In an on-going project since 2005, ADAC has been analyzing accidents documented by the ADAC air rescue service. The knowledge derived from real-life accidents serves as a basis for new test configurations and assessment criteria. In 2007, ADAC began looking into the feasibility of international data collection. The idea of Global Accident Prevention was born. Three European partner clubs have begun pioneering the project (ÖAMTC, ANWB, and RACC). The aim is to set up an international accident research network to provide a steady stream of information on road accidents. The FIA Foundation supports ADAC in developing and coordinating this initiative.
Active safety systems are aimed at accident prevention, hence the knowledge required for their development is different from that required for passive safety systems aimed at injury prevention. Particularly, knowledge about accident causation is required. When looking at existing accident causation data, it is argued it fails to explain in sufficient detail how and why the accidents occur. Therefore, there is a need for detailed micro-level descriptions of accident causation mechanisms, and also of methodologies suitable for creating such descriptions. One study addressing these needs is the Swedish project FICA (Factors Influencing the Causation of Accidents and Incidents), where an accident investigation methodology suitable for active safety is developed, and in-depth accident investigations following this methodology are carried out on-scene in the area of Gothenburg by a multidisciplinary team. A preliminary aggregated analysis of different cases shows that the methodology developed is adequate for pointing out common contributing factors and devising principal countermeasures.
In Finland all fatal motor vehicle accidents are studied in-depth on-the-spot by multidisciplinary (police, road and vehicle engineers, physician and behavioural scientist) road accident investigation teams (legislation 2001, work started 1968), which operate in every province. The purpose of the teams is to uncover risk factors that turned an ordinary driving situation into a serious accident and give safety recommendations for improving road safety. The investigation teams do not take a stand on guilt or insurance compensation. When analysing accidents the teams use the concepts of key event, immediate, background and injury risk factors. Compiled investigation folders of each case contain investigation forms from each member, preinvestigation protocol, photographs, sketches etc. About 500 items of information are collected from each accident party. The collected information is also coded into a computer database. Both the database and the investigation folders are widely utilized by researchers and authorities conducting safety work.
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).
Mit der Gründung des Bundesamtes für Strassen (ASTRA) im Jahr 1998 wurde ein wichtiges Signal gesetzt, das den Weg hin zu einer einheitlichen Vorgehensweise im Bereich der verkehrsmedizinischen Begutachtung in der Schweiz belebte. Der im Jahr 2000 veröffentlichte Leitfaden über die Verdachtsgründe der fehlenden Fahreignung, das In-Kraft-Treten des neues Straßenverkehrsgesetzes am 01.10.2005 (mit dem Herabsetzen der verkehrsrelevanten Alkoholpromillegrenze von 0,8 Promille auf 0,5 Promille, der Einführung einer Nulltoleranz für bestimmte Drogen, der Verschärfung der Administrativmaßnahmen und der strafrechtlichen Sanktionen sowie der anlassfreien Alkoholkontrolle als generalpräventiver Maßnahme) und die Veröffentlichung des Handbuchs der verkehrsmedizinischen Begutachtung durch die Arbeitsgruppe Verkehrsmedizin der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Rechtsmedizin im Jahr 2005, waren wichtige Meilensteine auf dem Weg zu einer einheitlichen Vorgehensweise im Bereich der verkehrsmedizinischen Begutachtung in der Schweiz.
Mobil sein zählt zu den Grundbedürfnissen und im Rahmen des westlichen Wertesystems zu den Grundrechten von Menschen. Dies gilt umso mehr, je mobiler die Gesamtgesellschaft wird und je mehr Menschen im Zuge der demographischen Entwicklung zum Kreis der "älteren Menschen" zählen. Dementsprechend wertet der dritte Bericht zur Lage der älteren Generation in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland den Erhalt der Mobilität im Alter als Basis für die "Erschließbarkeit der verschiedensten Ressourcen der Außenwelt" und als "entscheidenden Faktor von Lebensqualität im Alter", d.h. Aufrechterhaltung der Unabhängigkeit der Lebensführung durch Bewahrung von Fertigkeiten inkl. der Ermutigung zur Mobilität spielt für Ältere eine besonders wichtige Rolle. Die Entwicklung von Interventionsansätzen zur Förderung einer lebenslangen, sicheren Mobilität älterer Menschen stellt eine gesamtgesellschaftliche Herausforderung dar. Dementsprechend lebendig ist die Diskussion über Möglichkeiten ältere Verkehrsteilnehmer/innen in der Erhaltung ihrer Mobilität zu unterstützen und die Forschungsaktivität auf diesem Gebiet. Im Vortrag werden u. a. folgende Bereiche thematisiert: - Senioren stellen keine homogene Gruppe dar; dieses gut erforschte Faktum gilt auch für ihr Mobilitätsverhalten, aber auch für das Risikoverhalten. Ältere Menschen sind durch ausgesprochene Vielfalt mobilitätsbezogener Erwartungen, Verhaltensmuster und Lebensstile charakterisiert. - Die gegenwärtig durchaus wachsende positive Bewertung und Einstellung gegenüber Alter und Altern muss bei der Entwicklung neuer Sicherheitsmodelle berücksichtigt werden, gar Vorteil sollte daraus gezogen werden. - Um höhere Straßenverkehrssicherheit - nicht nur für Ältere - zu erreichen, ist eine stärkere Orientierung auf schwache, ungeschützte, vulnerable Verkehrsteilnehmer notwendig. - Teilnahme am Straßenverkehr ist Ergebnis eines lebenslangen Lernprozesses. Mobilitätsgewohnheiten, die während des Lebenslaufes erworben wurden, werden auch im Alter (unter Einsatz diverser Kompensationsstrategien) zum Großteil beibehalten. - Technologische Systeme (z.B. Telematik) können Mobilitätsplanung erleichtern und (bis zu einem gewissen Grad) Verluste in Fertigkeiten und Fähigkeiten zur Verkehrsteilnahme kompensieren und auf diese Weise zur Unfallreduktion beitragen. Die Alterssensitivität der Systeme muss ein zentraler Entwicklungsbereich sein. - Es sollte eine sehr viel stärkere Beteiligung der Älteren an der Entwicklung, Einführung und Implementation von verkehrsbezogenen Sicherheitsmaßnahmen und neuen Technologien ermöglicht werden. - Augenmerk sollte auch auf "alternative" Mobilitätsformen gelenkt werden: Smart Modes (zu Fuß gehen, Radfahren). Auch die Nutzung des ÖPNV sollte dadurch erleichtert werden, dass er so "benutzerfreundlich" wie nur möglich wird. - Ältere haben weiterhin ein hohes Interesse an und eine positive Einstellung zu Lernen, Übung und Training. Dies gilt auch für technischen Fortschritt und moderne Entwicklungen bezüglich der Straßenverkehrssicherheit. - Wenn Verkehrssicherheitsmaßnahmen implementiert werden, sollten die Kommunikationsmöglichkeiten dergestalt genutzt werden, dass sie für die verschiedenen Lebenssituationen und Lebensstile der Älteren angemessen sind. "Neue" Medien können dabei durchaus in Betracht gezogen werden. Fachdisziplinen wie Politikwissenschaft, Verkehrswesen, Ingenieurwissenschaften, Raumplanung, Architektur, Soziologie, Medizin, Psychologie, Pädagogik, Rechtswissenschaften, Ökonomie und Ökologie müssen künftig kooperieren, um einen Synergie-Effekt im Bereich der Mobilitätsförderung und der Verkehrssicherheitsarbeit für ältere Verkehrsteilnehmer und Verkehrsteilnehmerinnen zu erzielen. Dabei ist eine enge, interdisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit notwendig - ebenso wie ein vorurteilsfreier Umgang der Menschen miteinander in unserer Gesellschaft.
Recent findings from real-world accident data have shown that fatality risks for pedestrians are substantially lower than generally reported in the traffic safety literature. One of the keys to this insight has been the large and random sample of car-to-pedestrian crashes available in the German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS). Another key factor has been the proper use of weight factors in order to adjust for outcome-based sampling bias in the accident data. However, a third factor, a priori of unknown importance, has not yet been properly analysed. This is the influence of errors in impact speed estimation. In this study, we derived a statistical model of the impact speed errors for pedestrian accidents present in the GIDAS database. The error model was then applied to investigate the effect of the estimation error on the pedestrian fatality risk as a function of car impact speed. To this end, we applied a method known as the SIMulation-EXtrapolation (SIMEX) method. It was found that the risk curve is fairly tolerant to some amount of random measurement error, but that it does become flattened. It is therefore important that the accident investigations and reconstructions are of high quality to assure that systematic errors are minimised and that the random errors are under control.
While the number of fatal accidents is diminishing every year, there is still a need of improvement and action to prevent these deaths. Basis for this purpose has to be an analysis about the factors influencing the car crash mortality. There are various studies describing the univariate influence of several factors, but crash scenarios are too complex to be described by a single variable. The multivariate analysis respects the interference of the variables and gets so to more detailed and representative results. This multivariate analysis is based on about 2,600 cases (the data have been collected by the accident research units Hannover and Dresden (during the years 1999-2003). This paper presents a multivariate model (containing ten different variables) which detects 93% of these cases properly. This means it detects the cases as truly survived and truly death.
Nach dem sehr erfolgreichen Kolloquium "Wege aus dem Stau" im August 2011 in der BASt veranstaltete die Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen (FGSV) in Zusammenarbeit mit BMVBS, BASt und der Bauindustrie im Jahr 2013 als Folgeveranstaltung zwei Seminare unter dem Titel "Staustelle Baustelle". Das Programm war vor allem für alle diejenigen von Interesse, die sich mit der Planung, Ausschreibung und Durchführung von Baustellen insbesondere auf Autobahnen befassen. Eines der Hauptziele war es, den Dialog zwischen Planern und Betreibern einerseits und den mit der Baudurchführung Befassten andererseits anzuregen. Hierzu wurden in einem Block verkehrs- und baustellenmanagementbezogene Themen sowie in einem zweiten Block bautechnische Themen behandelt. Um einen möglichst breiten Teilnehmerkreis zu erreichen, wurde das Seminar weitgehend inhaltsgleich am 12. September 2013 in Hannover und am 25. September 2013 in Stuttgart durchgeführt. Mit jeweils ca. 70 Teilnehmern konnten Vertreter aus allen Bereichen der Verkehrsbranche, d. h. aus Bauindustrie, Wirtschaftsbetrieben, Ingenieurbüros, Verkehrsverwaltungen von Bund und Ländern sowie aus der Wissenschaft, begrüßt werden. Im Beitrag werden die Vorträge beider Veranstaltungen zusammenfassend wiedergegeben.
The NHTSA-sponsored Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) has collected and analyzed crash, vehicle damage, and detailed injury data from over 4000 case occupants who were patients admitted to Level-I trauma centers following involvement in motor vehicle crashes. Since 2005, CIREN has used a methodology known as "BioTab" to analyze and document the causes of injuries resulting from passenger vehicle crashes. BioTab was developed to provide a complete evidenced-based method to describe and document injury causation from in-depth crash investigations with confidence levels assigned to the causes of injury based on the available evidence. This paper describes how the BioTab method is being used in CIREN to leverage the data collected from in-depth crash investigations, and particularly the detailed injury data available in CIREN, to develop evidence-based assessments of injury causation. CIREN case examples are provided to demonstrate the ability of the BioTab method to improve real-world crash/injury data assessment.
Bicyclists are minimally or unprotected road users. Their vulnerability results in a high injury risk despite their relatively low own speed. However, the actual injury situation of bicyclists has not been investigated very well so far. The purpose of this study was to analyze the actual injury situation of bicyclists in Germany to create a basis for effective preventive measures. Technical and medical data were prospectively collected shortly after the accident at the accident scenes and medical institutions providing care for the injured. Data of injured bicyclists from 1985 to 2003 were analyzed for the following parameters: collision opponent, collision type, collision speed (km/h), Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), Maximum AIS (MAIS), incidence of polytrauma (Injury Severity Score >16), incidence of death (death before end of first hospital stay). 4,264 injured bicyclists were included. 55% were male and 45% female. The age was grouped to preschool age in 0.9%, 6 to 12 years in 10.8%, 13 to 17 years in 10.4%, 18 to 64 years in 64.7%, and over 64 years in 13.2%. The MAIS was 1 in 78.8%, 2 in 17.0%, 3 in 3.0%, 4 in 0.6%, 5 in 0.4%, and 6 in 0.2%. The incidence of polytrauma was 0.9%, and the incidence of death was 0.5%. The incidence of injuries to different body regions was as follows: head, 47.8%; neck, 5.2%, thorax, 21%; upper extremities, 46.3%; abdomen, 5.8%; pelvis, 11.5%, lower extremities, 62.1%. The accident location was urban in 95.2%, and rural in 4.8%. The accidents happened during daylight in 82.4%, during night in 12.2%, and during dawn/dusk in 5.3%. The road situation was as follows: straight, 27.3%; bend, 3.0%; junction, 32.0%; crossing, 26.4%; gate, 5.9%; others, 5.4%. The collision opponents were cars in 65.8%, trucks in 7.2%, bicycles in 7.4%, standing objects in 8.8%, multiple objects in 4.3%, and others in 6.5%. The collision speed was grouped <31 in 77.9%, 31-50 in 4.9%, 51-70 in 3.7%, and >70 in 1.5%. The helmet use rate was 1.5%. 68% of the registered head injuries were located in the effective helmet protection area. In bicyclists, head and extremities are at high risk for injuries. The helmet use rate is unsatisfactorily low. Remarkably, two thirds of the head injuries could have been prevented by helmets. Accidents are concentrated to crossings, junctions and gates. A significant lower mean injury severity was observed in victims using separate bicycle lanes. These results do strongly support the extension or addition of bicycle lanes and their consequent use. However, the lanes are frequently interrupted at crossings and junctions. This emphasizes also the important endangering of bicyclists coming from crossings, junctions and gates, i.e. all situations in which contact of bicyclists to motorized vehicles is possible. Redesigning junctions and bicycle traffic lanes to minimize the possibility of this dangerous contact would be preventive measures. A more consequent helmet use and use and an extension of bicycle paths for a better separation of bicyclists and motorized vehicle would be simple but very effective preventive measures.
Who doesn't wear seat belts?
(2009)
Using real world accident data, seat belts were estimated to be 61% effective at preventing fatalities, and 32% effective at preventing serious injuries. They were most effective for drivers with an airbag. Seat belts were estimated as having prevented 57,000 fatalities and 213,000 seriously injured casualties in the UK since 1983. Seat belt legislation was estimated to have prevented 31,000 fatalities and 118,000 seriously injured casualties. A future increase in effective seat belt wearing rate (which takes into account seating position) in the UK from 92.5% to 93% may prevent casualties valued at a societal cost of over -£18 million per year. To target a seat belt campaign, the question "who doesn"t wear seat belts?" must be answered. Seat belt wearing rates and the number of unbelted casualties were analysed. It was primarily young adult males who didn"t wear seat belts, and they made up the majority of unbelted fatalities and seriously injured casualties.
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.
Technical progress in automotive engineering focuses at the moment on two competing branches: improving safety and reducing energy consumption. Recent consideration has been given to a third factor, cost to the consumer. Challenges are presented by demographic changes, especially with increasing participation of elderly people in road traffic. The report considers the recent history of road accidents in Germany and statistics relating to vehicle population and road performance. There is a general trend towards decreasing numbers of accidents and their severity. Transport is responsible for roughly 20% of CO2 emissions and approximately 70% of total petroleum consumption. The Federal Government has responded to these challenges by publishing the Freight Transport and Logistics Masterplan in the summer of 2008. It describes the strategic transport policy direction and the key elements of the future course of action which are to be used to ensure the provision of efficient infrastructure and, at the same time, to reduce the amount of energy consumed by vehicles and make transport more efficient, cleaner and quieter. This document contains a number of concrete measures subsumed under the following six objectives: Making optimum use of transport infrastructure - shaping transport to make it more efficient; Reducing the number of journeys - ensuring mobility; Transferring more traffic to the railways and inland waterways; Upgrading more transport arteries and hubs; Environmentally friendly, climate friendly, quiet and safe transport, and Good working conditions and good training in the freight transport industry. Progress in research is outlined in the following areas: Daytime Running Lights for Motorcycles; Safety of hydrogen vehicles - addressing safety and environmental issues by development of a Global Technical Regulation for hydrogen vehicles; Elements of active vehicle safety for elderly drivers; Periodical Technical Inspection of electronically controlled systems in road vehicles - Electronic Stability Control; Pedestrian protection; Crash Compatibility - role of collision partner in passive safety tests; Child safety; Euro NCAP - Child Restraint Systems, and German Field Operational Test on Car-to-Car and Car-to-Infrastructure Systems (SIM-TD). The research project AKTIV - "Adaptive and Cooperative Technologies for Intelligent Traffic" encompasses the design, development, and evaluation of novel driver assistance systems, knowledge and information technologies and is set up to find solutions for efficient traffic management and Car-to-Car and Car-to-Infrastructure communication for future cooperative vehicle applications. The European Statement of Principles on the Human Machine Interface (HMI), presented at the eSafety Conference, which was held in Berlin on 5/6 June 2007, addresses issues such as Real Time Traffic Information (RTTI), Legal issues of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and e-security.
Topics of this report are: Road accidents in Germany - Socio-economic costs due to road traffic accidents - Vehicle population and road performance " Automotive IT " Electromobility. The following research subjects are presented: Safety of electric vehicles - Forward looking safety systems - Cooperative systems - Safety related traffic information - Freight transport: Action plan freight transport and trial with longer trucks - Lane departure warning systems and Advanced emergency braking systems (AEBS) for heavy duty vehicles - Dummy harmonization " Compatibility - Child safety - Virtual testing - Driving under the influence of drugs, alcohol and medicines - Fire safety of buses - Milled shoulder rumble strips - Conspicuity of powered-two-wheelers - Automatically dipped high beam and rear view mirrors.
New vehicle types are extensively tested to check almost all factors that influence ride and handling. With reference to the Association of German Car Tuners" (VDAT e.V.) valuations, approximately 10% of all cars in Germany are being modified by their owners. 28 % of those modifications" sales are divergent wheel-tire combinations, 13 % are tuning measures on the chassis suspension or wheel spacers. In almost all cases the singular modifications present a general permission for specific vehicles they have been tested in. Combined tuning measures, however, are often checked by just one inspector, following a procedure of mostly subjective assessment criteria. Today, critical attributes are only being observed, in case a vehicle is involved in an accident and the modifications are identified as crash causal factors or as a cofactor on the development of a crash. For the first time, a field study allows a survey of safety affecting chassis modifications. The test layout has to comply with some basic conditions. Different vehicle concepts with a wide margin of modifications are required to get a high transferability of the results. A total amount of more than 150 tested vehicles serves the same purpose. The tests are limited concerning the installation time of measurement techniques and the requirement that no damage, defilement or immoderate wear of the vehicles are accepted by their owners. Due to such factors as well as the driver Ìs acceptance, the vehicles are controlled by its owners instead of robots or test drivers. For keeping down the driver- influence, the lane has narrow boundaries and the driver has to drive in strictly adherence to the given instructions. After gathering all modifications, as well as static and kinematic parameters like the toe and camber angle, dynamic testing of predominantly lateral dynamics is conducted. Besides standardized tests like the ISO 3888-2 (Obstacle Avoidance) or the ISO 14512 (Braking on Surfaces with Split Coefficient of Friction), to test the influence of modified kingpin offsets caused by wheel spacers, some deviant tests are conducted. Those are required due to the demand of objective test results for road tests with vertical induced stimulation of the chassis suspension. Hence, new tests on corner braking with and without vertical stimulation have been developed. The interpretation of data includes thresholds, e.g. the maximum entrance velocity without hitting cones, on the one hand, and the analysis of characteristics of data concerning time and frequency range, "1-second values" and peak response times on the other hand. Besides the thresholds as indicators for the achievable velocities, which are mainly affected by friction coefficients, the vehicle reaction in the course of time characterizes the vehicle reaction in the threshold range and consequently the operational demands on the driver. The field study has started and promises the first long-range analysis of chassis modifications. The results offer a basis for hypothesis and resultant further test layouts for oncoming studies of the identified critical tuning measures.
It is very important for Automotive OEMs to get feedback on their product performance on real roads for continuous improvement. Every OEM has a way of collecting this feedback for various performance parameters. Systematic accident research is a way to generate the information related to safety performance of the vehicle. In India, while there is a large amount of data related to the accidents, it is found this data is aimed at understanding the gross statistics and not directly useful for technology development. This paper explains learnings from a pilot study carried out in collaboration with an Emergency Medical Services provider on one of the expressways (motorways). This pilot study has resulted in development of working model that could now be scaled up at for wider application. The paper also presents some of the important observations based on the data collected.
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.
Injuries in motorbike accidents in correlation with protective clothes and mechanism of the accident
(2013)
This study deals with a possible connection between safety clothing / accident mechanism and injury severity in a state-wide traffic accident investigation with focus on light and small motorbike-involvement for accidents in the area of the Saarland in which the persons riding the bike have been injured or killed. An interdisciplinary team of medical scientists and engineers collected the medical and technical data as well as all the relevant traces of the accident on scene and in time. During twenty months of data collection a total of 401 cases could be gathered. Grave injuries were more common for the group of heavier motorcycles (>125 ccm). Motorcyclists had been polytraumatized only in the group where the accident was connected with a collision. Significant correlation between protective clothes and injury severity could only be found for protective gloves and protective trousers. The knowledge about mechanism of the accident, protective clothes and severity of injuries can be helpful for the improvement of road and motorcyclists' safety.
This contribution introduces a number of psychological methods of analysis that are based on the practice-oriented collection of information directly at the site of an accident and that allow for an analysis and coding of the accident causes. Investigation examples and examples of the data combinations with basic medical and technical data are outlined. Objective of the collection is the inter-disciplinary investigation of human factors in the causes of accidents ("human-factor-analysis"). The psychological data are incorporated according to an integrative model for accident causes based on empiric algorithms in the data base of the accident research, where the clustered evaluation potential of comprehensive factors of the accident development can be illustrated. The central theoretical concept for the basic model of the progress of the accident from a psychological point of view comprises psychological indicators for the evaluation of the site of the accident for the analysis of the perception conditions as well as a classification of the gleaned data into the accident progress model according to chronological and local criteria. Perception conditions, action intentions and executions as well as conditions limiting perception and actions are acquired, using a questionnaire for persons involved in an accident, and are also integrated into the data structure concerning weighted feature characteristics as well as combined with other relevant features. Suitable systematization tools for the collection and coding of psychological accident development parameters have to be provided, which require primarily a model image of the corresponding processes from the persons involved in the accident (perceptions, expectations, decisions, actions). The interactive accident model contains components of the models by KÜTING 1990, MC DONALD 1972, SURREY 1969 and RASMUSSEN 1980. Based on the inter-action of the three partial systems "person", "vehicle" and "environment", the first step is the assessment of the situation by the persons involved in the accident. This is dependent on the personal attitudes and motives, on experiences and expectations concerning the progress of the situation. Subsequently, data concerning the manner of the coping with the ambiguous state as well as with the instable state (emergency reaction immediately before the accident occurs) are collected. The factors relating to the persons involved in the accident are gathered on several levels using corresponding questionnaires. The coding of the found and collected characteristics is conducted in a multidimensional evaluation relating to the technical results of the accident reconstruction and of the psychological classification, which are subsequently integrated in coded form into the data base of the accident research. The result of this analysis is a description of the development of the accident depicted on a chronological vector from a perception and decision theoretical perspective. This is explained in detail using exemplary cases.