83 Unfall und Mensch
Accidents between right turning trucks and straight driving cyclists often show massive consequences. Accident severity in terms of seriously or fatally injured cyclists that are involved is much higher than in accidents of other traffic participants in other situations. It seems clear that adding additional mirrors will very likely not improve the situation. At ESV 2015, a methodology to derive test procedures and first test cases as well as requirements for a driver assist system to address blind spot accidents has been presented. However, it was unclear if and how testing of these cases is feasible, to what extent characteristics of different truck concepts (e.g. articulated vehicles, rigid vehicles) influence the test conduction and outcome, and what tolerances should be selected for the different variables. This work is important for the acceptance of a draft regulation in the UN working group on general safety. In the meantime, three test series using a single tractor vehicle, a tractor-semitrailer combination and a rigid vehicle have been conducted. The test tools (e.g. surrogate devices) have been refined. A fully crashable, commercially available bicycle dummy has been tested. If used correct, this dummy does follow a straight line quite precisely and it does not cause any damage to the truck under test in case of accidental impact. The dummy specifications are freely available. During testing, the different vehicle categories resulted in different trajectories being driven. Articulated vehicle combinations did first execute a turn into the opposite direction, and on the other hand, single tractor vehicles did behave comparable to passenger cars. A possible solution to take these behaviors into account is to require the vehicles to drive through a corridor that is narrow for a precise straight-driving phase and extends during the turn. Other investigated parameters are the dummy and vehicle speed tolerances. The results from this research make it possible to draft a regulation for a driver assistance system that helps to avoid blind spot accidents: test cases have been refined, their feasibility has been checked, and corridors for the vehicles and for important parameters (e.g. test speeds) have been set. The test procedure is applicable to all types of heavy goods vehicles. In combination with the accidentology (ESV 2015 paper), the work provides the basis for a regulation for such an assistance system.
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.
It is commonly agreed that active safety will have a significant impact on reducing accident figures for pedestrians and probably also bicyclists. However, chances and limitations for active safety systems have only been derived based on accident data and the current state of the art, based on proprietary simulation models. The objective of this article is to investigate these chances and limitations by developing an open simulation model. This article introduces a simulation model, incorporating accident kinematics, driving dynamics, driver reaction times, pedestrian dynamics, performance parameters of different autonomous emergency braking (AEB) generations, as well as legal and logical limitations. The level of detail for available pedestrian accident data is limited. Relevant variables, especially timing of the pedestrian appearance and the pedestrian's moving speed, are estimated using assumptions. The model in this article uses the fact that a pedestrian and a vehicle in an accident must have been in the same spot at the same time and defines the impact position as a relevant accident parameter, which is usually available from accident data. The calculations done within the model identify the possible timing available for braking by an AEB system as well as the possible speed reduction for different accident scenarios as well as for different system configurations. The simulation model identifies the lateral impact position of the pedestrian as a significant parameter for system performance, and the system layout is designed to brake when the accident becomes unavoidable by the vehicle driver. Scenarios with a pedestrian running from behind an obstruction are the most demanding scenarios and will very likely never be avoidable for all vehicle speeds due to physical limits. Scenarios with an unobstructed person walking will very likely be treatable for a wide speed range for next generation AEB systems.
This study analyses no.39 cases in which n.41 motorcyclists were fatally injured, or 36% of total motorcycle fatalities in Northern Ireland between 2004 and 2010 (n.114). There were n.17 cases (43.6%) where the actions of another vehicle driver caused the collision, in thirteen of these cases the motorcycles had their lights switched on. The remaining n.22 collisions (56.4%) were due to the actions of the motorcyclist. In the approach to the collision scene, there were n.13 cases (31.7%) in which the approach was a right hand bend and in n.8 (19.5%) cases, the approach was a left hand bend. In the remaining n.18 (43.9%) cases, the approach was a straight road. Of the n.17 (41.4%) motorcycles that slid after falling, n.10 (24.4%) fell onto their right side and the remaining n.7 (17.1%) fell onto their left side. The information from this study identifies primary and contributory causes of motorcycle collisions.
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).
Ziel des Projektes war, die Bedeutung und Einordnung sozialer Risikofaktoren für das Entstehen von nebelbedingten Massenunfällen und deren Konsequenzen für Präventionsmaßnahmen empirisch zu klären. Ausgangspunkt war die Hypothese, dass sich Fahrer im Nebel an der Fahrweise des vorausfahrenden und nachfolgenden Fahrers (Sog-Druck-Hypothese) orientieren (SCHÖNBACH, 1996a, 1996b). Die Hypothese wurde in einen breiteren Erklärungsansatz für eine empirische Klärung integriert. Nach einer Literaturanalyse wurden eine Serie von Simulatoruntersuchungen, eine Datenerhebung an der Autobahn und eine Verkehrssimulation durchgeführt. In den Untersuchungen am Fahrsimulator wurde das Fahrverhalten in Allein- und Folgefahrten unter verschiedenen Witterungsbedingungen (Klarsicht, mäßiger und starker Nebel) bei verschiedenen Geschwindigkeiten und Beschleunigungen untersucht. Die an einer Autobahn-Messschleife erhobenen Fahrdaten wurden für einen Vergleich von Nebel- und Klarsichtbedingung organisiert und hinsichtlich Fahrgeschwindigkeit und "abstand analysiert. Schließlich wurden Fahrparameter aus den eigenen Untersuchungen in ein Simulationsmodell des Verkehrsflusses eingegeben und die Bedingungskonstellationen für das Auftreten von Unfällen ermittelt (Beitrag von WALLENTOWITZ, NEUNZIG und BENMIMOUN, Institut für Kraftfahrwesen der RWTH Aachen). Die Ergebnisse stützen die "Sog-Druck"-Hypothese nach SCHÖNBACH nicht, sondern sprechen für die Annahme, dass das zu schnelle Fahren Folge genereller Anpassungen des Fahrverhaltens an Fahrbedingungen, wie Verkehr und Witterung, sind. Die Anpassungen sind hinsichtlich ihrer Sicherheitsmarge nur unzureichend erfahrbar. Sowohl die Höhe der Fahrgeschwindigkeit als auch das bei Nebel verstärkte Oszillieren von Geschwindigkeit und Abstand in der Kolonne werden nur unzulänglich erkannt und deshalb zu Risikofaktoren, wie in der Verkehrssimulation gezeigt. In einem Expertengespräch wurden die Befunde hinsichtlich möglicher Schlussfolgerungen für Präventivmaßnahmen bewertet. Aus den im Forschungsprojekt gewonnenen Befunden lassen sich Maßnahmenempfehlungen ableiten, die als Ausgangspunkt die Fahrweise unter eingeschränkten Sichtbedingungen und deren Erkennbarkeit (awareness) haben. Diese liegen im rechtlichen (StVO, StVZO), pädagogischen (zum Beispiel Thematisierung der Fahrweise in der Kolonne), technischen (zum Beispiel Fahrerassistenzsysteme) und straßenseitigen Bereich (zum Beispiel Markierungen). Der Originalbericht enthält als Anhänge die Ergebnisniederschrift eines Expertengespräches (A), eine Präsentation der Ergebnisse des Institutes für Psychologie der RWTH Aachen im Rahmen dieses Expertengespräches (B), eine Präsentation der Ergebnisse des Institutes für Kraftfahrwesen der RWTH Aachen im Rahmen dieses Expertengespräches (C) sowie zusätzliche Grafiken zu Kapitel 6 "Verkehrssimulation" (D). Auf die Wiedergabe dieser Anhänge wurde in der vorliegenden Veröffentlichung verzichtet. Sie liegen bei der Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen vor und sind dort einsehbar. Verweise auf die Anhänge wurden zur Information des Lesers im Berichtstext beibehalten.