81 Unfallstatistik
The increasing economics in India has an enormous growth of its road traffic. As observed from official Indian accident statistics the number of road fatalities are one of the highest worldwide. In contrast to most industrialized nations they have an rapidly increasing trend. To come along with this trend it becomes more than essential to understand the traffic accident situation. The official Indian accident statistics gives a glimpse of only basic information. Therefore more detailed data is needed. By using In-depth accident data and officially representative statistics the current accident situation can be evaluated in India, if a suitable weighting methodology is considered. Hence in 2009/2010 a pilot study with the collaboration partner JP-Research India pvt. Ldt. was gathered in Tamil Nadu in south of India. In-depth accident investigations were done around the Coimbatore area on four highways. At first, the collected data is evaluated. Due to consequent and continuous further development based on the first approach a methodology similar to NASS/CDS/GES in the US and GIDAS in Germany was developed. Of course all relevant accident related parameters including pictures and severity information were collected. As a matter of fact based on scaled sketches and reconstruction benefit analyses can be done in order to analyze the accident scenery in India. As a first outcome influence from infrastructure, missing education and vehicle safety were identified as key parameters in order to reduce the number of accidents and casualties. To compare the accident situation against international standards an accident classification for left hand traffic was developed based on the German Insurance classification system. Looking into detail additional accident types were identified and added to create an Indian accident type catalogue. The positive results encouraged several OEMs to participate in this investigation and together with BOSCH a consortium was established in 2010/11. Within one year from beginning in May 2011 about 200 highway accidents were collected, reported and reconstructed using the new standard. Hence a first good overview of the accident situation is available for the Coimbatore Tamil Nadu area. The major target for establishing accident investigations is the extension towards other states of India and urban areas to achieve a better overview of the accident scenery. Therefore local and national authorities have to be embedded in order to strengthen the awareness against traffic safety.
Nowadays, traffic accidents are recorded in historical databases. Regarding the huge quantity of data, the use of data mining tools is essential to help Experts, for automatically extracting relevant information in order to establish and quantify relations between severity and potential factors of accidents. An innovative approach is here proposed for an in depth investigation of real world accidents data base. Mutual information ratio based on conditional entropies is used to quantity the association strength between an accident outcome descriptor (injury severity) and other potential association factors. Information theoretic methods help to select automatically groups of factors mostly responsible of the severity of accident.
The accident research of Hanover and (from 1999 on) Dresden registered 736 leg injuries (AIS ≥ 2) from 1983 to March 2007. 174 of these injuries (23.6 %) were fractures or dislocations of foot and ankle. 149 feet of 141 front seat car occupants in 140 cars were affected. Of these 117 were drivers, 24 were front seat passengers. The mean age of occupants was 38.5 -± 16.8 years. Ankle fractures were the most frequent injury (n = 82; 80 malleolar fractures, 2 pilon fractures). 34 fractures and dislocations affected the hindfoot (5 talus and 26 calcaneal fractures, 2 subtalar dislocations and 1 subtotal amputation) , 16 to midfoot (4 navicular fractures, 5 cuboid fractures, 3 fractures of cuneiformia, 2 dislocations of chopart joint, 1 subtotal amputation, and one severe decollement) and 39 the forefoot (metatarsal fractures). Open fractures were seldom seen (2 malleolar fractures, 1 metatarsal fracture). Both feet were injured in 10 cases. 33 occupants (23.4 %) were polytaumatic had a polytrauma, 17 of them died. 81 percent of the occupants were belted. The cars were divided in pre EuroNCAP (year of manufacture 1997 and older) and post EuroNCAP cars (year of manufacture 1998 and newer). Most of the foot injuries were seen in pre EuroNCAP cars. Most of the occupants sat in compact cars (40 drivers and 9 front seat passengers) and large family cars (27 drivers and 7 co-drivers). 49 of 140 accidents occurred on country roads, 26 on main roads and 13 on motorways. The crash direction was mostly frontal. Generally were found no differences of delta v- and EES-level between the injured foot regions, but divided into pre- and post-EuroNCAP cars there was a tendency to higher delta v- and EES-levels in newer cars. The frequency of foot injuries increased linearly with increasing delta v-level; but above delta v-level of 55 km/h the linear increase only was seen in pre-EuroNCAP cars, post-EuroNCAP cars showed no further increase of injuries. The footwell intrusion showed no difference between the injured foot regions but pre-EuroNCAP cars had a tendency to higher footwell intrusion. There were no differences in footwell intrusion between the car types. Only 29 of 174 fractures or dislocations of foot were seen in post-EuroNCAP cars, the predominate number of these injuries (n = 145) were noticed in pre-EuroNCAP cars. A lower probability of long-term impairment was found in post-EuroNCAP cars for equal delta v levels, using the AIS2008 associated Functional Capacity Index (FCI) for the foot region.
This study examines the severity and types of injuries sustained by child pedestrians aged 18 years and below in order to identify the body regions at greatest risk for injury in a pedestrian accident. Detailed medical diagnoses were reviewed retrospectively for 572 child pedestrians admitted to an urban pediatric trauma center with injuries during the time period from January 2001 to December 2005. Eighty percent of these children sustained AIS 2 or greater injuries, most commonly to the lower extremity (41%) and head (34%). Fortyfour percent of admitted children had more significant AIS 3 or greater injuries primarily to the head (58%), thorax (17%) and lower extremities (14%). Testing procedures to assess the child- interaction with the motor vehicle should include injury assessment for the pediatric head, thorax and lower extremities. This understanding of how child pedestrians interact with motor vehicles may provide insight into effective countermeasures with potential for implementation in vehicle designs world-wide.
Novice drivers are at high risk for crash involvement. We performed an analysis of causations, injury patterns and distributions of novice drivers in cars and on motorcycles in road traffic as a basis for proper measurements. Method Data of accident and hospital records of novice drivers (licence < 2 years) were analysed focusing the following parameters: injury type, localisation and mechanism, Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), maximum AIS (MAIS), delta-v, collision speed and other technical parameters and have been compared to those of experienced drivers. In 18352 accidents in the area of Hannover (years1985"2004), 2602 novice drivers and 18214 experienced drivers were recorded having an accident. Novice car drivers were more often and severe injured than experienced and on motorcycles the experienced riders were at higher risk. Novice drivers of both groups sustained more often extremity injuries. 4.5 % novice car drivers were not restraint compared to 3.7 % of the experienced drivers and 6.1 % novice motorcycle drivers did not wear a proper helmet (versus 6.5 %). Severe injuries sustained at a rate of 20 % at collision speeds below 30 km/h and in 80% at collision speeds above 50 km/h. Novice car drivers drove significant older cars. The risk profile of novice drivers is similar to those of drivers older than 65 years. Structural protection and special lectures like skidding courses could be proper remedial action next to harder punishment of violations.
A lot of factors are related to a road traffic accident; particularly human factors such as road use characteristic, driving maneuver characteristic and safety attitude are the major ones. As a random factor is also included, so it is necessary to minimize the contribution of a random factor to identify human factors related to a road traffic accident. There are several standpoints for traffic accident analysis, such as vehicle-based, location-based and driver-based. And it is effective to analyze driver-based traffic accident data for discussion on the relation between human factors and accidents. An integrated traffic accident database system was developed for analysis considering driver- accident and violation records by ITARD, and several studies were carried out for the evaluation. Useful data for discussion on the relation between types of collision and traffic violations, and the effect of accident experience to the following accident were obtained.
The declining trend since 1991 in the number of killed people was broken in 2011 when overall 4 009 people died in traffic accidents in Germany. The question arises if there is a stagnating trend of fatalities in Germany in future? By breaking down the accidents with casualties towards a monthly view one can see a decreasing trend of fatalities in the warmer months especially since 2009. When comparing against winter months higher deviations are observed. In December 2011 an increase of 191 traffic deaths were registered (181 in 2010 compared to 372 in 2011). Further analyses of different accident influences were evaluated and their possibility of drastic change from one year to the other was determined. As seen weather- and environmental conditions are one of the major contributing factors and are one of the causes for the increased number of fatalities. To support the underlying assumption a model had been created to calculate the number of traffic deaths on a daily basis approach. As an input, road conditions projected through weather parameters and also different driving behaviors on weekdays or holidays were used. As a result, estimates of daily fatality with up to 75% precision can be achieved out of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 data. Further on it shows that weather and street conditions have a high influence on the overall resulting number of traffic accidents with casualties, and especially to the number of fatalities. Hence it is estimated that approximately 3 300 people were killed in traffic accidents in Germany in 2013 which would be again a reduction of another 13% compared to 2012. Therefore an answer to the question will be that the decreasing trend in traffic fatalities in Germany somehow is not broken when environmental conditions are included in national statistics. Their effects will become more visible in future accident statistics and it is estimated variances of 5% to 8% of the annual number of traffic fatalities in Germany will be seen.
Kinderverkehrsunfälle sind über die Bundesrepublik Deutschland nicht gleichverteilt, vielmehr gibt es je nach Verkehrsteilnahmeart Regionen mit mehr oder weniger Unfällen. Eine regionale Analyse der Daten ist wichtig, um regionale Unfallschwerpunkte zu erkennen, analysieren und gegebenenfalls entfernen beziehungsweise entschärfen zu können. Insbesondere in Zeiten begrenzter finanzieller Mittel ist eine solche Fokussierung sinnvoll. Ein Überblick der regionalen Verteilung von Unfällen erlaubt zudem eine Abschätzung, über besonders wirksame Maßnahmen. Aber auch für Verbände, die sich mit Verkehrssicherheit beschäftigen, Eltern und Lehrer ist eine Positionsbestimmung, wie sich die Situation vor Ort im Vergleich zu anderen Gebieten darstellt, zur Orientierung wichtig. Hierdurch wird auch diesem Personenkreis eine Argumentationshilfe für die Einforderung entsprechender Maßnahmen an die Hand gegeben. In vorliegendem Kinderunfallatlas wurden die Unfalldaten der zwischen 2001 bis 2005 im Straßenverkehr verunglückten Kinder je 1.000 der Altersgruppe für alle 439 Landkreise und kreisfreien Städte berechnet. Zudem erfolgte eine Analyse der Daten von 2003 bis 2005 auf Gemeindeebene. Basierend auf der Einwohnerzahl der Gemeinden in Bezug auf die Anzahl der verunglückten Kinder/1.000 der Altersgruppe wurden 6 Gruppen von Gemeinden gebildet. Die erste Gruppe setzt sich aus den 15 Großstädten der Bundesrepublik zusammen. Die letzte Gruppe umfasst 1.705 Orte unter 10.000 Einwohnern. Die Auswertung zeigt, dass Kinderunfälle in der Bundesrepublik nicht gleichmäßig verteilt sind, vielmehr zeigt die bevölkerungsbezogene Analyse auf Kreisebene ein deutliches Nord-Süd-Gefälle. Dennoch trifft diese Aussage nicht für alle Arten der Verkehrsteilnahme zu. Während Kinder als Fußgänger besonders häufig in Nordrhein-Westfalen und großen Städten der Bundesrepublik verunglücken, sind sie als Radfahrer in den Regionen in Schleswig-Holstein, Niedersachen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und Brandenburg besonders gefährdet. Als Mitfahrer in Pkw verunglücken die meisten Kinder in den ländlichen Gebieten Bayerns und den östlichen Regionen der Bundesrepublik. Zusätzlich lässt sich auf Gemeindeebene zeigen, dass das auf die Altersgruppe bezogene Risiko für Fußgänger mit der Größe einer Stadt zunimmt, während Radfahrer in sogenannten Mittelstädten besonders häufig verunglücken. Als Mitfahrer in Pkw tragen Kinder in sehr kleinen Orten unter 10.000 Einwohnern ein deutlich erhöhtes Risiko. Auf der Grundlage dieses Berichtes ist es erstmals möglich die spezifische Verkehrssicherheitssituation von Kindern nicht nur im Vergleich zu anderen Kreisen sondern auch im Vergleich zu anderen Gemeinden gleicher Größe zu analysieren. Abgesehen davon, dass die Verantwortlichen vor Ort erstmals in die Lage versetzt werden, die spezifische Situation einzustufen, lassen sich auf dieser Grundlage Maßnahmen erheblich gezielter und ökonomisch sinnvoller einsetzen. Eine entsprechende Wiederholung der Berechnungen sollte in fünf Jahresabständen erfolgen.
Die Kostensätze, mit denen Sachschäden bei Straßenverkehrsunfällen in Deutschland zu bewerten sind, liegen für den Zeitraum 1991 bis 1994 vor. Sie liegen dabei unter den bisherigen Werten für die alten Bundesländer im Jahre 1990. Berücksichtigt sind in den Zahlen für 1992 zum einen die veränderte Unfallstruktur für den Gebietsstand Deutschlands nach dem 3.10.1990 und zum anderen eine Anhebung der Schadensgrenze zwischen schweren und leichten Sachschäden von 3.000 DM auf 4.000 DM. Die Kostensätze liegen für Sachschäden durch Straßenverkehrsunfälle nach Ortslagen (außerorts, innerorts, Autobahnen und alle Ortslagen) sowie für Unfälle mit Personenschäden, Unfälle mit schwerem Sachschaden und Unfälle mit leichtem Sachschaden vor. Im Beitrag erfolgt ferner eine Aufschlüsselung der Kosten nach Kostenarten. Auf der Basis der Aufwendungen der Kfz-Haftpflichtversicherungen, die eine größere Unfallmenge erfassen als die Polizei, schätzt die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen den Gesamtschaden einschließlich Gemeinkosten für 1991 auf rund 28 Milliarden DM, für 1992 auf 35 Milliarden DM und für 1993 auf 37 Milliarden DM.
Im Vergleich zu 1995 sind die Unfälle mit Personenschaden und die Anzahl der dabei verletzten Personen um jeweils 4 Prozent, die Zahl der Getöteten um 8 Prozent gesunken. Das Risiko bei einem Straßenverkehrsunfall getötet zu werden, wurde in den neuen Bundesländern seit 1991 um 51 Prozent reduziert. In allen neuen Bundesländern konnte ein Rückgang der Anzahl Getöteter verzeichnet werden. Es ergeben sich jedoch hier erhebliche Unterschiede: Während Sachsen mit 132 Getöteten pro 1 Million Einwohner in der Größenordnung von Niedersachsen und Bayern liegt, sind die Risikowerte in Thüringen (166), Sachsen-Anhalt (176), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (237) und Brandenburg (258) wesentlich höher. Im Gegensatz zu positiven Veränderungen hinsichtlich der Ortslage im innerstädtischen Bereich und auf Landstraßen wurde für die Anzahl Getöteter in den neuen Bundesländern ein starker Anstieg auf Autobahnen festgestellt. Sowohl in den alten als auch in den neuen Bundesländern spielen Unfälle des Typs "Abkommen von der Fahrbahn" mit 33 Prozent beziehungsweise 47 Prozent der Getöteten eine besondere Rolle. Auch im Hinblick auf das Alter der bei Verkehrsunfällen Getöteten ergeben sich Unterschiede zwischen den alten und den neuen Bundesländern: Während in den alten Bundesländern 17 Prozent der Getöteten 65 Jahre und älter waren, beträgt dieser Anteil in den neuen Bundesländern 11 Prozent. Bei den 18- bis 20-Jährigen der neuen Bundesländer ergab sich ein geringer Zuwachs der Getöteten. Hinsichtlich der Unfallursachen erwies sich der Rückgang der Unfallursache "Alkohol" in den neuen Bundesländern als der zahlenmäßig stärkste. Diese günstige Entwicklung besteht bereits seit 1994.
Side impacts, both nearside and farside, have been indicated by research to be responsible for a large proportion of serious injuries from road crashes. This study aimed to compare and contrast the characteristics of nearside and farside crashes in Australia, Germany and the U.S., using the ANCIS, GIDAS and NASS/CDS in-depth-databases, in order to establish the impact and injury severity associated with these crashes, and the types of injuries sustained. The analyses revealed some interesting similarities, as well as differences, between both nearside and farside crashes, and the emergent trends between the three investigated countries. More specifically, it was indicated that whilst the severity of injury sustained in nearside crashes was slightly greater overall than that found for farside crashes, careful consideration of struck and nonstruck side occupants must be made when considering aspects such as vehicle design and occupant protection.
Internationally, the need is expressed for harmonized traffic accident data collection (PSN, PENDANT, etc.). Together with this effort of harmonization, traffic accident investigation moves more and more in the direction of accident causation. As current methods only partly address these needs, a new method was set up. The main characteristics of this method are: • Accident/injury causation (associated) factors can objectively be identified and quantified, by comparison with exposure information from a normal population. • All relevant accident and exposure data can be included: human-, vehicle-, and environmental related data for the pre-crash, crash and postcrash situation (the so-called Haddon matrix). The level of detail can be chosen depending on interest and/or budget, which makes the method very flexible. In this paper the accident collection and control group method are presented, including some of the achieved results from a pilot study on 30 truck accidents and 30 control locations. The data were analyzed by using cross-tabulations and classification-tree analysis. The method proved useful for the identification of statistically significant causational aspects.
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.
Empirical vehicle crashworthiness studies are usually based on national or in-depth traffic accident surveys: Data on accident-involved cars/drivers are analysed in order to quantify the chance of driver injury and to assess certain risk factors like car make and model. As the cars/drivers involved in the same accident form a "cluster", where the size of the cluster equals the number of accident-involved parties, traffic accident survey data are typical multi-level data with accidents as first-level or primary and cars/drivers as secondlevel or secondary units (car occupants in general are to be considered as third level units). Consequently, appropriate statistical multi-level models are to be used for driver injury risk estimation purposes as these models properly account for the cluster structure of traffic accident survey data. In recent years various types of regression models for clustered data have been developed in the statistical sciences. This paper presents multi-level statistical models, which are generally applicable for vehicle crashworthiness assessment in the sense that data on single and multiple car crashes can be analysed simultaneously. As a special case of multi-level modelling driver injury risk estimation based on paired-by-collision car/driver data is considered. It is demonstrated that assessment results may be seriously biased, if the cluster structure inherent in traffic accident survey data is erroneously ignored in the data analysis stage.
Nachtunfälle : eine Analyse auf der Grundlage der Daten der amtlichen Straßenverkehrsunfallstatistik
(1978)
Im Anschluss an eine Charakterisierung der Nachtunfälle anhand von Einzelstudien werden Untersuchungen referiert, die die Auswirkungen bestimmter Umstände betreffen (Alkohol, Witterungseinflüsse, Unterschiede im Verkehrsaufkommen, Einfluss straßenbaulicher Merkmale, spezielle Orientierungsprobleme, Leistungsfähigkeit des Rettungsdienstes, Gurtanlegeverhalten). Anschließend wird über Untersuchungen berichtet, die die Wirksamkeit von Maßnahmen zur Reduzierung der Nachtunfälle betreffen (Wirksamkeit von Alkoholkampagnen, Überwachungsmaßnahmen und gesetzlichen Regelungen; Beleuchtung bzw. Sichtbarkeit des Verkehrsraumes; Wirksamkeitsuntersuchungen beleuchteter Fußgängerüberwege; Beleuchtung und Sichtbarkeit der Verkehrsteilnehmer; Verbesserung der optischen Führung durch Fahrbahnmarkierungen; Blendschutzeinrichtungen; Wildschutzzäune; Einführung der Sommerzeit; Verbesserung der Unfallrettung). Abschließend werden Fragestellungen vorgelegt, zu denen bisher keine befriedigenden Aussagen vorliegen. - Im zweiten Teil wird zunächst die Bedeutung der Nachtunfälle innerhalb des gesamten Unfallgeschehens in der zeitlichen Entwicklung dargestellt. Anschließend werden die kennzeichnenden Parameter des Unfallgeschehens für Unfälle mit Personenschaden erörtert (Art der Verkehrsteilnahme, Lebensalter sowie Geschlecht der Fußgänger bzw. Fahrer, Ortslage, Uhrzeit, Straßenzustand, Unfalltypen und -ursachen). Danach folgt eine mehrdimensionale Betrachtung zu ausgewählten Problembereichen (Unfallursache Alkohol, ungünstige Witterungsverhältnisse, jugendliche Fahrer von motorisierten Zweirädern, Pkw-Fahrer, Fußgänger). Schließlich wird über künftige Auswertungen berichtet.
NASS: the glass is half full
(2007)
The National Accident Sampling System (NASS) was born in the late 1970s. It was based on a substantial amount of experience and analysis of what was needed in the United States to understand the safety challenges of our highways. This work also showed how to collect high quality and useful crash data efficiently. Unfortunately, when Ronald Reagan - a President who believed in limited government - was elected, any hope of full funding for NASS was lost. The concept of 75 teams investigating about 18,000 serious crashes in detail annually was never realized. The system got up to 50 teams, then was cut to 36, and finally to 24 teams investigating fewer than a quarter of the originally anticipated number of crashes per year. Despite this, the NASS investigations provide a rich source of data, collected according to a sophisticated statistical sampling system to facilitate detailed national estimates of road casualties on our nation- highways and their causes. In addition, changes have been made in recent years to increase the number of more serious crashes of recent model vehicles to make the results more relevant to improving vehicle safety. A recent, detailed examination of hundreds of rollovers has provided considerable insight into rollover casualties and into what can be done to reduce them. Some of these results will be presented that show the value of the NASS system. Our experience with NASS and the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) suggests a number of improvements that could be made in the United States" crash data systems. It also provides justification for a doubling or tripling of our national expenditures on crash data collection.
Today, Euro NCAP is a well established rating system for passive car safety. The significance of the ratings must however be evaluated by comparison with national accident data. For this purpose accidents with involvement of two passenger cars have been taken from the German National Road Accident Register (record years 1998 to 2004) to evaluate the results of the NCAP frontal impact test configuration. Injury data from both drivers involved in frontal car to car collisions have been sampled and have been compared, using a "Bradley Terry Model" which is well established in the area of paired comparisons. Confounders " like mass ratio of the cars involved, gender of the driver, etc. " have been accounted for in the statistical model. Applying the Bradley Terry Model to the national accident data the safety ranking from Euro NCAP has been validated (safety level: 1star <2 star <3 star <4 star). Significant safety differences are found between cars of the 1 and 2 star category as compared to cars of the 3 and 4 star category. The impact of the mass ratio was highly significant and most influential. Changing the mass ratio by an amount of 10% will raise the chance for the driver of the heavier car to get better off by about 18%. The impact of driver gender was again highly significant, showing a nearly 2 times lower injury risk for male drivers. With regard to the NCAP rating drivers of a high rated car are more than 2 times more probable (70% chance) to get off less injured in a frontal collision as compared to the driver of a low rated car.
One of the major problems of road safety in Europe is the powered two wheelers accidents. One of the European countries with one of the highest rates is Portugal where in 2006, mopeds and motorcycles fatalities represented 27% of all road users deaths. In this work, a deep analysis and overview of the current state of mopeds and motorcycles accidents for the 2004-2006 period is presented. Within this period 830 PTW occupants die, 2958 have been severely injured and 25000 suffer slight injuries. A detailed analysis of the conditions of these accidents has been carried out, using the data of the national accident database. This analysis provides global information, about geographic environmental conditions, driver- characteristics among others. From this data detailed information is obtained allowing to know when, where and who. In order to answer the question why more a widely collection of data has been collect for 70 accidents. The data has been collected using OECD methodology. For these accidents a detailed reconstruction has been carried out, what is especially important for fatal accidents where for instance speed in an important factor. From these collection and analysis of data a wider overview of facts and measures are extracted. Among them, some are emphasized such as that the quality and non-use of helmets plays an important role in severe and fatal accidents especially for accidents involving moped vehicles, or speed is the most important factor in fatal accidents involving motorcycles. Concerning motorcycle accident reconstruction, different tools can be used depending of the accident scenario and complexity. For simple cases, with specific characteristics, analytical formulation based in vehicle crash dynamics can be use in order to determine the impact speed of the vehicles impact, analysing the skid marks, deformations, victims rest position and considering parameters (EES, vehicle deceleration, etc). Aspects such as the energy absorption capability of motorcycles are also discussed. In the general cases the accident reconstruction software Pc-Crash has been used for the reconstruction of the accident. In very complex cases, has for instance the impact between motorcyclist and barriers, Madymo software is used especially to determine speed from injuries. An example of the impact of a motorcyclist and a motorcyclist-friendly barrier is present to illustrate the benefits and limitations of such systems.
In recent years special attention has been paid to reducing the number of fatalities resulting from road traffic accidents. The ambitious target to cut in half the number of road users who are killed each year by 2010 compared with the 2001 figures, as set out in the European White Paper "European Transport Policy for 2010: Time to Decide" implies a general approach covering all kinds of road users. Much has been achieved, e.g. in relation to the safety of car passengers and pedestrians but PTW accidents still represent a significant proportion of fatal road accidents. More than 6,000 motorcyclists die annually on European roads which amounts to 16% of the EU-15 road fatalities. The European Commission therefore launched in 2004 a Sub- Project dealing with motorcycle accidents within an Integrated Project called APROSYS (Advanced PROtection SYStems) forming part of the 6th Framework Programme. In a first step, the combined national statistical data collections of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain were analysed. Amongst other things parameters like accident location, road conditions, road alignment and injury severity have been explored. The main focus of the analysis was on serious and fatal motorcycle accidents and the results showed similar trends in all four countries. From these results 7 accident scenarios were selected for further investigation via such in-depth databases as the DEKRA database, the GIDAS 2002 database, the COST 327 database and the Dutch element of the MAIDS database. Three tasks, namely the study of PTW collisions with passenger cars, PTW accidents involving road infrastructure features, and motorcyclist protective devices have been assessed and these will concentrate inter alia on accident causes, rider kinematics and injury patterns. A detailed literature review together with the findings of the in-depths database analysis is presented in the paper. Conclusions are drawn and the further stages of the project are highlighted.