83 Unfall und Mensch
This work describes the results of the experimental activity, illustrating the driving behavior observed in different conditions, relating them to the different methods of ADAS intervention and comparing the driver behavior without ADAS. In the present study, driver behavior was studied in road accidents involving elderly pedestrians, with different ADAS HMIs, as a base to develop a driver model in near missing pedestrian accidents. A literature research was conducted with the aim of finding out the main influencing factors, including environment, boundary conditions, configuration of impact, pedestrian and driver information, when pedestrian fatalities occur and an analysis of frequent road accidents was conducted to get more detailed information about the driver- behavior. In order to obtain more detailed information about pedestrian accidents, real road accidents were reconstructed with multibody simulations on PC-Crash and, by the comparison between literature findings and reconstructions, a generic accident scenario was defined. The generic accident scenario was implemented on the full scale dynamic driving simulator in use at the Laboratory for Safety and Traffic Accident Analysis (LaSIS, University of Florence, Italy) in order to analyse the driving behaviors of volunteers, also considering the influence of ADAS devices. Forty-five young volunteers were enrolled for this study, resulting in forty valid tests on different testing scenarios. Two different scenarios consisted in driving with or without ADAS in the vehicle. Different kinds of ADAS, acoustic and optical, with different time of intervention were tested in order to study the different reactions of the driver. The tests showed some interesting differences between driver's behavior when approaching the critical situation. Drivers with ADAS reacted earlier, but more slowly, depending also on the type of alarm, and often with double reaction when braking. In fact, the results of the activity showed that with ADAS intervention the time to collision (TTC) increases, but the reaction time and braking modality change: a) there is a sort of "latency" time between the accelerator pedal release and the brake pressure; b) the brake pressure is initially less intense. So the driver only partially takes advance from the TTC increase. These differences were valued not only qualitatively, but quantitatively as well. This work revealed to be useful to improve the knowledge of drivers" behavior, in order to realize a driver model that can be implemented to help attaining and assessing higher levels of automation through new technology.
Causation of traffic accidents with children from the perspective of all involved participants
(2017)
In the year 2014 about 2,800 children between zero and 14 years got injured due to traffic accidents in Austria. More than 50% were taking part in traffic as active road users like cyclists or pedestrians. Within this study 46 real world traffic accidents between vehicles and children as pedestrians were analysed. In 39 cases, car drivers hit the crossing children. In the other cases, the collision opponents were busses, trucks or motorcycles. Most of the children got hit while crossing a road at urban sites. By analysing the traffic accidents from the perspectives of all involved participants, vehicle drivers and injured children, it is possible to identify factors for each participant, which led to the accident and factors that contributed the accident. The main task is to find patterns in the behaviour of crash victims (children and driver) before the collision. One important fact is that in more than 50% of the analysed cases sight obstructions were an important contributing factor for both, the driver and the child. From drivers view situations in which the child moved unexpected into the driven road lane were often found. For the injured child, factors like: no attention to the road traffic or no sufficient traffic observation were found to be relevant. Further it- possible to sensitise children and adults to possible source of critical traffic situations according to the findings of this study.
The proportion of older road users is increasing because of demographic change (in the group 65+ from current 18% to about 24% by 2030). The mobility needs of people 65+ often differ from those of younger people. Seniors (65+) are already more involved in fatal accidents than younger road users. According to the age development, the senior share of road deaths in the EU of today is increasing nearly one-fifth to one-third. From the in-depth analysis of accidents generic simulation models were developed. Attention has been paid both to psycho-physical characteristics as well as on the social and physical environment and their specifics in conjunction with seniors. By simulating the defined scenarios and varying the defined relevant parameters, accident influencing factors were examined as a basis for avoidance. In addition, the parameters were varied to show the influence from the vehicle, the pedestrian and the infrastructure to avoid the accident or to characterize the conditions for which the accident is inevitable.
Cyclists are more likely to be injured in fatal crashes than motorised vehicles. To gain detailed and precise behavioural data of road users, i.e. trajectories, a measuring campaign was conducted. Therefore, a black-spot for accidents with cyclists in Berlin, Germany was selected. The traffic has been detected by a fully automated traffic video analysis system continuously for twelve hours. The video surveillance system is capable of automatically extracting trajectories, classifying road user types and precise determining and positioning of conflicts and accidents. Additionally, pre-conflict and pre-accident situations could be analysed to provide further in-depth understanding of accident causation. The evaluation of the measuring campaign comprised the investigation of traffic parameters, e.g. traffic flow, as well as traffic-safety related parameters based on Surrogate Safety Measures (SSM). Furthermore, the spatial and temporal distributions of conflicts involving cyclists were determined. As a result, three possible conflict clusters could be identified, of which one cluster could be confirmed by detailed video analysis, showing conflicts caused by right turning vehicles.
The objectives of this paper are the analysis of the accident risk of drivers brain pathologies (Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer- disease, and Parkinson- disease), and the investigation of the impact of driver distraction on the accident risk of patients with brain pathologies, through a driving simulator experiment. The three groups of patients are compared to a healthy group of similar demographics, with no brain pathology. In particular, 125 drivers of more than 55 years old (34 "controls"" and 91 "patients") went through a large driving simulator experimental process, in which incidents were scheduled to occur. They drove in rural and urban areas, in low and high traffic volumes and in three distraction conditions (undistracted driving, conversation with a passenger and conversation through a mobile phone). The statistical analyses indicated several interesting findings; brain pathologies affect significantly accident risk and distraction affects more the groups of patients than the control one.
For the avoidance of traffic accidents by means of advanced driver assistance systems the knowledge of failures and deficiencies a few seconds before the crash is of increasing importance. This information e.g. is collected in the German accident survey GIDAS by an interview derived from the ACAS methodology. However to display the whole range of accident causation factors additional information is needed on enduring factors of the system components "human", "infrastructure" and "machine". On the strategic level these accident moderating factors include long term influences such as medical preconditions or a general higher risk taking behavior as well as influences on the immediate conflict level such as an aggressive response to a perceived previous traffic conflict. This study was conducted to examine the feasibility of collecting such causation information in the scope of an in-depth accident investigation like GIDAS. Due to the comprehensive amount of information necessary to estimate the moderating factors the collection of the information is distributed to different methods. 5 cases of real world crashes have been investigated where information was collected on-scene and retrospective by interviews. The identified moderating factors of the accidents and the method for collecting the information are displayed.
Motorcycle crashes in Austria: Analysis of causes and contributing factors based on in-depth data
(2017)
From CEDATU, the in-depth accident database run by the Vehicle Safety Institute at Graz University of Technology, a representative sample of 101 crashes involving at least one motorcycle was selected. The analysis focused on causes for crashes as well as on contributing factors, but also included parameters of road, riders and vehicles. Own riding speed and "unexpectable action by another road user" were the most frequent causes for accidents. Inappropriate safety distance or delayed reaction were frequent, both as causation factors and as contributing factors. Infrastructure issues never cause an accident, but they are very frequent as contributing factors; road geometry and road guidance are by far most frequent among these. This paper also discusses accidents by type and other parameters (e.g. injury severity by body region, collision speed, age and others), and compares accident causes to previous studies as well as the police reported accident statistics.
Driver distraction
(2017)
This report for the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) summarises recent research and knowledge from scientific studies about distracted driving. The report defines what it means to be "distracted" when driving, discusses the impact of distraction on driver behaviour and safety, and what can be done to reduce distracted driving. The focus of distraction discussed here relates to how drivers engage with technology when driving. The report begins with a background to driver distraction, followed by discussion about what is actually meant by driver distraction. It is then considered why humans cannot successfully do two things at the same time, particularly within the context of driving. The subsequent section summarises the scientific research findings to date with regard to driver distraction and technology, and how this affects different types of road user. Recommendations for how driver distraction can be mitigated in the real world and a summary conclude the report. Responses to common questions raised by drivers are presented in Appendix A.
In den einführenden Bemerkungen zur Zweiten Internationalen Konferenz "Junge Fahrer und Fahrerinnen", die am 29. und 30. Oktober 2001 stattfand, wird darauf hingewiesen, dass trotz nachhaltiger Verkehrssicherheitsaktivitäten das Unfallrisiko junger Fahrer im letzten Jahrzehnt nicht in zufriedenstellendem Umfang verringert werden konnte. Der Rückgang bei den Unfällen mit Getöteten bewegte sich innerhalb des allgemeinen Trends und war bei den 18- bis 20-jährigen Fahrern nicht mit einer Reduzierung ihres mehrfach höheren Risikos gegenüber älteren Autofahrern verbunden. Die Thematik der Konferenz richtete sich verstärkt auf den Maßnahmenbereich und widmete sich neben der Sicherheitskommunikation insbesondere der Fahreraus- und -weiterbildung, der schulischen Mobilitätserziehung im Zusammenhang mit der motorisierten Verkehrsteilnahme sowie der Verhaltensbeeinflussung nach dem Fahrerlaubniserwerb durch rechtliche Regelungen. Damit umfasste sie das gesamte zur Verfügung stehende Spektrum kommunikativer, edukativer und legislativer Interventionsmöglichkeiten zur Gewährleistung eines sicheren Starts in die Fahrkarriere. In drei Arbeitskreisen wurden die Themenbereiche Verkehrssicherheitskampagnen, Maßnahmen vor dem Fahrerlaubniserwerb sowie Maßnahmen nach dem Fahrerlaubniserwerb behandelt. In einem vierten Arbeitskreis tauschten sich junge Fahranfänger aus mehreren europäischen Ländern über ihre unterschiedlichen Erfahrungen auf dem Weg zum Autofahren aus und leiteten daraus Schlussfolgerungen für zielführende Präventionsansätze ab. Die Beiträge belegen die große Bandbreite innovativer und Erfolg versprechender Maßnahmenansätze, die in Konzeptüberlegungen für die Praxis Berücksichtigung finden sollten.
Nach Anlage 5 (2) der Fahrerlaubnisverordnung (FeV) verlangt der Gesetzgeber von Bewerbern um die Erteilung oder Verlängerung einer Fahrerlaubnis der Klassen D, D1, DE, D1E sowie der Fahrerlaubnis zur Fahrgastbeförderung die Erfüllung besonderer Anforderungen hinsichtlich Belastbarkeit, Orientierungsleistung, Konzentrationsleistung, Aufmerksamkeitsleistung sowie Reaktionsfähigkeit. Die zur Untersuchung dieser Merkmale eingesetzten testpsychologischen Verfahren müssen nach dem Stand der Wissenschaft standardisiert und unter Aspekten der Verkehrssicherheit validiert sein. Zur Klärung der Fragen, wie ausgedehnt das Spektrum eingesetzter und akzeptierter Testverfahren ist und welche Erfahrungen die Gutachter bisher gemacht haben, fand am 07.11.2000 in der Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen ein Expertengespräch statt. Dieses Gespräch zeigte unter anderem folgende Ergebnisse: Zum Einsatz kommen insbesondere das Act-and-React-Testsystem (ART) und das Wiener Testsystem (WTS), weiterhin die Testbatterien zur Aufmerksamkeitsprüfung (TAP). Die als Grenzwerte festgelegten Prozentränge von 33 beziehungsweise 16 sind empirische Setzungen, als Referenz wurden bewusst altersunabhängige Normwerte gewählt. In einigen Bundesländern sind die Begutachtungsstellen für Fahreignung erste Anlaufstellen, in anderen die Betriebs- oder Arbeitsmediziner. Die Durchführung der Testverfahren kann durch einen qualifizierten Arzt, Psychologen oder eine geschulte Testassistentin erfolgen. Sobald sich die Frage einer Kompensationsprüfung stellt, ist eine differenzierte psychologische Untersuchung erforderlich. Bei unauffälligen Befunden kann das Gutachten weitgehend standardisiert sein. Abschließend sind Forderungen für die weitere Entwicklung formuliert.