parallel to accident analysis, research projects are performed in the fields medicine, psychology and engineering in order to gain comprehensive insight and identify potential additional areas of activity of accident research.
In 2016 the seventh ESAR conference (Expert Symposium on Accident Research) was held in Hannover. ESAR is an international convention of experts, who analyze traffic accidents all over the world and discuss their results in this context, conducted at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover every 2 years. It connected representatives of public authorities, engineers in automotive development and scientists and offers a forum with particular emphasis on In-Depth-Analyses of accident statistics and accident analyses. Special focus is placed on research on the basis of so-called "In-Depth-Accident-Investigations" [data collections at the sites of the accidents], which are characterized by extensive documentations of the sites of the accidents, of the vehicles as well as of the injuries, encompassing several scientific fields. ESAR aims at a multi-disciplinary compilation of scientific results and at discussing them on an international, scientific level. It is thus a scientific colloquium and a platform for exchanging information for all accident researchers. Experiences in accident prevention as well as in the complex field of accident reconstruction are stated and new research fields are added. Existing results of long-term research work in Europe, the US, Australia and Japan include different infrastructural correlations and give findings on population, vehicle population and driver characteristics, which offer a basis for recommendations to be derived and measures for increasing road safety.
Der Nachweis von Geringstmengen Benzoylecgonin (BZE) deutet bei Gelegenheitskonsumenten nicht zwingend auf eine akute Verkehrssicherheitsgefährdung hin, zumal der kokainerge Metabolismus starken interindividuellen und geschlechtsspezifischen Schwankungen unterliegt (BOWMAN et al., 1999; LUKAS et al., 1996; HAMILTON et al., 1977) und die gemessene BZE-Konzentration vom Zeitpunkt der Kokaineinnahme und der Höhe der eingenommenen Kokaindosis abhängt (ITEN, 1994; AMBRE, 1985). Eine starke interindividuelle Varianz wurde auch bei der Einlagerung von Kokain oder BZE in Haaren festgestellt (HARKEY, 1995). Im Gegensatz zu den Gelegenheitskonsumenten weisen Kokainabhängige in einem Abstinenzraum von mindestens drei Monaten neurologische, neuropsychologische und teilweise auch psychiatrische Defizite auf, die verkehrssicherheitsrelevant sind. Somit würde bei bekannter Kokainabhängigkeit der Nachweis von Geringstmengen BZE bereits ein ausreichender Indikator für eine verkehrssicherheitsrelevante Funktionsbeeinträchtigung sein.
Vorgestellt werden Ergebnisse aus der Untersuchung "Vergleich verschiedener Modellierungsprogramme zur Berechnung von Luftschadstoffen". Die Untersuchung wurde begleitend zu der Pilotstudie "NO2-Reduktion an Ti02-dotierten Lärmschutzwänden (LSW) an der A1" durchgeführt. Projektziel war der Vergleich von drei Ausbreitungsmodellen sowie die Auswahl eines geeigneten Modells für ein zu entwickelndes Online-Monitoring-System. Es wurde festgestellt, dass sich die Modellergebnisse infolge der Umsetzung kleinräumiger Details unterscheiden sowie dass alle Modelle lediglich geringe NOx-Minderungen in Folge der katalytischen Oberflächenbeschichtung anzeigen. In den numerischen Modellen wird die photokatalytische Wirkung der Ti02-beschichteten Lärmschutzwand über einen Depositionsprozess berücksichtigt. Unter Berücksichtigung der Hintergrundbelastung und der NOx-NO2-Umwandlung würde sich die Wirkung des Katalysators im Maximum auf weniger reduzieren. Die Messungen zeigten keine eindeutige Wirkung bezüglich der Immissionskonzentrationen im Bereich der beschichteten beziehungsweise unbeschichteten LSW an.
Es werden erste Ergebnisse des von der Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt) geförderten Forschungsprojekts "Hauptstudie zur Wirksamkeit von Tunnelwänden als Träger photokatalytischer Oberflächen" (FE 9.0184/2011/ARB) vorgestellt. Ziel war die Erarbeitung von technischen Lösungen zur Stickoxidreduktion an einem Tunnelstandort durch die Konzeptionierung und den Bau abgeschlossener photokatalytischer Reaktoren (Tunnelkassetten) sowie deren Validierung im Tunnel "Rudower Höhe" an der Bundesautobahn A113 in Berlin. Dabei wird künstliches UV-Licht als Energiequelle für den Schadstoffabbau eingesetzt. Es wird speziell über die Modellierungen berichtet, mit Hilfe derer die Tunnelkassetten sowohl strömungstechnisch als auch in Hinblick auf den photokatalytischen Abbauwirkungsgrad optimiert wurden.
Vorgestellt werden Vorgehensweise, Datenaufbereitung, Modellaufbau und Ergebnisse des BASt-Projekts "Numerische Simulation der Stickoxidminderung durch photokatalytische Oberflächen an Verkehrswegen". Die Vorteile des Konzepts liegen in der Berücksichtigung von Zeitreihen (Eingangsdaten, Ausbreitungsrechnung) und in der Tatsache, dass die Depositionsgeschwindigkeit als zeitlich variable Eingangsgröße bei der Modellierung berücksichtigt wurde. Die Ergebnisse liegen entsprechend als Zeitreihen vor (Jahres- oder Tagesgänge können untersucht werden). Es ergab sich eine Minderung der NO2-Belastung um maximal knapp 1.5% im Nahbereich der Lärmschutzwand. Wesentlicher Faktor bei der Wirksamkeit photokatalytischer Oberflächen ist die Interaktion zwischen Gesamtbelastung und Depositionsgeschwindigkeit im Tagesverlauf.
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.
Anwendungsmöglichkeiten und erste Ergebnisse aus Pilotstudien zur Photokatalyse an Straßenbauwerken
(2015)
Zur Frage, ob photokatalytisch aktive Oberflächen im Straßenbau eine Lösung des Stickoxidproblems darstellen können, stellt der Beitrag erste Ergebnisse aus Pilotstudien zu TiO2-Anwendungen vor. Diese betreffen die Untersuchung einer Lärmschutzwand mit TiO2-Beschichtung (A1, Niedersachsen), eine photokatalytisch aktive Straßenoberfläche (NOxer(R)-Belag, B433 in Hamburg, Decke mit Ti02-haltiger Zementschlämme, derzeit noch in Auswertung) sowie einen Tunnel (Tunnelkassetten mit TiO2-Matten im Tunnel Rudower Höhe in Berlin, A113, fortgeführt in Bezug auf die Untersuchung der Haltbarkeit der Kassettensysteme). Ausführlich dargestellt werden die Untersuchungen zur Beschichtung der Lärmschutzwand an der Al mit Titandioxid-haltiger Suspension, den zugehörigen forschungsbegleitenden Studien, sowie den Ergebnissen in Bezug auf die NO2-Minderungsrate. Die bisher durchgeführten Auswertungen haben NO2-Minderungen von einstelligen Prozentzahlen ergeben. Die Entwicklung der Minderungsraten lässt vermuten, dass photokatalytische Suspensionen zum Teil mehrere Monate benötigen, um sich frei zu brennen und die aktiven TiO2-Partikel an die Oberfläche treten zu lassen. Schon die Lärmschutzwand allein bewirkt eine deutliche Verminderung der NO2-Konzentrationen im direkten Hinterland durch Verfrachtung der Luftschadstoffe in höhere Luftschichten.
Mit Fokus auf Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) wird das urbane NO2-Problem umrissen. Um die Jahresgrenzwerte einzuhalten, sind beispielsweise in allen Straßenschluchten in NRW Reduktionen nötig. Die Europäische Kommission hat gegen mehrere Mitgliedsstaaten, darunter Deutschland, Vertragsverletzungsverfahren wegen der Überschreitung von NO2-Grenzwerten eröffnet. Dargestellt werden die Langzeittrends bezüglich der gemessenen Abnahme bei der Stickoxidbelastung. Potenzielle Maßnahmen können hinsichtlich ihrer möglichen Wirkungen durch den Einsatz von Modellen abgeschätzt werden, zum Beispiel Umweltzonen, Fahrverbote, Elektrofahrzeuge. Die Ergebnisse der Messungen und Modellrechnungen werden dargestellt und kritisch beleuchtet. Als Fazit ergibt sich, dass das urbane NO2-Problem nicht einfach zu lösen ist, Minderungen der NOx-Emissionen spiegeln sich nicht in der gleichen Größenordnung in der Abnahme der NO2-Belastung wieder. Bei zusätzlich wirksamen Maßnahmen wie beispielsweise einem höheren Anteil von Elektrofahrzeugen fehlt die (schnelle) praktische Umsetzbarkeit. Eine Kombination aus lokalen, regionalen und europaweiten Maßnahmen ist nötig, um das Problem zu lösen.
Ausgehend von den rechtlichen Grundlagen für die Luftreinhaltung sowie den Grenzwertfestlegungen für Feinstaub (PM10) sowie Stickoxide (NO2) wird auf die heutige Luftqualität in Städten mit Schwerpunkt Stuttgart eingegangen. Dargelegt werden die festgestellten Überschreitungen bei den Grenzwerten für PM10 und NO2. Eingegangen wird auf die Maßnahmen zur Reduzierung der Luftbelastung in Stuttgart und die Wirkungen in Bezug auf die Senkung der Grenzwert-Übersschreitungen beziehungsweise Jahresmittelwerte von PM10 und NO2 an den Hotspot-Stationen "Am Neckartor" und "Hohenheimer Straße". Abschließend wird ein perspektivischer Ausblick gegeben: obwohl die Luftsituation in den Städten kontinuierlich besser geworden ist, gibt es an stark befahrenen städtischen Straßen weiterhin Grenzwertüberschreitungen. Die EU-Vertragsverletzungsverfahren machen weitere Maßnahmen notwendig. Die Städte brauchen praxiserprobte Maßnahmen und keine langfristigen, kostspieligen Pilotversuche mit unsicherem Ausgang.
HORN stellt in ihrem Eingangsreferat den "Neuen Bundesverkehrswegeplan und die SUP in der Verkehrswegeplanung" vor. Das zentrale Element des in der Regel auf 10 bis 15 Jahre angelegten Plans ist die aus europäischen Vorgaben abgeleitete Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung. Diese erfordert bei der Erstellung des Bundesverkehrswegeplans einen kontinuierlichen Kommunikationsprozess. Zugleich betonte HORN die starke Unterfinanzierung des aktuellen Plans. Der Erhaltung der vorhandenen Verkehrsinfrastruktur komme in den Bereichen Straße, Schiene und Wasser der Vorrang vor Neubauten zu. FEHLING plädiert in seinem Beitrag "Die Straße im Kontext des öffentlichen Personennahverkehrs" für eine nahverkehrsfreundliche Planung und Gestaltung des Straßenraums. Die Planungen verschiedener Verkehrsträger und Planungsebenen müssten aufeinander aber auch mit straßenverkehrsrechtlichen Anordnungen abgestimmt werden. Die entsprechende Koordination sei allerdings verbesserungsbedürftig. Namentlich die Vernetzung der Nahverkehrsplanung mit anderen Planungsebenen müsse ausgebaut werden. KUGELE berichtet in seinem Beitrag "Selbstfinanzierte Straßen" für eine längerfristige Verlässlichkeit der Verkehrsfinanzierung. Gegenwärtig fließe nur etwa die Hälfte der Abgaben aus dem Verkehr dem Gesamtverkehrssystem auch wieder zu. Diese Mittel müssten gesteigert und längerfristig für den Verkehr verfügbar gemacht werden, etwa durch längerfristige Leistungs- und Finanzierungsvereinbarungen oder durch Sondervermögen. Der abschließende Beitrag "Das neue Vergaberecht" von SIEGEL behandelt drei neue EU-Vergaberichtlinien, die am 17.04.2014 in Kraft getreten und nun binnen zweier Jahre umzusetzen sind. Nach dem neuen Recht können künftig ökologische und soziale Kriterien verstärkt eine Rolle bei der Vergabe von öffentlichen Aufträgen spielen. Diese neuen Richtlinien vergrößern indes die Nachweispflichten und den bürokratischen Aufwand. Neben das Kriterium des "wirtschaftlich günstigsten Angebots" zählt zudem nunmehr auch das beste Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis.
In 2011 399 cyclists died in road accidents in Germany and another 76.351 cyclists have been injured. Since 2000 the number of injured or fatally injured cyclists remained on the same high level. Cyclists form 19% of all casualties in German road traffic, although the modal split rate of this transport mode in 2008 was only 10% of trips and resp. 3% of kilometres per day. The high proportion of fatally and seriously injured shows the high vulnerability of cyclists. The demographic shift towards an older population in Germany and the governmental recommendation of increased bicycle use as an ecological, economical and healthy alternative to other modes of transport lead to the assumption that bicycle use especially of elderly people will increase. Based on these facts about the German cyclists' situation a representative survey of 2.000 cyclists was conducted. Results display use patterns and accident involvement on a descriptive level. Overall 7.7% of cyclists report to have been involved in at least one road traffic accident within the last three years. The performed path model analysis reveals an acceptable model fit. Though the explained variance of accident involvement of the applied psychological factors was low, significant relations between several of these factors and especially risky behaviour could be found.
Rural roads (highways) in Germany have to provide both high road safety and an appropriate level of service in accordance with their function in the road network. Single carriageway rural roads often underperform these expectations. An analysis of severe accidents on rural roads found two main contributing factors. First, high or inappropriate speed leads to accidents caused by the loss of control of the vehicle. Second, unsafe passing manoeuvres related to a misjudgement of sight distance, speed of oncoming vehicles or a misjudgement of the driver vehicle's acceleration capability. On the five roads where unsafe passing manoeuvres were a main contributing factor to accident occurrence, single short passing lanes (600 m to 1.2 km) were built to provide safe passing. On the remaining two-lane sections passing was prohibited by road signs and road marking. This paper investigates the effect of this design change on the accident situation and on traffic flow. The research project is based on a before/after comparison of traffic and accident data. Traffic volume, vehicle types and their velocities as well as the time gaps between the vehicles were recorded at different cross-sections. The result shows a significant improvement in road safety. This improvement was especially noted for severe head-on crashes, which were reduced to almost zero. The analysis of traffic flow on these roads pointed out that the chosen lengths of passing lanes were sufficient for safe passing and thereby reduced the need for dangerous driving behaviour. The recommendations of this research were fundamental for the determination of the design parameters of the second highest design class (EKL 2) in the new German Rural Road Design Guideline (RAL) published in spring 2013.
Es ist Tradition in der Forschungsgesellschaft, an den Anfang von Arbeitsgruppentagungen den Tätigkeitsbericht des Arbeitsgruppenleiters zu stellen. Die Tätigkeiten im Berichtszeitraum zwischen 2010 und 2013 spiegeln sich in den Vorträgen über Ergebnisse und abgeschlossene Aktivitäten wider. Der Bericht ist deshalb auf Veränderungen und Entwicklungen fokussiert, die seit der Erd- und Grundbautagung 2010 stattgefunden haben. Das betrifft organisatorische und personelle Veränderungen in der Arbeitsgruppe, laufende und geplante Forschungsvorhaben und Regelwerke. Bei den vielfältigen Themen und Aufgaben der Arbeitsgruppe werden für weitergehende Informationen die nachfolgenden Beiträge der Tagung 2013 und die Road Maps und Steckbriefe der Gremien auf der Internetseite der FGSV empfohlen.
Die Straßenverkehrsinfrastruktur und der Straßenverkehr müssen sich künftig vielen Herausforderungen stellen. Zu nennen sind hier die Globalisierung, die Nachhaltigkeit, der Anstieg des Güterverkehrs und der technologische, demografische und klimatische Wandel. Die Straßenverkehrsinfrastruktur und der Straßenverkehr müssen sich den prognostizierten und projizierten Veränderungen anpassen. Die BASt betreut in ihrer Strategie "Anpassung der Straßenverkehrsinfrastruktur an den Klimawandel (AdSVIS)" bereits mehr als ein Dutzend Projekte. Diese Strategie soll dazu beitragen, die Verwundbarkeit gegenüber den Folgen des Klimawandels zu mindern bzw. eine leistungsfähige Straßenverkehrsinfrastruktur zu erhalten. Hierfür entscheidend sind nicht nur die durchschnittlichen Änderungen von klimatischen Parametern, sondern mehr noch das Auftreten von Extremwetterereignissen. Geringe Änderungen bei den Mittelwerten können sich aber in hohen Zunahmen bei der statistischen Verteilung der Extremwerte wie z. B. Hitzeperioden, Starkregen, Sturmböen äußern. Der zentrale Punkt der Anpassungsstrategie ist die Risikoanalyse wichtiger Güter- und Transitverkehrsachsen unter Einbeziehung von Seehäfen. Das Ziel dieses Projektes ist die Identifikation, Analyse und Bewertung der Risiken aus den projizierten Klimaänderungen für ausgewählte Streckenabschnitte im deutschen Teil des TEN-T (Transeuropäisches Netz Transport) in Anlehnung an die im ERA-NET ROAD Projekt RIMAROCC entwickelte Methodik. Hierfür werden für die relevanten meteorologischen Parameter Grenzwerte ermittelt, bei deren Überschreitung es für die Elemente der Straßenverkehrsinfrastruktur aus den Bereichen Erdbau, Entwässerung, Straßenbefestigungen, Ingenieurbau und Verkehrstechnik problematisch bzw. kritisch werden kann. Dabei werden nicht nur nach aktuellen Stand der Technik gefertigte Abschnitte des Straßennetzes betrachtet, sondern auch solche älterer Bauweisen und deren Vorkommen im Netz. Über die Fusion der Straßennetzdaten mit regionalisierten Klimaprojektionen werden schließlich die Lokalitäten mit prioritärem Anpassungsbedarf ermittelt. Anschließend werden für die identifizierten Risikobereiche erforderliche Anpassungsmaßnahmen entwickelt, erprobt und hinsichtlich ihrer Wirksamkeit bewertet. Da im Fokus die kostenintensiven Elemente der Straßenverkehrsinfrastruktur mit langer Nutzungsdauer wie Brücken und Straßengründungen stehen, müssen Anpassungsmaßnahmen bereits bei zeitnah anstehenden Erneuerungsarbeiten erfolgen, um die Folgenkosten der Klimaänderung zu senken. Das derzeit laufende Projekt "Risikoanalyse wichtiger Güter- und Transitverkehrsachsen unter Einbeziehung von Seehäfen" stellt eine erste Annäherung an den Aufbau eines Risikomanagements dar. Die hierbei verwendete RIMAROCC-Methodik muss dazu erweitert, weiterentwickelt und validiert werden. Erst dann kann die Risikoanalyse auf Netzebene durchgeführt und die erforderlichen Anpassungsprogramme aufgestellt werden.
Bankette dienen im Wesentlichen der Verkehrssicherheit und dem Schadstoffrückhalt. Sie müssen dauerhaft standfest sein, damit abkommende Fahrzeuge, insbesondere schwere Lkw, nicht einsinken und verunfallen. Zum Grundwasserschutz müssen sie aber auch die Schadstoffe aus dem Straßenabfluss, der im Bankett versickert, zurückhalten. Der Schadstoffrückhalt im Bankett erfolgt vorwiegend durch mechanische Filtration. Diese wird vor allem durch die sandigen und schluffigen Kornfraktionen im Bankettmaterial bewirkt. Ist ihr Anteil aber zu hoch, nehmen die Standfestigkeit und die Tragfähigkeit ab. Es gilt, diese gegenläufigen Anforderungen an die Zusammensetzung von Bankettmaterial zu optimieren. Die Untersuchungsansätze und erste Ergebnisse der dazu beauftragten Forschung werden im Beitrag vorgestellt. Mit den Feinpartikeln aus dem Straßenabfluss und der Vegetation "wachsen" Bankette im Laufe der Jahre auf. Damit der Straßenabfluss nicht behindert wird und Aquaplaning auftritt, müssen Bankette regelmäßig geschält werden. Das bei dieser Reprofilierung anfallende Bankettschälgut ist grundsätzlich als Abfall einzustufen. Die dadurch bedingten Einschränkungen bei der Verwendung oder Verwertung sind in der "Richtlinie zum Umgang mit Bankettschälgut" beschrieben. Die dort aufgezeigten Möglichkeiten werden vorgestellt. Wenn das Bankettschälgut nicht innerhalb des Straßenbauwerks verbleiben kann, sollte es im Sinne der Ressourcenschonung verwertet werden. Bankettschälgut besteht zu circa 90 Masse-Prozent aus mineralischen Bestandteilen, die wieder für Bauzwecke genutzt werden können, wenn es durch eine geeignete Aufbereitung gelingt, die überwiegend pflanzlichen Anteile (Mähgutreste und Wurzeln) deutlich zu reduzieren. Aus einer Forschungsarbeit zu Kosten und Nutzen der Aufbereitung von Bankettschälgut werden der derzeitige Stand dargestellt und Perspektiven für eine werterhaltende Nutzung von Bankettschälgut aufgezeigt.
Im Mittelpunkt der Überlegungen zu Perspektiven einer zeitgemäßen und sicherheitswirksamen Fahranfängervorbereitung steht die Absenkung des weiterhin hohen Anfangsrisikos bei Fahranfängern. Ausgehend von den positiven Erfahrungen mit dem Begleiteten Fahren ab 17 beauftragte das Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung (BMVBS) die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt) mit der Erarbeitung eines Rahmenkonzepts, in dem Entwicklungsperspektiven für weitere Verbesserungen der Vorbereitung von Fahranfängern und wissenschaftlich begründete Maßnahmenvorschläge für die Erhöhung der Fahranfängersicherheit formuliert werden. Zunächst werden die Aufgaben und die Vorgehensweise der Rahmenkonzepterarbeitung sowie die Kriterien für die Ableitung von Maßnahmenprioritäten skizziert. Ausgehend von den Erkenntnissen zur Entwicklung des Unfallrisikos im Verlauf der Fahrkarriere werden im Anschluss die maßgeblichen Ansatzpunkte zur verbesserten Gestaltung eines sicheren Übergangs in die Automobilität aufgezeigt. Zentrale Maßnahmenvorschläge des Rahmenkonzepts werden vorgestellt. Diese beziehen sich auf die Bekämpfung der maßgeblichen Ursachen des erhöhten Fahranfängerrisikos (Fahrerfahrungsdefizit und Einstellungsmängel), die Optimierung bestehender Fahranfängermaßnahmen und die verstärkte Erschließung von Technik und Wissenschaft für das Fahren lernen.
The practicability and feasibility of using alcohol ignition interlock devices has been discussed for more than 15 years in Germany. Thereby, judicial issues have been treated conversely. Consensus exists about the fact that the voluntary use of alcohol ignition interlocks is in all areas of possible use recommendable. Great reservation is shown concerning the operation of the devices for DUI (Driving Under Influence) offenders. Main doubts regard the missing legal base for application in such cases and potential circumvention attempts while the need of supportive psychological measures is unquestioned. In 2011, the Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs entered this topic in its newly released traffic safety programme as a matter of future research. Almost in parallel, the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) launched an alcohol ignition interlock project for DUI offenders. The study at hand aimed at developing a comprehensive programme concept for the use of alcohol ignition interlocks as additional measure to psychological rehabilitation for DUI offenders. Expert surveys serve as input for the establishment of a widely accepted innovative concept for nationwide implementation. By means of a pilot trial, the added value of using a combination of structural (alcohol interlock) and individual (psychological measure) intervention for DUI offenders to the existing countermeasure system should be studied. In addition, selection criteria for DUI offenders eligible for future programme participation should be defined. The majority of the experts evaluate the introduction of alcohol ignition interlocks as a good option to enhance traffic safety. The possibility of early psychological rehabilitation is emphasized in the process. Those who do not approve alcohol ignition interlock usage estimate the amount of offenders eligible for such programmes too small. The survey also revealed that legal regulations for issuing an alcohol interlock restricted licence to DUI offenders is missing. Hence, a possible amendment to the German Driving Licencing Regulation was developed within the project. Consultations with the Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Justice disclosed the need for a change of the road traffic law before an amendment to the existing regulations may be put into force. At least, the person responsible in the Ministry of Justice developed a proposal for the law section that needs revision. All in all, it became clear within the process of the project that a field trial in Germany is still a distant vision. Nevertheless, all institutions involved are motivated to deal with the matter further on in order to pave the way for a soon start of the pilot trial.
In Germany, courses for the restoration of the fitness to drive after licence revocation are provided for different offender groups (alcohol, drug and demerit point offenders). Providers of these courses are by law required to prove the effectiveness of the applied course programs. For the evaluation of effectiveness, the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) established specific "Reference Values" in 2002. The objective of the study at hand was to collect valid data in order to renew the old-established Reference Values from 2002. Additionally, data collection aimed at initializing Reference Values for drug offender programs. Over 66,000 drivers were analysed regarding their traffic probation in the three years after licence reinstatement. Offenders were assigned to an offender group (alcohol, drugs and demerit point offenders) based on the reason for prior licence revocation. Different indicators were used as criteria for re-offending: new alcohol or drug records, culpable accident involvement and repeated licence revocation. For each of the offender groups, frequency distributions regarding these indicators were calculated. Frequencies of recidivism are highest for the group of demerit point offenders. Compared to the Reference Values of this group from 2002, frequencies of re-offending increased. Conversely, re-offence frequencies of alcohol offenders are halved compared to the data from 2001. The analysis of the re-offence frequencies of drug offenders reveals an equal amount of re-offenders as in the alcohol offender group. The collected data serve as a good base for renewal of the old-established Reference Values and may be applicable as comparative data for future evaluations The results reveal significant differences between recent data and earlier studies. These may occur due to improvements of the applied programmes, but also due to situational changes, e.g. increased enforcement levels and expansion of the catalogue of offenses which lead to demerit points.
In dem Beitrag präsentieren die Autoren einige laufende und geplante Forschungsvorhaben der Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt), die wesentliche Bestandteile der Forschungslinie (FL) Q5 "Innovationen: Von der Idee in die Praxis" der mittelfristigen Forschungsplanung der BASt darstellen. Bei den konkreten Projekten geht es um die Entwicklung eines geeigneten Bewertungsverfahrens für Innovationen, um das Sichten neuer Forschungsideen aus denen neue Forschungsvorhaben resultieren können, um Nutzung von numerischen Methoden für die Entwicklung neuer Baustoffe und Bauweisen, sowie um den Aufbau einer geeigneten Untersuchungsinfrastruktur.
Ungefähr 20 Jahre nach der Einführung der Bauproduktenrichtlinie (Richtlinie 89/106/EWG, BauPR) wurde im April 2011 im Amtsblatt der Europäischen Union das Nachfolgewerk, die Verordnung (EU) Nummer 305/2011 (Bauproduktenverordnung, BauPVO), veröffentlicht. Zielsetzung der Überarbeitung war der Wunsch nach Klarstellung, nach Erleichterungen für Kleinere und Mittlere Unternehmen bei der Anwendung, aber insbesondere der Wunsch nach mehr Vertrauen in die CE-Kennzeichnung. Mit der Herausgabe einer unmittelbar verbindlichen Verordnung hat die Europäische Kommission den Stellenwert dieses Dokuments verdeutlicht und wirkt damit zugleich auf eine einheitliche Anwendung im europäischen Wirtschaftsraum hin. Darüber hinaus enthält die BauPVO im Detail eine Vielzahl von Änderungen gegenüber der BauPR, sodass eine zweistufige Einführung mit einer vollständigen Wirksamkeit aller Artikel der BauPVO zum 01. Juli 2013 vorgesehen ist, um den Wirtschaftsakteuren eine Frist zur Vorbereitung und Umstellung zu gewähren. Bestehende harmonisierte Normen für Bauprodukte haben auch nach dem 1.7.2013 weiterhin Bestand und müssen erst im Zuge der turnusmäßigen Überarbeitung an die Vorgaben der BauPVO angepasst werden. Unabhängig davon sind die Hersteller von Bauprodukten verpflichtet, anstelle des Konformitätsnachweises eine Leistungserklärung abzugeben. Diese kann auf der Basis der vorhandenen Dokumentation, z.B. der Erstprüfung erstellt werden.
In der Vergangenheit stiegen die Verkehrsbelastung und der Anteil des Schwerverkehrs auf deutschen Straßen und Autobahnen nahezu stetig. Dies wird sich auch in der Zukunft fortsetzen. Um auch zukünftig Mobilität gewährleisten zu können, sind Bauweisen mit maximaler Nutzungsdauer und minimalen Erhaltungsaufwendungen erforderlich. In Deutschland werden Betonfahrbahndecken als unbewehrte direkt befahrene Betonfahrbahnplatten mit Querfugen in regelmäßigen Abständen gefertigt und für Nutzungsdauern von 30 Jahren konzipiert. Die Querfugen stellen dabei den schwächsten Bereich in der Konstruktion dar. Betonfahrbahndecken können auch als Durchgehend Bewehrte Betonfahrbahndecke gefertigt werden. Dabei stellt sich ein freies Rissbild mit schmalen Plattenstreifen ein. Um eine Querkraftübertragung zu sichern, wird die Rissöffnungsweite durch die Anordnung einer durchgehenden Längsbewehrung beschränkt. Die Erfahrungen zeigen, dass mit dieser Bauweise eine längere Nutzungsdauer und ein höherer Fahrkomfort erreicht werden und weniger Erhaltungsmaßnahmen erforderlich sind. Durchgehend Bewehrte Betondecken eignen sich besonders gut für eine Asphaltüberbauung, da es keine Querfugen als Störstellen gibt. Diese Komposition hat das Potenzial für eine Nutzungsdauer von 50 Jahren und erfordert geringere Kosten, wenn man den gesamten Lebenszyklus betrachtet. Um baupraktische Erfahrungen zu sammeln, wurde im Jahr 2011 auf der Bundesautobahn (BAB) A 94 bei Forstinning in Bayern eine Versuchsstrecke eingerichtet. Diese besteht aus drei Abschnitten von je etwa 4 km Länge: Durchgehend Bewehrte Betondecke mit DSH-V-Überbauung, unbewehrte Betondecke in Plattenbauweise mit DSH-V-Überbauung und unbewehrte Betondecke in Plattenbauweise mit Grinding-Oberfläche. Erste Ergebnisse bezüglich Rissbildung, Bewegungen an den Endspornen, Haftverhalten des Blacktopping und der Schallmessungen liegen vor.
Die Reduzierung des Straßenverkehrslärms ist in den letzten Jahren zunehmend in den Fokus der Forschungsaktivitäten gerückt. Laut einer Studie des Umweltbundesamts fühlen sich in Deutschland circa 60 % der Bevölkerung durch den Straßenverkehrslärm belästigt. Diese Zahl ist seit vielen Jahren konstant. Ein Grund dafür sind die steigenden Verkehrsmengen. Neben den bekannten gesundheitlichen Beeinträchtigungen wurden in den letzten Jahren auch zunehmend negative Auswirkungen des Verkehrslärms auf die Stadtentwicklung beobachtet. Die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen koordiniert seit über 10 Jahren die durch das Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie geförderten Verbundprojekte "Leiser Straßenverkehr". Partner aus Industrie und Forschung verfolgen das gemeinsame Ziel, effektive Lösungen für eine Lärmreduzierung zu erarbeiten. In den letzten Jahren ist es gelungen, die Wirkmechanismen der Lärmentstehung im Zusammenspiel Reifen-Fahrbahn detailliert zu beschreiben und Anforderungen für eine dauerhafte Lärmreduzierung zu formulieren. In der Straßenbautechnik wurden Regelbauweisen lärmtechnisch optimiert und neue Bauweisen entwickelt. Zusammen mit Projektpartnern konnte die Firma Continental Reifen Deutschland GmbH Pkw- und Lkw-Reifen akustisch optimieren. Ein zentrales Ziel im Verbundprojekt Leiser Straßenverkehr 3 ist die Weiterentwicklung eines Simulationsmodells, um künftig unter Berücksichtigung verschiedener Einflussgrößen aus Reifen und Fahrbahn Geräuschprognosen zu ermöglichen.
Für die Instandsetzung von schadhaften Betonfahrbahnplatten mittels "Heben und/oder Festlegen" werden in zunehmendem Maße Injektionsmaterialien aus Kunststoff verwendet. Aktuell existieren für die Prüfung und Bewertung derartiger Materialien mittels straßenbauspezifischer Kennwerte jedoch noch keine hinlänglichen Erfahrungen und Prüfvorschriften. In Laborversuchen wurden nunmehr geeignete Prüfungen und Auswertalgorithmen entwickelt und zweckgerichtete Festigkeitskennwerte an ausgesuchten Materialien bestimmt sowie erste Anforderungswerte formuliert. Zudem wurden die Wirksamkeit und die Dauerhaftigkeit von Unterpressungen im Hinblick auf das verwendete Injektionsmaterial in Praxisversuchen überprüft. Aus den Ergebnissen der Tragfähigkeitsmessungen ließ sich vorerst folgern, dass durch das Unterpressen von Fahrbahnplatten die Tragfähigkeits- und Lagerungsbedingungen signifikant verbessert werden können. Unterschiede in der kurzfristigen Wirksamkeit - im Hinblick auf das verwendete Injektionsmaterial - konnten hierbei nicht explizit deduziert werden. Vielmehr zeigte sich, dass die Dauerhaftigkeit maßgeblich von den vorliegenden Randbedingungen, das heisst, faktisch von der richtigen Auswahl des Materials abhängt.
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.
The current paper reports on the results of a pilot study aiming to investigate the effect of mobile telephone use on the driving performance of 5 amateur and 5 professional drivers. Their driving acuity was tested through a driving simulator. Analysis and interpretation of the results occurred comparing the drivers' driving performance while talking, reading messages and writing a message on the mobile phone (intervention time) with the drivers' driving performance engaged in no activity (control time). The variables affected by the mobile phone were the "steering", the "lane offset" and the "duration of lane offset". Moreover, the drivers involved in a car crash in the last five years appeared to differ from those who were not involved in a crash in both "lane offset" and "following distance". The results of this pilot study will inform the design of a large experimental study on 50 professional and 50 amateur drivers.
Although the annual traffic accident statistics published by the national police is available in public, the detailed traffic accident data has not been released in Korea. Recently the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport recognized the importance of in-depth accident data to enhance road traffic safety and initiated a research project to establish a collection of the detailed accident data. The main objective of the project is a feasibility study to establish KIDAS (Korea In-Depth Accident Study). Within this project, three university hospitals which are located in mid-size cities have been selected to collect accident data. Annually, more than 500 cases of accidents have been collected from the in-patient's interviews and diagnosis. Unlike GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study), currently on-site investigation can"t be performed by the Korean police. The only available data is patient medical records, patient's description of accident circumstances and the damaged vehicle. Occasionally the police provide the accident investigation reports containing very brief information on accident causation and vehicle safety. In a first step, the concept of KIDAS is to adopt the format of iGLAD (Initiative for the Global Harmonization of Accident Data) for harmonization. Since the currently collected accident information is extremely limited compared with GIDAS, the other sources of data and calculations such as KNCAP vehicle data, pc-crash simulations, vehicle registration information, insurance company data are utilized to complete the iGLAD template. Results from KIDAS_iGLAD and the cases of assessment of active safety devices such as AEBS, ESC, and LDWS will be evaluated.
Road accidents are typically analyzed to address influences of human, vehicle, and environmental (primarily infrastructure) factors. A new methodology, based on a "Venn diagram" analysis, gives a broader perspective on the probable factors, and combinations of factors, contributing both to the occurrence of a crash and to sustaining injuries in that crash. The methodology was applied to 214 accidents on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. Factors contributing to accidents and injuries were addressed. The major human factors influencing accidents on this roadway were speeding (30%) and falling asleep (29%), while injuries were primarily due to lack of seat belt use (46%). The leading infrastructure factor for injuries was impact with a roadside manmade structure (28%), and the main vehicle factor for injuries was passenger compartment intrusion (73%). This methodology can help identify effective vehicle and infrastructure-related solutions for preventing accidents and mitigating injuries in India.
Injury severity of e.g. pedestrians or bikers after crashes with cars that are reversing is almost unknown. However, crash victims of these injuries can frequently be seen in emergency departments and account for a large amount of patients every year. The objective of this study is to analyze injury severity of patients that were crashed into by reversing cars. The Hannover Medical School local accident research unit prospectively documented 43,000 road traffic accidents including 234 crashes involving reversing cars. Injury severity including the abbreviated injury scale (AIS) and the maximum abbreviated injury scale (MAIS) was analyzed as well as the location of the accident. As a result 234 accidents were included into this study. Pedestrians were injured in 141 crashes followed by 70 accidents involving bikers. The mean age of all crash victims was 57 -± 23 years. Most injuries took place on straight stretches (n = 81) as well as parking areas (n = 59), entries (n = 36) or crossroads (n = 24). The AIS of the lower extremities was highest followed by the upper extremities. The AIS of the neck was lowest. The mean MAIS was 1.3 -± 0.6. The paper concludes that the lower extremities show the highest risk to become injured during accidents with reversing cars. However, the risk of severe injuries is likely low.
Ruptures and dissections of the thoracic and abdominal aortic vessel caused by traffic accidents are rare but potentially life-threatening injuries. They can occur by blunt trauma via seat belt or dashboard injury. The study aimed at evaluating the overall mortality, morbidity, neurological disorders, and differences in operative procedures of open repair and stenting. It shows that, with a change and improvement in diagnostic tools and surgical approach, mortality and morbidity of blunt aortic injuries were significantly reduced. Still an immediate life-threatening injury early diagnosis via multiple-slice and scans and surgical repair with minimally invasive stents showed excellent short-time results for selected patients.
Assessment of the effectiveness of Intersection Assistance Systems at urban and rural accident sites
(2015)
An Intersection Collision Avoidance System is a promising safety system for accident avoidance or injury mitigation at junctions. However, there is still a lack of evidence of the effectiveness, due to the missing real accident data concerning Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. The objective of this study is the assessment of the effectiveness of an Intersection Collision Avoidance System based on real accidents. The method used is called virtual pre-crash simulation. Accidents at junctions were reconstructed by using the numerical simulation software PC-Crashâ„¢. This first simulation is called the baseline simulation. In a second step the vehicles of these accidents were equipped with an Intersection Collision Avoidance System and simulated again. The second simulation is called the system simulation. In the system simulation two different sensors and four different intervention strategies were used, based on a time-to-collision approach. The effectiveness of Intersection Collision Avoidance System has been evaluated by using an assessment function. On average 9% of the reviewed junction accidents could have been avoided within the system simulations. The other simulation results clearly showed a change in the principal direction of force, delta-v and reduction of the injury severity.
The main focus of the benefit estimation of advanced safety systems with a warning interface by simulation is on the driver. The driver is the only link between the algorithm of the safety system and the vehicle, which makes the setup of a driver model for such simulations very important. This paper describes an approach for the use of a statistical driver model in simulation. It also gives an outlook on further work on this topic. The build-up process of the model suffices with a distribution of reaction times and a distribution of reaction intensities. Both were combined in different scenarios for every driver. Each scenario has then a specific probability to occur. To use the statistical driver model, every accident scene has to be simulated with each driver scenario (combinations of reaction times and intensities). The results of the simulations are then combined regarding the probabilities to occur, which leads to an overall estimated benefit of the specific system. The model works with one or more equipped participants and delivers a range for the benefit of advanced safety systems with warning interfaces.
Event data recorders (EDRs) are a valuable tool for in-depth investigation of traffic accidents. EDRs are installed on the airbag control module (ACM) to record vehicle and occupant information before, during, and after a crash event. This study evaluates EDR characteristics and aims at better understanding EDR performance for the improvement of accident reconstruction with more reliable and accurate information regarding accidents. The analysis is based on six crash tests with corresponding EDR datasets.
The study aimed at estimating the impact of pedelecs (with an assumed higher speed than bicycles) on the traffic accident severity in Germany for different penetration rates. The analysis shows that in many real situations (68%) an electrical support of bicycles has no influence on the sequence of accident events. Taking into account a number of unreported "single bicycle accidents", the adoption of similar traffic behavior and similar age distribution, the authors determined a shift of 400 former slightly to seriously injured cyclists in Germany per year. Overall this would be an increase of approximately 2.3% in case of 10% of pedelec penetration with the pessimistic assumption of 10 km/h speed increase although first natural driving studies predict a much lower average speed increase of pedelecs. The hypothesis verbalized in the initial question whether a higher distribution of pedelecs will result in more severe accidents in Germany is not verified. The study shows that electrical support didn"t result in higher collision speed in general. In many accident situations, the speed of pedelecs has only a minor influence on the accident severity. Further research focusing on a possible change of driver behavior especially in new target groups (elderly people) will be needed.
The Traffic Accident Research Institute at University of Technology Dresden investigates about 1,000 accidents annually in the area around and in Dresden. These datasets have been summarized and evaluated in the GIDAS (German Accident In-Depth Study) project for 13 years. During the project it became apparent that the specific traffic situation of a covert exit of a passenger car and an intersecting two-wheeler involves a high risk potential. This critical situation develops in a large part due to the lack of visibility between the driver and the intersecting bike. In this paper the accident avoidance potential of front camera systems with lateral field of view, which allows the driver to have an indirect sight into the crossing street area will be presented.
In North America, frontal crash tests in both the regulatory environment and consumer-based safety rating schemes have historically been based on full-width and moderate-overlap (40%) vehicle to barrier impacts. The combination of improved seat-belt technologies, notably belt tensioning and load limiting systems, together with advanced airbags, has proven very effective in providing occupant protection in these crash modes. Recently, however, concern has been raised over the contribution of narrower frontal impacts, involving primarily the vehicle corners, to the incidence of fatality and serious injury as a result of the potential for increased occupant compartment intrusion and performance limitations of current restraint systems. Drawing on data documented in the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS)/ Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) for calendar years 1999 to 2012, the present study examines the characteristics of existing and proposed corner crash test configurations, and the nature of real-world collisions that approximate the test environments. In this analysis, particular emphasis is placed on crash pulse information extracted from vehicle-based event data recorders (EDR's).
Analysis of pedestrian leg contacts and distribution of contact points across the vehicle front
(2015)
Determining the risk to pedestrians that are impacted by areas of the front bumper not currently regulated in type-approval testing requires an understanding of the target population and the injury risk posed by the edges of the bumper. National statistics show that approximately 10% of all accident casualties are pedestrians, with 20% to 30% of these pedestrian casualties being killed or seriously injured. However, the contact position across the front of the bumper is not recorded in national statistics and so in-depth accident databases (OTS, UK and GIDAS, Germany) were used to examine injury risk in greater detail. The results showed that some injury types and severities of injuries appear to peak around the bumper edges. Although there are sometimes inconsistencies in the data, generally there is no evidence to suggest that the edges of the bumper are less likely to be contacted or cause injury.
Many safety-relevant tasks in control or diagnostics require binary choices such as "conflict versus separation" in air traffic control, "normal versus pathological" when interpreting x-ray pictures, or "permitted versus forbidden" when inspecting airport security scans. Deciders often are uncertain, but nevertheless required to decide between two alternatives, that is, they have not only to decide upon an action, but also about the admissible level of uncertainty. If the accepted level of judgment certainty is not taken into account, the sequence of decisions does not capture the full picture of the underlying decision process. Differences in judgment certainty are relevant, because they reflect not only the adequacy of the human-machine interface that is evaluated, but also the differences in expertise of the decider and the requirements of the actual situation or task. Therefore, capturing both judgment certainty and discrimination performance is essential. A comparison of different human-machine-interfaces (for air traffic control) is used to illustrate a methodological approach, which allows for integrated analyses of decision processes based on receiver-operator-characteristics and practical guidelines for the evaluation of human-machine-interfaces for safety-relevant operation procedures are provided.
Detailed anthropometric data of pregnant women have been collected and used in the development of a computational model of the pregnant occupant model "Expecting". The model is complete with a finite element uterus and multi-body fetus, which is a novel feature in the models of this kind. The computational pregnant occupant model has been validated and used to simulate a range of impacts. The strains developed in the utero-placental interface are used as the main criteria for fetus safety. Stress distributions due to inertial loading of the fetus on the utero-placental interface play a role on the strain levels. Inclusion of fetus model is shown to significantly affect the strain levels in the utero-placental interface. This series of studies has led to the design of seatbelt features specifically for the pregnant women to enable them use the seatbelt correctly and comfortably.
SEEKING is looking for answers regarding electric powered bicycles and their relation to traffic safety issues. Does a cyclist need "E"? Is it as risky as riding a moped or are E-bikes creating conflicts with other cyclists? The project described herein, funded by the Austrian Ministry of Transport, has the aim of seeking answers to these hot topics. The SEEKING-team shows an in-depth investigation of vehicle dynamic sensing, together with subjective feedback of test riders to detect similarities and differences between conventional cycling and E-biking. Following an overview on the international status quo, measurement runs and their analyses are performed to find a set of preventative measures to make (E-)biking safer. A specific focus is the detection of curve handling, stopping and acceleration phases as well as conflict studies on course-based test rides and "real world" tests on cycling paths (naturalistic riding).
Die UNECE Regelung R58 regelt die Beschaffenheit und die Installation von Heckunterfahrschutzsystemen an schweren Güterkraftfahrzeugen, deren Ziel die Verbesserung der Kompabilität zwischen Pkw-Frontstrukturen und Lkw-Hecks ist. Dennoch verunglücken laut amtlicher Unfallstatistik allein in Deutschland rund 30 Pkw-Insassen in Heckauffahrunfällen auf Lkw tödlich, da diese Vorrichtungen hinsichtlich Einbauhöhe und Steifigkeit den Anforderungen des realen Unfallgeschehens nicht genügen. Das Ziel dieser Studie ist eine quantitative Abschätzung der möglichen Reduzierung der Verletzungsschwere mit Hilfe eines statistischen Modells, die durch eine Anpassung der geltenden Bestimmungen und die damit verbundenen technischen Veränderungen des bereits vorgeschriebenen Heckunterfahrschutzes zu erreichen wäre. In einer Nutzen-Kosten-Analyse wird die Wirtschaftlichkeit dieser Modifizierungen mit einem idealen Notbremsassistenten verglichen. Die Untersuchung orientiert sich dabei an den aktuell in der UN-ECE WP29/GRSG in Genf diskutierten Vorschlägen zur Anpassung der ECE-R58. Das verwendete ordinale Probit-Modell stellt einen Zusammenhang zwischen der Verletzungsschwere im auffahrenden PKW und erklärenden Größen her, in diesem Fall der kinetischen Energie des unterfahrenden Pkws und der strukturellen lnteraktion zwischen Lkw-Heck und Pkw-Front. Diese Maßnahmen könnten demnach 53 - 78% der Getöteten sowie 27 - 49% der Schwerverletzten bei diesen Unfallkonstellationen reduzieren, was pro Jahr 20 Getöteten und 95 Schwerverletzten entsprechen würde. Somit würde eine Modifikation einer bestehenden passiven Schutzmaßnahme an jährlich 100.000 neuzugelassenen Lkw und Anhängern bereits 20 Getötete adressieren. Im Vergleich dazu müssten jährlich 3 Millionen Pkw mit zusätzlicher Sensorik und Aktuatorik für einen idealen Notbremsassistenten ausgestattet werden, um im Idealfall alle Heckauffahrunfälle von Pkw auf andere Pkw oder Lkw und damit 53 Getötete zu vermeiden. Daher fällt auch das Nutzen-Kosten-Verhältnis deutlich zugunsten des verbesserten Heckunterfahrschutzes aus.
Regarding to the German road traffic licensing regulations it is mandatory to have a light system using a bicycle in public traffic. All attached components must be approved. The admission requires additional restrictions such as a dynamo as energy source with a nominal voltage of 6 V. Batteries are only allowed in addition to this. To adopt the German bicycle regulation to the state of art of an energy efficient lighting, additional power sources such as a battery respectively rechargeable batterie should be evaluated. The project will propose amendments for German Road Traffic Regulations and technical requirements.
According to an investigation in March 2008 by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS) about 14,000 truck parking spaces are missing in the near of motorways in Germany. Beside constructional enlargement of rest areas, intelligent traffic systems ought to be used to detect automatically the occupancy rate of rest areas and to provide better demand management and also to achieve an increase of capacity of truck parking spaces. The essay describes the newly developed control procedure "Compact parking", which is currently under development by German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt). The method achieves that a number of trucks are parking in a compact way, side by side and without a driving lane between them. With the help of dynamic displays above the parking rows, the drivers receive the needful information to park their vehicle in a parking row, in which other trucks have the same or an earlier departure time. This system is able to increase the rest area capacity in short-term, more quickly than constructional enlargement of rest areas.
Due to the publication of guidelines in Germany the possibility exists to offer analytical designed construction works within an alternative proposal. But the extent to which the test specimen production influences the design relevant properties (for the same asphalt mixture) is not sufficiently investigated at present. Objective of this research project was to determine the design relevant asphalt properties by tests and do comparative considerations on two selected locations within the renewal of a federal trunk road (Germany). For the comparative consideration of the design relevant asphalt properties mixture samples were taken during paving and afterwards drill cores were taken at the same locations. Fatigue tests and tests to determine the stiffness were conducted with the Indirect Tensile Test (ITT). Then design calculations having regard to the test results were performed. At this different bearing conditions of the asphalt package were considered. The calculated fatigue conditions were comparative evaluated and they are presented and discussed in this paper.
Tempered road system
(2014)
The road performance is strongly influenced by climatic conditions. Winter conditions have massive impact on traffic security but also pavement lifetime decreases as an effect of temperature variation during wintertime and summertime. Heating and cooling of a pavement is a possibility to work against these impacts. To discuss the boundary conditions for an efficient construction and operation of a tempered road system a feasibility study has been made. The study shows the feasibility and identifies thermal energy buffering as a main challenge. When thinking of a fully regenerative operation of a large tempered road system (e.g. 20.000 m-²) the storage volume has to be too large for an economic and structurally engineered satisfactory solution. However, the location dependent usage of natural geothermal storage possibilities and as well smart alignment and construction promises a feasibility realization.
Various climate projections predict changing climatic parameters like temperature, precipitation, wind speed etc. for Germany. This could have severe impacts on road transport infrastructure as well as road traffic itself. At the Federal Highway Research Institute (Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt) a strategy was developed to adapt roads and engineering structures to the impacts of climate change. The strategy "Anpassung der Straßenverkehrsinfrastruktur an den Klimawandel / Adaptation of the road infrastructure to climate change (AdSVIS)" comprises currently about 15 projects. On the basis of the identification of the hazards and the combination of the climate and road network data, the road transport infrastructure which might be affected is to be determined. Adaptation measures are to be developed for the identified risk areas and assessed as to their effectiveness. Special attention is given to international cooperation since climate change is a truly global challenge.
This study aimed at prediction of long bone fractures and assessment of lower extremity injury mechanisms in real world passenger car to pedestrian collision. For this purpose, two pedestrian accident cases with detail recorded lower limb injuries were reconstructed via combining MBS (Multi-body system) and FE (Finite element) methods. The code of PC Crash was used to determine the boundary conditions before collision, and then MBS models were used to reproduce the pedestrian kinematics and injuries during crash. Furthermore, a validated lower limb FE model was chosen to conduct reconstruction of injuries and prediction of long bone fracture via physical parameters of von Mises stress and bending moment. The injury outcomes from simulations were compared with hospital recorded injury data and the same long bone fracture patterns and positions can be observed. Moreover, the calculated long bone fracture tolerance corresponded to the outcome from cadaver tests. The result shows that FE model is capable to reproduce the dynamic injury process and is an effective tool to predict the risk of long bone fractures.
Cycling supports the independence and health of the aging population. However, elderly cyclists have an increased injury risk. The majority of injured cyclists is victim of a single-sided accident, an accident in which there is no other party involved. The aim of the project "Safe and Aware on the bicycle" is to develop guidelines for an advisory system that is useful in preventing single-sided accidents. This system is able to support the elderly cyclist; enabling the cyclist to timely adapt his cycling behaviour and improve cycling safety and comfort. For the development of such advisory system the causes of singles accidents and the wishes of the elderly cyclist must be known. First step to obtain this insight was a literature survey and an GIDAS research. Unfortunately accidentology research with GIDAS did not give the full understanding of the pre-crash situations and (especially the behaviour related) factors leading to the accident. The second step was consultation of elderly cyclist through a questionnaire (n=800), in-depth interviews (n=12) and focus group sessions (n=15). This offered complementary information and a much better understanding of the behavioural aspects. Results concern the behaviour in traffic and identify specific physical (i.e. problems looking backwards over the shoulder) and mental issues. Furthermore, the needs and wishes for support in specific cycling situations were identified. In conclusion; The GIDAS results together with the information obtained contacting the elderly cyclists enabled setting up requirements for an advisory system, which is useful in preventing single-sided accidents.
Since a number of human models have been developed it appears sensible to use these models also in the accident analysis. Especially the understanding of injury mechanisms and probably even injury risk curves can be significantly improved when interesting accidents are reconstructed using human body models. However, an important limitation for utilising human models for accident reconstruction is the effort needed to develop detailed FE models of the accident partners or to prepare the human model reconstruction by running physical accident reconstructions. The proposed approach for using human models for accident reconstruction is to use simplified and parametric car models. These models can be adapted to the crash opponents in a fast and cost effective way. Although, accuracy is less compared to detailed FE models, the relevant change in velocity can be simulated well, indicating that the computation of a detailed crash pulse is not needed. Two frontal impact test accidents that were reconstructed experimentally and using the parametric car models are indicating sufficient correlation of the adapted parametric car models with the full scale crash reconstructions. However, further developments of the parametric models to be capable for the use in lateral impacts and rear impacts are needed. For the PC Crash simulation runs the output sampling rate is too large to allow sufficient analysis. In addition the performance appears to be too general.
This study aimed at developing an injury estimation algorithm for AACN technologies for Germany and compared them to findings based on Japanese data. The data to build and to verify the algorithm was obtained from the German in-depth Accident Database (GIDAS) and split into a training and a validation dataset. Significant input variables and the generalized linear regression model to predict severe injuries (ISS>15) were selected to maximize area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Probit regression with the input parameter multiple impact, delta v, seatbelt use and impact direction gave the largest AUC of 0.91. Sensitivity of the algorithm was validated at 90% and specificity at 76% for an injury risk threshold of 2%. It appears that no major differences between Japan and Germany exist for injury estimation based on delta v and impact direction. However, far side impact and multiple crash events appear to be associated with a larger risk increase in the German data.
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.