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A total survey of road traffic accidents involving most severely injured, defined as sustaining a polytrauma or severe monotrauma (ISS > 15) or being killed, was conducted over 14 months in a large study region in Germany. Data on injuries, pre-clinical and clinical care, crash circumstances and vehicle damage were obtained both prospectively and retrospectively from trauma centers, dispatch centers, police and fire departments. 149 patients with a polytrauma and eight with a severe monotrauma were recorded altogether. 22 patients died in hospital. Another 76 victims had deceased at the accident scene. In 2008, 49 % of patients treated with life-threatening injuries were car or van occupants, 21 % motorcyclists, 18 % cyclists and 10 % pedestrians. Among fatalities at the scene, vehicle occupants constituted an even larger portion. The number of road users with life-threatening trauma in the region was extrapolated to the German situation. It suggests that 10 % among the "seriously injured" as defined in national accident statistics are surviving accident victims with a polytrauma or severe monotrauma.
The NHTSA-sponsored Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) has collected and analyzed crash, vehicle damage, and detailed injury data from over 4000 case occupants who were patients admitted to Level-I trauma centers following involvement in motor vehicle crashes. Since 2005, CIREN has used a methodology known as "BioTab" to analyze and document the causes of injuries resulting from passenger vehicle crashes. BioTab was developed to provide a complete evidenced-based method to describe and document injury causation from in-depth crash investigations with confidence levels assigned to the causes of injury based on the available evidence. This paper describes how the BioTab method is being used in CIREN to leverage the data collected from in-depth crash investigations, and particularly the detailed injury data available in CIREN, to develop evidence-based assessments of injury causation. CIREN case examples are provided to demonstrate the ability of the BioTab method to improve real-world crash/injury data assessment.
Die Studie beschreibt auf der Grundlage umfangreicher Erhebungsdaten die Pkw-Mobilität von Fahranfängern im ersten Jahr ihrer selbstständigen Fahrkarriere. Die Daten wurden an einer bundesweiten Zufallsstichprobe per einmaliger schriftlicher Befragung in einer Sommer- und einer Winterwelle erhoben. Die Verwendung von Wochenprotokollen mit tagbezogener Dokumentation erlaubt eine Betrachtung einzelner Zeitabschnitte (Tage, Wochen, Monate, Quartale, gesamtes erstes Jahr) und des Mobilitätsverlaufs. Insgesamt liegen der Studie 4.375 auswertbare Fragebogen zugrunde. Neben Basisdaten zu Umfang und Entwicklung der Fahrleistung wurden Daten zu Fahrtzielen, Mitfahrern, befahrenen Straßenarten, Fahrbedingungen, Motiven des Autofahrens, Charakteristika der gefahrenen Pkw, Unsicherheiten im Straßenverkehr, Verkehrsverstößen und ihrer Sanktionierung sowie zur Beteiligung an Verkehrsunfällen erhoben. Auf dieser Grundlage wurden charakteristische Ausprägungen der Mobilität und der Mobilitätsentwicklung für die Gesamtstichprobe sowie für Subgruppen, die nach soziodemographischen Merkmalen und nach Fahrerlaubnisbesitzdauer gegliedert sind, aufgezeigt. Männliche Fahranfänger erbringen am Anfang des ersten Jahres ihrer selbstständigen Pkw-Mobilität geringere Fahrleistungen als gegen Ende dieses Zeitraums. Der aus der Verlaufsbetrachtung des Unfallrisikos bekannte initiale Gefährdungsschwerpunkt fällt für Männer bei fahrleistungsbezogener Betrachtung danach noch gravierender aus. Auf der Grundlage der Merkmale Geschlecht, Alter bei Fahrerlaubniserwerb, Stadt/Land und Berufsbereich wurden clusteranalytisch fünf Fahranfängertypen ermittelt und jeweils relevante Risikomerkmale (Verkehrsverstöße, Unfälle) und Risikoindikatoren (Wochenendmobilität, Extramotive, Fahrleistung/Exposition) ausgewiesen. Es zeigt sich, dass die gängigen Risikoindikatoren (jugendspezifische Wochenendmobilität, "Extramotive") nicht zu einer angemessenen Bestimmung des Verkehrsrisikos von Fahranfängern ausreichen.
Zur Frage, ob das "Begleitete Fahren ab 17" (BF17) zur Verkehrssicherheit junger Fahrer beiträgt, wurden zwei große Zufallsstichproben von Fahranfängern aus dem im Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt geführten Zentralen Fahrerlaubnisregister hinsichtlich ihrer Verkehrsauffälligkeit am Beginn ihres selbstständigen Fahrens verglichen: ehemalige BF17-Teilnehmer und gleichaltrige Fahranfänger mit herkömmlichem Erwerb eines Pkw-Führerscheins unmittelbar nach ihrem 18. Geburtstag. Beide Untersuchungsgruppen wurden postalisch um Teilnahme an Internet-Befragungen gebeten. 19.000 Pkw-Fahrer berichteten von ihrem ersten Jahr des selbstständigen Fahrens, dazu von Verkehrsverstößen und Verkehrsunfällen. Wiederholt wurde die Untersuchung an zwei "stillen" Untersuchungsgruppen mit zusammen 75.000 Fahrern durch Abfrage ihrer Verkehrsverstöße im Verkehrszentralregister (VZR), getrennt nach solchen mit Unfällen und ohne Unfälle. Das BF17-Modell wurde zwischen April 2004 und Januar 2008 in allen 16 Bundesländern in Deutschland eingeführt. Bis Ende 2009 hatten fast eine Million Fahranfänger an ihm teilgenommen. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt entschieden sich fast drei Viertel der Zielgruppe " sogenannte Früheinsteiger, die das selbstständige Fahren unmittelbar mit dem Erreichen von 18 Jahren anstreben - für das BF17. Dabei ist es in der Einführungsphase des BF17 zu einer temporären etwa fünfprozentigen Nachfragesteigerung nach Pkw-Führerscheinen bei den unter 19-Jährigen gekommen. Im ersten Jahr des selbstständigen Fahrens zeigen BF17-Absolventen 19 % weniger Unfallbeteiligungen und 18 % weniger Verkehrsverstöße im Vergleich zu gleichaltrigen Fahrern mit herkömmlichem Führerscheinerwerb. Nach Berücksichtigung konfundierender Faktoren (u.a. Geschlechtszugehörigkeit, Fahrzeugverfügbarkeit) verbleibt eine maßnahmenbedingte Verringerung der Unfälle um 17 % und der Verkehrsverstöße um 15 %. Bei Berücksichtigung der Fahrleistung verringern sich die Unfälle um 22 % und die Verkehrsverstöße um 20 %. Die Ergebnisse sind statistisch signifikant und gelten für Männer wie Frauen. Dies bestätigt sich in der Wiederholungsuntersuchung auf Basis der VZR-Daten mit einer Ausnahme: Für die ehemaligen BF17-Fahrerinnen und hier allein für die VZR-Verstöße ohne Unfall ist keine signifikante Reduktion festzustellen. Allerdings liegt deren Zahl ohnehin schon um drei Viertel niedriger als bei den Männern. Rein rechnerisch gesehen, verhinderte das BF17 im Jahr 2009 rund 1.700 Unfälle mit Personenschaden.
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.
Accidents involving two wheels vehicles represent one of the more important types of accidents in Europe. These accidents are usually not easy to reconstruct specially for the analysis of the injuries and its correlation with accident dynamics and evidences. Different methodologies are applied in this work for the reconstruction of two wheeler accidents, especially accident involving motorcycles. From the typologies of road evidences like skid marks, to the use of Pc-Crash and the use of Madymo models, different reconstruction of real accidents are presented. One of the questions that sometimes arise for legal purposes when some type of head injuries arise is if the occupant was wearing or not a helmet. The correlation of head injuries with the use of the helmet is a very important issue, therefore an important legal aspect. One of the key questions for the reconstructions that is difficult to analyze, is if the vehicle occupant, was or not, wearing the helmet. Based on the previously collected information, a generic model of a helmet was developed on CAD 3D, followed by its conversion into finite elements, all in order to perform impact tests using the Madymo software that would help improve the helmet- safety, but that also can be used as a tool in accident reconstruction.
In order to enable foreseeing or comparing the benefit of safety systems or driver assistance systems in Germany, in the United States and in Japan, the traffic accident databases in those three countries are examined. The variables used are culpable party, collision partner, accident type, and injury level and the method to re-classify the databases for comparison are proposed. The result indicates that single passenger car fatality is the most frequent in Germany and in the United States, while passenger car vs. pedestrian is the most frequent fatality scenario in Japan. When the casualty by fatality ratio is focused, the greatest difference is observed in rear-end collisions. The ratio of slight injuries in Japan yields about eighteen times as many as those in Germany, and about eight times as many as those in the United States.
Causation patterns and data collection blind spots for fatal intersection accidents in Norway
(2010)
Norwegian fatal intersection accidents from the years 2005-2007 were analysed to identify any causation patterns among their underlying contributing factors, and also to evaluate whether the data collection and documentation procedures used by the Norwegian in-depth investigation teams produces the information necessary to perform causation pattern analysis. A total of 28 fatal accidents were analysed. Details on crash contributing factors for each driver in each crash were first coded using the Driving Reliability and Error Analysis Method (DREAM), and then aggregated based on whether the driver was going straight or turning. Analysis results indicate that turning drivers to a large extent are faced with perception difficulties and unexpected behaviour from the primary conflict vehicle, while at the same time trying to negotiate a demanding traffic situation. Drivers going straight on the other hand have less perception difficulties. Instead, their main problem is that they largely expect turning drivers to yield. When this assumption is violated, they are either slow to react or do not react at all. Contributing factors often pointed to in literature, e.g. high speed, drugs and/or alcohol and inadequate driver training, played a role in 12 of 28 accidents. While this confirms their prevalence, it also indicates that most drivers end up in these situations due to combinations of less auspicious contributing factors. In terms of data collection and documentation, information on blunt end factors (those more distant in time/space, yet important for the development of events) was more limited than information on sharp end factors (those close in time/space to the crash). A possible explanation is that analysts may view some blunt end factors as event circumstances rather than contributing factors in themselves, and therefore do not report them. There was also an asymmetry in terms of reported obstructions to view due to signposts and vegetation. While frequently reported as contributing for turning drivers, they were rarely reported as contributing for their counterparts in the same accidents. This probably reflects an involuntary focus of the analyst on identifying contributing factors for the driver legally held liable, while less attention is paid to the driver judged not at fault. Since who to blame often is irrelevant from a countermeasure development point of view, this underlying investigator mindset needs addressing to avoid future bias in crash investigation reports.
An increased use of bicycles comes along with an increased number of bicycle accidents. Bicycle accidents are more frequent than recorded by the police. To evaluate the real number of bicycle accidents during 12 months in Münster, Germany, injuries were collected by the Police and in each emergency unit anonymously. 2,153 patients had to be treated in a hospital, nearly triple the number of accidents that were registered by the police. Beside fractures of the upper extremities with major surgery, traumatic brain injuries were the leading cause for hospital admission. Bicycle helmet use can reduce traumatic brain injuries and the related number of deaths and hospital admissions. Laws on bicycle helmet might decrease the use of bicycles and therefore the reduction of positive health benefits. Other methods of accident prevention may lead to positive effects as helmet legislation as well, while having no reduction in bicycle use.
The National Highways Development Project in India is aimed at upgrading over 12,000 km of national highways from 2-lane undivided roads to 4-lane divided roads. With nearly 40% of fatal crashes being reported on national highways, the effect of this project on road safety needs to be assessed. Researchers carried out on-site crash investigations and in-depth crash data collection for a period of 45 to 60 days on four 2-lane undivided highways and a 4-lane divided highway. Based on 76 crashes examined, researchers found a shift of crash pattern from head-on collisions on undivided 2- lane highways to front-rear collisions on divided 4-lane highways. This paper presents the methodology, analysis of crashes examined, and the critical safety problems identified for greater consideration in future highway development projects. This paper also highlights the need and significance of in-depth crash investigations to understand local traffic conditions and problems in India.
Accidents with vulnerable road users require special attention within the road safety work because these accidents are often accompanied with severe injuries. Thus In 2006 at least 6200 Powered Two Wheeler (PTW) riders were killed in road crashes in the EU 25 representing 16% of the total number of road deaths while accounting for only 2% of the total kilometers driven. For the prevention of accidents with VRU above all the knowledge of the causes of the accidents is of special importance. This study is based on the methodology of the German In-Depth Accident Study GIDAS. Within GIDAS extensive data on various fields of accidentology are collected on-scene from road traffic accidents with injuries in the Hannover and Dresden area. Using a well defined sample plan the collected data is highly representative to the whole German situation (Brühning et al, Otte et al). The need of in-depth accident causation data in accident research led to the development of a special tool for the collection of such data called ACASS (Accident Causation Analysis with Seven Steps), which was implemented in the GIDAS methodology in 2008 and described by Otte in 2009.
Adverse weather could impair the performance of many important parts in road transportation. In a tropical country, the threats posed by the weather phenomenon can be viewed from a different perspective as the situation may not be as extreme as snow-related problems or excessive temperature in other countries. Specifically in Malaysia, the situation may be underestimated due to several reasons such as the deficiencies in accident reporting and lack of research work. This background research has looked into various publications as well as related data to explain the need of more comprehensive research in the future.
Who doesn't wear seat belts?
(2009)
Using real world accident data, seat belts were estimated to be 61% effective at preventing fatalities, and 32% effective at preventing serious injuries. They were most effective for drivers with an airbag. Seat belts were estimated as having prevented 57,000 fatalities and 213,000 seriously injured casualties in the UK since 1983. Seat belt legislation was estimated to have prevented 31,000 fatalities and 118,000 seriously injured casualties. A future increase in effective seat belt wearing rate (which takes into account seating position) in the UK from 92.5% to 93% may prevent casualties valued at a societal cost of over -£18 million per year. To target a seat belt campaign, the question "who doesn"t wear seat belts?" must be answered. Seat belt wearing rates and the number of unbelted casualties were analysed. It was primarily young adult males who didn"t wear seat belts, and they made up the majority of unbelted fatalities and seriously injured casualties.
In a first step, we have examined approximately 23 000 single vehicle accidents within the Austrian National Statistics database. In a second step, we considered 15% of all fatal "running off the road" accidents that occurred in Austria in 2003. As a result, two accident categories were specified; "leaving the road without preceding manoeuvre" and "leaving the road with preceding manoeuvre". These two categories can be basically characterised by the vehicle- heading angle and its velocity angle. In this report, we further suggest theoretical approaches for the dimensioning of a safety zone, an area adjacent to the road free of fixed objects or dangerous slopes. We also show the link between the two accident categories mentioned above and the real world accidents analysed in detail. These observations also form the basis for the required length for safety devices. Finally, we summarise accident avoidance strategies.
This study aims to analyze spine injuries in motor vehicle accidents. Between 1985 and 2004 the Hannover accident research unit documented 18353 accidents. We identified 161 front passengers (0.53%) with cervical spine injuries, 84 (0.28%) with thoracic and 95 (0.31%) with lumbar injuries. Technical and medical data was reviewed. Patients" records were retrieved. X-rays were evaluated and fractures were classified according to the Magerl classification. 68% and 57% of thoracic and lumbar fractures occurred in accidents with multiple impacts. Delta-v was 50, 40 and 40 kph in passengers with cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, resp. Passengers with spinal fractures frequently showed numerous concomitant injuries, e.g. additional vertebral fractures. The influence of seat belts and airbags is discussed. Patient work-up has to include a thorough investigation for additional injuries.
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.
Relevant accident related factors : risk and frequencies of contributing to road traffic accidents
(2009)
In the course of the European Project TRACE (Traffic Accident Causation in Europe) an attempt was made to analyse the cause of road traffic accidents from a factors' point of view. By literature review the most important independent risk factors for traffic accidents were identified to be speed, alcohol intake, male gender, young age, cell phone use, and fatigue. However, the impact of an accident related factor also depends on its prevalence in traffic and accidents, respectively. Available to the Partners in the TRACE Project were different accident databases. Causally contributing factors found by accident investigations that are most often coded in accident databases are connected to unadapted speed and inattention. Taking into account the risk increase and the frequency of contribution to accidents the conclusion can be drawn that the most relevant factors for accident causation are: "alcohol", "speed", and "inattention and distraction".
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
The SafetyNet project was formulated in part to address the need for safety oriented European road accident data. One of the main tasks included within the project was the development of a methodology for better understanding of accident causation together with the development of an associated database involving data obtained from on-scene or "nearly onscene" accident investigations. Information from these investigations was complemented by data from follow-up interviews with crash participants to determine critical events and contributory factors to the accident occurrence. A method for classification of accident contributing factors, known as DREAM 3.0, was developed and tested in conjunction with the SafetyNet activities. Collection of data and case analysis for some 1 000 individual crashes have recently been completed and inserted into the database and therefore aggregation analyses of the data are now being undertaken. This paper describes the methodology development, an overview of the database and the initial aggregation analyses.
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.
A lack of representative European accident data to aid the development of safety policy, regulation and technological advancement is a major obstacle in the European Union. Data are needed to assess the performance of road and vehicle safety and is also needed to support the development of further actions by stakeholders. This short-paper describes the process of developing a data collection and analysis system designed to partly fill these gaps. A project team with members from 7 countries was set up to devise appropriate variable lists to collect fatal crash data under the following topic levels: accident, road environment, vehicle, and road user, using retrospective detailed police reports (n=1,300). The typical level of detail recorded was a minimum of 150 variables for each accident. The project will enable multidisciplinary information on the circumstances of fatal crashes to be interpreted to provide information on a range of causal factors and events surrounding the collisions.
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.
Pedestrian accidents are one of the major concerns related with road accidents around the world. Portugal has one of the highest rates of pedestrian fatalities in Europe. In this paper an overview conditions were the pedestrian accidents occurred in Portugal is presented. In the last years, a project related with the pedestrian accidents has run in Portugal for the period 2004-2006 where 603 people died, 2097 have been severely injured and about 17000 slightly injured. Within this project all the pedestrian accidents in this period have been analysed providing global information about a wide range of aspects, since location, driver and pedestrian characteristics, weather and road conditions, among others. In addition, 50 in-depth accidents have been investigated and the data collected according the Pendant methodology. For this in-depth methodology detailed information about the accident has been collected, including injuries, vehicle damage, road conditions and road user- behaviour and actions. An accident reconstruction has been carried for each case including the determination of the speeds and driver actions, and the analysis of the contributing factors for the accident. Depending of the accident complexity, different methodologies have been used to analyse these accident, from the classical analytical equations such as Simms and Woods, to the use of detailed computational pedestrian models as those included in the commercial software- PC-Crash-® or Madymo-®. Also one of the goals of our investigation is the development of multibody models and methodologies for the reconstruction of pedestrian accidents. Some of these tools integrated in the commercial software Cosmos Motion-® are presented. The advantages of the different approaches are compared and discussed for some of the accidents investigated. With these tools the impact speed can be determined from the projection distance with analytical tools or PC-Crash-®, but more complex tools should be used to determine speed from the injuries, what is especially important for fatal accidents. The influence of the vehicle geometry and stiffness characteristics is another aspect analysed, where the influence of the vehicle stiffness has been determined using a combined multibody-finite elements approach within the software Madymo-®.
In the context of the COST357 research project, the climatic conditions and requirements for protective helmets for motorcyclists have been examined. The extent to which these factors would influence motorbike handling and accidents in which motorcyclists are involved have also been examined. This project addresses how cognitive abilities of motorcyclists relate to helmet construction factors. In particular, the aspects of motorcycle driver helmets are to be parameterized in order that they may be used subsequently as a basis for future requirement profiles. The task of one working group of the COST357 project has been to analyse accident events and to identify helmet design issues which affect motorcycle drivers while wearing a helmet. This has been achieved by collating accident data across different countries recorded in the course of in-depth investigations at the site of accidents and by combining this with field studies of motorcyclists participating in traffic, but not involved in accidents. This paper presents the study methodology, database and first results of this international survey. The basis of the study has been a total of 424 interviews of motorcyclists and 134 motorcycle accidents, which were collected across Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Turkey and combined in a single database.
In an on-going project since 2005, ADAC has been analyzing accidents documented by the ADAC air rescue service. The knowledge derived from real-life accidents serves as a basis for new test configurations and assessment criteria. In 2007, ADAC began looking into the feasibility of international data collection. The idea of Global Accident Prevention was born. Three European partner clubs have begun pioneering the project (ÖAMTC, ANWB, and RACC). The aim is to set up an international accident research network to provide a steady stream of information on road accidents. The FIA Foundation supports ADAC in developing and coordinating this initiative.
One goal of the assessment of the crashworthiness of passenger cars is to characterize the potential of injury outcome to occupants of cars involved in an accident. This can be achieved by the help of an index that puts the number of injured occupants of passenger cars in relation to the number of cars involved in an accident. As a consequence, this index decreases with a lower potential of injury and rises with a higher number of injuries while assuming a fixed number of accidents. Another index is introduced that uses an economical weighting of each injury level. The consequential injury costs are calculated using the average economical costs for lightly, severely and fatally injured persons. The calculation of the safety indices is based on an anonymized sample of accident data provided by the Federal Statistical Office. An index of Mercedes passenger car drivers depending on the year of registration between 1991 and 2006 is compared to the index of drivers of cars of other makes within the same range of registration years.
A change emerges in hospital landscape due to health political measures, which in consequence also influences the pre-clinical medical care of emergencies. The main focus of this study was to gather information about emergency medical care after traffic accidents on the basis of data of Bavarian emergency medical services. In Bavaria, in 2006 it was necessary to call an emergency doctor in the case of 14.261 traffic accidents. Predominantly the patients were provided by land-based life saving appliances, air rescue services were only applied in 19.1 % of the cases. 47.6 % of patients being involved in a traffic accident were transported into a primary health care hospital. A prehospital interval of more than 60 minutes was calculated in 20 % of emergency care. 96.2 % of the patients were transported to hospitals of tertiary or maximum supply by air rescue services. The life saving appliances" readiness for action is however restricted to daylight. A further limitation appeared for routine office hours in hospitals: Only 36.7 % of accidents occurred in this time frame. An increase of hospitalizations in clinics of maximum supply appeared from 2002 until 2006 while simultaneously the prehospital period was extended. To assure a sufficient medical care of seriously injured persons further on, a fulltime and area-wide expostulation of efficient facilities is necessary. For this purpose it is necessary to establish regional trauma networks as well as emergency medical service at night time. Beyond that, a cost efficient compensation of the structural, personnel and logistic expenses has to be assured.
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.
The fact that ADAC Air Rescue handles approximately 4,000 road accident missions every year gave rise to set up an accident research programme for which ADAC Air Rescue provides its data. This data is of initial informational quality and will be supplemented by data from the police, experts, fire brigades as well as hospitals and forensic institutes. Although the number of cases is still rather low, certain tendencies can be identified. The causes for most accidents occur when joining or intersecting traffic, followed by speeding in road bends and tailgating. Many accidents involve HGV rear end collisions, often causing serious injuries, considerable damage and technical problems for the rescue operations. With regard to the various impact types, it has become obvious that most of the extremely serious injuries are inflicted during a passenger car side impact. In addition, access to and removal of trapped passengers is becoming more and more complicated, partly due to the increasing use of high-strength materials, and rescue operations tend to be more time consuming.
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.
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.
During the last 5 years, the number of cars fitted with side airbags has dramatically increased. They are now standard equipment, even on many smaller cars or less luxurious vehicles. While some side airbags offer thoracic protection alone, there are those that combine thoracic and head protection (of which most deploy from the seat). Other systems employ separate airbags for head and thorax protection, which are designed to be effective noticeably in a crash against a pole. This paper proposes an evaluation of the effectiveness of side airbags in preventing thoracic injuries to passenger car occupants involved in side crashes. First, the target population (who can take benefit of side airbag deployment and in what circumstances) is defined. Side airbags can be especially effective in cases of impacts on the door with intrusion at a certain impact speed. Then, an example case of a side impact with side airbag deployment is given were side airbag deployment is thought to have had a positive effect on injury outcome. A further case is presented where the impact configuration is likely to have reduced the effect of side airbag deployment on injury outcome. Finally, the estimation of side airbag effectiveness (in terms of additional occupant protection brought exclusively by the airbag) is proposed by comparing injury risk sustained by occupants in (more or less) similar cars (fitted or non fitted with airbags) because, during these years, car structure, and side airbag conception have considerably evolved. In-depth accident data from France, the UK and Germany has been collected. Out of 2,035 side impact accident cases available in the databases, we selected 435 occupants of passenger cars (built from 1998 onwards) involved in an injury accident between year 1998 and year 2004 for EES (Energy Equivalent Speed) values between 20km/h and 50km/h. The occupants, belted or not, were sat on the struck side, whatever the obstacle and type of accidents (intersection, loss of control, etc.). For multiple impact crashes, the side impact is assumed to be the more severe one. Passenger cars were fitted with (96) or without (339) side airbags. Most of the potential risk explanatory variables were correctly and reliably reported in the databases (velocity " impact zone " impact angle " occupant characteristics, etc.). The analysis compared injury risks for different levels of EES and different types of side airbags. A logistic regression model was also computed with injury variables (such as thoracic AIS 2+ or AIS 3+) as the dependant variable and other variables (including airbag type and EES) as explanatory injury risk factors. Results revealed statistically non-significant reductions in thoracic AIS 2+ and AIS 3+ injury risk in side airbag equipped cars in the impact violence range selected (odds ratio between 0.84 and 0.98 depending on types of airbags). The results are discussed. The non-significance is assumed to be due to a low number of cases. Statistical analysis for head injuries was not possible due to the low number of accident cases with passenger cars fitted with head airbags in the databases. Moreover, the discrepancies between the data coming from different countries (especially calculation of EES) might have introduced instability in the analysis.
In Germany, in-depth accident investigations are carried out in the Hannover area since 1973. In 1999 a second region was added with surveys in Dresden and the surrounding area. Internationally, the acronym GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study) is commonly used for these surveys. Compared to many other countries, the sample sizes of the GIDAS surveys are much larger. The goal is to collect 1.000 accidents involving personal injuries per year and region. Data collection takes place by using a sampling procedure, which can be interpreted as a two-stage process with time intervals as primary units and accidents as secondary units. An important question is, to what extend these samples are representative for the target population from which they are drawn. Analyses show, for example, that accidents with persons killed or seriously injured are overrepresented in the samples compared to accidents with slightly injured persons. This means, that these data are subject to biases due to uncontrolled variation of sample inclusion probability. Therefore, appropriate weighting and expansion methods have to be applied in order to adjust or correct for these biases. The contribution describes the statistical and methodological principles underlying the GIDAS surveys with respect to sampling procedure, data collection and expansion. In addition, some suggestions regarding potential improvements of study design are made from a methodological point of view.
Annually within the European Union, there are over 50,000 road accident fatalities and 2 million other casualties, of which the majority are either the occupants of cars or other road users in collision with a car. The European Commission now has competency for vehicle-based injury countermeasures through the Whole Vehicle Type Approval system. As a result, the Commission has recognised that casualty reduction strategies must be based on a full understanding of the real-world need under European conditions and that the effectiveness of vehicle countermeasures must be properly evaluated. The PENDANT study commenced in January 2003 in order to explore the possibility of developing a co-ordinated set of targeted, in-depth crash data resources to support European Union vehicle and road safety policy. Three main work activity areas (Work Packages) commenced to provide these resources. This paper describes some of the outcomes of Work Package 2 (WP2, In-depth Crash Investigations and Data Analysis). In WP2, some 1,100 investigations of crashes involving injured car occupants were conducted in eight EU countries to a common protocol based on that developed in the STAIRS programme. This paper describes the purposes, methodology and results of WP2. It is expected that the results will be used as a co-ordinated system to inform European vehicle safety policy in a systematic, integrated manner. Furthermore, the results of the data analyses will be exploited further to provide new directions to develop injury countermeasures and regulations.
The need for improved EU level accident information and data was identified in the EU White Paper on Transport Policy (2001)1 and detailed in the Road Safety Action Plan (2003)2. The plan specifies that the EC will develop a road safety observatory to coordinate data collection within an integrated framework.
This study is aimed to investigate the correlations of impact conditions and dynamic responses with the injuries and injury severity of child pedestrians by accident reconstruction. For this purpose, the pedestrian accident cases were selected from Sweden and Germany with detailed information about injuries, accident cars, and accident environment. The selected accident cases were reconstructed using mathematical models of pedestrian and passenger car. The pedestrian models were generated based on the height, weight, and age of the pedestrian involved in accidents. The car models were built up based on the corresponding accident car. The impact speeds in simulations were defined based on the reported data. The calculated physical quantities were analyzed to find the correlation with injury outcomes registered in the accident database. The reconstruction approaches are discussed in terms of data collection, estimating vehicle impact speeds, pedestrian moving speeds and initial posture, secondary ground impact, validity of the mathematical models, as well as impact biomechanics.
Rollover scenarios in Europe
(2005)
Rollover accidents seem to be a rising problem in Europe and therefore the systematic of this accident scenario should be investigated. Based on statistical investigations on major European accident databases for different countries a series of 73 real world rollover accidents was analysed. These cases were reconstructed using PC-Crash and preliminary categorised using a modified USbased rollover classification. In a first step, the rollover events were reconstructed from the point of conflict to the vehicle- rest position. The vehicles kinematics as well as its linear and rotational velocities were derived. In a second step typical velocity characteristics as well as kinematics were identified and the events categorised according to these criteria. Based on these results four main categories were defined, covering all reconstructed accidents. This categorisation was based on mechanical parameters (rotatory and translator kinematical data of the vehicle). Significant differences can be seen for different scenarios for the "first phase of rollover".
This paper describes the methodology of In-Depth Investigation in Germany on the example of GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study). Since 1999 in Germany a joint project between FAT (Forschungsvereinigung Automobiltechnik or Automotive Industry Research Association) and BASt (Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen or the Federal Road Research Institute) is being carried out in Hannover and Dresden. The methodology of this project is based on a statistically orientated procedure of data sampling (sampling plan, weighting factors). The paper describes the possibilities of such in-depth investigation on the results of the offered title. The accident cases were collected randomly within GIDAS at Hannover. There are more cases existing from previous investigation started in 1985 under the same methodology. The portion of rollovers can be established at 3.7% of all accidents with casualties in the year 2000. For the study 434 cases of car accidents with rollovers are used for a detail comprehensive analysis. The accidents happened in the years 1994 to 2000 in the Hannover area. The injury distribution will report about 741 occupants with rollover accident event. The presented paper will give an overview of the accident situations following in rollover movements of cars. The distributions of injury frequencies, injury severity AIS for the whole body and for the body regions of occupants will be presented and compared to technical details like the impact speed and the deformation pattern. The speed of the car was determined at the point of rollover and on the point of accident initiency. The characteristics of the kinematics followed in a rollover movement are analyzed and the major defined types of rollover will be shown in the paper. The paper will describe the possibilities of In-Depth Investigation methods for the approach of finding countermeasures on the example of car accidents with rollover and explaining the biomechanics of injuries in rollover movements.
This paper reviews briefly the evolution of the investigation of transport accidents from the early beginnings when individual events were studied but systematic data was not collected. In the transport modes other than on the roads, accident investigation early on, even of single events, was important in introducing safety improvements. Road accidents, however, evolved enormously with the growth of car ownership without any comparable political response to the consequent deaths and injuries, equivalent to what happened with the other modes. From the 1950s data bases started to contribute to our knowledge of the epidemiology of road traffic injuries, and in-depth sample studies have contributed much to the body of knowledge in the last 30 years. However, even the basic input and output variables of a crash, its severity and the seriousness of the outcomes in terms of injuries and their consequences are not complete or agreed upon. Issues of experimental design and sampling are discussed. It is proposed that the most important area for current research to address is the effect of population variations on injury outcomes. The need for the establishment of good data bases for active safety issues is emphasised with the consequent need for better links between the research community and the police.
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.
This report gives an overview of pedestrian accidents on Japanese roads. Database used for the analysis is national traffic accident data based on police reports. Relevant measures and background information ranging from vehicle safety, engineering and education are briefly reviewed, and area for further improvement is discussed.rn
Road safety is a major preoccupation of the European Commission and the road transport industry and depends on numerous significant factors. In order to improve road safety and to plan effective safety improvement actions for truck transport, we must first identify the problems to be addressed, i.e. what are the main causes of truck accidents. The ETAC project, initiated by the European Commission and the IRU, was launched in order to set up a heavy goods vehicle accident causation study across European countries to identify future actions which could contribute to the improvement of road safety. The results will be based on a detailed analysis of truck accident data collected in seven European countries according to a common methodology which has been elaborated through numerous national and European projects. This paper describes the common methodology used to collect the information on the scene of the accident and to analyse the data so that the reconstruction of the crash events may be carried out. CEESAR proposes a methodology using its experience gained from over 10 years of accident data collection. This methodology is based on an in-depth investigation of the parameters involved in-an accident and linked to the driver, the vehicle, the road and their environment. In-depth investigation requires accident investigator presence on the scene of the accident in order to collect volatile information such as marks on the road, weather conditions, visibility, state and equipment of the vehicle, driver interview. Later, passive and active information is gathered, either at the hospital for the driver, at the garage for the vehicle or on the spot for the road geometry. A reconstruction carried out with the help of specific software and the analysis of the data collected and calculated enables the identification of the main causes of the accident and the future actions to plan in order to improve road safety as regards truck traffic.
Motorcycle riders are one of the most vulnerable road users. Annually, on estimate 6000 people are killed in motorcycle accidents in the former 15 EU countries. The objective of this research was to investigate and analyze the main aspects and causes of this vulnerability and the accidents in general. For this aim around 70 accidents in The Netherlands were investigated in the framework of an international research program (MAIDS). Also a control group of motorcycles with riders was investigated so that exposure could be taken into account. An important result is that human failure is in 82% of the cases the main cause of the accident, in 52% this is due the other vehicle driver. Perception and decision failures are the most common failures. The most injuries are caused by the environment but they are typically only less severe (AIS1). Injuries caused by the car (front and side) are typically severe injuries (AIS4+). Previous convictions of the MC rider seem to be related to the chance to get involved in an accident. It was shown that the Dutch and the total MAIDS accident sample are comparable.
Nigeria ranks one of the highest countries in the world with the largest accident, especially when measured by whiplash associated disorders, whereas, traffic safety education rate, data and information been widely known as preventive indicators have been grossly neglected. In Nigeria, traffic safety enlightenment, awareness, political understanding and appreciation of the problem's magnitude are lacking. This study, therefore, seeks to understand and document the fact that accident causation factors in Nigeria relate more to the problem of development, poverty, knowledge and education as evidenced in most other developing countries. Among the primary accident causation factors on Nigerian roads are: - lack of a transportation system or multi-model integration - sub-standard and obsolete vehicles and road furniture - poor road maintenance, investment and engineering management - paucity of road users' and drivers' knowledge, skill, enlightenment and education of the road Use This paper submits that Nigeria being a developing nation requires purely primitive strategies being cost effective (health wise) than curative measures. It is in this light that an enduring, comprehensive and sustainable traffic safety educational programmes information base and data inventory, analysis and implementations form the focus of this study. This effort will provide basic guidelines framework and implementation procedure for a successful prevention of whiplash associated disorder resulting from road traffic crashes in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
Portugal has the highest rate of road fatalities in Europe (2002 and for Eur-15 - CARE database). For this highest rate, the accidents involving pedestrians and motorcycle occupants have a higher contribution than the European average. In the last years, especially accidents involving motorcycles have been investigated and currently two different projects are being carried out, one related with motorcycles accidents and the other with pedestrian accidents. In these projects, countermeasures among others to reduce the fatalities between these two types of road users are being studied. These accidents are investigated with the commercial accident reconstruction software PCCRASH but also new methodologies based on multibody dynamics are in development in order to more accurately study these two types of accidents. In this paper, the methodologies in use for accident reconstruction and new methodologies in development are presented. Speeding his found to be one of the major causes of road fatalities for pedestrians and motorcycle occupants. In the case of motorcycle accidents, these involve mainly young drivers. Aspects as social behavior are also important to understand the causes of some of these accidents. Some examples of accidents occurring in Portugal, involving especially motorcycles and pedestrians are presented and discussed.
This contribution introduces a number of psychological methods of analysis that are based on the practice-oriented collection of information directly at the site of an accident and that allow for an analysis and coding of the accident causes. Investigation examples and examples of the data combinations with basic medical and technical data are outlined. Objective of the collection is the inter-disciplinary investigation of human factors in the causes of accidents ("human-factor-analysis"). The psychological data are incorporated according to an integrative model for accident causes based on empiric algorithms in the data base of the accident research, where the clustered evaluation potential of comprehensive factors of the accident development can be illustrated. The central theoretical concept for the basic model of the progress of the accident from a psychological point of view comprises psychological indicators for the evaluation of the site of the accident for the analysis of the perception conditions as well as a classification of the gleaned data into the accident progress model according to chronological and local criteria. Perception conditions, action intentions and executions as well as conditions limiting perception and actions are acquired, using a questionnaire for persons involved in an accident, and are also integrated into the data structure concerning weighted feature characteristics as well as combined with other relevant features. Suitable systematization tools for the collection and coding of psychological accident development parameters have to be provided, which require primarily a model image of the corresponding processes from the persons involved in the accident (perceptions, expectations, decisions, actions). The interactive accident model contains components of the models by KÜTING 1990, MC DONALD 1972, SURREY 1969 and RASMUSSEN 1980. Based on the inter-action of the three partial systems "person", "vehicle" and "environment", the first step is the assessment of the situation by the persons involved in the accident. This is dependent on the personal attitudes and motives, on experiences and expectations concerning the progress of the situation. Subsequently, data concerning the manner of the coping with the ambiguous state as well as with the instable state (emergency reaction immediately before the accident occurs) are collected. The factors relating to the persons involved in the accident are gathered on several levels using corresponding questionnaires. The coding of the found and collected characteristics is conducted in a multidimensional evaluation relating to the technical results of the accident reconstruction and of the psychological classification, which are subsequently integrated in coded form into the data base of the accident research. The result of this analysis is a description of the development of the accident depicted on a chronological vector from a perception and decision theoretical perspective. This is explained in detail using exemplary cases.
Detailed investigations and reconstructions of real accidents involving vulnerable road users
(2005)
The aim of this research is to improve knowledge about vulnerable road users accidents and more specifically pedestrians or cyclists. This work has been based on a complete analysis of real accidents. From accidents chosen from an in-depth multidisciplinary investigation (psychology, technical, medical), we have tried to identify the configuration of the impact: car speed, pedestrian or cyclist orientations. Then, we have made a numerical modelling of the same configuration with a multibody software. In particular, we have reproduced the anthropometry of the victim and the front shape of the car. A first simulation has been performed on this starting configuration. Next, effects of some parameters such as car velocity or victim position at impact have been numerically studied in order to find the best correlations with all indications produced by the in-depth analysis. Finally, the retained configuration was close to the presumed real accident conditions because it reproduces in particular the same impact points on the car, the same injuries, and is according to the driver statement. This double approach associating an in-depth accident analysis and a numerical simulation has been applied on pedestrian-to-car and bicyclist-tocar accidents. It has allowed us to better understand the real kinematics of such impacts. Even if this method is based on a case to case study, it underlines which parameters are relevant on a vulnerable road user accident investigation and reconstruction.
Because of actual developments and the continuous increase in the field of drive assistant systems, representative and detailed investigations of accident databases are necessary. This lecture describes the possibility to estimate the potential of primary and secondary safety measures by means of a computerized case by case analysis. Single primary or secondary safety measures as well as a combination of both are presented. The method is exemplarily shown for the primary safety measure "Brake Assist" in pedestrian accidents. Regarding accident prevention only the primary safety measure is determined.
Data concerning accidents involving personal injury which have been collected in the context of in-depth investigations on scene in the Hannover area since 1973 and in the Dresden area since 1999 represent an important basis for empirical traffic safety research. At national and international level various analyses and comparisons are carried out on the basis of "in-depth data" from the above mentioned investigations. In-depth data play a decisive role e.g. within the validation of EuroNCAP results on secondary safety (crashworthiness) of individual passenger car models. Thus, statistically sound methods of data analysis and population parameter estimation are of high importance. Since the 1st of August 1984 the "in-depth investigations on scene" in the Hannover area have been carried out according to a sampling plan developed by HAUTZINGER in the context of a research project on behalf of BASt. In the meantime a second region of in-depth investigation on scene was added with surveys in Dresden and the surrounding area. Internationally, the acronym GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study) is commonly used for the two above mentioned surveys. The objective of a current research project (topic of this contribution) is, among other things, to examine and adjust the previous weighting and expansion method for the two regional accident investigations to the current general conditions.
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.