Impact severity is a fundamental measure for all in-depth crash investigation projects. One methodology used in the UK is based on the US Calspan software package CRASH3. The UK- in-depth crash investigation studies routinely use AiDamage3 a software package which is based on an updated version of the original CRASH3 algorithm, including enhancements to the vehicle stiffness coefficients. Real world accident-damaged vehicles are measured and their crush is correlated with a library of stiffness coefficients. These measurements are then used, along with other parameters, to calculate the crash energy and equivalent changes of velocity of the vehicles (delta-v), which is a measure of the impact severity. UK in-depth accident studies routinely validate the crash severity methodologies applied as the vehicle fleet changes. This is achieved by analysing crash test data and using the appropriate residual crush damage and other inputs to AiDamage3 and checking the program- outputs with the known crash severity parameters. This procedure checks, at least in part, the default stiffness values in the data libraries and the reconstruction methods used.
Traffic accidents were ranked the third among the major causes of death in Thailand. About 13,438 deaths and the death rate from traffic accident was 21.5 per 100,000 of population in 2002. The deaths and death rate varied upon the economic situation. After the economic crisis, traffic accidents were increased as well as the period of the bubble economy. In the Central region of Thailand numbers of road traffic crashes were lower than Bangkok Metropolis, but the highest in the number of deaths, death rate and serious injuries in 2002. Men aged 15"29 years old had higher numbers of deaths than men in other age groups and higher than women. Deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes were the highest in April and January, because there was a long weekend in those months. About 80 percent of road traffic crashes were caused by private car and motorcycle. In 2000 about 51 percent of traffic accidents took place on the straight way, followed by the junction and curves. In 2002, about 97 percent of road traffic crashes were caused by human factors including improper passing, speeding and disregarding to traffic signal, however, the identification of causes of traffic accident needed to improve. Drunk driving, disregarding on safety equipment usage, inefficiency of law enforcement and discontinuing of road safety programs were the deepest causes of traffic accidents. Research based information, a broad coalition of stakeholder and urban planning policy were needed to incorporate for a comprehensive road safety policy formulation and actions.
Pedestrian and cyclist are the most vulnerable road users in traffic crashes. One important aspect of this study was the comparable analysis of the exact impact configuration and the resulting injury patterns of pedestrians and cyclists in view of epidemiology. The secondary aim was assessment of head injury risks and kinematics of adult pedestrian and cyclists in primary and secondary impacts and to correlate the injuries related to physical parameters like HIC value, 3ms linear acceleration, and discuss the technical parameter with injuries observed in real-world accidents based documented real accidents of GIDAS and explains the head injuries by simulated load and impact conditions based on PC-Crash and MADYMO. A subsample of n=402 pedestrians and n=940 bicyclists from GIDAS database, Germany was used for preselection, from which 22 pedestrian and 18 cyclist accidents were selected for reconstruction by initially using PC-Crash to calculate impact conditions, such as vehicle impact velocity, vehicle kinematic sequence and throw out distance. The impact conditions then were employed to identify the initial conditions in simulation of MADYMO reconstruction. The results show that cyclists always suffer lower injury outcomes for the same accident severity. Differences in HIC, head relative impact velocity, 3ms linear contiguous acceleration, maximum angular velocity and acceleration, contact force, throwing distance and head contact timing are shown. The differences of landing conditions in secondary impacts of pedestrians and cyclists are also identified. Injury risk curves were generated by logistic regression model for each predicting physical parameters.
Mechanical properties of tibial bone at compressive strain rates of 50-200 s-1 are obtained through Split Hopkinson pressure bar. Cylindrical specimens of 12-15 mm diameter and 2-5 mm thickness were used. The Young- moduli are calculated from linear portion of stress-strain curves. For both cortical and cancellous part of the bones, the Young- modulus was found to increase with the increasing strain rates. Also for both cancellous and cortical bones the Young- modulus increases consistently with increase in densities.
Before 2002, France was in the queue of Europeans countries in terms of road safety results because of the low density of population and the faulty behaviour of French due itself to a very low level of traffic law enforcement Even if there were signs of the change of mind in France towards road safety before, the turning point was in summer 2002, when the President declared road safety as a priority work during his mandate. The more symbolic measure was the decision to settle an automatic speed control system (700 fixed and 300 mobile). Over three years, the average speed on French roads decreased by 5 km/h and the number of fatalities on road turned down from an average of 8000 deaths per year to 5 300, which represents a decrease of more than 34 %. For the next months, we anticipate that, as many drivers have kept loosing points on their driving licence through light speed violations, this will lead drivers to check their speed and the speed limits more systematically as loosing points on one's driving license has longer time effects than paying a fine. Consequently, we expect a decrease of 10 % to 15% of fatalities in 2006, which is a very good result if we compare with the trend of the last twenty five years (about 2,3 %). The reverse effect of this system that lies on the changes of behaviour of the majority is that, there is more and more discontent against the system taking into account that automatic speed control system allows only a minor tolerance above limits and that local speed limits are not always adapted to local infrastructure and traffic conditions. Another weakness of the system is that motorcyclists are too rarely caught by the system; the system is being gradually improved by placing the new speed cameras in position of taking photographs of the back of the vehicle. But this would not be sufficient to reduce the speed of motorcyclists that are a very high risk group (16% of fatalities for 0,8 % of traffic) For alcohol, there is no easy route for progress: all what is done nowadays is toward festive impaired driving (through designating sober drivers or mass alcohol preventive screenings) although there is not enough done towards chronic alcoholic driving.
An eCall device has been mounted on some vehicles in France since 2003. It is an integrated car radio/GSM/GPS system that can be used with a SIM card. When an accident occurs, a call can be sent manually or automatically made to a telephone call centre. Knowing the geographic location, the vehicle identity and the possibility of a direct communication with the people involved enables the nearest emergency services to be called out. In this context, the LAB / CEESAR have set up a study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of this system. The purpose of this paper is to detail the E-call system evaluation method of effectiveness used and give a global synthesis of the results.
This work aims at bringing evidence for mass incompatibility in frontal impact for cars built according to the UNECE R94 regulation. French national injury accidents database census for years 2005 to 2008 were used for the analysis. The heterogeneity of frontal self-protection among cars of different masses is investigated, as well as the partner protection parameter offered by these cars. The last part of the analysis deals with the estimation of the benefit, in terms of fatal and severe injuries avoided, if crashworthiness was harmonized for the whole fleet of vehicle. This calculation is done for France and is extended to all Europe.
The need of passive safety devices, able to reduce the accidents and the severity of injuries suffered by motorcyclist, distinctly arises from data on accident statistics. In this paper, the effectiveness of an airbag device fitted in the biker- garments has been verified through various numerical simulations. Two simple test conditions were defined, in order to investigate the performance of the device both for back and front impacts, and simulated at various impact speeds. With the aim of providing more information about the actual capability of the airbag to reduce the severity of the injuries, one of accident scenario described by ISO 13232:2005 has been also investigated, checking the real effectiveness of the airbag strap-based firing system too. Confrontation of injury indexes resulting from simulation with and without airbag made possible a realistic evaluation of the harm reduction induced by the airbag presence.
Among European Countries, Spain first issued a Standard, UNE 135900:2005, further updated in 2008, that deals with homologation and effectiveness evaluation of road restraint systems components designed to reduce harm for bikers impacting on them. An in depth analysis and critical review of this standard is reported in this paper. Beside a close examination of the standard requirements, numerical models of the crash test stated by the standard have been set up and simulated to study the effects of slight speed and approach angle variations on test results, remaining within tolerance gaps allowed by the standard. Model were validated against experimental data. Together with the expected increasing severity of the impact according with speed, a strong influence of approach angle on injury parameters was found. Possible improvements to the norm, in order to make it more robust, are suggested.
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.
Mit dem Beitrag soll ein Überblick zum aktuellen Bearbeitungsstand der ZTV Ew-StB vermittelt werden. Insbesondere soll auf Neuerungen und Veränderungen hingewiesen und diese inhaltlich kurz beleuchtet werden. Hervorzuheben ist, dass das Regelwerk um die grabenlose Kanalsanierung erweitert wurde und zulässige Abweichungen beim Bau von Entwässerungseinrichtungen geändert wurden. Nach ca. 4 Jahren ist die Überarbeitung und Abstimmung nunmehr weitgehend abgeschlossen.
Supervision of the safety performance in public transport is one of the main tasks of the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) in Switzerland. Recently a three level system of safety indicators has been defined to cover all means of Swiss public transport. The safety indicators are fed by the FOT incident database since the year 2000. In cooperation with the Institute for Traffic Safety and Automation Engineering (iVA) at TU Braunschweig, Germany, FOT is developing a suitable methodology for the definition and evaluation of the safety targets in Swiss public transport. The methodology is applied for evaluation of safety indicators on a country level and for single transport companies. In a new approach the abovementioned methodology is applied to car incident data to develop an indicator based cross-modal safety measure.
The average CO2 concentrations relevant to a motorcyclist wearing an integral helmet were measured twenty years ago and found to be alarmingly high. The present study examined gas concentrations typically inhaled by a motorcyclist. Average concentrations of CO2 for persons (n=4) wearing integral motorcycle helmets were measured in the laboratory and the field to facilitate comparison to previous work, and similarly high average concentrations were found: above 2% when stationary, well below 1% for speeds of 50km/h or more. Detailed measurements of the time-dependent CO2 concentrations during normal inhalation showed levels of about half of the corresponding average concentrations, including 1% at standstill, though higher concentrations (4% or more) are inhaled at the beginning of each breath. Opening the visor at standstill lowered the average inhaled concentration only to about 0.8%. The oxygen deficiency is equal to the CO2 concentration, and could also contribute negatively to motorcyclist cognitive abilities.
Aus der Zusammenschau der gegenwärtigen Studienliteratur sowie den Ergebnissen der vorliegenden Untersuchung lässt sich ableiten, dass die Fahrtüchtigkeit eines unter Reboxetin oder Mirtazapin zum Teil remittierten Patienten als günstiger einzuschätzen ist als die eines unbehandelten depressiven Patienten. Die Bewertung eines Antidepressivums kann, wie die vorliegenden Ergebnisse zeigen, nicht vorrangig auf Basis der sedierenden Eigenschaften eines Präparats vorgenommen werden. Die experimentellen Daten belegen, dass neben der Verordnungsdauer und den damit zu erwartenden Adaptationsmechanismen auch der Einnahmezeitpunkt entscheidend bei der Bewertung der Substanz in Bezug auf die Verkehrssicherheit ist. Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse haben darüber hinaus wichtige Implikationen für die Einschätzung des Risikopotenzials neuerer selektiver Antidepressiva im Rahmen gesetzlicher Verordnungen. Bei der Bewertung des Gefährdungspotenzials dieser Substanzgruppe scheinen weit weniger die pharmakologischen Effekte als vielmehr morbogene Faktoren zu berücksichtigen zu sein. Die meisten der derzeit erhältlichen Antidepressiva sind weitgehend vergleichbar in Bezug auf ihre therapeutische Effektivität, sodass bei der Auswahl der Medikamente in erster Linie das Nebenwirkungsprofil ausschlaggebend ist.
Ziel der durchgeführten Untersuchungen war die Analyse der Straßenverkehrsdelikte im Wiederholungsfall unter Alkoholeinfluss. Im Untersuchungszeitraum wurden 29.939 Polizeiprotokolle aus Vorpommern und Süd-Mecklenburg ausgewertet. Für den Zeitraum 1998 - 2002 fanden sich 11 Prozent Mehrfachdelikte. Mit circa 98 Prozent Beteiligung sind Männer die am häufigsten als Mehrfachdelinquenten auftretende Gruppe. Im Vergleich mit anderen Jahrgängen sind Täter im Alter von 18 - 25 Jahren auffallend häufig vertreten. Die festgestellten Blutalkoholkonzentrationen in Kombination mit einer Straftat im Straßenverkehr bleiben über die einzelnen Jahre des Erhebungszeitraumes hinweg konstant im Bereich der absoluten Fahruntauglichkeit bei einem Mittelwert von 1,85 Promille. Die Blutalkoholkonzentrationen der Rückfalltäter steigen mit zunehmendem Alter. Mit dem Anstieg der Blutalkoholkonzentration steigt auch die Deliktschwere. Circa 38 Prozent der Rückfalltaten im Straßenverkehrsbereich wurden mit einer Blutalkoholkonzentration über 2,0 Promille begangen. Dabei ist der Anteil derjenigen gering, die alkoholisiert am Straßenverkehr teilnehmen und dann allein einen Unfall verursachen (11,2 Prozent). Die meisten Wiederholungstäter fielen zweimal auf, die häufigste Anzahl war 13 bei einer Person.
Es besteht Einigkeit darüber, dass Blutalkoholkonzentrationen (BAK) ab 0,30 Promille experimentell nachweisbare Beeinträchtigungen der Fahrtüchtigkeit hervorrufen. Die vorliegende Arbeit soll fundierte Aussagen über das Ausmaß und die Qualität kognitiver Veränderungen bei niedrigen BAK (um 0,30 Promille) ermöglichen. Es wurden in einer doppelblinden, placebokontrollierten Studie 16 gesunde männliche Probanden untersucht. Die BAK wurden während der Versuche auf etwa 0,30 Promille eingestellt. Es wurden mittels umfangreicher neuropsychologischer Tests untersucht: das allgemeine Intelligenzniveau, subjektive Beeinträchtigungen, mögliche depressive Symptome, die allgemeine Leistungsfähigkeit, die Vigilanz, die geteilte Aufmerksamkeit, die Reaktionszeit und die Gedächtnisleistungen. Die biostatistische Auswertung erfolgte im 2-Perioden-Crossover-Design. Zusammenfassend zeigen die vorliegenden Ergebnisse, dass bereits bei BAK von etwa 0,30 Promille vor allem kognitive Funktionen, die insbesondere auf die Wahrnehmung und die Verarbeitung visueller Informationen angewiesen sind, vor allem je komplexer und zeitkritischer eine Aufgabe wird, wie etwa die Beherrschung einer kritischen Situation im Straßenverkehr, relevant beeinträchtigt sind.
Die EU hat für die Verkehrssicherheit in Europa ein anspruchsvolles Ziel vorgegeben: Bis 2010 soll die Anzahl der im Straßenverkehr Getöteten gegenüber 2000 halbiert werden. Für Deutschland kann eine erfolgreiche Zwischenbilanz gezogen werden: In den letzten 5 Jahren nahm trotz Vergrößerung des Kraftfahrzeugbestandes um 6% die Anzahl der Verkehrstoten um 29% ab, in den vergangenen 10 Jahren ist ein Rückgang um 43% zu verzeichnen. Diese im internationalen Vergleich überdurchschnittlichen Erfolge sind nicht zuletzt auch auf Fortschritte in der Fahrzeugtechnik zurückzuführen, wobei die zunehmende Verbreitung von Systemen der Aktiven Sicherheit wie ABS, BAS, ESP einen entscheidenden Anteil hat. Nach der deutlichen Reduzierung von Fahrunfällen durch ESP-® stehen nun die Auffahrunfälle im Fokus der Sicherheitsentwicklung von Mercedes-Benz. Das Paket aus verbessertem rückwärtigen Signalbild (Adaptives Bremslicht) und Brems-Assistent (BAS) wurde kürzlich durch radarbasierte Bremsassistenz ergänzt (BAS PLUS und PRE-SAFE-®-Bremse). Der Beitrag geht auf Funktion und Wirksamkeit der einzelnen Systeme ein und gibt einen Ausblick in die nähere Zukunft.
Das 10. Kolloquium "Straßenbetriebsdienst", das in zweijährigem Turnus von der Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Fachgebiet Straßenwesen der Technischen Universität Darmstadt veranstaltet wird, fand am 17. und 18. Oktober 2001 in Darmstadt statt. Über 250 Teilnehmer waren wiederum der Einladung gefolgt. Auf vielfachen Wunsch wurde erstmals eine kleine Begleitausstellung organisiert, die Highlights, nicht aber ein umfassendes Lieferprogramm zeigen sollte. Die insgesamt 17 Vorträge der Veranstaltung wurden in drei Themenblöcken präsentiert: Aktuelle Probleme des Straßenbetriebsdienstes, Techniken und Strategien für einen wirksamen Straßenwinterdienst und Umweltaspekte der betrieblichen Straßenunterhaltung. Die Vorträge haben auf breiter Linie erneut unter Beweis gestellt, dass auf allen Ebenen der Verwaltung, der Industrie und der wissenschaftlichen Forschung vielfältige Anstrengungen unternommen werden, das bereits erreichte, auch im internationalen Vergleich hohe Niveau des Straßenunterhaltungs- und Winterdienstes weiter zu verbessern. Die eingeleiteten Maßnahmen bedürfen jedoch der konsequenten Weiterverfolgung. Der abschließende Teil 2 enthält die Übersicht über die Themenblöcke Techniken und Strategien für einen wirksamen Straßenwinterdienst (3.) und Umweltaspekte der betrieblichen Straßenunterhaltung (4.) sowie ein Resümee (5.).
Es wird über die Fachvorträge des Kolloquiums "Straßenbetriebsdienst" informiert, das zum neunten Mal gemeinsam von der Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen und dem Fachgebiet Straßenwesen der Technischen Universität Darmstadt im Oktober 1999 veranstaltet wurde. In kurzen Zusammenfassungen wird über die Vorträge der drei Themenblöcke "Aktuelle Probleme des Straßenbetriebsdienstes", "Umweltaspekte der betrieblichen Straßenunterhaltung" und "Techniken und Strategien für einen wirksamen Straßenwinterdienst" berichtet.
Das 11. Kolloquium Straßenbetriebsdienst der Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen fand nach 10 Veranstaltungen in der Technischen Universität Darmstadt erstmals in der Universität (TH) Karlsruhe statt. Die Veranstaltung hatte erneut über 250 Zuhörer aus dem In- und Ausland nach Karlsruhe geführt. Ihnen wurde ein umfangreiches Vortragsprogramm mit insgesamt 17 Vorträgen angeboten, das alle wesentlichen Aspekte des Straßenbetriebsdienstes umfasste. Sie wurden in den Themenblöcken "Aktuelle Themen im Straßenbetriebsdienst", "Ergebnisse laufender und abgeschlossener Forschungsvorhaben", "Techniken und Strategien im Winterdienst und Umweltaspekte des Straßenbetriebsdienstes" präsentiert. Zum Rahmenprogramm der Veranstaltung gehörten eine Begleitausstellung, eine Werksbesichtigung und praktische Gerätevorführungen.
In Germany averagely two million traffic accidents happen each year and emergency medical services are called to more than 400 000 patients. Even though this number is decreasing continuously (due to improvements in the fields of vehicle safety, road construction, and accident prevention) every case is yet a challenge for the rescuers and requires improvements in emergency medicine as well. Especially during diagnostics right at the accident scene, there are only limited instruments available to gain the necessary knowledge of the injuries suffered, to come to essential decisions about treatment or transport. To provide an additional diagnostic aid by scouting and estimating the situation, a software-tool calculating the likeliness of the most frequent severe injuries (AIS 3-6) of front occupants in passenger cars has been developed to deliver this necessary information about particular accident scenarios. To achieve this, logistic likelihood functions have been calculated in a multivariate regression analysis analysing all AIS 3+ injuries in the GIDAS database of the years 1999-2006 that happened more than four times
Each year the traffic accident research teams in Dresden and Hanover provide an in-depth investigation of approximately two thousand accidents, aggregated in the GIDAS database. To accomplish a comprehensive review of each traffic accident recorded, a sensible and thorough encoding of suffered injuries is indispensable. The Abbreviated Injury Scale by AAAM offers a valuable and handy solution to achieve this goal. However, there were a few difficulties in the use of the AIS that came up in the past, which let to necessary improvements for the utilization of the AIS 2005 for GIDAS.
The purpose of this study was to analyse the actual injury situation of bicyclists regarding accidents involving more than one bicyclist. Bicyclists were included in a medical and technical analysis to create a basis for preventive measures and discovered repeating accident patterns and circumstances such as daytime, environment, helmet use rate. Technical and medical data were collected at the scene, shortly after accident. The population was compared focusing on bicycle versus bicycle accidents. Technical analysis included speed at crash, type of collision, impact angle, environment, used lane and relative velocity. Medical analysis included injury pattern and severity (AIS, ISS). Included were 578 injured bicyclists in 289 accidents from years 1999 to 2008, 61 percent were male (n=350) and 39 percent female (n=228). Sixty-seven percent ranged between 18 to 64 years of age, twelve percent each between 13 to 17 years of age and older than 65 years, eight percent between 6 to 12 years and one percent between 2 to 5 years.. Crashes took place in urban areas in 92 percent, in rural areas in 8 percent. Weather conditions were dry lanes in 97 percent and wet conditions in 3 percent. Eighty-three percent of all accidents happened during daytime, ten percent during night, and seven percent during dawn. The helmet use rate was only 7,5 percent in all involved bicyclists. The mean Maximum Abbreviated injury scale, Injury severity score was 1,31. Bicyclists are still minimally- or unprotected road users. The helmet use rate is unsatisfactorily low. The incidence of bicycle to bicycle crashes is high. Most of these accidents take place in urban areas. The level and pattern of injuries is moderate. Most of the more severe injuries occur to the head and could have been avoided by frequent helmet use.
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.
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.
The head impact of pedestrians in the windscreen area shows a high relevance in real-world accidents. Nevertheless, there are neither biomechanical limits nor elaborated testing procedures available. Furthermore, the development of deployable protection systems like pop-up bonnets or external airbags has made faster progress than the corresponding testing methods. New requirements which are currently not considered are taken into account within a research project of BASt and the EC funded APROSYS (Advanced PROtection SYStems) integrated project relating to passive pedestrian protection. Testing procedures for head impact in the windscreen area should address these new boundary conditions. The presented modular procedure combines the advantages of virtual testing, including full-scale multi-body and finite element simulations, as well as hardware testing containing impactor tests based on the existing procedures of EEVC WG 17. To meet the efforts of harmonization in legislation, it refers to the Global Technical Regulation of UNECE (GTR No. 9). The basis for this combined hardware and virtual testing procedure is a robust categorization covering all passenger cars and light commercial vehicles and defining the testing zone including the related kinematics. The virtual testing part supports also the choice of the impact points for the hardware test and determines head impact timing for testing deployable systems. The assessment of the neck rotation angle and sharp edge contact in the rear gap of pop-up bonnets is included. For the demonstration of this procedure, a hardware sedan shaped vehicle was modified by integrating an airbag system. In addition, tests with the Honda Polar-II Dummy were performed for an evaluation of the new testing procedure. Comparing these results, it was concluded that a combination of simulation and updated subsystem tests forms an important step towards enhanced future pedestrian safety systems considering the windscreen area and the deployable systems.
Since 2005, the motorcycle crash fatalities in the US exceeded 10% of the overall annual traffic fatalities. Consequently, it has become critical to gain in-depth understanding of the factors and characteristics contributing to motorcycle crashes. Unfortunately, there currently exists no database gathering the necessary information for an in-depth analysis of the US motorcycle crashes. So this study utilizes the NASS/CDS database (National Automotive Sampling System, Crashworthiness Data System) in order to gain insights into the patterns and factors leading to a NASS/CDS motorcycle crash, from 1997 to 2007. NASS/CDS samples about 5,000 passenger car tow-away crashes per year. Each case includes photographs and detailed data on crash and pre-crash characteristics, vehicle types, trajectories, types of impact, and other pertinent roadway and crash scene information, allowing an in-depth investigation of the crash mechanisms. However, the NASS/CDS sampling process specifically focuses on passenger car crashes, so the cases extracted only correspond to crashes in which a passenger vehicle was towed, and a motorcycle was somehow involved. Thus, a by-hand in-depth review of about 200 cases allowed retrieving 106 relevant crashes for this study, tending to represent the severe passenger vehicle(s) versus motorcycle(s) crashes on US roads. The findings lead to the conclusion that these crashes mostly result from the low conspicuity of the motorcycle, and from the inability of the car drivers to fully appreciate and anticipate the behavior of a motorcycle. Indeed, it has been shown that, first, the car drivers involved in these cases did not attempt any avoidance maneuver, second, they were largely of ages under 25, and finally, the majority of the crashes were in an intersection scenario. In addition, the two major scenarios unveiled were the car attempting a left turn from the opposite direction and the car attempting a left turn from the right. The paper mentions several solutions to enhance the motorcycle- conspicuity and to allow the car drivers to better anticipate its behavior, which seem to be key factors in the intersection-related crashes (and more generally in the passenger vehicle(s) versus motorcycle(s) crashes).
Im September 2013 wurde der 2. CEDR Call (Conference of European Directors of Roads, Call 2013), der eine Summe von ca. 5,3 Mio Euro umfasst, veröffentlicht. Im Rahmen der länderübergreifen europäischen Forschung waren fünf Themen der künftigen strategischen Forschungsplanung und dem anstehenden Forschungsbedarf durch Befragung der europäischen nationalen Straßenbauverwaltungen identifiziert worden: Energieeffizienz, Verkehrssicherheit, Alternde Infrastruktur, Straßen und Umwelt, Verkehrsmanagement. Im Rahmen von Workshops waren zuvor zu diesen fünf Themen "Descriptions of Research Needs" (DoRNs) erarbeitet worden, welche zusammen mit dem Call veröffentlicht wurden. Die wesentlichen Inhalte der DoRNS werden im Beitrag kurz beschrieben.
Wetterbeobachtungen zeigen, dass sich das Klima in den letzten Dekaden gewandelt hat. Unter ökonomischen und unter strategischen Gesichtspunkten bedeutsam ist die zukünftige Entwicklung von extremen Wetterereignissen wie Starkniederschlägen, Hitzewellen oder Überschwemmungen. Die wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen eines vermuteten menschlichen Einflusses auf das Klima analysiert seit 1988 der "Zwischenstaatliche Ausschuss zum Klimawandel" (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC). Vom IPCC werden unter anderem Projektionen von möglichen zukünftigen Klimaentwicklungen erstellt. Um spezielle Regionen detaillierter zu untersuchen und eine Brücke zwischen globalen Klimaänderungen und lokalen Konsequenzen zu schlagen, werden regionale Klimamodelle verwendet. In der BASt wurde 2009 eine Arbeitsgruppe "Klima" eingerichtet, die eine Risiko-Identifikation in verschiedenen Bereichen der Straßeninfrastruktur und des Straßenverkehrs durchführt. Ziel dieser Arbeitsgruppe ist die Minderung der Verwundbarkeit gegenüber den Folgen des Klimawandels durch die Identifikation regionaler und lokaler Schwachstellen und deren Zusammenführung mit dem Bundesfernstraßennetz. In einem von mehreren Pilotprojekten werden die Risiken von Hang- und Böschungsrutschungen durch die Zunahme von Extremwetterereignissen abgeschätzt. Fernziel ist die Erstellung eines Risikokatasters zur Identifizierung der durch Hangrutschungen besonders gefährdeten Bereiche des Bundesfernstraßennetzes.
Für den Einsatz im Erdbau des Straßenbaus müssen die eingesetzten Geokunststoffe hohen Qualitätsansprüchen genügen. Das Straßenbauregelwerk ist durch die Veröffentlichung der "Zusätzlichen Technischen Vertragsbedingungen und Richtlinien für Erdarbeiten im Straßenbau" (ZTV E-StB 09) in dieser Hinsicht nun vollständig, so dass eine lückenlose Nachverfolgung der Produkte von der Herstellung über die Lieferung bis zum Einbau möglich ist. Wichtig ist jedoch die Einhaltung der Vorschriften und Anforderungen, angefangen beim Hersteller über den Lieferanten, über den Auftragnehmer bis hin zum Auftraggeber, um einen hohen Qualitätsstandard des Produktes und der fertigen Leistung zu garantieren. Hersteller, deren Produkte einer freiwilligen Überwachung unterliegen, können diese Produkte mit einem Qualitätssiegel kennzeichnen und liefern zusammen mit der CE-Kennzeichnung ein Produktzertifikat. Da in diesem Fall auf die Baustoffeingangsprüfung verzichtet werden kann, reduziert sich der finanzielle und zeitliche Prüfaufwand und es wird ein reibungsloser Bauablauf erzielt.
Die Arbeitsgruppe Erd- und Grundbau der Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen (FGSV) hat am 12. und 13. März 2003 ihre 10. Erd- und Grundbautagung in Stade ausgerichtet. Im Zusammenhang damit wurde eine Exkursion zu den umfangreichen Erdbauarbeiten auf schwierigsten Untergrundverhältnissen im Zuge der Baumaßnahme der BAB A 26 zwischen Stade und Horneburg realisiert. Die Tagung wurde von circa 300 Teilnehmern besucht, darunter 13 Fachkollegen aus den europäischen Nachbarländern. In insgesamt vier Blöcken der Vortrags- und Diskussionsveranstaltung wurde über neue Technische Regelwerke, Erfahrungen aus der Baupraxis sowie über aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse berichtet und diskutiert.
Die Arbeitsgruppe Erd- und Grundbau der Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen (FGSV) hat am 12. und 13. März 2003 ihre 10. Erd- und Grundbautagung in Stade ausgerichtet. Im Zusammenhang damit wurde eine Exkursion zu den umfangreichen Erdbauarbeiten auf schwierigsten Untergrundverhältnissen im Zuge der Baumaßnahme der BAB A26 zwischen Stade und Horneburg realisiert. Die Tagung wurde von circa 300 Teilnehmern besucht, darunter 13 Fachkollegen aus den europäischen Nachbarländern. In insgesamt vier Blöcken der Vortrags- und Diskussionsveranstaltung wurde über neue Technische Regelwerke, Erfahrungen aus der Baupraxis sowie über aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse berichtet und diskutiert.
Absturzsicherung auf Brücken
(2008)
Der Beitrag behandelt den aktuellen Stand der Normung und Ausführung von Absturzsicherungen auf Brücken. Zu den Absturzsicherungen gehören sowohl die Fahrzeug-Rückhaltesysteme als auch Geländer, die den Absturz von Personen verhindern sollen. Die verschiedenen Fahrzeug-Rückhaltesysteme sind: Stahlschutzplanken, Betonschutzwände, transportable Schutzwände und Anpralldämpfer. Die zugehörigen Regelungen finden sich in den Richtlinien für passive Schutzeinrichtungen an Straßen (RPS), die derzeit an die Europäische Norm EN 1317 Rückhaltesysteme an Straßen angepasst werden. Die nationalen Regelwerke müssen auf die in der Europäischen Norm vorgegebenen Leistungsklassen, die die bisherigen Beschreibungen der Schutzsysteme ersetzen, Bezug nehmen. Die dabei zu berücksichtigenden Leistungsmerkmale sind: Aufhaltevermögen, seitliche Auslenkung und Insaßenbelastung. Damit der Anwender Systeme zielgerichtet auswählen kann, sind für alle Schutzsysteme Anprallversuche erforderlich, mit denen das System in eine Aufhalteklasse eingestuft wird. In einer Tabelle werden die Aufhalteklassen (N1, N2; H1,H2,H3; H4a und H4b) mit den bei den Anprallprüfungen einzuhaltenden Versuchsparametern aufgelistet. Normales Aufhaltevermögen gewährleisten die Klassen N1 und N2, höheres Aufhaltevermögen die Klassen H1 bis H3 und sehr hohes Aufhaltevermögen die Klassen H4a und H4b. Am Fahrbahnrand von Brücken wird bei Autobahnen und autobahnähnlichen Straßen im Normalfall die Aufhaltestufe H2 gefordert; bei besonderer Gefährdung Dritter unter der Brücke jedoch H4b. Bei den übrigen Straßen reichen, abhängig vom Schwerverkehrsanteil, die Aufhaltestufen H1 beziehungsweise H2. Da Leistungsanforderungen an die Systeme der Schutzeinrichtungen auf Brücken gefordert werden, sind vom Hersteller Nachweise der auf das Bauwerk einwirkenden Kräfte beim Fahrzeuganprall zu führen.
The price of a new car increased almost every year for a long period. In recent years however, the budget available to most people for purchasing a car either did not grow or became even smaller. Therefore it was in the interest of some OEMs to offer economical car models in the so-called "8,000- Euro class". Here an important question arose regarding the safety of these vehicles. There is no question that the very high safety level of cars reached in Europe during the last decades should not be sacrificed as a consequence of smaller budgets. Customers with sense of responsibility have the right to be properly informed about the balance between safety and price so that they can make a deliberate decision when buying either a new or a used car. Against this background, the German magazine "AutoBILD" commissioned DEKRA to conduct fullscale frontal crash tests with a view to publishing the results. These tests have been carried out in accordance with the corresponding Euro NCAP crash test requirements and performance criteria. The tested vehicles were two new Logans produced by the manufacturer Dacia, two used cars of the type VW Golf IV (registration date 2000) and one new VW Fox. This paper describes the safety features of the vehicles and the results of the five crash tests to demonstrate state-of-the-art safety levels and what levels may be expected from vehicles in the "8,000- Euro class". Looking at real-world crashes it is of interest to think about future trends in a more detailed manner. Therefore it will be more and more necessary to supplement the federal statistics with more detailed in-depth information about the consequences of accidents and the safety performance of crashed vehicles.
It is well known that motorcycle riding is fascinating but quite more dangerous than for example car driving. In 2006, 5,091 persons were killed as victims of crashes occurring on public roads in Germany. 52% (2,683) were car occupants, 16% (793) motorcycle riders, 14% (711) pedestrians, 10% (486) bicycle riders, 5% (235) commercial vehicle occupants, 2% (107) riders of smaller powered two-wheelers, called "Mofa, Moped and Mokick". This shows that motorcycle riders recently are the second largest group of killed traffic participants in Germany. Latest information coming from the Federal Statistics predict for the year 2007 the figure of 4,958 killed road victims in total. This would be again a successful reduction (-133 killed persons or "2.6% compared to the year 2006). But the news coming from the Federal Statistics during the year 2007 and at the begin of 2008 did not always tell the same positive story. It is questioned whether the positive trend of substantially reduced figures of killed road user year by year will longer continue for Germany. That means it could be impossible to reach the ambitious target, set by the European Commission, to cut in half the figure of killed road users until the year 2010 " compared to the figure for the year 2001. It was reported that the group of 45 to 49 years old traffic participants (all traffic modes) is conspicuous with an increase of 30% up to 297 killed road users in total from January to August 2007. This increase can be ascribed in particular by an increase of killed motorcycle riders within this age group. Due to mild weather conditions in Germany in 2007 the season for motorcycle riding began relatively early and this may be a main reason for the increase of the figure of killed motorcycle riders by 16% from January to August 2007. With this background the accident occurrence of motorcycles became more and more essential. As part of the actual discussion about historical trends, recent emphases, causes and relevant structures of the events of motorcycle crashes it is evident, to have latest and carefully updated figures coming from both the Federal Statistics and In-depth studies. The paper will give a contribution to this using the German Federal Statistics and in-depth studies, for example GIDAS. Additional data coming from the DEKRA Motorcycle Accident Database as well as from literature are considered, too. The paper will help to describe the current situation of the accident involvement of motorcycles in Germany.
Tree impacts are still one of the most important focal points of road deaths in Germany. For the year 2008, the latest figures in the national statistics show a share of 28% of road users killed in crashes with trees alongside a road amongst all crashes on rural roads (except the Autobahn). The official German statistics show the attribute "impact on a tree" since 1995. For this first reported year, the share of road users killed in such crashes was 30%. During the last 14 years, fatal accidents with road users killed on rural roads (except the Autobahn) after impacts on a tree declined by 60% from 1,737 (year 1995) to 696 (year 2008). But this is more or less in line with the general evolution of vehicle and traffic safety in Germany. For Germany as a whole the accident statistics do not show a reduction for "treer crashes" which is clearly more than the average for all accidents. But, as shown with the paper, there are different evolutions in the several German States. In public awareness the topic "tree impacts" is mostly associated with the situation in Germany after the reunification. At that time a lot of road users were killed on the avenues in the so called "new countries". The fact that "tree impacts" are still a big share within the figure of killed road users seems to be little-known. Using updated information coming from the official statistics and in-depth-studies, accident researchers can identify a big potential for further improvements of traffic safety on the associated district roads, state roads and federal highways. There is still a need to analyse more details of the accident occurrence with impacts on trees to generate new and updated findings on the current limits and potentials of measures to improve vehicle and traffic safety. To make further efforts in reducing the figures of victims of "tree impacts" the intensification of well-known conventional solutions " for example implementation of guard rails and reduction of speed - is an option. Measures related to vehicle safety technology especially in the field of primary (active) safety will have additional benefit within the physically imposed limits. With this background it can be seen that the subject "tree impacts" should be analysed with a holistic approach taking into account the entire system of driver, vehicle, road, the environment and a social consensus as well.
Do learner gain sufficient braking capabilities at the end of education for collision avoidance?
(2013)
The paper describes a test design to evaluate the braking behaviour in the course of the driver education. The results show that the braking capabilities increased during the driver education and the learning effects are the same for males and females. The evaluation limit is set to 6 m/s-². At the beginning of education, 50% of the drivers do not reach this limit, although the driver education car is equipped with an emergency brake assist, which is regularly installed in all vehicles since 2009. After the education, 100% of the drivers can reach the limit. The results are mapped to a collision avoidance scenario.
Die Autoren erläutern die Beratungen des 37. Deutschen Verkehrsgerichtstages zum Thema "Arzneimittel und Verkehrssicherheit". Die nur durch Prüfung des Einzelfalls zu belegende arzneimitttelbedingte Fahruntüchtigkeit wird in ihrer Komplexität dargestellt. Die offiziellen Empfehlungen des Verkehrsgerichtstages zu diesem Thema werden vorgestellt.
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.
Police records about traffic accidents like used by IRTAD (International Road Traffic and Accident Database) and CARE (Community Road Accident Database) do not represent all road injuries. For instance, road accidents of bicyclists without a counterpart are usually not reported. Furthermore, IRTAD-like data contains hardly any information on injury outcome and accident circumstances. This information gap leads to an under-representation of the safety concerns of the most vulnerable road users like children and the elderly both in accident research and safety promotion. Injury registration for the European Injury Database (IDB), in turn, combines details of accident causation with diagnostic information that can be used to assess injury severity and long term consequences. The IDB is collecting data from hospital emergency department patients and is being implemented in a growing number of countries. In this article IDB results on mode of transport and injury outcome are presented from a sample of nine EU member states.
Beside numerous information about vehicles injuries and environmental data the GIDAS database contains detailed reconstruction data. This data is calculated by a reconstruction engineer who handles about 1000 accidents per year. The spectrum of one reconstruction ranges from simple crossing accidents to complex run-off accidents with rollover events. Especially for complex accident scenarios there is a large effort to design the environment of the accident scene within PC-Crash ®. To reduce the reconstruction time by maintaining the high quality of reconstruction 3D-geodata can be useful. Geodata is available for nearly every area in Germany and can be used for a fast and detailed creation of complex accident environments. In combination with the accident sketch areal images of the accident scene can be created and the participants are implemented in the new-built 3D-reconstruction environment. As a consequence, the characteristics of the terrain can be considered within the reconstruction which is especially important for run-off accidents.
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.
In-depth road traffic accident research in Spain is a fairly recent activity. In the past, only accident data that had been retrospectively processed by the national and regional traffic police forces was available. In 1999 Applus+IDIADA set up a permanent accident research unit to carry out indepth analysis of road accidents in Spain. Since then accidents involving cars, motorcycles, coaches and vulnerable road users have been thoroughly studied. The Applus+IDIADA accident research team has carried out work for the various traffic polices in Spain and it is currently involved in several research projects in which accidentology is one of the main tasks. The working methodology of the team is presented in the first part of the paper. In the framework of the European research project "Rollover" (GRD2-2001-50086), Applus+IDIADA has collected data, inspected scenarios and performed virtual reconstructions of twenty-six of the total seventy-six rollover accidents studied. The second half of the paper describes how these accident investigations were used to develop a test procedure for identifying possible improvements to the vehicle structure which augment occupant protection in a rollover scenario. In particular, a proposal for a new drop test for rollover assessment is presented. The cases were analysed for severity, in terms of injury to the occupants and damage to the vehicle, and taking into account whether a seatbelt was worn or not. The worst possible cases were identified as those that had severe occupant injuries and sizable damage to the occupant compartment when seatbelts had been worn. The most severe cases were then analysed further for impact position (roll and pitch angles) and the impact velocity. With these parameters taken into account, the most representative combinations could be found. This resulted in a series of configurations for possible drop tests. The results of the tests indicate where passenger vehicle structures need to be improved in order to increase occupant safety in the event of a rollover crash.
The aim of this study is to investigate the differences in car occupant injury severity recorded in AIS 2005 compared to AIS 1990 and to outline the likely effects on future data analysis findings. Occupant injury data in the UK Cooperative Crash Injury Study Database (CCIS) were coded for the period February 2006 to November 2007 using both AIS 1990 and AIS 2005. Data for 1,994 occupants with over 6000 coded injuries were reviewed at the AIS and MAIS level of severities and body regions to determine changes between the two coding methodologies. Overall there was an apparent general trend for fewer injuries to be coded at the AIS 4+ severity and more injuries to be coded at the AIS 2 severity. When these injury trends were reviewed in more detail it was found that the body regions which contributed the most to these changes in severity were the head, thorax and extremities. This is one of the first studies to examine the implications for large databases when changing to an updated method for coding injuries.
The Centre for Automotive Safety Research (formerly the Road Accident Research Unit) at the University of Adelaide in South Australia has a history of in-depth crash investigation going back to the 1970s. In recent years, our focus has been on studying factors that contribute to road crashes, with an emphasis on the role of road infrastructure. Our method involves crash notification by the South Australian Ambulance Service and detailed investigation of the crash scene usually before the crash-involved vehicles have been moved. This at-scene data collection is supplemented with police crash reports, Coroner- reports including autopsy findings for fatal crashes, case notes from hospitals for all injured persons, structured interviews with crash participants and witnesses, and computerised reconstruction of the events of the crash. One of the most notable research findings to emerge from our in-depth work has been the relationship between travelling speed and the risk of crash involvement. By comparing the calculated free speeds of crash-involved vehicles (cases) with the measured speeds of non-crash-involved vehicles travelling on the same roads at the same time of day (controls), we were able to establish that an exponential relationship exists between travelling speed and the likelihood of involvement in a casualty crash. This was the case for both metropolitan and rural areas. This research prompted the reduction of some speed limits in Australia, which has resulted in notable decreases in crash numbers. Another finding of interest in our recent investigation of 298 mostly daytime crashes in metropolitan Adelaide was that medical conditions make a sizeable contribution to the occurrence of road crashes. We found that almost half of the drivers, riders and pedestrians involved in the collisions had at least one pre-existing medical condition, and half of these individuals had two or more such conditions. We found that a medical condition was the direct causal factor in 13% of the casualty crashes investigated and accounted for 23% of all hospital admission or fatal crash outcomes. A follow-up study of all hospital admissions for road crashes in Adelaide is now going ahead to look further at this problem. The paper also describes studies looking specifically at pedestrian crashes. These include studies of the relationship between travelling speed and the risk of a fatal pedestrian crash, and studies utilising real crash data to validate headforms and test dummies used in the assessment of the safety of new vehicles in the event of a collision with a pedestrian.
While it is important to track trends in the number of road accidents in different countries using national statistics, there is a need for data with more detailed information, so called in-depth accident data. For this reason, several accident data projects emerged worldwide in recent years. However, also different data standards were established and so comparative analysis of international in-depth data has been very hard to conduct, so far. This is why the project iGLAD (Initiative for the Global Harmonization of Accident Data) was established and created the prerequisites for building up a standardized dataset out of the common denominator of different in-depth accident databases from Europe, USA and Asia. In the first phase, the project received funding from ACEA to compile an initial database. To accomplish this, a suitable data scheme has been defined, a pilot study has been conducted as proof of concept and the recoding of the first common data base has been initiated. Also, to prepare the project for its self-supporting continuation in the next years, a business model has been developed. This paper reports the history and status of the project, the current challenges and the creation of a capable consortium to maintain the data. In mid-2014, the initial database containing 1550 cases from 10 different countries will be completed and a first detailed view on this data will be possible.
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.
Es wird über aktuelle Arbeiten zur Unfallprävention bei jungen Fahrern und Fahranfängern berichtet. Hierzu hat im Oktober 2001 die internationale Konferenz "Junge Fahrer und Fahrerinnen" stattgefunden. Außerdem wird auf die Auswertung internationaler Erfahrungen mit neuen Maßnahmenansätzen zur Unfallprävention bei jungen Fahrern und Fahranfängern und die Einrichtung einer Projektgruppe "Begleitetes Fahren" der Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen hingewiesen.
According to the German road traffic regulations children up to the age of 12 or a height below 150 cm have to use approved and appropriate child restraint systems (CRS). CRS must be approved according to UN-ECE Regulation No. 44. The regulation classifies CRS in 5 weight categories. The upper weight group is approved for children from 22 to 36 kg. However, studies show that already today many children weigh more than 36 kg although they have not reached a height of 150 cm. Therefore, no ECE R44 approved CRS is available for these overweight children. In conclusion, today's sizes and weights of children are no longer represented by the current version of the ECE R44. The heaviest used dummy (P10) weighs just 32.6 kg and has a height of 137.9 cm. Statistical data of German children show that already 5% of the children at a height of 137.9 cm have a weight above 45.3 kg. Regarding children at a height of 145 cm, the 95th percentile limit is at a weight of 53.3 kg. Based on these data 4 dummies with different heights and weights were defined and produced. Two of them are overweight. Up to now, there is no experience how current child restraint systems perform in a car crash if they are used by children with a weight above 36 kg and a height smaller than 150 cm. In the future, different child restraint systems will be tested with respect to the ECE R44 regulation using these overweight dummies.
Offenporige Asphaltbeläge besitzen mit 22 % Hohlraum im Belag und einer groben Kornstruktur an der Oberfläche einen wesentlich anderen Aufbau als dichte Beläge. Nach vorliegenden Erfahrungen und Ergebnissen von durchgeführten Untersuchungen erfordern die Belagseigenschaften der offenporigen Asphaltbeläge eine andere Anwendung von Tausalz. Die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt) führte in den vergangenen Jahren gemeinsam mit der Firma KOMMZEPT-Ingenieurbüro Hausmann umfangreiche Untersuchungen zum Salzeinsatz auf offenporigen Belägen durch. Dazu gehörten Laborversuche, Messungen zur Verweil- und Wirkungsdauer von Tausalz auf diesen Belägen und Auswertungen der Beobachtungen von Autobahnmeistereien in Bayern, Brandenburg und Niedersachsen. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die offenporigen Beläge teilweise winterdienstlich anders behandelt werden müssen als die dichten Beläge. Die Offenporigen Asphalte besitzen im Vergleich zu dichten Belägen eine deutlich rauere Oberflächenstruktur. In den Poren des Belags fließt Wasser nicht vollständig ab. Durch Kapillarwirkungen lagert sich Wasser im Belag ähnlich wie in einem Schwamm ab. Dieses Wasser im Belag kann durch den Verkehr sogar wieder zur Oberfläche gesaugt werden, an der es bei Temperaturen unter 0 -°C vor allem nachts zu einer Eisschicht kommen kann. Aufgrund der größeren gebundenen Wassermengen muss mehr Salz auf offenporigen Asphalten gestreut werden. Ausgebrachtes Tausalz bleibt länger in den Oberflächenporen oder im Belag haften. Es wird im Vergleich zu dichten Belägen durch den Verkehr fast nicht zur Seite verweht. Vorbeugend ausgebrachtes Feuchtsalz dringt langsam in die Oberfläche ein. An den eigentlichen Kontaktflächen zum Reifen bleibt wenig haften. Deshalb ist der Einsatz von Tausalzlösungen bei Reifglätte oder geringer Feuchte (Nieselregen) wirkungsvoller.