Ersosynthesis2016-Vehiclesafety15 en

Vehicle
Safety 2016
Vehicle Safety
CONTENTS
1 Overview _________________________________________________________________ 4
2 Vehicle design and road safety ________________________________________________ 6
2.1 What can vehicle design contribute? _______________________________________________ 6
2.2 What role does research play? ___________________________________________________ 8
2.3 What can vehicle safety deliver in future? __________________________________________ 8
3 Vehicle safety policy ________________________________________________________ 9
3.1 What are the main policy mechanisms? ____________________________________________ 9
3.2 Regulation __________________________________________________________________ 10
3.2.1 Who regulates vehicle safety? _______________________________________________________ 10
3.2.2 What are the key EU vehicle safety standards? _________________________________________ 12
3.2.3 How are legislative crash tests developed? ____________________________________________ 12
3.3 Consumer Information _________________________________________________________ 12
3.3.1 What is consumer information? ______________________________________________________ 12
3.3.2 What are predictive rating systems? __________________________________________________ 13
3.3.3 What are retrospective rating systems? _______________________________________________ 14
3.4 Car industry policies___________________________________________________________ 15
3.5 Product liability ______________________________________________________________ 15
3.6 What can EU countries do at national level?________________________________________ 15
4 Key issues for vehicle safety design ___________________________________________ 17
4.1 What forces can be tolerated the human body? _____________________________________ 17
4.2 What are the main accident injury problems? ______________________________________ 19
4.3 Crash avoidance and mitigation, crash protection, post-crash care, integrated approaches __ 21
4.4 Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness ______________________________________________ 22
5 Safety design needs _______________________________________________________ 24
5.1 Cars _______________________________________________________________________ 24
5.1.1 Crash avoidance and mitigation measures _____________________________________________ 24
5.1.2 Crash protection measures _________________________________________________________ 33
5.2 Motorcycles _________________________________________________________________ 46
5.2.1 Exposure measures _______________________________________________________________ 47
5.3 Heavy commercial vehicles _____________________________________________________ 51
5.4 Light vans and minibuses ______________________________________________________ 55
5.5 Buses and coaches ___________________________________________________________ 56
5.5.1 Crash avoidance and mitigation _____________________________________________________ 56
5.5.2 Crash protection __________________________________________________________________ 56
5.6 Bicycles_____________________________________________________________________ 57
5.6.1 Crash avoidance __________________________________________________________________ 57
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5.6.2 Crash protection __________________________________________________________________ 58
6 Knowledge gaps __________________________________________________________ 58

6.1 The epidemiology of road traffic injury ___________________________________________ 59
6.2 Biomechanical research ________________________________________________________ 59
6.3 Crash avoidance ______________________________________________________________ 60
6.4 Crash mitigation and protection _________________________________________________ 60
6.5 Advanced and integrated technologies ____________________________________________ 60
6.6 Hybrid and electric Vehicles _____________________________________________________ 61
6.7 Autonomous Vehicles and Safety ________________________________________________ 61
References __________________________________________________________________ 65
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Vehicle Safety
1 Overview
Vehicle design and road safety
Improving vehicle safety is a key Safe System strategy used in addressing international and
national road casualty reduction goals and targets for the long-term and the interim. Vehicle
safety is a pillar in the Decade of Action’s Global Plan for Road Safety 2011-2020 and in the
proposal for the next EU Road Safety Action Programme 2011-2020. As best practice activity,
countries actively target improvements in vehicle safety in safety programmes.
Vehicle safety addresses the safety of all road users and comprises measures to help avoid a
crash (crash avoidance), mitigate the severity of an accident before it occurs by slowing the
vehicle using intelligent speed management or advanced braking (crash mitigation) reduce injury
in the event of an accident (crash protection) and reduce the consequences of injury (post-crash
response). Increasingly, vehicle systems which can integrate vehicle and road network
interventions (integrated systems) are being pursued.
In the past 20 years, substantial and evidence-based improvements have been made in vehicle
safety. Improvements in vehicle safety design over this period have reduced the risk of death
and serious injury for car occupants by 50% or more. Improvements in vehicle safety design and
equipment for pedestrians and motorcyclists are expected over the next decade, as are further
developments in driver support and assistance. Research has identified large scope for
enhancing vehicle safety further although the increasing variety in the vehicle fleet is expected
to bring new challenges over the next decade.
There is large future promise of casualty reduction from crash avoidance and active safety
technologies as long as developments are prioritised to maximise casualty reduction. New
mechanisms are being put in place to monitor and encourage this. There is significant potential
to improve crash protection further. The potential value of developing an integrated approach to
vehicle safety, linking preventive, crash protection and post-crash approaches into cooperative
systems for drivers, passengers and vulnerable road users as well as vehicle and road network
safety systems is being increasingly understood.
Effective vehicle safety design results rely upon continuing research and development,
understanding of the source and mechanism of injury protection in a range of crash conditions,
regular monitoring of performance in real-world conditions, and confirmation that new
technologies are used and accepted. Socio-economic appraisal of measures ensure that
reasonable societal benefits are derived from new safety designs which cost less at the design
stage than during subsequent stages of production.
Vehicle safety policy

Improvements to vehicle safety result from legislation (much of which is now agreed in the
European Union and within the UN ECE process) consumer information, product liability
considerations as well as specific initiatives by the car manufacturing industry. EU legislation
aims for a minimum but high level of protection across the product line; consumer information
aims to encourage the highest possible levels of safety performance based on state of the art
testing and protocols; and car industry policies increasingly promote safety as a marketable
commodity.
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Further EU action on vehicle safety is essential if new goals and targets are to be met (ETSC,
2008). Priority policy actions for reducing serious and fatal casualties identified by research are
a standardized test method for car-to-car compatibility; truck to car compatibility and improved
methods for front; side and rear impact protection for car occupants; improved frontal protection
for vulnerable road users over and above what is covered in current legislation; implementation
of Intelligent Speed Adaptation systems, seat belt reminders in all seating positions, alcohol
interlocks for fleet drivers, event and journey data recorders and identification of further systems
with large potential for casualty savings.
As noted by Euro NCAP, the presence of (new) international players in European Markets
inevitably will lead to a new push for global road safety regulations through the UN ECE process.
Care must be taken to ensure that existing safety levels in Europe are not compromised. At the
same time careful management should ensure that further measures aimed at preventing
serious health loss in accidents are not superseded by the green agenda. Although, as the Volvo
Car Corporation has observed, while it is often stated that vehicle design to reduce the
environmental footprint of motor vehicles is in conflict with improved road safety, these
challenges are likely to be overcome given the advances in new modern technologies.
Countries active in safety typically engage in international legislative development work; carry
out national research and monitoring of vehicle safety; support the influential European New Car
Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP); ensure that safety helmet and safety restraint usage laws
are properly enforced and encourage local car industry to fast track key safety measures through
government procurement and in-house travel policies.
Key issues for vehicle safety design

 Addressing human capacities: Evidence-based vehicle safety measures need to address
human capacities and be designed to prevent accidents, reduce injury severity in the event of
an accident and facilitate faster access to the emergency medical system through enhanced
post-accident response. The main road traffic accident types which need to be addressed to
reduce fatal and serious injury are head-on accidents, run-off-road accidents, intersection
accidents and pedestrian and other vulnerable road user accidents. Safe System approaches
aim to inter-link vehicle safety measures with other system measures e.g. separated facilities
in the road network, in-vehicle lane departure systems linked to road markings, crash-
protective medians and roadsides and speed management to ensure tolerable kinetic energy
in the event of a serious and fatal accident. Achieving safe compatibility between different
types and sizes of motor vehicles and between motorised and non-motorised vehicles
continues to be the overarching issue for vehicle safety design in the next decade.
 Car occupants comprise over 50% of total EU (27) road traffic deaths. Car-to-car collisions
are the most common accident type with frontal impacts followed by side impacts being most
common in fatal and serious accidents. Different factors influence accident severity, the most
important being speed of travel, seat belt use, vehicle mass and the level of crash protection
provided in the vehicle.
 Pedestrians comprise around 20% of total EU (27) road traffic deaths and around two- thirds
of these occur in urban areas. The survival of pedestrians in traffic depends upon their
separation from the high speeds of motor vehicles or, where shared use is common, upon
sufficiently low vehicle impact speed to prevent severe accident injury and provision of crash
protective car fronts addressing the vulnerabilities of the high-risk user groups.
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 Motorised two-wheeler users comprise around 17% of total EU (27) road traffic deaths.
Fatally injured motorcyclists sustain multiple injuries to the head, chest and legs. The majority
of fatal injuries are to the head, despite helmet use. Lower-leg injuries result either from
direct contact with the impacting vehicle or as a result of being crushed between the
motorcycle and the ground.
 Cyclists comprise around 6% of total EU (27) road traffic deaths but a higher share of total
deaths (though often lower injury risks) in countries where cycle use is high e.g. the
Netherlands. Single vehicle accidents are most common. Head injuries are the major cause of
death in around 75% of cyclist deaths leading some countries to mandate cycle helmet use
for different age-groups.
 Minibus, bus occupant and heavy commercial vehicle users in accidents are a smaller but
treatable part of vehicle problem, though heavy vehicles have disproportionate involvement
in fatal accidents.
Against the background of the current knowledge base and a rapidly evolving design context, a
range of vehicle safety measures and research needs is outlined in this web text for the
protection of car occupants, pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists, minibus, bus and heavy
commercial users in EU countries. See also ERSO eSafety and Safety Ratings web texts.
2 Vehicle design and road safety

2.1 What can vehicle design contribute?
Vehicle design is fundamental to a Safe System approach which requires safe interaction
between users, vehicles, the road environment and prompt access to the emergency medical
system. Vehicle design, which takes account of the behavioural and physical limitations of road
users and other system risks, can address a range of risk factors and help to reduce accident
involvement, accident injury severity and accident injury consequences. To date, vehicle safety
provision in cars on the road has usually been directed towards modifying a vehicle to help the
driver avoid an accident, or to protect those inside in the event of an accident. New attention in
Europe and globally is being given to ensuring vehicle crash protective design for those outside
the vehicle, in-vehicle driver assistance measures which can help to improve safety behaviours
and actively mitigate accident severity and post-crash response. The role of vehicle safety
intervention for a Safe System is summarised in Table 1.
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Table 1: The role of vehicle safety measures in Safe System intervention

Emergency
Key system measures System use Vehicles Road Medical
System
Examples Examples Examples Examples
Lighting, braking,
Safe System
crash Speed management handling, driver
road design,
occurrence assistance for
Pre-crash layout, speed
and crash Unimpaired road speed and
limits and user
mitigation use impairment
facilities
management
Links to
Use of safety Crash protective vehicle and
injury during Crash protective
Crash restraints or medians and roadside
the crash design
helmets roadsides crash
notification
Fast
emergency
Evacuation medical
Safety of post-
Post-crash response,
Post-crash Early access to care crash sites for
injury Crash notification early
safe recovery
equipment diagnosis
and efficient
trauma care
Attention is also being given to the provision of integrated protection systems aimed at
addressing the safety needs at each phase of the accident for those inside and outside of the
vehicle shown diagrammatically in Figure 1 in the European Car Manufacturers’ Association
(ACEA)’s model.
Figure 1: The integrated vehicle safety system ACEA safety model
A review of the effectiveness of casualty reduction measures in the United Kingdom between
1980 and 1996 found that the greatest contribution to casualty reduction was vehicle crash
protection (Broughton, 2000). The SUNFlower study on road safety in Sweden, United Kingdom
and the Netherlands attributed 20% reduction of fatalities from 1980-2000 (i.e. about 1% per
year) to vehicle safety improvements (Koornstra et al. SUNFlower, 2002).
Major improvements in vehicle safety design have taken place over the last fifteen years and
accident data has confirmed that a 50% reduction in the risk of serious injury has been achieved
in new car models. (See SARAC II). These results are due to a combination of the effects of new
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European legislative crash protection standards and the impact of consumer information
systems providing objective data on the performance of cars in state of the art crash tests and
real accidents. The latest research has concluded that a good correlation exists between Euro
NCAP test results and real-world injury outcomes with 5-star rated Euro NCAP cars found to
have a 68% lower risk of fatal injury and a 23% lower risk of serious injury compared to 2-star
rated cars (Kullgren et al., 2010). See ERSO Safety Ratings web text.
2.2 What role does research play?

Effective vehicle safety design relies upon continuing research and development, understanding
of the sources and mechanisms of injury in a range of accident conditions, regular monitoring
of performance in real world conditions, and confirmation that new technologies are used and
accepted.
Road accident injury research confirms the importance of designing for the real world (using
field trials) rather than for test conditions (in laboratory conditions) which may not reflect
conditions found in normal driving or in accidents. Effective design is the result of complex multi-
disciplinary scientific research and development which can take up to ten to fifteen years from
definition of concept to practical realisation.
2.3 What can vehicle safety deliver in future?

The EU has identified vehicle safety as a key strategy to address the proposed EU- wide goal to
reduce road deaths by 50% by the year 2020.
Considerable room for further evidence-based improvements has been identified by European
organisations including the International Research Council of the Biomechanics of Injury IRCOBI,
the European Transport Safety Council (Hobbs, 2001; ETSC, 2010; ETSC, 2009) the European
Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Committee (Cesari, 2005; EEVC 2005, ESV), the Passive Safety
Network Roadmap and Euro NCAP’s Strategic Map 2009 and its update to 2015 (Euro NCAP
2009) and the European Commission’s CARS 21.
Recommendations for a wide range of EU actions in the public consultation carried out on the
next EU’s road safety programme -Technical Assistance in support of the Preparation of the
Road Safety Action Programme to 2011-2020 - are set out in Table 2. (COWI, 2010).
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Table 2: Vehicle safety recommendations from the public consultation on developing the EU road safety
action programme 2011-2020
Source: COWI, 2010
3 Vehicle safety policy

3.1 What are the main policy mechanisms?
The availability and quality of vehicle safety is determined by a combination of international and
national regulation, consumer information, car industry policies and product liability
considerations. Whilst market forces tend to produce more rapid responses in individual product
design, evidence-based legislation can ensure a uniform, acceptable level of safety across the
product range.
Over the last 15 years, tests and protocols used by the European New Car Assessment
Programme in safety ratings, which promote and reward good and best practice, represent the
global state of the art in approaches aiming to provide better protection in car accidents.
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3.2 Regulation
3.2.1 Who regulates vehicle safety?

Vehicle safety in Europe is regulated by international standards and regulation devised by the
European Union (EU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN ECE). Within
Europe, there are two systems of type approval for high-volume vehicles. One is based around
EC Directives (and adopted UN-ECE Regulations) and provides for the approval of whole vehicles,
vehicle systems, and separate components. The other is based around UN ECE Regulations and
provides for approval of vehicle systems and separate components, but not whole vehicles.
EC Whole Vehicle Type Approval (ECWVTA)

In 1970, the EU and its Member States developed a new framework for international agreement
and co-operation on vehicle safety initiatives culminating in mandatory EC Whole Vehicle Type
Approval for cars (which came into full effect in 1998) and for two and three wheeled motor
vehicles (into effect in 2003). From April 2009, legislation was extended to cover all new road
vehicles such as buses, coaches, trucks, trailers (including caravans) and certain special purpose
vehicles such as wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs). While the main objective of the ECWVTA
is removal of barriers to trade, harmonised vehicle standards must provide a high level of
consumer protection in accordance with Single Market legislation. An EU Framework Directive
lists a series of separate technical Directives that the vehicle must comply with. In order to gain
Whole Vehicle Type Approval, the vehicle must meet the requirements of each of the applicable
individual Directives. However, the Framework Directive also lists a series of UN ECE Regulations
that are considered equivalent to or have superseded certain of the separate technical Directives
and proving compliance with these Regulations forms an acceptable alternative to compliance
with the relevant Directives.
EU derived standards are mandatory for all the members of the European Union if they fall
within ECWVTA. In other circumstances, European countries can adhere to UN ECE either
voluntarily or mandatorily if a country decides to incorporate the regulation into national
regulation.
EU vehicle classification
EU vehicle standards legislation separates motor vehicles and their trailers into four broad
categories.
Table 3: EU vehicle classification

Mopeds and motorcycles fall into this category, as do
all-terrain vehicles (quads) and other small motor
vehicles with three or four wheels. Within the L
Category L category, motorcycles are split into two groups - those
with and without sidecars. There is also a division for
mopeds with three wheels, which have smaller engines
and lower top speeds than motor tricycles.
Motor vehicles with at least four wheels that are
Category M
designed to carry passengers.
These power-driven vehicles are designed to carry
Category N
goods. Grouped by size, they include lorries and vans.
Category O Trailers and semitrailers
Source: Directorate of Enterprise and Industry
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Legislative and policy work on vehicle safety at the EU level is led by the European Commission’s
Directorate of Enterprise and Industry. The Directorate of Mobility and Transport – the lead EC
agency for road safety – also plays a key role. As part of the Commission's industrial policy, the
CARS 21 (Competitive Automotive Regulatory System for the 21st century) process launched in
2005, made recommendations for the short-, medium-, and long-term public policy and
regulatory framework of the European automotive industry. This framework aims to enhance
global competitiveness and employment, while sustaining further progress in safety and
environmental performance at a price affordable to the consumer. The final report was
presented in 2006 and encouraged the Commission to come forward with proposals on
Electronic Stability Control, seat belt reminders, brake assist systems, improvement of heavy
duty vehicles’ blind spots and conspicuity, ISOFIX child seats and daytime running lights. The
report also noted that several active safety technologies, such as obstacle recognition systems,
are at an advanced development stage and encouraged their development and market
introduction to be pursued as fast as possible.
The European Commission’s new Cars 21 strategy envisages an automotive industry that is
leading in technology (clean, fuel-efficient, safe, connected) and where vehicle safety can and
should be further improved, for occupants and unprotected road users. Vehicle safety promotion
is also pursued by the European Commission through initiatives such as DG Transport’s EU road
safety action programme and DG Information Society’s Intelligent Car initiatives.
Global Technical Regulation (GTR)

The accession of the EC to the UN ECE 1958 and 1998 Agreements as a contracting party is
giving further impetus to work on global technical regulations (GTRs). GTRs are administered by
the World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations (WP 29), which is a subsidiary body
of the UN ECE. The European Commission exercises the right to vote in WP 29 on behalf of the
EU and its 27 Member States. At the same time, the EU retains its ability to legislate
independently of UN-ECE where there is a need for earlier or more stringent action.
The World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations agreed in March 2010 on the need
to review and update the 1958 Agreement. Regulation (EC) No 661/2009 on the general safety
of motor vehicles (the GSR 6) repealed numerous EU Directives and replaced them with UN ECE
Regulations. As of 31 December 2010, the EU had acceded to 106 Regulations under the 1958
Agreement and to all 11 Global Technical Regulations under the 1998 Agreement (see box
below). Discussions started in 2010 to develop a new GTR concerning the safety of vehicles with
hydrogen propulsion. Also, a working group has been established to develop another new GTR on
pole side impact.
Box 1: Adopted safety GTRs
Global technical regulation No. 9: Pedestrian safety (Adopted 12.11.2008)

Global technical regulation No. 8: Electronic stability control systems (Adopted 26.06.2008) Global technical
regulation No. 7: Head restraints (Adopted 13.03.2008)
Global technical regulation No. 6: Safety glazing materials for motor vehicles (Adopted 12.03.2008)
Global technical regulation No. 5: Technical requirements for on-board diagnostic systems (OBD) for road
vehicles (Adopted 15.11.2006)
Global technical regulation No. 3: Motorcycle brake systems (Adopted 15.11.2006) Global technical regulation
No. 1: Door locks and door retention components (Adopted 18.11.2004)
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While such global work will increase the convenience of manufacture and removal of barriers to
trade, it is clear that decisions concerning new vehicle standards and their implementation are
far removed from detailed scrutiny at national level and citizens must rely on Government action
to ensure the safety of vehicles (VSRC, 2011). As noted by the World Health Organisation and
World Bank in the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention (2004), vehicle safety
standardisation at regional level can often produce faster action than a similar process at the
international level
National type approval schemes

National type approval schemes also exist in different Member States e.g. the National Small
Series Type Approval (NSSTA) in the UK but are limited in scope and are for low volume vehicles.
3.2.2 What are the key EU vehicle safety standards?

A list of Directives and global UN ECE regulations can be found on the European Commission DG
Enterprise and Industry website. In recent years the most important vehicle safety Directives
have been the introduction of crash tests for frontal and side impact protection for car occupants,
sub-system tests for pedestrian protection and anti-lock braking requirements in 2011. A
Directive on the General safety of motor vehicles was introduced in 2014. This contains a range
of measures for new cars, the most important of which identified for safety is Electronic Stability
Control.
3.2.3 How are legislative crash tests developed?

European car crash tests and pedestrian sub-system tests have been developed by the European
Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee which brings together national experts and Governmental
representative from several countries. Such tests aim to reflect the types and speeds of impact
of the most common types of serious accidents and are incorporated in legislation and consumer
information programmes after extensive multi-disciplinary research.
The European Motor Vehicle Working Group is an advisory group of European Commission’s DG
Enterprise and Industry which brings together representatives of the European Commission,
Member States and non-governmental and trade associations to discuss proposals for new
Directives and standards on vehicle safety. The Committee on Adaptation to Technical Progress
is a decision-making group comprising representatives of Member States which advises on
specific amendments to EU legislation.
The main scientific conferences for international information exchange on vehicle safety policy
and research are ESV, STAPP, IRCOBI and AAAM. More recently global co-operation in research
has taken place within IHRA.
3.3 Consumer Information
3.3.1 What is co nsumer information?

Consumer information provides prospective car buyers with factual information about the safety
performance of cars in accidents and encourages manufacturers to introduce evidence- based
safety designs beyond those required by legislative norms.
In recent years, safety has been marketed increasingly by car manufacturers and a variety of
methods for rating car crash safety are used to provide impartial information which can guide
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car buyers. These methods fall into one of two broad categories: predictive systems and
retrospective systems which are summarised below. For a full outline of the rating systems in
use see the ERSO Safety Ratings web text.
3.3.2 What are predict ive rating systems?

Predictive systems aim to assess a car's safety performance before it is used on the road. The
predictions are based on controlled whole car crash tests of individual models; tests of
components of the car which have been proven to be important in accidents; and/or visual
inspections and rating of the interior of cars.
According to the SUPREME project (2007), the European New Car Assessment Programme
(EuroNCAP) is one of a number of global New Car Assessment Programmes (NCAP) programmes
that are thought to have been enormously influential in bringing about improvements to vehicle
safety - although it stressed that such programmes are basically forms of ‘self-regulation’ rather
than being based on legislation and/or government regulation. In essence, EuroNCAP evaluates
different make/models of vehicles in dynamic tests which include full-scale frontal and side-
impact tests, front-end component tests for pedestrian protection and sled tests for whiplash
prevention during rear-end accidents. The presence of seat belt reminders, intelligent speed
adaptation (advisory) and electronic stability control and child protection tested to Euro NCAP’s
protocols also boost a vehicle’s rating. The programme also uses visual inspection in addition to
crash testing in determining the safety rating assessment.
Other NCAP programmes also allow consumers to make a more informed choice regarding
vehicle purchase based purely on the independent safety rating of a particular vehicle in
comparison to a competitor vehicle in the same vehicle class (determined through whole-vehicle
crash-testing). Up until the 1990’s the consumer had had very little information about the safety
of a particular vehicle other than the information that could be gained from the manufacturer’s
marketing materials. In most NCAP programmes, vehicles are given an overall star-rating on a
scale from 1 to 5 whereby 5-stars implies highest levels of safety for the vehicle occupants and
1-star represents the poorest level of safety for the occupants as determined by a combination
of crash-tests and other safety evaluations.
The SUPREME project suggests that the effects of EuroNCAP have been to increase the overall
number of vehicles on the road which offer good protection for both occupants and pedestrians.
The SUPREME project also indicates that EuroNCAP has been responsible for improving overall
safety standards but that there is no clear information to determine whether consumers consider
EuroNCAP scores in their new car buying choice. The report does say that the effects of the
EuroNCAP programme are sustainable and that the safety of new cars will not decline – and that
the effects are transferable with similar NCAP tests in the USA, Australia and Japan likely to
provide similar results.
In order to determine whether the EuroNCAP results are transferable to real world accidents
Kullgren et al (2010) compared model groups of cars according to their EuroNCAP rating with
injury ratings of real world accident data from police and insurance data files. This illustrated
that overall 5-star EuroNCAP cars had a 10% lower injury risk than 2 star EuroNCAP cars. For
more serious and fatal injuries, the improvements were much starker with a 68% difference in
risk between 2-star and 5-star EuroNCAP cars. This study built on earlier work by Lie and Tingvall
(2000, 2002) who found that the risk of being killed or seriously injured in a car with a 4-star
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EuroNCAP rating was approximately 30% lower than in a car with a 2-star EuroNCAP rating. In
general, for each star improvement in EuroNCAP the risk of severe or fatal injuries was reduced
by 12%.
Frampton et al (2002) analysed real world collisions and medical information from injured
drivers and identified significant reductions for serious and fatal injuries in new cars in frontal
impacts. They concluded that the observed improvement in injury levels could be attributed to
improvements in ‘crashworthiness’ (i.e. the overall capability of the vehicle to protect the
occupants in the event of an accident) and in particular the introduction of vehicles with airbags
and more effective restraints.
Newstead et al (2005) used real world Australian accident data to provide an estimated level of
crashworthiness for vehicles in the Australian fleet. They concluded that the crashworthiness by
year of manufacture showed gains over the years 1970 to 1979 (where a number of new
Australian Vehicle Design Rules took effect) with further significant gains in crashworthiness
over the years 1988 to 2010, with notable steady gains from 1988 to 1996 and since 2001.
One issue with improving the overall safety standard of a vehicle fleet is ensuring that sufficient
numbers of safe vehicles are sold and used. Global fleet composition varies considerably from
countries from the northern areas of the EU having around 60% of the passenger vehicle fleet
less than 10 years old (United Kingdom, Germany) to more recent EU Member States where
newer vehicles represent less than 20% of the fleet (Latvia).
Launched in July 2011, Euro NCAP Advanced is a complementary reward system to the existing
star rating system. It aims to provide advice to car buyers about the potential safety benefits
offered by technologies which have a scientifically proven safety benefit. Cars are eligible for a
Euro NCAP Advanced reward only if they have achieved a creditable three-star rating in the
overall rating scheme. In order to encourage further progress in pedestrian protection Euro NCAP
from 2012 requires a minimum 60% score in the pedestrian tests for new cars to receive a 5-
star rating. A new road map is underway to allow emerging crash avoidance technologies to be
included (albeit not supplanting crash protection measures) into the assessment scheme by
2015. With the rapid deployment on to the market of new technologies evaluation of systems
with reference to real world accident analysis is essential before wide-scale deployment is
anticipated. See www.euroncap.com.
The European Commission believes that Euro NCAP has become the single most important
mechanism for achieving advances in vehicle safety. Car manufacturers use Euro NCAP star
ratings in their advertising. See ERSO Safety Ratings web text for further information.
3.3.3 What are retrospective rating systems?

In retrospective systems, safety ratings are based on the actual performance of cars in real
accidents. Such ratings are of particular value for used cars buyers. The frequency and severity
of injury of car occupants in individual model cars are determined by examination of police
accident statistics and/or insurance injury claim data. The main retrospective system in use at
present is Folksam’s Safe Car Guide. Although the general principle of this approach is the same
for all systems, there are many differences in the exact methodology.
See ERSO Safety Ratings web text for further information.
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3.4 Car industry policies

While the car industry tends to speak through national or regional trade associations in
responding to legislative proposals, individual manufacturers have introduced different vehicle
safety measures without legislation, in advance of legislation or in response to consumer
information programmes, especially in recent years. Examples include the WHIPS system
introduced by a Swedish manufacturer to reduce the risk of neck injury or pedestrian protection
introduced in advance of legislation by a Japanese manufacturer or in excess of legislation by a
French manufacturer. European frontal airbags fitted to many cars are not regulated in Europe,
though are mandatory in the United States. The Volvo Group has set a highly ambitious goal and
states that ‘Our ultimate goal is zero accidents with Volvo Group products’.
The European industry associations include the European Car Manufacturers Association ACEA;
ACEM (motorcycle industry) and the IRU (truck and bus industry). Like the IRU, ACEM is a signatory
to the European Road Safety Charter and has made several road safety pledges. Car companies
come together within the European Council for Automotive R&D - EUCAR to co-ordinate
proposals for EU funded research.
3.5 Product liability

Globally, there is much variation in the provision of vehicle safety equipment from region to
region. Some models may be sold with safety equipment in one country but with a lower
specification in others, if the equipment is not required in legislation. Product liability law is based
on the level of protection the consumer could reasonably expect.
The EU General Product Safety Directive was introduced in 1985 with strengthened provisions
introduced in 1992 and 2001. While European provision for product liability is more limited than
the US system, product liability can focus car manufacturing attention on innovative design
which goes beyond compliance with current legislation.
3.6 What can EU countries do at national level?

While many decisions on vehicle safety are taken at international rather than national level, EU
Member States can also play an important role. The best performing countries in road safety
typically engage in the following activities towards improving vehicle safety:
Engaging fully in international legislative development work Most European countries are
represented in technical committees of the UN-ECE and the EU that are associated with the
development of vehicle safety standards and legislation. In addition, several European countries
participate actively in the work of international organisations towards the development of
legislative tests and standards. For example, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK
contribute to the work of the various working and steering committees of the EEVC and global
research co-operation within the International Harmonised Research Activities IHRA.
Carrying out national research and monitoring of vehicle safety measures. The monitoring of the
performance of European vehicle safety legislation in real accidents to identify progress as well
as future priorities for vehicle safety has taken place systematically in few European countries.
A notable example is the Cooperative Crash Injury Research Study in the UK which has run for
over 20 years. European protocols for in depth research have been following the EU-wide
projects STAIRS and PENDANT. Achieving vehicle safety legislation which reflects real–world
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conditions necessitates programmes of in-depth accident injury research, crash dummy

development and other biomechanical work. During the last 20 years, countries such as the
United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and France have devoted significant national resource to
programmes of work aimed at safety standard development.
Creating a market for vehicle safety. Sweden, for example has been pre-eminent in introducing
a range of policies which can help establishing a national market for optimal vehicle safety
design and vehicle safety equipment. These range from active support for the development of
consumer information safety ratings and targeted outcomes in national safety programmes,
encouraging national fast-tracking of key safety measures through procurement and
organisational in-house safe travel policies and, in several countries, encouraging financial
incentives for the use of protective equipment.
Supporting and joining the European New Car Assessment Programme. Various national
governments have joined the European New Car Assessment programme since its inception in
1996 including the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Some
countries actively promote Euro NCAP results. Others target increases in the vehicle fleet with 5
star ratings. In Sweden, the Swedish Transport Administration promotes an in-house travel policy
which requires that all cars used in official business have at least a 5* safety rating.
Encouraging local car industry to fast-track key safety measures. The Swedish Roads (now
Transport) Administration has within the Vision Zero policy been highly successful in recent years
in encouraging rapid voluntary adoption of seat belt reminders in the national car fleet and the
voluntary installation of alcohol interlock devices in the national truck fleet. For example, alcohol
interlocks are installed in over 1500 vehicles and, since 2002; two major truck suppliers have
been offering interlocks as standard equipment on the Swedish market. The majority of new cars
sold in Sweden are fitted with seatbelt reminders.
Encouraging financial incentives for the use of protective equipment. Some countries provide
financial incentives for the fitment or use of safety equipment. For example, in the Netherlands
there is a tax (called BPM tax) for passenger cars and motorcycles. However, a purchase of a
passenger car or a motorcycle fitted with specific safety systems is exempt from BPM tax. The
specific safety equipment is side airbags, anti-whiplash head rest system, and navigation devices
for passenger cars and ABS and CBS (Combined Brake System) for motorcycles.
Ensuring that national roads and vehicle authorities understand the safety value linkages
between in-vehicle technologies and road network treatments. Improving the level of protection
in the road traffic system requires active partnerships between roads and vehicle authorities in
ensuring compatibility of designs which take better account of human tolerance thresholds and
available crash protection in speed management. Also in-vehicle interventions such as Lane
Departure Warning Systems will be dependent on quality lane road markings for a positive safety
effect.
Ensuring that protective equipment usage laws are properly enforced. Clearly protective
equipment required by law such as seat belts, child restraints and crash helmets are of little
value unless they are used. A range of EC funded research reviews have been carried out which
have highlighted best practice in enforcing vehicle measures requiring user action e.g. ESCAPE,
GADGET, ETSC, SUPREME.
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Vehicle Scrappage. In 2009 the UK government launched what was called the ‘vehicle scrappage
scheme’. This scheme was designed to reduce the number of older, less efficient vehicles on the
road by offering a monetary incentive for owners to replace their old vehicles with new ones
(Harari, 2009). The convenient side effect of this scheme in terms of vehicle safety was that
around 300.000 older, ‘less safe’ vehicles were removed from the road to be replaced with
300.000 newer, safer vehicles. Figure 2 below shows vehicle sales over the period of the scheme
with the distinct upturn in sales between early 2009 and the end of the year accounted for by
the UK scrappage scheme. The figure shows that as the number of new vehicle registrations in
other EU27 began to level off and decrease, the UK vehicle scrappage scheme accelerated the
sales of newer, safer vehicles (while removing older, less safe vehicles) and maintained high
vehicle sales long after EU27 sales reduced.
Figure 2: EU and UK car registration rates up to/including 2013
In total the scrappage scheme accounted for just over 330.000 new cars being registered in the
UK. Similar changes in regulation can be identified in other countries’ vehicle sales data. For
example, between 1998 and 2000 there was a marked increase in new vehicle sales in Greece
which can be attributable to a tax incentive introduced to encourage the replacement of older
vehicles. Conversely, Denmark saw a steady decrease in new car registrations between 1998
and 2001 which can be attributed to a rise in duty making new cars less attractive to customers.
4 Key issues for vehicle safety design

4.1 What forces can be tolerated the human body?
The tolerance of the human body to kinetic forces released in road traffic accidents is limited.
Injury is broadly related to the amount of kinetic energy applied to the human frame.
Biomechanical research reported over the years to international scientific conferences (e.g.
IRCOBI, STAPP, ESV) indicate that the relationship between crash forces and injury is known for
a number of parts of the body and types of injury for different categories of road user as well
as for different age groups. For example, a crash load applied to the chest of a young male may
result in a bone fracture, but if applied to an elderly female, may produce a life-threatening
injury. Whereas current vehicle crash protection is focused on the average-sized male occupant,
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the driving population is set to become more vulnerable to injury as it ages in line with general
demographic trends.
Small differences in speed can have a profound effect on the occurrence and severity of road
accidents and injuries. A 1% decrease in average speed corresponds with a 2% decrease in injury
accidents, a 3% decrease in serious injury accidents and a 4% decrease in fatal accidents and
vice versa. A 5% increase in mean speed will lead to a 20% increase in fatal accidents and vice
versa (Nilsson, 2004; Elvik, 2009).
For a collision between a car and a pedestrian, the following relationship between speed and
survival chance has been established in several in-depth studies (Ashton and McKay 1979). Later
research (which includes different types of study) indicates that the threshold for fatalities may
have increased since then, although this is not necessarily the case for serious injury.
See ERSO Speed and Speed Management web text.
Table 4: Pedestrian deaths by impact speed

Car speed % fatally injured pedestrians
32 km/h 5%
48 km/h 45%
64 km/h 85%
Source: Ashton and McKay, 1979
As shown above, the probability of a pedestrian being killed rises by a factor of 8 as the impact
speed of the car rises from 30km/h to 50km/h (Ashton and McKay 1979). The best- designed
vehicle on the road today provides crash protection currently up to 70km/h for car occupants
wearing seat belts in frontal impacts and 50 km/h in side impacts (Tingvall & Haworth, 1999).
It has been estimated for the Swedish traffic system (and no doubt the traffic system in most
EU countries) that speeds are tolerated on many roads well in excess of the thresholds noted
above, without separate facilities or protective designs and possibilities of use (by engine
capability) to more than 200 km/h (Tingvall, 1987). Against this background, in the Swedish
Vision Zero strategy (known generically as Safe System), the amount of biomechanical energy
to which people can be exposed without sustaining serious injury is promoted as the basic road
and vehicle design parameter. See ERSO Road Safety Management web text.
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4.2 What are the main accident injury problems?

EU traffic accident fatalities according to road-user for the year 2012 are shown in Figure 3
below.
Figure 3: EU traffic accident fatalities according to road-user for the year 2014
agricultural tractor bus or coach
1% 1%
pedestrian
22%
Car or taxi
44%
pedal cycle
8%
other, not motorcycle

defined 15%
1%
heavy goods
lorry, under vehicles
moped 2%
3% 3,5 tonnes
3%
Source: Care Database/EC

Date of query: December 2016
Car occupants: In 2014, car occupants were the largest single casualty group comprising 44%
of EU deaths with the majority of car occupant deaths occurring on non-motorway rural roads.
The main injury risks for car occupants arise from the way vehicles interact with each other and
with the roadside. Car-to-car collisions are the single most frequent category of accident. For
both fatally and seriously injured occupants, frontal impacts are the most important accident
type followed by side impacts. The head is the body area most frequently involved in life-
threatening injury, followed in importance by the chest and then the abdomen. Among disabling
injuries, those to the leg and neck are important (Hobbs, 2001). Determinants of injury severity
include:
 Speed of travel
 Restraint use
 Contact by occupant with the car ’s interior, exacerbated by intrusion into the passenger
compartment caused by the colliding vehicle or object
 Mismatch in terms of size and weight between vehicles involved in an accident
 Ejection from the vehicle
 Inadequate vehicle crash protection.
Pedestrians: In 2014, pedestrians comprised 22% of EU road traffic deaths and around two
thirds of these occur in urban areas. Research suggests that the majority of all fatally and
seriously injured pedestrians in Europe are hit by the fronts of cars. Lower-limb injury is, in
general, the most common form of pedestrian injury, while head injury is responsible for most
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pedestrian fatalities (EEVC 1998, update 2002). The survival of pedestrians in traffic depends
upon ensuring either that they are separated from the high speeds of motor vehicles or – in the
more common situation of shared use of the road – that the vehicle speed at the point of collision
is low enough to prevent serious injury on impact with crash- protective safer car fronts (Peden
et al. WHO, 2004).
Motorised Two-wheeler Users: In 2014, Motorised Two-Wheelers comprised around 18% of total
EU deaths. Riders typically sustain multiple injuries in accidents, including to the head, chest and
legs. The majority of the fatal injuries are to the head, despite helmet use. Lower-leg injuries
result either from direct contact with the impacting vehicle or as a result of being crushed
between the bike and the ground (Peden et al. WHO, 2004). EU-funded EEVC research has shown
that a car is involved in a half to two thirds of accidents. A quarter to a third of all motorcycle
accidents were single vehicle accidents without collision with another vehicle. Off-road impacts
where the motorcyclist leaves the roadway and overturns or strikes a roadside object is the most
frequently occurring motorcycle accident type (EEVC, 1994). Research in several European
countries indicates that many serious injuries to motorcyclists go unreported to the police which
mean that national statistics typically underestimate the size of the problem (IRTAD, 1994).
Cyclists: In 2014, cyclists comprised around 8% of road user deaths across EU countries but a
larger numerical share in countries where usage is higher than the EU average, though fatality
risks lower, e.g. the Netherlands and Denmark. There is evidence that cyclists' accidents are
frequently under-reported in national statistics, particularly in non-fatal single vehicle accidents.
Single vehicle accidents comprise the most typical accident type. Head injuries are the major
cause of death in around 75% of cyclist fatalities. Head or brain injury comprises about 50% of
all younger hospitalised accident victims.
Minibus, bus occupants and heavy commercial vehicle users in accidents are a smaller but
treatable part of vehicle problem, though heavy vehicles have disproportionate involvement in
fatal accidents.
The Collective Problem of the Vulnerable Road Users

Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs - normally defined as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists)
provide probably the biggest challenge for global road safety. At present vulnerable road users
account for 85% of the deaths in some low and middle income countries and even in high income
countries, poor children are at the greatest risk (Roberts et al, 2002).
WHO Global status report (2015) on road safety states that vulnerable road users are at
additional risk where their needs have not been taken into consideration during the planning of
land-use or road construction. In many countries roads are planned and built to allow motor
vehicles to travel faster, while insufficient thought is given to the needs of pedestrians and
cyclists which leave vulnerable road users facing increasing risks in using and crossing the roads.
Many of the proven safety interventions being implemented globally − such as use of seat belts
and child restraints, vehicle standards, and crash tests - are only relevant to car occupants and
not to vulnerable road users. In addition, trends in VRU injuries are increasingly being seen in
industrialised countries where modal shift (from cars to bicycles and motorcycles) is increasing
due to environmental, economic and traffic congestion pressures. For example, in the USA
(NHTSA Traffic Safety Annual Assessment, 2012) and the UK (Reported Road Casualties GB) a
fall in fatalities and serious injuries for four wheeled vehicles is not reflected by similar
decreases in VRU injuries, which in fact have shown an increase.
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Vehicle Safety
As with vehicle to vehicle accidents, speed plays a significant role in the occurrence and outcome
of any VRU related accident. As VRUs cannot rely on any protective systems to manage collision
forces the collision speed of any accident is critical in the outcome.
A European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) factsheet from 2005 illustrates the effect of speed
for VRU collision by comparing survival rates for people hit by vehicles travelling at certain
speeds. It states that the likelihood of a pedestrian surviving an impact with a vehicle travelling
at 45kph or higher is around 50% whereas at 30kph more than 90% of pedestrian survive.
Similar data has been used extensively in the UK where a national advertising campaign
informed drivers that a pedestrian hit by a car travelling at 30mph had a 20% chance of being
killed, while at 40mph there was an 80% chance of death (data from Ashton and Mackay, 1979).
Cuerden et al (2007) show that with more recent accident data the boundary of vehicle speed
where more severe and fatal injuries are expected is above 37mph (60km/h) showing that both
earlier research and publicity campaigns are still broadly relevant even with more modern
vehicles.
In general, lowering the speed limit in built up areas is the most effective measure to reduce
traffic accidents in both high and low income countries. Grundy et al (2009) reported results of
introducing a 20mph speed limit in some densely urbanised areas of London. The research
illustrated a 42% reduction in all road casualties in the conditioned areas and was particularly
effective for reducing child casualties and for more severe and fatal injuries. Evidence also
showed that there was some casualty reduction in adjacent, unconditioned roads where a small
fall in casualty numbers was recorded.
Vehicle design can also play a role in VRU injury outcomes - the safety improvements in vehicle
design witnessed over the past 20 years or so are not confined to vehicle occupants. With a
change of priority, it is possible to influence vehicle manufacturers and regulators to allow for
vehicles to protect Vulnerable Road Users. Mackay (2003) outlines how improved design of car
fronts could result in significant reductions in pedestrian injuries and fatalities and a British
Medical Journal report entitled ‘war on the roads’ indicates that research into biomechanics has
shown that changes in the design of vehicles could greatly reduce the frequency and severity of
pedestrian injuries.
Crandall et al (2002) indicate that accident engineers have long been aware that the principles
used to protect occupants through safer design can be extended to provide a safer environment
for pedestrians during an impact with the vehicle exterior. As most pedestrian accidents involve
the front of a vehicle, creating safer fronts is the key to improving pedestrian safety. Mackay
(2003) suggests that as a global priority for vehicle safety infrastructure improvements are
intrinsically expensive and long term, but that targeted traffic management and black spot
elimination can be extremely effective.
4.3 Crash avoidance and mitigation, crash protection, post-crash care,

integrated approaches
Vehicle engineering improvements for safety have been achieved to date by modifying the
vehicle to help the driver or rider avoid an accident and by modifying the vehicle to provide
protection against injury in the event of an accident for those inside and outside the vehicle. In
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Europe and globally, new attention is being given to ensuring vehicle crash protective design for
those outside the vehicle; driver assistance measures which can help to improve safety
behaviours; in-vehicle measures aimed at improving post-crash response and the development
of integrated approaches linking communication between vehicles and with the road network.
Table 5: Vehicle safety strategies and measures

Crash avoidance or primary Devices to avoid a crash e.g. daytime running lights, electronic stability
safety control, intelligent speed adaptation, alcohol interlocks. EU level developments
in safety are focusing much more around new vehicle based primary safety
systems that may prevent collisions occurring. Examples include Electronic
Stability Control (ESC) (which are already showing substantial road safety
returns), lane keeping systems and pedestrian detection and auto braking
systems (OECD, 2003). There are high expectations that these new systems
will provide the largest reductions in casualties into the future though the
evidence in many cases remains weak (VSRC, 2011).
Crash mitigation systems Examples are intelligent speed assistance or advanced braking systems which
actively aim to lessen crash severity before the crash occurs.
Crash protection or secondary Protection in the event of an accident e.g. seat belts, airbags, front and side
safety or passive safety impact protection. Opportunities exist for further important improvements at
EU level such as in vehicle to vehicle compatibility, the protection of side
impact occupants on the far side of the vehicle, prevention of whiplash injuries
and the protection of more vulnerable car occupants such as elderly drivers
and passengers.
Active safety The term active safety is often used to mean crash avoidance but care should
be taken in its use since it is also used to denote deployable systems such as
crash-protective pop-up bonnets for pedestrian protection or seat belt
reminders.
Integrated technologies and In recent years there has been a move away from traditional approaches
co-operative systems towards crash avoidance and crash protection towards holistic in-vehicle
approaches. The aim here is to achieve a truly integrated technological vehicle
response to the risk of accident and better outcomes before, during and
following the crash event. Accordingly, more advanced technologies are under
development and testing which support information connectivity between
vehicles and with road infrastructure. These are known as co-operative
systems (Euro NCAP 2009).
For further discussion on co-operative road - vehicle systems and integrated technologies see
ERSO web text on eSafety.
4.4 Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness

In a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) the effects of an investment, for example in road safety, are
determined. By definition it is a ‘formal analysis of costs and benefits of a programme, in which
all relevant impacts are converted to monetary terms’ (Elvik et al 2009). In general, the CBA
answers the question of whether an investment's benefits exceed the costs. Financial aspects
are taken into consideration but issues such as safety, emissions, and congestion are also taken
into account. This way, a CBA allows statements about the social return on an investment to be
made.
It is possible to see how a CBA can be applied to road safety countermeasures since the cost of
the countermeasure can be evaluated in terms of the likely effectiveness of that countermeasure
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in terms of fatality prevention. Most countries can determine the overall cost of a road accident
fatality (usually expressed as a combination of medical costs, production-loss costs, property
damage costs, legal settlement costs and human costs or costs based on loss of life quality for
families and friends). Therefore, a calculation can also be made as to whether the
countermeasure implementation cost outweighs the fatality costs - and this can be done on a
large scale if necessary.
With this in mind, in 2003, the European Commission initiated a study designed to assist road
safety stakeholders to improve their funding decisions. The ROSEBUD (Road Safety and
Environmental Benefit-Cost and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Use in Decision-making, 2006)
project reviewed a number of implemented programmes and evaluated them for their
effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. To provide a basis for comparisons, standard crash-related
costs were assigned to each fatality, serious injury, slight injury and property damage. As a rough
guide provided in Shinar (2007), the Benefit/Cost (B/C) ratio was considered as ‘poor’ when the
B/C was less than 1,0 (or the cost ‘per life-year saved’ was greater than $20.000); ‘acceptable’
when the B/C was between 1,0 and 3,0 (or the cost ‘per life-year saved’ was between $10.000
and $20.000) and ‘good’ when the B/C was greater than 3,0, or the cost ‘per life-year saved’ was
less than $10.000. Using the approach of life year saved is common in cost benefit analyses
and is a way to judge the value of a countermeasure in terms of spends. Essentially if a measure
costs less than $10.000 ‘per life–year’ saved to implement then the return is high for that
particular programme as each $10.000 of spend saves 1 life year. However, a $100.000 spend
per life year may be considered too high based on the cost of implementation versus the chance
of the occurrence / accident happening. This benefit to cost ratio is a proxy for overall value for
money based on the implementation of a strategy having considered a number of factors
including the following - the road safety measure unit (e.g. accidents), estimate of the amount
of (accident) prevention a measure would have, additional effects (noise, pollution),
implementation and maintenance costs, what are the monetary values of all relevant effects,
estimation of the benefits of measures, calculating the cost benefit ratio. The effectiveness
rating is summarised in Table 6 with a score greater than 3 considered a ‘good’ value for money
measure. Those in the acceptable range would require further analysis to judge whether the
benefit would outweigh the costs.
Table 6: Good, acceptable and poor BC ratios

Equivalent costs per
BCR Effectiveness BC Ratio
life-year saved ($)
Poor <1 >20.000
Acceptable 1-3 10.000 to 20.000
Good >3 <10.000
Within the ROSEBUD project, B/C ratios of a number of road safety measures in different
countries were made (Winkelbauer & Stefan, 2005). However, in practice, while the task of
evaluating the costs and benefits of relatively simple systems is not difficult, new methodologies
need to be devised to help estimate more accurately the cost of more complex systems.
For further information on methodologies for assessing costs and benefits see ERSO web text
Cost-Benefit Analysis.
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5 Safety design needs

5.1 Cars
5.1.1 Crash avoidance and mitigat ion measures
Speed: Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA)

ISA is a system which informs, warns and discourages the driver to exceed the speed limit. The
in-vehicle speed limit is set automatically as a function of the speed limits indicated on the road.
GPS allied to digital speed limit maps allows ISA technology to continuously update the vehicle
speed limit to the road speed limit. There are three types of ISA:
 Informative or advisory ISA gives the driver a feedback through a visual or audio signal.
 Supportive or warning ISA increases the upward pressure on the gas pedal. It is possible to
override the supportive system by pressing the accelerator harder.
 Intervening or mandatory ISA prevents any speeding, for example, by reducing fuel injection
or by requiring a "kick-down" by the driver if he or she wishes to exceed the limit.
Research indicates that the more the system intervenes the more significant are the benefits.
Estimates show that if mandatory installation of informative or supportive ISA is implemented,
injury accidents could be reduced by 20%. The use of a mandatory ISA system, when combined
with a dynamic speed limit regime, has the estimated potential to reduce overall injury accidents
by up to 36%, fatal and serious accidents by 48% and fatal accidents by 59% (Carsten and Tate
2005). A study in the Netherlands showed that ISA could reduce the number of hospital
admissions by 15% and the number of deaths by 21% (Van Loon and Duynstee, 2001). The
most recent estimates of savings are presented in Table 7.
Table 7: Expected road safety results from a range of ISA options

Advisory Voluntary Mandatory
% reduction % reduction % reduction
Fatal accidents 5% 21% 46%
Serious injury accidents 3% 14% 34%
Source: Carsten O. (2012) Personal communication of additional results to study Lai F, Carsten O and Tate F, (2012) How much benefit does
Intelligent Speed Adaptation deliver: An analysis of its potential contribution to safety and environment, Accident Analysis and Prevention 48
(2012) 63– 72
Different trials using informative and supportive systems across Europe have shown that
approximately 60–75% of users would accept ISA in their own cars. An FIA Foundation survey
indicates 61% support for physical in-car limiter systems to prevent exceeding speed limits in
residential areas, and over 50% support for these systems on main roads and motorways.
The Swedish Transport Administration equips its whole fleet with ISA systems and further studies
have been carried out in Norway, the Netherlands and the UK. In the Netherlands, researchers
found that ISA technology could help to achieve 90% compliance with speed limits and thereby
reduce the number of road deaths by 25% by 2050. The European PROSPER research project
predicts fatality reductions of up to 50% by 2050 for individual countries in an authority-driven
scenario. The benefits are greater on urban roads and for the more intervening forms of ISA. ISA
systems can also help to reduce fuel consumption, noise, and improve air quality. It was
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calculated that benefits would outweigh costs by a factor that was double (market-driven) or
3,5 times (authority-driven) higher by 2050.
However, whilst the PROSPER study (Liu et al. 2005) indicated an effect for lower speed limits
but not for higher limits, the LAVIA (Limiteur s'Adaptant à la VItesse Autorisée) road test in
France concluded that it was the other way around (Lassarre & Romon 2007). A road test in
Belgium conducted for PROSPER (Broekx et al. 2006) showed a reduction in the number of
speeders at higher speed limits. Three Swedish studies found relatively large effects on all road
types, even for a purely advisory system. An Australian study (Regan et al. 2006) showed less
speeding at all speed limits. In more detail:
 LAVIA was an ISA road study in France (Lassarre & Romon, 2007). It showed a reduction of
the number of speeders by about 25% with an intervening ISA system (haptic accelerator
pedal). The user could override the system by pushing the pedal down hard. Two versions of
the intervening system were tested, one that can be switched off, and one that could not. The
effect was nearly the same. However, a purely informative system that was also tested
showed less pronounced results, depending on the speed limit: there was almost no effect if
the limit was set at 50 km/h and reduction in the number of speeders by about 20% if the
limit was set at 90 km/h.
 The Australian TAC SafeCar road study (Regan et al., 2006) tested an intervening ISA system
with haptic accelerator pedal (that the driver could easily override). The results were
qualitatively similar to those of LAVIA, and showed that the system reduced the number of
speeders, while increasing the number of drivers that drive close to the speed limit.
 Simulator tests and on-road studies in the UK (Carsten & Fowkes, 2000; Liu et al., 1999) were
conducted with a controlling ISA (throttle control and active braking) in two versions: one that
could be switched off (referred to as “voluntary”) and one that was always-on (referred to as
“mandatory”). For the voluntary system, the field test “showed that drivers were inclined to
switch the system off in the locations where the system would have had the most impact,
i.e., the rural villages and urban roads where traffic generally exceeds the speed limit, and
that they did so deliberately in order to exceed the speed limit” (Carsten & Fowkes, 2000, p.
11). Driving simulator tests showed that the voluntary system led to a reduction of the
maximum speed in a village (speed limit 30 mph) from about 35 mph to 32 mph. This reduced
to 29,5 mph with the mandatory system.
 Some effects of the active accelerator pedal version of the system are reported in Hjämldahl
& Várhelyi (2004).
As the ISA technology works under all (weather) conditions, the safety effects will be more
substantial in a situation where the maximum speed is lower than a driver would expect, for
example due to the characteristics of the road. The driver will get a notification and can adjust
their speed according to the allowed maximum speed. The technology could work less well
substantial for roads with dynamic maximum speeds, unless the system can cope with dynamic
maximum speeds. When the dynamic maximum speed is lower than the system’s maximum
speed, drivers prefer the judgement of the system over the dynamic speed, resulting in unsafe
situations, as dynamic maximum speeds are mostly used to prevent these situations.
See also ERSO eSafety web text.
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Event data recorders

Black boxes or event recorders can be used in cars as a valuable research tool to monitor or
validate new safety technology, to establish human tolerance limits and to record impact speeds.
Current general practice is to use the on-board computer which now is fitted on most cars, and
to adapt the transducers and the data collected. In the US, the car manufacturer GM has been
using event data recorders since the 1970s to evaluate the performance of airbags in accidents.
In the UK, police fleet cars have been fitted with black boxes. In Germany a special crash recorder
called UDS by Mannesmann/VDO has been on the market for more than 20 years. Experience in
Germany gained with this recorder shows that it can influence driving behaviour considerably
and thus contributes to accident reduction, especially in vehicle fleets, of between 20–30%. In
Sweden, tens of thousands of vehicles have been equipped with event recorders for research
purposes since 1995.
An EC project VERONICA collated information on the feasibility of black boxes in European

vehicles. Three important questions related to black boxes are the standardisation of procedure
and tools to retrieve the data, the use of the data collected (for accident research, or by the
police to check driving conditions, or in legal applications to help in the determination of the
responsibilities in an accident) and questions concerning the ownership of the data.
See also ERSO eSafety web text.
Visibility: Daytime Running Lights (DRL)

Even simple technological advances can provide positive vehicle safety improvements. Daytime
running lights (DRLs) is a term that refers to the vehicle headlights being permanently switched
on, even in perfect daylight conditions. There are various DRL options all of which have positive
benefit-to-cost ratios. The options of mandatory manual operation of dipped lights in existing
cars and a compulsory advanced DRL unit fitted to new cars seem most advantageous, according
to Dutch reviews (Koornstra, 1997).
DRLs can be considered a mature system with Scandinavian countries having had mandatory
daytime running light regulations for many years. Sweden has regulated for DRL for around 30
years and Canada have made DRLs mandatory fitment for all new vehicles since 1990.
Since 2011 around 15 countries in the EU have made DRLs mandatory on all new passenger
and light vehicles and results from European studies have shown that they can have a
substantial effect in reducing road accidents. Elvik et al (2004) and Koornstra et al (1997) both
show around a 13% reduction in accidents as a result of introducing mandatory laws on daytime
light use with an associated 20% decrease in injured victims and 25% reduction in deaths in
those accidents. Farmer et al (2002) used American data and found smaller but statistically
significant results with cars fitted with daytime running lights involved in 3,2% fewer accidents
than vehicles without DRLs.
The SUPREME report indicates that with a general introduction of DRLs it is estimated that
between 1.200 and 2.000 lives could be saved per year in the European Union. There has been
some opposition to the introduction to DRLs, particularly from motorcycling groups who have
argued that the effect of their earlier, voluntary introduction of DRLs was diminished by the wide
scale introduction on all vehicles types, however the public acceptance in EU countries has been
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high. EU Directive 2008/89/EC required the mandatory fitment of DRL in all new EU cars from
February 2011 and for trucks and buses from August 2012.
Meta-analyses of the effects of DRL use in cars show that DRL contributes substantially to
reducing road accidents, car occupant and vulnerable road user injuries whatever the country’s
latitude. A reduction in multi-party accidents of between 8%-15% was found as a result of
introducing mandatory laws on daytime use (Elvik et al., 2009 Handbook). A Norwegian meta-
analysis of 25 studies that have evaluated DRL for cars and 16 studies that have evaluated DRL
for motorcycles found that DRL reduces the number of multi-party daytime accidents by 5–10
per cent (Elvik et al., 2003). A Dutch review found that DRL reduced multi-party daytime
accidents by around 12% and deaths and injured victims by 25% and 20% respectively
(Koornstra, 1997). Motorised two-wheeler users have expressed concerns that daytime running
lights on cars could reduce the visibility of motorcyclists.
While there is no empirical evidence to indicate this is the case, such an effect would be likely to
be offset by the benefits to motorcyclists of increased car visibility (Koornstra, 1997),
(PROMISING, 2001).
The calculation of the cost/benefit ratio (CBR) illustrates that the costs of DRL are considerably
lower than the benefits (value 1:4,4). With even more favourable results if special DRL-lamps
equipped with economical bulbs were installed increasing the CBR to 1:6,4 (ETSC, 2003).
Braking and handling measures

In general, most of the devices described for improvement of braking and handling interfere with
driver behaviour, and the questions of driver acceptance, risk compensation and driver reaction
when the system is activated (especially old drivers) are important.
Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS)

Anti-lock Braking systems have been mandatory fitment to new model vehicles sold in the EU
since 2011. The main purpose of ABS is to prevent skidding where loss of steering and control
result from locked wheels due to braking hard. Such systems are now fitted to many new cars.
A meta-analysis of research studies shows that ABS give a relatively small, but statistically
significant reduction in the number of accidents, when all levels of severity and types of
accidents are taken together. However, while injury accidents decrease (-5%), fatal accidents
increase (+6%) (Elvik et al., 2009 Handbook). There are statistically significant increases in
rollover, single-vehicle accidents and collisions with fixed objects. There are statistically
significant decreases in collisions with pedestrians/cyclists/animals and collisions involving
turning vehicles. ABS brakes do not appear to have any effect on rear-end collisions.
A German study found that ABS brakes can lead to changes in behaviour in the form of higher
speeds and more aggressive driving (Ashenbrenner, 1987). The results may also be partly due
to lack of knowledge or incorrect assumptions amongst car drivers about how ABS brakes
actually function (Elvik et al., 2009 Handbook). A British study, for example, indicated that one
reason why ABS was not realising its full potential to reduce accidents was that many drivers
had little or no knowledge of ABS (Broughton & Baughan, 2000).
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Brake Assist
Brake Assist in emergency situations is a technology which is fitted as standard on some new
cars and will be mandatory for new cars in 2014 as part of a legislative package on pedestrian
protection. It aims to address the problem of insufficient pressure being applied to the brake by
drivers in emergency situations, so increasing stopping distances. Car manufacturing trials have
shown that brake assistance systems could help by providing full braking effect, where the driver
does not press hard enough on the pedal. In marketing material, Daimler Chrysler indicate that
for a car braking at 100km/h, Brake Assist can reduce the normal stopping distance by 45%.
Brake assistance systems can use the ABS capability to allow heavy braking without the risk of
wheel locking, but have to distinguish between emergency and normal braking as well as respond
appropriately to reduced brake pressure.
While a prospective estimate has been made for Brake Assist to reduce fatal and serious injuries
among pedestrians by 10%, the same study noted that the casualty reduction effect of Brake
Assist has yet to be scientifically established (Hardy & Lawrence, 2005). A Swedish study of real-
world pedestrian accidents found that the effects of Brake Assist on pedestrian safety were not
significant (Strandroth, 2011).
Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)

Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) systems can help to avoid accidents or to mitigate their
severity by warning the drivers and supporting their braking response and/or by applying the
brakes independently. All EU heavy commercial vehicles have to be fitted with autonomous
emergency braking (AEB) technology by November 2013, though a requirement is not in place
for other vehicle types. According to Euro NCAP, real world performance data suggests that these
systems can reduce car accidents by up to 27% and some car models are attracting Euro NCAP
Advanced rewards. Euro NCAP has grouped systems into three main categories: City, Inter-Urban
and Pedestrian. Systems may fall into more than one category, or may meet the requirements
of all three. One manufacturer has developed a pedestrian detection system that automatically
brings a car to a halt at speeds of up to 35 km/h whenever a person steps out in front of it. It
should be noted that this form of autonomous emergency braking differs from Brake Assist
which requires action from the driver and alongside crash protective requirements forms part of
the EU legislative package on pedestrian protection.
Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

With ESC, wheel sensors detect the beginning of a vehicle ‘slide’ and by comparing this
information to the driver’s intended course and the vehicle’s actual course, can apply small
amounts of braking automatically to individual wheels to regain stability and prevent a loss of
control. The accidents that ESC is designed to prevent are predominantly those that involve a
single vehicle and that are likely to be ‘side’ impacts due to the rotation of the vehicle during
loss of control.
Numerous studies have been carried out on the effects of electronic stability control with varying,
but always positive findings. Lie et al (2005) state that ESC has a high potential in saving lives
and preventing or mitigating injuries – more than any other safety system, with the exception of
seat belts.
Thomas (2006) found that by comparing case vehicles (those with ESC fitted) with control
vehicles (those without ESC fitted) over a number of conditions and accident scenarios that
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vehicles fitted with ESC are involved in 3% fewer accidents. This figure increases to around 25%
under poor road conditions or on surfaces with low adhesion (snow/ice).
Lie and Tingvall et al. (2004) studied 442 injury accidents featuring vehicles fitted with ESC and
compared them to 1.967 accidents of similar cars without ESC fitment. Accidents involving rear-
end impacts on dry roads were assumed to be unaffected by the presence of ESC and were used
as a control group. It was estimated that ESC reduced the risk of all other types of accidents by
22%, with a 32% reduction in accident-risk estimated for wet roads.
Unselt et al (2004) reported a decline in the rate of at-fault accidents of Mercedes vehicles from
1,32 (per 100 vehicle registrations) in 1998–1999 to 1,10 (per 100 vehicle registrations) in
2001–2002 in light of ESC becoming standard equipment on all Mercedes passenger vehicles
from 2000. This was based on a sample of more than 2 million accidents.
A report for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (Farmer, 2010) in the USA found that the
risk of fatal multiple vehicle accidents was reduced by 32% and the risk of single vehicle
accidents was reduced by more than 40%. This translates to an estimated 7% reduction in
overall accident involvement risk and a 9% reduction in overall injury accident involvement risk.
The SUPREME study (2007) suggests that ESC systems are highly accepted but states that the
generally higher purchase price of vehicles fitted with these systems hinder the acceptance of
ESC in smaller vehicle sales. The report also states that ESC is a globally positive measure with
the system being fitted to many different models from different manufacturers available in
most markets; this is affected only by the fitment rate in smaller, cheaper vehicles. A recent US
study indicated a 5% overall reduction in all impacts and a 23% reduction in fatalities in
passenger car accidents reported to the police (Sivinski, 2011).
Clearly the result from ESC research shows some significantly positive effects. These results
however use data from countries where road conditions are frequently poor or of low adhesion.
The results also do not take into account other improvements in vehicle technology over the
same period. For example, the full effects of ESC may be disguised as passive safety of vehicle
structures improvements or tyre/suspension development or improving road holding. The effect
of these factors is difficult to quantify and may not be negligible.
A mandatory requirement for fitting ESC to EU cars from 2011 (new types) and 2014 (all new
vehicles) was introduced. Sweden has been foremost in encouraging the take up of ESC
nationally and in December 2010, 99% of all new passenger cars were equipped with ESC
(Swedish Government, 2011).
Impairment detection systems

Several systems exist for detecting driver impairment caused by excess alcohol, drowsiness,
illness, or drug abuse, which prevent the vehicle from starting, warn the driver or perform an
emergency control function that will stop the vehicle. While many systems are at different stages
of development with, in some cases, their feasibility being unknown, one particularly promising
application is the alcohol interlock system.
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Vehicle Safety
Alcohol interlock systems

Alcohol interlock systems are automatic control systems which are designed to prevent driving
with excess alcohol by requiring the driver to blow into an in-car breathalyzer before starting the
ignition. The alcohol interlock can be set at different levels. Alcohol interlocks have been used
widely in North America in repeat drink-drive offender programmes and, when used as part of a
comprehensive scheme, have led to reductions of between 40% and 95% in the rate of repeated
offending. See ICADTS Working Group Report 1 (ICADTS, 2001).
Alcohol interlock systems are also widely used in Sweden in rehabilitation schemes for offenders
driving with blood alcohol content over the legal limit and in government and company fleet cars.
In 2004 the Swedish government decided that all vehicles purchased or leased in 2005 and
later, and are intended to be used by the government should be fitted with alcohol interlocks.
Some 70.000 alcohol interlocks are now used in Sweden in trucks, buses and taxis on a voluntary
basis (Swedish Government, 2011). A transport company in Sweden decided to equip all their
4000 vehicles with alcohol interlock systems before the end of 2006. The Swedish Driving
Schools Association has fitted all their 800 vehicles with alcohol inter-locks (Kullgren, 2005).
A major US initiative is entering its second phase in an attempt to develop an in-car detection
system that can be more widely used. The US Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety
Program is exploring the feasibility, the potential benefits of, and the public policy challenges
associated with a more widespread use of non-invasive technology to prevent alcohol- impaired
driving. Two specific approaches have been chosen for further investigation; tissue spectrometry,
or touch based, and distant/offset spectrometry, or breath based sensors. Two of the sensors
are designed to remotely measure alcohol concentration in drivers’ breath from the ambient air
in the vehicle cabin, and the third is designed to measure alcohol in the drivers’ finger tissue
through placement of a finger on the sensor. Prototype testing has indicated that there are
potential technologies that ultimately could function non-invasively in a vehicle environment to
measure a driver’s BAC (Ferguson, 2011).
Collision Avoidance Systems

Research and development of collision warning and collision avoidance systems has taken place
in Japan, the United States and in the European Union over the last fifteen years or so and many
car models now offer such devices. Large estimates of the safety potential of such systems
have been claimed following laboratory studies, but the range of technical and behavioural
issues involved in many of the concepts require full on-road assessment. To be practicable, most
of the proposed systems require a well-controlled traffic situation, similar to that found on
motorways, but where the casualty reduction potential is relatively low. Most existing systems
are warning only systems. Examples of such systems are:
 Forward Collision Warning is a system which comprises a visual and audible warning that the
driver is too close to the vehicle in front. The warning depends on how long the distance is
between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead. The level of warning changes from “safe” to
“critical” as the following distance decreases.
 The Reverse Collision Warning System is a visual and audible system which warns drivers
about the likelihood of collision with an object behind the vehicle by means of sensors in the
rear bumper. The warning intensifies when the distance between the vehicle’s rear and the
object decreases.
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 Adaptive Cruise Control enhances automatic cruise control found in many new vehicles by
automatically maintaining a set following distance to the vehicle in front. The distance to the
preceding vehicle is measured by radar either with laser radar or millimetre wave radar. When
the speed of the vehicle in front is slower than the adjusted speed, the ACC system adjusts
the vehicle speed to allow a safe distance the lead vehicle at a safe distance.
 Lane-Keeping Devices are electronic warning systems that are activated if the vehicle is about
to veer off the lane or the road. Times to collision in safety-critical lane changes are normally
much less than one second. Since mean driver reaction time is about one second, there is not
sufficient time for a driver to respond to a warning before crashing. Because there is
insufficient time for reaction to a warning, lane change and merging accidents can probably
only be avoided by intervening systems. But these have their own problems: how to detect
driver intentions and how to intervene. This may be by taking over the steering from the driver
or by providing feedback through the steering wheel.
Red-light Camera (RLC)

The red light camera films a vehicle that crosses the red light. The information about the car
(colour, brand etc.) and the licence plate information is sent to the police.
 Erke (2009) conducted a meta-analysis of studies looking into accidents at intersections with
red light cameras and found that the cameras led to about a 10% reduction in the number
of right angle collisions which are the target crashes to be reduced through the fitment of
RLC.
 Retting et al.’s (2008) study found that the introduction of red light camera enforcement
reduced red light running by 96%. However, Retting et al.’s (2003) earlier literature review
paper found a consensus of a more conservative reduction in red light running as a result of
camera fitment at around 40–50% reduction rate.
 Erke (2009) found that there was an increase in rear end collisions, of around 40%, at
intersections when red light cameras were fitted.
 Retting et al. (2003) found from reviewing the literature that overall crash rates at
intersections were reduced by 25–30% as a result of cameras being fitted, even when the
increase in rear end incidents were included.
Night Vision and Warning (NVW)

The system uses infra-red radiation from VRUs, animals, obstacles and roadsides features (such
as road edges) to increase the vehicle driver’s perception and seeing distance under poor sight
or low-light conditions beyond the reach of the vehicle’s headlights. Therefore, the system
provides the driver more accurate and comprehensive information on the situation ahead via an
in-vehicle display. The system allows the obstacles or people over 200 meters away to be
magnified and clearly showed on the screen 80 metres in advance.
 According to Finnish study (Liikenneturva, 2008) nearly half of pedestrians in Finland use
reflectors (49% at night and 43% in a lit environment).
 The recognition distance of pedestrians equipped with reflectors is 96– 249 meters depending
on the type of retro-reflective markings (torso/wrists and ankles/major joints) and the type of
pedestrian movement (pedestrian approaching the vehicle/pedestrian crossing the road)
(Luoma et al. 1996).
 Based on European, US and Japanese estimates, about 20% of vulnerable road user fatalities
occur at night (Gayko & Tsuji 2006, Owens & Sivak 1996, Tsimhoni et al. 2004, Tsimhoni et
al. 2005, Tsuji et al. 2006, Uhler 2006).
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 Several driver simulator studies show that the use of system will increase the driving speeds
(Stanton & Pinto 2000, Nilsson & Alm 1996).
 However, there are also studies which show that the use of system will decrease the driving
speeds (Ward et al. 1994).
Blind Spot Detection (BSD)

This system uses vehicle sensors to detect pedestrians, bicyclists and powered two-wheelers in
blind spots around the vehicle (mainly addressing the side areas, but also optionally the front
and rear). After the detection of VRUs or other objects in the blind spot of the vehicle, the system
provides a warning to the driver. The system does not intervene.
The literature on blind spot accidents focusses on truck-bicycle accidents, which is claimed to be
the main category. Data on the incidence of blind spot accidents is scarce.
In the Netherlands, 41% of truck-cyclist accidents are blind spot accidents, and two-thirds of all
blind spot accidents of cyclists involved a truck (BRON database 2014, SWOV 2012, O’Brien
2004). From this and accident statistics, it can be deduced that 5% of light vehicle-cyclist
accidents and 13% of all vehicle-cyclist accidents are blind spot accidents. It is assumed that
the same fractions hold for the EU as a whole.
Pedestrian Detection System + Emergency Braking Response (PSD+EBR)

Pedestrians Detection System + Emergency Braking Response is a built-in vehicle system which
is aimed at preventing or reducing the severity of vehicle-pedestrian/cyclist accidents by using
forward-looking detection sensors (RADAR and cameras), that will detect pedestrians and cyclists
in front of a forward-moving vehicle. If a crash is likely, the system warns the driver and if the
driver fails to respond in time and the collision risk remains, the system can intervene through
automatic braking. For speeds up to 35 km/h the system is considered capable of preventing
collisions. For higher speeds (up to 50 km/h), the system should reduce the impact of the vehicle-
pedestrian/cyclist accidents by reducing the car speed.
The driver should respond to the warning by braking or by taking an accident avoidance
manoeuvre. When the driver does not respond fast enough to avoid an accident, the system will
brake autonomously. It is assumed that the system will prevent the accidents in which the drivers
would not have observed the pedestrian or cyclists otherwise. Therefore, the system will mainly
prevent the accidents related to the inattention of car driver.
Rosén et al. (2010) found that an autonomous braking system may have the potential to
substantially reduce the impact speed of the car for approximately half of fatalities (50%) and
one third (33%) of severely injured pedestrians. The analysis showed that these pedestrians
were fully visible during the pre-crash phase, but the driver did not brake.
Summary of crash avoidance and mitigation measures in cars

Intelligent Transport Systems are becoming more prevalent on modern highways. Some systems
are vehicle-based and some are road-infrastructure based. Predictive analysis suggests that
some of the systems will offer significant benefits and will reduce road accident fatalities
overall. However, in some cases, the technology is somewhat conceptual and the effects are
estimated rather than being based on hard evidence. In other cases, there are studies which
support their uptake through specific evidence-based evaluations. Co-operative highway
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systems which allow a channel of communication between the vehicle/road infrastructure/road-

user are also likely to become more widespread over the next 10 to 15 years. In general, there
do not appear to be significant detrimental effects of the technologies even if their overall
effectiveness is as yet unknown.
Does car colour influence road safety?

Brightly coloured or light coloured vehicles are sometimes regarded as safer because they seem
to be more visible but is this the case? While a small number of studies have started to explore
this question (Furness et al., 2003; Lardelli-Claret, 2002) the association between the colour of
cars and their safety should be treated with some caution. For instance, if yellow cars were
proven to be safer than other colours, it does not mean that safety would improve if all cars
were yellow. It is the variation in colour, just as much as the colour itself that generates
differences in safety.
5.1.2 Crash protection measures
Fundamental issues of structures, compatibility and restraint
What happens in a typical crash?

Newton's Third Law, states that "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." In a
frontal accident, the most common impact type, an unrestrained occupant continues to move
forward at the pre-crash speed and hits the car structures with an impact speed approaching
the pre-crash speed. Use of a seat belt or restraint helps to slow the occupant down in an
accident by applying forces to the strong skeletal structures of the pelvis and rib cage; reducing
the risk of major contact with the car structure and preventing ejection.
How does crash protection work?

Vehicle crash protection aims to keep the consequence of an accident to a minimum. For car
occupants, this means:
 Keeping the occupant in the vehicle during the accident
 Ensuring that the passenger compartment does not collapse
 Reducing the impact forces upon the occupants by slowing down the occupant or pedestrian
over as long a distance as possible and spreading the loads as broadly as possible to reduce
the effect of the impact forces
 Controlling the deceleration of the car
So reducing the risk of:

 An unrestrained occupant being ejected from a car so increasing the risk of fatal injury;
 A poorly designed passenger compartment which reduces the occupant’s survival space;
 Occupant contact with a poorly designed car interior or intruding object
The vehicle’s structure, its compatibility with other vehicles or objects on the road and the design
and use of the vehicle’s restraint system are all key elements for crash protective design. The
type of crash protection countermeasure used is dependent on the nature of the accident
configuration, i.e. the direction of the impact (using clock direction) and the type of collision
partner.
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Structures
Crash protection needs to be provided for different parts of the car structure which are struck in
different types of accidents. The most common injury-producing accident types are frontal
accidents, followed by side impacts, rear impacts and rollovers. Legislative tests cover the crash
performance of new cars in front and side impacts. Euro NCAP consumer tests provide a star
rating for crash performance in front and side impact tests based on legislative tests, a pole
test, sub-system pedestrian tests, and inspection of aspects of the vehicle interior and restraint
systems.
Figure 4: Frontal impact test
Frontal impact. The current EU legislative test (which is same as UN ECE Regulation 94) is a 40%
offset deformable barrier test conducted at 56km/h. The current Euro NCAP test is conducted at
64km/h to represent the majority of severe injury producing frontal accidents.
Various suggestions have been made for improvements in the legislative test by the EEVC and
others (EEVC, 2000; TRL, 2009).
For car occupants, contact with the car’s interior, exacerbated by the presence of intrusion, is the
greatest source of fatal and serious injury. The recent priority in frontal impact protection has
been to improve the car structure to endure severe offset impacts with little or no intrusion.
Without intrusion, the seat belts and airbags have the space to decelerate the occupant with
minimum injury risk. One consequence of stiffening the vehicle structure for offset tests can be
an increase in the vehicle crash pulse. This is often a cause of serious and fatal chest injury to
elderly occupants via transmitted loads through the seat belt webbing. Therefore, a balance
between intrusion prevention and crash pulse has to be carefully weighed
A full width frontal barrier test is used in other regions of the world to test occupant restraint
systems. Both tests are needed to ensure crash protection for car occupants (Peden et al. WHO,
2004). In January 2015, EuroNCAP introduced an additional frontal test procedure. A full offset
impact at 50 km/h into a concrete block assesses the vehicle restraint system for 5 th percentile
female occupants sitting in the rear and in the driver’s seat.
Side impact. French, Swedish and UK national data has been analysed and shown that around
one quarter of car occupant casualties are injured as a result of a side impact. However, this
rises to between 29% and 38% for those fatally injured, illustrating their increased risk. In side
impacts 60% of casualties are ‘struck side’ (SS) occupants and 40% are ‘non-struck side’ (NSS).
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The proportion of fatal casualties in simple car to car or car to pole impacts is substantial, 50%
and 67% for the UK and France (EEVC, 2010). In side impacts the struck side occupant is directly
involved in the impact. Contact with the car interior is difficult to prevent so the aim is to improve
the nature of the intrusion and provide padding and side-airbags.
Figure 5: Side impact test
Head protection is a priority in side impact which is not yet addressed in the current EU legislative
test. In addition to a side impact test, Euro NCAP has a pole test which is encouraging improved
crash protection for the head in side impacts.
Various suggestions have been made for improvements in the legislative side impact test The
EEVC notes that a regulatory pole test (to current Euro NCAP specification with full dummy
assessment) into the existing UN ECE Regulation 95 would deliver significant benefits to society
in terms of fatal and serious injuries saved. EEVC recommends the development of a more
representative (mass and stiffness distribution) barrier than the one used currently in regulation
and work towards protecting non-struck side occupants who are not covered by existing
regulatory test procedures (EEVC, 2010). EuroNCAP increased the side impact barrier mass from
950 kg to 1.300 kg in January 2016 to more accurately represent the impacting mass of a
modern European car. The case for a Global Technical Regulation on Pole Side Impact (PSI GTR)
is being discussed in UN ECE’s WP 29 following a proposal from Australia. Protection of
occupants in far side accidents is not currently included in EU legislation despite relatively high
numbers of side impact casualties in this accident configuration. Some restraint manufacturers
do manufacture a central airbag designed to reduce occupant excursion across the passenger
compartment but the take-up by manufacturers is not high. This may change, since EuroNCAP is
proposing to introduce a non-struck side protection rating into its assessment by 2018.
Rollover accidents
 Most rollovers occur off the carriageway. Providing the occupant is not ejected from the
vehicle and the car does not strike any rigid objects, then rollovers are the least injurious of
the different impact types;
 If occupants remain completely inside the car (i.e. no partial ejection) they have a low injury
rate as they decelerate over a relatively long period;
 The risk of rollover varies with different vehicles depending on e.g. the height of the centre of
gravity, suspension characteristics and loads carried;
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 The severity of injury depends on the presence of crash-protective roadsides and the speed
of impact.
 Electronic Stability Programmes can reduce some single vehicle accidents and loss of control
accidents including rollovers.
Rear impacts
 Rear impact and whiplash type injury is a serious problem in terms of both injury and cost to
society. Around 50% of neck injuries leading to disability following accidents occur in rear
impacts (Krafft, 1998).
 The risk of whiplash injury is not simply related to head restraint position, but is dependent
on a combination of factors related to both head restraint and seatback design (Kleinberger,
2003). Traditionally, attempts have been made to prevent injury by changes in the headrest
geometry. A headrest located less than 10cm from the head has proved more beneficial than
a distance of more than 10cm (Olsson, 1990; Jacobsson, 2004). Research into the injury
mechanisms of neck injury has shown that the dynamic behaviour of seat backs is one of the
parameters most influencing neck injury risks (Krafft, 1998).
 Several special test dummies and test devices have been developed to date for the
assessment of whiplash injury and several static and dynamic test procedures have been
developed (EEVC, 2005 WG20). A Euro NCAP test protocol also addresses whiplash injury.
 Systems aimed at preventing neck injuries in rear impacts have been presented in recent
years and used in several car models (Lundell, 1998; Wiklund & Larsson, 1998). Evaluation in
real accidents has shown that an anti-whiplash system can reduce average whiplash injury
risk by 50%; that energy absorption in the seat back reduced occupant acceleration and the
risk of sustaining a whiplash injury; and further reductions in injury risk could be achieved by
improved head restraint geometry (Krafft, 2004). A Norwegian meta-analysis indicated that
the effects of WHIPS systems differ with respect to injury severity. Slight injuries are reduced
by about 20%, serious injuries by about 50% (Eriksen et al., 2004). The Pro-active head
restraint now being offered by some high end European manufacturers is designed to bring
the restraint into close proximity with the head. This is designed to restrain the head and neck
early and could be particularly effective when the driver is leaning forward (to view oncoming
traffic from the side for example).
Compatibility
As newer, safer, vehicles become more commonplace within the vehicle fleet, other issues can
also become more evident. Page and Rackliff (2006) illustrate that the issues with a varied fleet
composition can affect vehicle-to-vehicle ‘compatibility’. In other words, the result of a very
mixed fleet is that older vehicles offering much poorer protection are at risk of colliding with
newer, heavier vehicles and the older vehicles are much more likely to offer poorer crash
protection to their occupants. However, compatibility issues also include different sizes and
shapes of vehicles and how these differences influence accident outcomes.
This effect has been researched in a number of studies. Findings by (Elvik et al 2004, Krafft et
al 2009, Kullgren et al 2010) all show that vehicle mass is highly related to injury outcome,
particularly when a light vehicle (such as a passenger car) impacts a heavy vehicle (such as a
truck).
More recent comparative studies have begun to control for vehicle mass within calculations and,
as such, the issue of a high mass vehicle colliding with another vehicle of lower mass can be
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adjusted for. Kullgren et al (2010) illustrates that the improvements in apparent crashworthiness
are essentially due to improved vehicle design and not the increased fleet weight.
In addition to vehicle mass it is assumed that vehicle ‘aggressivity’ has an impact on injury
outcome to vehicle occupants - for example if a tall, stiff vehicle (such as an Sports Utility
Vehicle-SUV) collides with a low, soft vehicle (such as a compact car) the outcome will depend
on the aggressiveness of the SUV design. However, Hägg et al (1999) and Kullgren et al (2010)
have both shown that the influence of aggressivity on injury risk is much smaller than the
influence of mass.
In the USA, where the vehicle fleet is very varied and SUV and light truck sales are high, the issue
of compatibility is paramount. The World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention states that
there is a greater need to reconcile SUVs and other light trucks with passenger cars and the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has made vehicle compatibility one of
its leading priorities.
Figure 6: Car-to-car compatibility
Many new cars can absorb their own kinetic energy in their frontal structures in accidents, so
avoiding significant passenger compartment intrusion. But when cars of different stiffness hit
each other, the stiffer car overloads and crushes the weaker car. There is a link between vehicle
stiffness and vehicle mass. Since heavier cars undergo the same crash test requirements as
lighter vehicles, their structures need to be stiff enough to maintain crash performance of a
heavier mass. In that respect, self-protection is achieved at the expense of partner protection,
when that partner is a lighter vehicle. When a car impacts with another, the stiff structures need
to interact to minimise injury. There is currently no control of the relative stiffness of the fronts
of different models of car. For example, there’s a need to reconcile sports utility vehicles with
smaller passenger cars, which form the majority of vehicles on Europe’s roads. The question of
geometry and matching of structures is also important to provide better compatibility, and avoid
override/underride of different vehicles and objects. The EEVC is developing test procedures to
improve car-to-car compatibility for both front-to-front and front-to-side accidents and an EU-
funded research programme is coordinating international research.
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Figure 7: Car to roadside objects
Impacts with roadside objects such as poles cause between 18%- 50% of car occupant deaths
in EU countries. Current legislation only requires the use of crash tests with barriers representing
car-to-car impacts although a 32km/h side car-to-pole test protocol is used in Euro NCAP.
Coordination is required between the design of cars and crash protective or ‘forgiving’ safety
barriers.
Figure 8: Car to pedestrian tests
Most fatally injured pedestrians are hit by the fronts of cars.
Four sub system tests have been devised by the EEVC to test areas of the car front which are a
source of serious and fatal pedestrian injury in impacts. The tests at 40 km/h comprise:
 A bumper test to prevent serious knee and leg fractures;
 A bonnet leading-edge test to prevent femur and hip fractures in adults and head injuries in
children;
 Two tests involving the bonnet top to prevent life-threatening head injuries.
Minor amendments to the EEVC tests were proposed following an EC funded feasibility study
(Lawrence, 2003). The European Commission stated in 2003 that take up of these challenging
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tests could avoid 20% of deaths and serious injuries to vulnerable road users in EU countries
annually, although rejected inclusion of all in a legislation on the grounds of feasibility in existing
car designs (EC, 2003).
Euro NCAP rewards the provision of pedestrian protection in new cars. A pedestrian protocol
comprising sub-system tests based on those devised by the EEVC are carried out to replicate
accidents involving child and adult pedestrians where impacts occur at 40km/h (25mph). A leg
form test assesses the protection provided to the lower leg by the bumper, an upper leg form
assesses the leading edge of the bonnet and child and adult head forms are used to assess the
bonnet top area. Impact sites are then assessed and rated fair, weak and poor. Euro NCAP
released a separate star rating for pedestrian valid from 1997 to 2009. The pedestrian
protection rating was based on the adult and child head form tests and the two leg form tests.
As of 2009, the pedestrian score has become integral part of the overall rating scheme but the
technical assessment has remained the same. In general, the car industry has still to respond
well to these tests in their designs. In order to encourage further progress Euro NCAP will require
from 2012 that a minimum 60% score in the pedestrian tests will be required for new cars to
receive a 5-star rating.
Research has indicated a significant correlation between Euro NCAP pedestrian score and injury
outcome in real-life car to pedestrian accidents. One study found a 20% reduction in
permanently disabling injuries for two-star pedestrian protection compared to one star cars with
increasing injury reduction grows with higher levels of impairment and in accidents with lower
impact speeds (Strandroth, 2011). Another study indicated that there is a correlation between
the number of Euro NCAP points and the reduction of MAIS2+ injured pedestrians although even
achieving 36 Euro NCAP points will not necessarily reduce the number of seriously injured
pedestrians to an acceptable extent (Liers et al., 2009).
EU legislation (aligned with the new Global Technical Regulation 9’s passive safety sub- system
tests for Phase 2) requires a mixture of crash protection tests (offering a lesser level of
protection than the EEVC-based Euro NCAP tests) and crash avoidance measures and comes into
force for all new type approvals in 2015 and for new registrations in 2019.
Figure 9: Car to HGV
Front and rear under-run protection on trucks is a well-established means of preventing “under-
running” by cars (whereby cars go underneath trucks with disastrous results for the occupants,
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because of a mismatch between the heights of car fronts and truck sides and fronts). Similarly,
side protection on trucks prevents cyclists from being run over.
Legislative requirements for front rigid guards also exist. Energy-absorbing front, rear and side
under-run protection could reduce deaths in car to lorry impacts by about 12% (Knight, 2001).
Research shows that the benefits of a mandatory specification would exceed the costs, even if
the safety effect of these measures was as low as 5% (Elvik, 1999).
Figure 10: Frontal underrun test
Restraint systems:
Occupant restraint is the single most important safety feature in the car and most crash
protective design is based on the premise that a seat belt will be used. Over the last 20 years,
restraint systems fitted in many new cars feature seat belts, frontal air bags, as well as seat
belt pre-tensioning systems and belt force limiters – all of which have done much to enhance
seat belt protection. Measures to increase the use of restraints by means of legislation,
information, enforcement and smart audible seat-belt reminders are central to improving the
safety of car occupants. For overview see World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention (Peden
et al., WHO 2004).
Seat belts
Seat belts are designed to retain vehicle occupants in their seats in the event of an accident,
reducing the severity or occurrence of injuries. They both minimise occupants’ contact with the
interior of the vehicle as well as preventing them from being ejected from it.
It is important to be aware when looking at seat belt use literature that many studies rely on
self-reported use, or police judgement, at whether occupants wore a seat belt. If participants
reported that they did wear the belt when in fact they did not, this could reduce or increase
effectiveness calculations (depending on the seriousness of the accident in which the occupant
falsely claimed to be wearing a belt). Similarly, many studies only investigate serious injuries;
those at least sufficiently serious enough for police to be required at the scene who then gather
the data. This method may result in accidents that were not ‘serious’ in terms of injury severity
but might have been had the occupant not been belted, being excluded from the study thereby
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reducing the effectiveness estimates as the accident severity reduction effects would not be
recorded (Robertson, 1976).
In one of the first large-scale studies looking into the effectiveness of seat belts Bohlin (1967),
in association with the car manufacturer Volvo, looked at more than 28.000 road accidents in
Sweden. They found that seat belts’ injury reduction effect varied between 0 and 90% depending
on both speed and type of injury. The occupants who were unbelted sustained fatal injuries
across all speeds, whereas there were no fatalities found in belted occupants below 100km/h.
The seat belts proved to be fully effective in eliminating occupant ejection when accidents
occurred and the authors estimated from the study findings that those who were ejected from
the vehicle were 10 times more likely to sustain a fatal injury. For non-fatal injuries among
drivers who wore a seat belt a 57% reduction in injury rate was found at lower speeds and 48%
reduction at lower speed, when compared to unbelted drivers.
Another major study of effectiveness was conducted by Kahane (1974) between 1971 and 1972
in Pennsylvania, USA, using data collected by the Police featuring over 40,000 vehicle occupants.
18% of the occupants were recorded as wearing a lap-belt; a further 2% wearing a three-point
belt and 80% were unrestrained. Those wearing a two-point lap belt were found to have a 73%
lower fatality rate and 53% lower serious injury rate and 38% lower overall injury rate compared
to unrestrained occupants. For three-point seat belts, compared to unrestrained occupants, there
was a 60% lower serious injury rate, a 41% lower amount of injuries overall and no fatalities
occurred in fully belted occupants.
Hobbs (1978) looked at 1.100 accidents in depth, in the UK, finding that of those who wore a
seat belt, 42% were uninjured, compared to 28% of the unbelted occupants. If a seat belt was
worn there was found to be a 45% reduction in serious or life threatening injuries and 44%
reduction in moderate injuries if a belt was worn.
In July 1984 the NHTSA published a report which estimated the effectiveness of seat belts for
front seat passengers based on the largest and most comprehensive review of USA safety data
to date. They concluded that the use of lap and shoulder belts leads to: a 40-50% reduction in
fatalities; 45-55% reduction in AIS 2-5 (serious injury) and 10% reduction in AIS 1 (slight) injuries
in the event of an accident, compared to unbelted front seat occupants. The report also compared
these results to those calculated in 11 other countries, which lead to finding an average belt
effectiveness of 47,1%, so overall, quite comparable to the NHTSA’s findings.
The effectiveness of seat belts could be expected to increase since these earlier studies were
conducted. This is in part due to improved seating and seat belt design but also due to improved
car safety cell technology which indicates that remaining in the vehicle in the event of an
accident (rather than being ejected) is of even greater importance in terms of safety benefits
than before. Furthermore, seat belts now interact with other safety technologies, such as airbags
which when working as an occupant protection system lead to even greater fatality and injury
reductions amongst belted occupants. This can be seen in the updated NHTSA (2009) report
which shows front occupants to have a 37 to 48% reduction in fatalities if belted, whereas
airbags alone lead to only a 14% reduction in fatalities. However, for a belted occupant also
protected by an airbag, there is an expected 44-54% reduction in fatalities for front seat
occupants. The report also estimated rear seat belt effectiveness, showing a reduction in
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fatalities of 44% for 3 point belts and 32% for lap belts for occupants who were 5 years old or
above when compared to the same demographic who were unbelted.
A later study by Elvik (2009) involved conducting a meta-analysis on 29 published studies

looking into the effects of seat belts on safety and concluded that seat belts reduce fatalities
by: 50% for drivers, 45% for front seat passengers and 25% for rear seat passengers. Very
similar results were reported for serious injury reduction. Wearing a seat belt reduced slight
injuries by: 25% for drivers, 20% for front seat passengers and 20% for rear seat passengers.
Figures were also given for children’s’ rear seat usage based on a meta-analysis of 19 studies,
finding severe or fatal injuries would reduce by 90% for 0 to 4-year-old children using a rear
facing seat, compared to using a seat belt alone. For all injury types there would be a 71%
reduction and if a front facing seat was used there would be a 55% reduction. Therefore, front-
facing child seats show a significant advantage over seat belts alone but not as marked a
reduction as for rear facing child seats. For children aged 1-7 using an adequate child seat
instead of a seat belt would lead to a 71% reduction in severe injuries.
It should, however, be noted that in some circumstances seat belts have a propensity to cause
slight injuries, such as single ribs cracked or bruising in a minority of accidents- though the
injuries would likely have been far more severe had the belt not been in place (Bohlin, 1967).
Seat belts, their anchorages and their use are covered by European legislation and standards.
See European Commission.
Seat-belt reminders are intelligent, visual and audible devices that detect whether seat-belts are
in use in various seating positions and give out increasingly urgent warning signals until the belts
are used. Research shows that occupants are much more likely to wear their belts in cars
equipped with a seatbelt reminder than in those without. It is estimated in Sweden that
reminders in all cars could contribute to a reduction of some 20% in car occupant deaths of all
the new cars tested in Euro NCAP in December 2010 almost 95% of the new car sales had a
seat belt reminder specification for the driver. 75% had a reminder for the passenger and 35%
a system to monitor seat belt use in the rear seat (Swedish Government, 2011).
Seat belt reminders are highly cost-beneficial with a benefit to cost ratio of 6:1 (ETSC, 2003).
Euro NCAP assesses seat belt reminder systems in tests and rewards their installation See ERSO
eSafety web text for further information.
Frontal airbags are fitted voluntarily by car manufacturers in most new European cars, although
their use is required mandatorily in other regions such as the US. Driver and front- seat
passenger airbags reduce the risk of fatal injury by 68% when combined with seat-belt use
(Cummings, 2002). Airbags do not offer protection in all types of impact and do not reduce the
risk of ejection. Airbags are no substitutes for seat belts, but are designed to work with them.
Estimates of the general effectiveness of frontal air bags in reducing deaths in all types of
accidents range from 8% to 14% (Ferguson, 1995).
However, some of the protective measures provided by airbags designed for adults in a normal
seating position pose a serious threat to children sitting rearward facing child seats and out-of-
position (OOP) adults. Small drivers sitting close to the steering wheel are also at risk of being
injured by the deploying airbag. The injury risk increases the closer the driver sits to the steering
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wheel and research shows that this reduces if the distance is 25 cms or over. Warning labels
now have to be fitted in cars to avoid the installation of rearward facing child restraints and in
some cars there is now provision for automatic detection of child restraints and out of position
occupants or a manual switch to disconnect the passenger airbag system.
Head protecting airbags are now increasingly common and help to provide protection for the
head against impacts with the car’s interior and particularly with structures outside the car. Their
introduction, in combination with torso protecting airbags, offers the possibility of providing
protection against the stiff B pillar (the stiff pillars in the middle of the passenger compartment).
Monitoring of the effectiveness of head curtains in reducing injury is being carried out.
Side airbags. Research to date is inconclusive about the performance of side air bags in reducing
injury in side impact. Some studies indicate no major effectiveness while others indicate a
significant effect. For example, a recent study by Kahane, 2014 showed an 8% reduction in
fatality with a torso bag only and a 31% reduction with a torso/head bag combination. There are
some indications of side airbags causing injuries (Morris, 2005; Yoganandan, 2005).
Smart restraint systems are vehicle restraint components or systems that adapt their geometry,
performance or behaviour to suit varying impact types and/or occupants and occupant positions.
Few of the systems today attempt to adapt their characteristics to those of the person to be
protected, and this is a key issue for the future with more biomechanical research needed. To
date, most of the current smart restraint systems are intended to reduce the inflation power and
aggressiveness of frontal airbag systems. The future holds much promise for intelligent systems
which can identify variables such as occupant physique and positioning, so providing more
tailored crash protection. The EC PRISM project aimed to facilitate the efficient and effective
development of "smart restraint systems".
Child restraints. Children in cars need appropriate child restraints for their age and size. Several
types of child restraint systems are in use within the EU. These include: infant carriers, child
seats, booster seats and booster cushions. Infant carriers are used rearward-facing up to the
age of 9 months. Both forward and rearward-facing child seats are used for children between 6
months and 3 years old. Booster seats and cushions are used forward facing up to approximately
10 years of age. All types are covered by European standards. See Euro NCAP protocols.
Research shows that the use of rearward facing restraints provides the best protection and
should be used up to as high an age as possible (although not used adjacent to frontal passenger
airbags). Rearward-facing systems have been shown to reduce injuries between 90% and 95%,
while forward-facing systems have been shown to have an injury reducing effect of
approximately 60% (Tingvall, 1987; Volvo, 1997). The use of child safety seats has been shown
to reduce infant deaths in cars by approximately 71% and deaths to small children by 54%
(National Highway, 2002).
Increasing the use of child restraint systems is the most important action in countries where the
usage rate is low. Misuse of child restraints has in many EU Member States been identified as a
major problem since most child restraints are not manufactured by car manufacturers and are
not integrated into the original design of the car. Another problematic area for all child restraint
systems is side impacts. Euro NCAP has shown the limited ability of current restraints to
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constrain the movement of the child’s head and prevent contact with the car’s interior. A side
impact test procedure for child restraints is under the development within ISO TC22/SC12/WG1.
Euro NCAP has developed a child protection protocol to encourage improved design. Points are
awarded if universal child restraint anchorages ISOFIX are provided’ for different types of child
restraint provision and the quality of the warning labels or presence of de-activation systems
for frontal passenger airbags.
Rear restraints. The rear seats of cars are occupied much less frequently that the front seats
and the severity of injury is generally lower, where seat belts are worn. Occupants seated in the
rear of cars are less exposed to intrusion problems so that improving the intrusion resistance of
passenger compartments is likely to provide less benefit to rear seat occupants, particularly
children. Apart from the full overlap test configuration introduced by EuroNCAP in early 2015,
there are no legislative or crash tests which cover the crash protection of rear occupants or the
performance of occupant restraints.
Head restraints. The risk of whiplash injury is related to both head restraint and seatback design
and dynamic seat back tests (Kleinberger, 2003). Evaluation in real accidents has shown that an
effective anti-whiplash system can reduce average whiplash injury risk by 50%; that energy
absorption in the seat back reduced occupant acceleration and the risk of sustaining a whiplash
injury; and further reductions in injury risk could be achieved by improved head restraint
geometry (Krafft, 2004).
A headrest located less than 10cm from the head has proved more beneficial than a distance
of more than 10cm (Olsson, 1990; Jacobsson, 2004). The greatest protection is provided by:
 Correct vertical adjustment. The top of the head rest must, if possible, be at the same height
as the top of the head. The minimum is just above the ears.
 Correct horizontal distance between head and head rest. This must be as small as possible:
in any case less than 10 cm and preferably less than 4 cm.
Head restraint ratings based on static measurements of head restraint geometry using the Head
Restraint Measuring Device (Gane & Pedder, 1999) are used by the insurance industry around
the world (Thatcham).
A Euro NCAP test protocol assesses the geometry of the restraint in relation to the head and
tests the seats in three severities of impact – high, medium and low – using a dummy specially
designed for rear impacts. Seats at the top of the table are likely to offer better protection than
those at the bottom. Rating categories are good, medium and poor. Phase 1 of a Global Technical
Regulation 7 on head restraints was adopted in 2008.
Car occupant interior head, knee and lower leg protection

Head injury. The head is the highest priority for protection in road accidents. Although seat belts
and frontal airbags offer protection, they do not prevent contact with the car’s interior in all
accident scenarios. For example, angled frontal impacts present considerable head injury risk as
current restraint and airbag systems may not prevent contact with parts of the car such as the
windscreen pillar. Interior surfaces that can be impacted by the head need to be padded and the
idea of an interior head form test has been proposed as a potential tool by European vehicle
safety experts (Hobbs, 2001). Partial ejection of the head in side impacts and contact with the
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striking object is also a key determinant of survivability The Euro NCAP pole test is encouraging
increasing provision of head air bags in new cars.
Knee injury. Currently, there is no dummy instrumentation or biomechanical data in legislative

tests to cover knee damage from direct impact against the knee. Furthermore, there is no test
procedure for testing the whole of the potential knee impact area of the facia. Sources of knee
injury are included in the Euro NCAP inspection procedure which forms part of the safety rating
analysis.
Lower legs, feet and ankles. Lower leg injuries can result from direct impact against the fascia,
parcel shelf or foot pedals or from loads applied to the foot or leg. Offset frontal collisions
present a high risk for lower extremity injuries with long impairment and high societal costs.
Crashworthiness optimisation aiming to alleviate serious injury risk to some body regions leads
to changes in injury distribution patterns and shifts the focus to other areas of the body. Injuries
to the lower legs have been neglected until recently and the introduction of an improved dummy
leg is awaited. Sources of injury to lower legs, feet and ankles are included in the Euro NCAP
inspection procedure which forms part of the safety rating analysis.
Other issues - rescue systems

Research has also examined the effect of Emergency Service response time on survival and
fatality rates. A study by Sánchez-Mangas et al. (2010) found, using Spanish accident statistics
that a 10-minute reduction in emergency response time led to a decrease of probability of death
by one third. Both Wilde (2013) and Jaldell et al. (2014) found that not only are response times
associated with decreased fatalities but cost benefit analysis shows the effort and resources
required to bring about these reduced response times leads to overall financial benefits which
outweigh the initial costs. The limited current literature suggests that ambulances arriving at the
scene of the accident in a short amount of time as well as transporting the casualty to a hospital
in the shortest possible time are both effective measures in reducing road traffic accident
fatalities.
Emergency Notification Systems or ‘Mayday’ systems aim to reduce the time between when the
accident occurs and when medical services are provided. By improving information transfer
between the trauma care physician and emergency medical service personnel, they aim for
faster and more appropriate treatment. In 2000, Autoliv and Volvo introduced one of the world's
first post-crash safety systems (Volvo Club).
Automatic Crash Notification (eCall) takes the safety benefits of Mayday systems further by
providing emergency responders with data that indicates the severity of the accident and the
nature of injuries sustained. A Finnish study has estimated that such a system might reduce
between 4-8% of road deaths and 5-10% of motor vehicle occupant deaths in Finland (Virtanen,
2006). See ERSO eSafety and Post Impact Care web texts for further information.
Electric vehicles
Fully electric vehicles are increasingly being introduced to the passenger car market. Hybrid and
full electric vehicles potentially have new safety concerns that will need to be addressed which
will become an increasingly important area of vehicle safety.
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Standards relating to performance for protecting occupants from electric shock after the collision
of an electric vehicle or hybrid vehicle were established in UN ECE’s WP.29 in 2010. A new safety
regulation for a Rechargeable Energy Storage System (RESS) is now being discussed at WP29.
New Car Assessment Programs (NCAPs) have subjected several petrol-electric hybrid vehicles to
the 64km/h frontal offset crash test, 50km/h barrier side impact test and the 29km/h side pole
test. No problems with the electrical systems or batteries were encountered.
A review of the potential hazards afforded by electric vehicles has recommended that further
research should be conducted into the robustness of Li-ion batteries in a crash scenario,
investigation should consider the types and severities of crash that can be expected to place
severe demands on in the in-built safety systems of electric vehicles and their batteries.
Further research is also needed to develop appropriate and consistent post-crash procedures for
dealing with electric vehicles, including fires (Paine et al., 2011)
5.2 Motorcycles
Motorcycle use is the most dangerous mode of road travel. Around 6.000 motorised two wheeler
users die each year in the EU, comprising 17% of total deaths. In line with rising use, motorcyclist
deaths have risen annually as a percentage of all road deaths in the EU. The numbers of moped
deaths have, however, declined from 1.657 to 723 (between 2005 and 2014), although the
proportion of moped deaths in relation to all deaths has remained about the same. In 2014,
about 56% of motorcyclist deaths were in the 25-49 age group, and 16% were aged 18-24 and
deaths have increased annually in line with increasing use. The risk of death for motorcyclists
has been estimated at around 18 times that of car occupants (ETSC, 2007).
Motorcycles tend to have much higher power-to-weight ratios than cars, and increasing numbers
of motorcycles are capable of very high speeds and accelerations. Apart from their inherent
instability, compared with other motorised vehicles, motorised two-wheelers, because of their
size and shape, are less easy to see than other motor vehicles and have poor visibility in daytime.
Various attempts have been made to improve the general stability of motorcycle through
concepts such as the BMW C1. However, there are some views that this motorcycle is in fact less
stable than most due to its high roof canopy. It does however offer better weather protection
and arguably some crash protection because of its canopy.
In the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention (Peden et al., 2004 WHO) the World Health
Organisation and World Bank have advised that care should be taken to avoid the adoption of
policies which could encourage the growth of motorised two-wheeler traffic by giving
advantages to motorised two-wheeler users. Research shows that vehicle engineering and
protective equipment measures play a less important role in reducing injuries and accidents than
they do for four wheelers and, managing exposure to risk may be more important for powered
two wheelers.
Notwithstanding the high risks associated with motorcycle use, relatively little research on
motorcycle safety design has been carried out. However, with the increasing popularity of this
transport mode and increased casualty levels, new EU and national attention is currently being
given to this area. The EU PISA project (2010) for example developed and autonomous braking
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system for powered two wheelers based on real world evidence showing that late or no braking
made a significant contribution to injury outcome.
5.2.1 Exposure measures

Restricting engine capacity for novice motorcyclists from 250cc to 125cc, accompanied by a
limitation on the maximum power output (to 9 kW) proved to be a successful measure in the
United Kingdom in the early 1980s. Many inexperienced motorcyclists transferred to less
powerful vehicles, leading to an estimated 25% reduction in casualties among young
motorcyclists. Significantly greater accident risk is associated with larger motorcycles, even when
these machines are ridden by more experienced riders (Broughton, 1987).
However, many studies of the relationship between engine size and accident risk have failed to
control for confounding variables which has had a major influence on the results of studies
(Ruijs, 1997; Elvik et al., 2009 Handbook). For example, a study by Ingebrigtsen (1990), showed
only weak effects of engine size once a host of other variables influencing the accident rate had
been taken into account.
Japan imposes limits, for safety reasons, on the engine size and performance of large
motorcycles used domestically. For most exported motorcycles, outputs of 75–90 brake horse
power (56 –67 kW) or even 130 brake horse power (97 kW) are common with top speeds
reaching almost 322 km/h (RoSPA, 2001).
Daytime Running Lights

The objective of mandatory use of daytime running lights for motorcycles is to reduce the
number of accidents by making it easier for other road users to see motorcycles in traffic. The
use of daytime running lights (generally low beam) is compulsory in several EU Member States
(e.g. Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal). Some of these require action on the
part of users to switch on headlamps.
The effects of headlights have been studied in a case control study in New Zealand (Wells et al,
2004) and the accident rate was found to be 27% lower for motorcycles with headlights on
during daytime. A meta-analysis of mainly US studies concluded that the average effect of
making the use of running lights on mopeds and motorcycles mandatory is a reduction of around
7% (±3%) in the number of multi-party accidents in daylight (Elvik et al., 2009 Handbook). In
Europe the use of daytime running lights by motorized two-wheelers has reduced visibility-
related accidents in several countries by between 10% and 16%. In Europe, motorcyclists who
use daytime running lights have an accident rate that is about 10% lower than that of
motorcyclists who do not. In Austria, automatic DRL reduced the number of injured motorcyclists
in daytime multiple accidents by about 16% (Bijleveld, 1997). One estimate of the cost–benefit
ratio of using running lights in daytime is put at around 1:5,4 for mopeds and 1:7,2 for
motorcycles (Elvik et al., 2009 Handbook).
EU-registered motorcycles are not required to be fitted with DRL although manufacturers are
fitting new motorcycles increasingly with headlights which come on automatically with ignition.
Research indicates that two lamps and lamps over 180mm diameter have greater influence than
single or smaller lamps (Donne & Fulton, 1985).
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Anti-lock Braking Systems

Research shows that riders often fall off machines while braking before impacts with cars.
Improved braking systems such as ABS, combined braking and enhanced braking are likely to
make a contribution in single vehicle accidents and accidents where the rider falls Until recently
the potential casualty reduction information on ABS has been prospective and positive (Sporner
& Kramlich, 2000). A Swedish study (Rizzi et al., 2009) has evaluated the effectiveness of
antilock brake system (ABS) technology on motorcycles in reducing real life injury accidents and
to mitigate injury severity. Induced exposure analysis showed that the overall effectiveness of
ABS was 38% for all injury accidents and 48% for severe and fatal accidents, with a minimum
effectiveness of 11% and 17% respectively. Since the launch of the Swedish Transport
Administration’s study results in June 2009, Swedish importers increased the number of
motorcycle models with ABS as standard and the share of new motorcycles with ABS has gone
from 15% in 2009 to 60% in 2010 (Swedish Government, 2011).
Typically, these systems are available on more expensive models of motorcycle. In 2004, the
Association des Constructeurs Européens de Motorcycles (ACEM) made a commitment to offer
the majority of PTW street models to be equipped with advanced braking systems. An Advanced
Braking System is a braking system in which either an antilock brake system and/or a combined
brake system is present by 2010 and has set a further objective of 75% of new models to
equipped with ABS or offered as an option by 2015. As a result of the 2004 commitment, ACEM
reports that 35% of the motorcycles sold by the ACEM manufacturers and registered in Europe
in 2008 were equipped with advanced braking systems. From January 1st 2016 it has been
mandatory for all new motorcycles (above 125cc) sold in the EU to be fitted with ABS.
Mandatory crash helmet use

Approximately 80% of motorcyclists killed on European roads sustained head impacts and in
half of these cases, the head injury was the most serious. Motorcycle helmets aim protect
against head injuries in the event of an accident and to reduce the severity of such injuries. Full
face helmets provide better protection than open face helmets (EEVC, 1994). Helmets can reduce
fatal injury by around 44% (Elvik et al., 2009).
Table 8: Injury-reducing effects of helmets for moped-riders and motorcyclists

Percentage change in number of injuries
95% confidence
Injury severity Type of injury affected Best estimate
interval
Fatal injury (3%) Head injury -44 (-55; -32)
Serious injury (17%) Head injury -49 (-58; -39)
Slight injury (80%) Head injury -33 (-41; -25)
All injuries (100%) Head injury -44 (-22; -41)
All levels of severity Injuries other than head injuries -8 (-22; +8)
All levels of severity All types of injury -25 (-30; -20)
Source: Elvik et al., 2009
Research shows that only mandatory use legislation can achieve high levels of use and injury
reduction. A meta-analysis of studies – mainly from the United States, where many laws on
helmets were introduced in the period 1967–1970 (and about half of which were repealed
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between 1976 and 1978) found that the compulsory helmet wearing reduced the number of
injuries to moped riders and motorcyclists by 20–30%. Analysis of the effects of repealing
helmet wearing laws showed that withdrawing them resulted in 30% more deaths, a 5–10%
increase injuries to moped riders and motorcyclists (Elvik et al., 2009 Handbook). In Europe, an
evaluation of helmet use and traumatic brain injury, before and after the introduction of
legislation, in the region of Romagna, Italy, found that helmet use increased from an average of
less than 20% in 1999 to over 96% in 2001, and was an effective measure for preventing
traumatic brain injury at all age (Servadei, 2003).
Research has found that present helmets are too stiff and too resilient, with the maximum
energy absorption of the liner occurring at high impact velocities where the probability of death
is high. Research shows that helmet shells and liners should be less stiff in order to provide
maximum energy absorption at lower, more prevalent, impact velocities where the benefit of
wearing a helmet can be more effective (Elliott, 2003). The COST 327 European Research Action
on motorcycle helmets reported that improvements in helmet design could save up to 1.000
lives per year across the EU. A UN-ECE regulation exists but has superseded the British Standard
6658 which included tests for rotation and the chin guard deemed necessary following in depth
accident injury research (Elliott, 2003). A new UK consumer information programme provides
comparative safety assessment of over 30 different new helmets. See SHARP.
Chest air bags

In head on collisions, the rider continues to move forward in a seated position and hits the
opposing object at close to pre-impact velocity. These accidents often result in fatal or serious
injury to the head and upper body of the motorcyclist.
While the provision of air bags on motorcycles is more complex than installation in cars, because
the dynamics of a motorcycle accident are more difficult to predict, early crash tests with airbags
on motorcycles (1973) indicated that an airbag system could be beneficial in frontal impacts. In
the early 1990s tests were completed in the UK in which three different types of motorcycle
were fitted with an airbag (Happian-Smith & Chinn, 1990). The results showed that full restraint
was not possible above a speed of 30 miles/h, though reducing speed and controlling rider
trajectory could still be beneficial. Further work was carried out by the Transport Research
Laboratory and Honda during the 1990s (Chinn et al., 1997).
In 2004, Honda announced that it had developed the world’s first production motorcycle airbag
system to be made available in 2006 on new Gold Wing motorcycles. The airbag module,
containing the airbag and inflator, is positioned in front of the rider. A unit in the airbag positioned
to the right of the module analyses signals from the crash sensors to determine whether or not
to inflate the airbag. Four crash sensors attached on both sides of the front fork detect changes
in acceleration caused by frontal impacts.
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Figure 11: Honda air bag system
Leg protection
Injuries to the legs of motorcyclists occur in approximately 80% of all accidents. In all collisions
in which the motorcyclist is hit in the side by a car or other party, the forces involved impact the
legs directly.
A large amount of research has been conducted in this area which shows that leg protectors
could help reduce those injuries which result from direct crushing of the rider’s leg against the
side of the motorcycle during impact (Huang and Preston, 2004). Studies show different
possibilities for optimising leg protection (Chinn & Hopes, 1985; Chinn & Macaulay, 1986).
Studies with leg protective airbags have also been carried out (Sporner, 1990; Sporner, 2000). It
has been estimated that the severity of leg injuries would be reduced in approximately 50% of
the accidents which involved serious leg injury if leg protection were to be fitted (Nairn, 1993).
Further work in this area has been recommended to ensure that leg protection does not change
rider trajectory to result in negative side effects (Hobbs, 2001).
Protective clothing
Many riders sustain soft tissue injuries from road impact, and suitable protective clothing
systems have been developed. A European CEN standard now exists to promote higher levels of
abrasion-resistant effectiveness in clothing (EN 13594 gloves; EN 13595-1 bis-4 jackets,
trousers and combi-units; EN 13634 shoes). For impact performance, EN 1621–1, a drop-test is
used to measure shock absorption. Special protector systems are used on the shoulders, elbows,
arms and thorax, and special back protectors are used to protect the spine.
A review of the literature found that improved design and wider use of protective clothing could
make a significant contribution to lessening the severity of motorcycle injuries.
Protective clothing can:
 Prevent most laceration and abrasion injuries that occur when a rider slides on the road
surface after falling off.
 Prevent contamination of open fractures by road dirt.
 Reduce the severity of contusions and fractures, with the prevention of some fractures and
joint damage.
 Reduce the severity (or prevention) of muscle stripping and de-gloving injuries, particularly to
the lower leg and hands.
 Prevent accidents by maximising the conspicuity of the rider.
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 Prevent accidents by maintaining the rider in good physiological and psychological condition
by keeping the rider dry, warm, comfortable and alert (Elliot, 2003).
The selection of single items of clothing and their combined use should be based on the following
considerations:
 Clothing must be able to protect against, wet, cold and heat even when these occur for long
periods.
 Falls and impacts are common in all types of riding (including off-road) except on motorways.
Collision severity is dependent on the surface impacted. However, because it is not possible
to control where a rider will travel at any given time, the clothing must satisfy all
requirements.
 A set of clothing may be bought by a rider from different sources. It is therefore important
that advice should be given on compatible items. For example, there should not be a gap
between boots and trousers.
 The outermost layer should always be of high conspicuity even in wet weather.
Clothing should be designed to ensure that all tasks required of a motorcyclist are easily
accomplished and in particular movement must not be restricted.
A recent development in motorcycle clothing has been the introduction of airbag jackets, Dainese
for example. These are designed to protect vulnerable parts of the torso and neck by inflating
after an accident. Early versions were triggered by a lanyard attached to the motorcycle. If the
rider departed from the machine very quickly the lanyard would pull a pin causing inflation of
the jacket pouches. Some current systems now use accelerometers attached to the jacket.
5.3 Heavy commercial vehicles

Heavy commercial vehicles are those with a total weight above 3.500 kg. (vehicle + load). Heavy
goods vehicles are over-involved in fatal accidents, since their high mass leads to severe
consequences for other road users in accidents. In view of this and the growth in heavy good
vehicle traffic internationally over the last twenty five years, the safety of heavy goods vehicles
continues to be strictly regulated in the best performing countries in road safety and work-
related road safety action encouraged. See ERSO Work-related road safety web text. EU Whole
Vehicle Type Approval was introduced for heavy commercial vehicles in 2009.
Speed limitation
It has been estimated that automatic speed limitation through the installation of speed
governors to heavy goods vehicles could contribute to a reduction in 2% of all injury accidents
(Elvik & Vaa, 1997).
In European Union countries in-vehicle speed limitation is required Initially applying a 90 km/h
limit to commercial vehicles over 12 tonnes in 1992, the provision was extended in 2002 to all
commercial vehicles over 3,5 tonnes (by 1st January 2005 for all new vehicles and 1st January
2006 for existing vehicles) by EC Directive 2002/85.
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Vision and conspicuity:

Blind spot mirrors: Every year, around 400 road users are killed in accidents where truck drivers
fail to notice them when taking a right turn (or a left turn in the UK, Ireland, Malta or Cyprus).
Both new and old heavy duty vehicles are now required by EU legislation to be equipped with
blind spot mirrors. In-depth accident investigation has shown that restricted driver vision to see
pedestrians and bicycle riders is a factor in accidents with particularly high risks whilst
manoeuvring or reversing.
In 2003, the European Parliament and Council adopted Directive 2003/97/EC on rear view
mirrors and supplementary indirect vision systems for motor vehicles. This Directive aims to
improve road user safety by upgrading the performance of rear view mirrors and accelerating
the introduction of new technologies that increase the field of indirect vision for drivers of
passenger cars, buses and trucks. The Directive was further amended by Directive 2005/27/EC
to extend the installation of wide angle mirrors to more vehicle types and in 2007 to require
retrofit.
Retro-reflective markings: In depth accident investigations show that nearly 5% of severe truck
accidents involve the poor conspicuity of the truck or its trailer at night where car drivers failed
to see truck or truck combinations turning off the road, turning around or driving ahead of them.
Different studies have shown that trucks can be rendered much more conspicuous by marking
the sides and rear of commercial vehicles using retro reflective markings (Langewieder, 2000).
Currently, the European standard ECE-Regulation 104 (January 1998) which refers to the
conspicuity of long and heavy vehicles and their trailers is optional.
Blind Spot Detection (BSD): This system uses vehicle sensors to detect pedestrians, bicyclists and
powered two-wheelers in blind spots around the vehicle (mainly addressing the side areas, but
also optionally the front and rear). After the detection of VRUs or other objects in the blind spot
of the vehicle, the system provides a warning to the driver. The system does not intervene. The
literature on blind spot accidents focusses on truck-bicycle accidents, which is claimed to be the
main category. Data on the incidence of blind spot accidents is scarce. In the Netherlands, 41%
of truck-cyclist accidents are blind spot accidents, and two-thirds of all blind spot accidents of
cyclists involved a truck (BRON database 2014, SWOV 2012, O’Brien 2004). From this and
accident statistics, it can be deduced that 5% of light vehicle-cyclist accidents and 13% of all
vehicle-cyclist accidents are blind spot accidents. It is assumed that the same fractions hold for
the EU as a whole.
Braking and handling:

Electronic stability devices: In loss of control accidents due to speed or steering behaviour and
driving through narrow bends or during evasive movements, the truck or trailer can slide or jack-
knife. Prospective research indicated that Electronic Stability devices for trucks could improve
the safety during the driving through bends by about 40% (VDI, 2000).
EU legislation on Electronic Stability Control (ESC) for heavy commercial vehicles is being phased
in from 2012. Mandatory Advance Emergency Braking (AEBS) on large vehicles employing
sensors to alert the driver when a vehicle is too close to the vehicle in front and, in certain
situations, apply emergency braking to prevent or reduce the consequences of a collision is being
phased in from 2013. According to the European Commission, preliminary estimates suggest
that the new measures for fitting advanced systems to heavy vehicles could ultimately save
around 2500 lives per year (around 500 for ESC and 1000 each for AEBS and LDW) and many
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more lives outside the EU since the legislation will encourage manufacturers to fit ESC as
standard for a wider range of markets.
Rollover stability: By continuously monitoring the vehicle’s movement and its relationship to the
road surface, the rollover stability system automatically applies brakes and/or reduces engine
power when a potential rollover situation is identified. This system has been introduced on
various truck models. In depth research shows that since HGV rollovers do not usually result in
serious injury, any benefit derived may be more to reduce congestion than road safety.
Impairment by alcohol and fatigue:

Alcohol interlock systems are automatic control systems which are designed to prevent driving
with excess alcohol by requiring the driver to blow into an in-car breathalyzer before starting the
ignition. Since the late 1990s Sweden has experimented widely with alcohol interlocks in
commercial vehicles and manufacturers have been offering fitment as an option. The technology
used is a simplified version of the Alcohol interlocks used in car offender programmes in order
to allow companies to have more than one driver able to use the interlocks (ETSC, 2005).
Since 2007 all trucks of 3,5 tons and over, which are contracted by the Swedish Road
Administration (SRA) for more than 100 hours per year have to be fitted with alcohol interlocks.
Several EU countries are introducing alcohol interlocks into their high risk-offender drink drover
programmes. See ERSO eSafety, Alcohol web texts.
Compliance with drivers’ hours: Driving fatigue has been identified as a special problem for
commercial transport, given the long distances which need to be covered and irregular shift
patterns which affect sleep. Research indicates that fatigue is most prevalent in long distance
lorry driving (Maycock, 1995) and a factor in 20-30% of commercial road transport accidents in
Europe and the United States (ESC, 2001; NHTSA Expert Panel, 1996). The Commission has
moved to strengthen driving and working time rules and enforcement in recent years. EU
legislation regulates the driving time of professional drivers in cross-border transport where part
or all of the journey is in EU territory. Driving hours should not exceed nine hours per day or 56
hours per week. After driving for four and a half hours, a break of at least 45 minutes is
mandatory. See Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation
relating to road transport. See also ERSO web text on Fatigue for detailed discussion.
Digital tachographs: Council Regulation (EC) 2135/98, which amends Regulation (EEC) 3821/85,
introduced a new generation of fully digital tachographs to assure compliance with drivers’ hours
legislation. The digital tachograph is a more secure and accurate recording and storage device
than the present equipment. The device records all the vehicle’s activities, for example distance,
speed and driving times and rest periods of the driver. The system includes a printer, for use in
road side inspections and a personal driver card incorporating a microchip, which drivers must
insert into the tachograph on taking control of the vehicle. The technical specifications for the
digital tachograph have been laid down in Commission Regulation (EC) 1360/2002, to be
mandatorily fitted in new vehicles from August 2004.
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Seat belts and seats

The restraint rate of truck drivers and also of passengers of trucks is very low in Europe. For
example, in 2001 in Germany seat belt use ranged between 5% and 10%. The installation and
use of seat belts in heavy goods vehicles has recently been covered by European legislation. EEC
Directive 2003/20/EC amending 91/671/EEC, mandates the use of safety belts where fitted by
2006 in all forward facing front and exposed rear seats in new HGVs. No mandatory EU-wide
installation requirement exists for seat belts in heavy goods vehicles, though national regulations
in some countries apply. For example, the UK regulation states that every heavy goods vehicle
first used on or after 1 October 2001, and having a maximum gross weight exceeding 3,5 tonnes,
shall be fitted as respects the driver's seat belt with a three-point "lap and diagonal" belt or two-
point lap belt, and as respects every other forward- facing front seat with a three-point "lap and
diagonal" belt or two-point lap belt. Research indicates that to improve restraint use, 3-point
belts should be integrated directly into the seat of the driver and passenger.
Driver cabin structure

Ongoing accident investigation indicates that the stiffness of the driver cabin, especially for
truck/truck collisions or single-truck collisions is not sufficient. Currently in Europe two (optional)
regulations exist relating to the stiffness of driver cabins (ECE-Regulation 29, VVFS or “Sweden-
Test”). Enhanced cabin structure together with restraint use would improve the survivability for
HGV occupants in severe HGV accidents (Langwieder, 2000).
Front underrun protection: Due to the size and mass of heavy vehicles, the problem of
compatibility with other road users in accidents is a significant safety issue. Trucks are stiff,
heavy and high and pose a serious threat to occupants of other vehicles in the event of an
impact. Frontal car-to-truck collisions are the most common impact type in accidents where
trucks are involved. It has been estimated that energy-absorbing front, rear and side underrun
protection could reduce deaths in car to lorry impacts by about 12% (Knigt, 2001).
An EU requirement was introduced in 2000 based on ECE Regulation 93 requiring mandatory

rigid front underrun protection defining a rigid front underrun protection system for trucks with
a gross weight over 3,5 tonnes Directive 2000/40/EEC. Studies performed by EEVC WG 14 have
shown that passenger cars can ‘survive’ a frontal truck collision with a relative speed of 75 km/h
if the truck is equipped with an energy absorbing underrun protection system. Furthermore, these
systems could reduce about 1.176 deaths and 23.660 seriously injured car occupants in Europe
per year. Research shows that the benefits of a mandatory specification for energy absorbing
front underrun protection would exceed the costs, even if the safety effect of these measures
was as low as 5% (Elvik, 1999). Energy absorbing systems are available from all truck
manufacturers as an optional device but there is no mandatory fitment requirement for these
at EU level.
Rear underrun protection: Council Directive 70/221/EEC and amendments mandate a rear
underrun protection system for trucks and trailers with a gross weight of more than 3,5 tonnes.
The regulation describes for example a ground clearance of 550 mm and test forces of
maximum 25 km/h, respectively 100 kN, depending on the test point.
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Research, however, indicates that the ground clearance of rear underrun protection systems is
insufficient and that the systems are insufficiently strong. Research indicates that the ground
clearance needs to be reduced to 400mm, the cross-member height and the test forces need to
be increased (Minton & Robinson, 2010). The first conservative estimates of EEVC WG14 on
underrun protection devices have indicated that improved rear underrun protection systems with
a lower ground clearance as well as higher test forces would reduce fatally and severely injured
car occupants by a third in rear underrun impacts in Europe. In addition, Working Group 14 has
found that the costs for fatalities and severe injuries could be reduced by 69 -78 Million Euro.
Side underrun protection: Council Directive 89/297/EEC mandates side underrun protection on
heavy goods vehicles to prevent pedestrians, bicycle riders and motorcyclists from falling under
the wheels of the heavy good vehicle when it turns.
In the Netherlands research indicates that the existing legislative requirement is limited and that
an improved side underrun protection system could reduce pedestrian and cyclist deaths in such
situations by about 10% (Kampen & Schoon, 1999; Langeveld & Schoon, 2004). In addition,
protection needs to be provided in side collisions with cars and motorcycles.
5.4 Light vans and minibuses

There is relatively limited data in Europe on lights good vehicle accidents and these vehicles are
yet to be covered by EU Whole Vehicle Type Approval legislation. In-depth work has been carried
out in Britain (Lenard, 2000) and Germany (Niewohner, 2000) which forms the basis of
information in this section.
 Casualties: Research in the UK indicates that LGV casualties comprise around 4% of total
fatal or seriously injured vehicle occupant casualties, with over 80% comprising drivers. The
majority of accidents involved a car (46%). German research indicates that while vehicles do
not necessarily have a higher accident rate than other motor vehicles, accidents tend to occur
in predominantly urban environments.
 Accident types: UK and German studies both found that respectively around 59% and 60% of
the accidents with passenger cars were frontal impacts and 14% and 26% were side impacts.
In the British study around 22% were rollovers and 16% in Germany were rear impacts as
opposed to 4% of cases in Britain. Evidence for belt use by drivers in such vehicles was
relatively low, in the order of 20% in Germany and 47% in Britain.
 Key issues: The UK in-depth study of around 500 light goods vehicle (up to 3.500 kg GVM)
accidents indicates three key issues for LGV design:
Poor accident compatibility between LGVs and passenger cars in car-to-LGV accidents has been
reported in the UK; car drivers bearing greatest risk of injury at every level of severity. LGVs tend
to have greater size and mass and usually have their stiff structures at a greater height than
those of passenger cars. This misalignment of stiff structures can result in the large vehicle
over- riding the smaller vehicle. This in turn has the effect of penalising the occupants of the
smaller collision partner, since there is an inherent risk of greater intrusion in the smaller vehicles
that are already at a mass disadvantage. Any regulatory crash-testing option needs to take
strong account of LGV to car compatibility needs.
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Low restraint use amongst LGV occupants compared with car occupants in fatal accidents has
been reported in the UK; 77% were not wearing seat belts and around one-third of drivers and
almost half of passengers were found not to have been wearing the seat belt at the time of the
accident. Possibilities for increasing seat belt use include the use of in-vehicle seat belt reminder
systems; higher profile awareness and education programmes; stricter policing and enforcement
actions; and a review of the categories of occupants who are currently exempted from the
mandatory wearing of seat belts.
5.5 Buses and coaches

Transport by bus and coach is the safest mode of road travel. However, every year, around
20.000 European buses and coaches are involved in accidents causing injury or death producing
30.000 casualties, 150 of whom die. As identified by the major European ECBOS project
(Mayrhofer, 2005) vehicle safety design can address a range of identifiable problems. Currently,
the vehicle safety performance of buses is regulated by seven ECE (Economic Commission for
Europe) regulations and 5 corresponding EC directives. Various research- based improvements
have been identified within ECBOS to inform current policymaking, particularly crash protection
measures.
5.5.1 Crash avoidance and mitigat ion

See section on heavy commercial vehicles regarding alcohol interlocks, driving hours and digital
tachographs.
5.5.2 Crash protection

Accident analysis shows that the occupants in the first row (driver, guide) can be ejected through
the front window, or affected by the intrusion. Coupled to the seat, restraints can control better
the occupant movement during an accident such that the driver remains conscious, allows driver
control of the vehicle until it comes to rest and to facilitate evacuation. While the use of seat
belts prevents ejection and reduces the risk of severe injury, there remains the problem of the
energy absorbing capacity of the frontal area and intruding objects through the windscreen.
Frontal crash protection

In-depth research shows that special protection devices need to be designed for the driver
protection in the front of the coach since driver safety is not adequately considered in current
regulations. Research is needed to define the requirements for front structures, a suitable test
for buses and to modify the actual designs to preserve the integrity of drivers in frontal or front-
lateral impacts (Mayrhofer, 2005).
Restraint systems
Analysis of real world accidents shows that the partial or total ejection is a mechanism for severe
injury. The injury severity of the casualties is less if the bus is equipped with a seat restraint
system and with laminated glasses. A side airbag especially developed for rollover movement
could also prevent occupant ejection. Research has also shown that seats and their anchorages
are often unable to resist the forces to which they are exposed in large coach accidents
(Mayrhofer, 2005). The risk of being injured by failing seat and anchorages can be reduced by
integrated systems and improved standards to control the strength of seats and their
anchorages.
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 Rollover protection: In cases of rollover where the side windows get broken, the risk of
passenger ejection and injury increases. The most common body regions injured in a rollover,
when no ejection occurs, are the head, the neck and the shoulder. Accident analysis indicated
that injury in rollover accidents can be caused by the impact of the occupants on the side
panel, on the luggage rack and also by the effects of occupant interaction. The development
of new test dummies and rollover tests has been proposed (Mayrhofer, 2005).
 Evacuation: Accident injury research shows that in serious accidents bus passengers are
hindered from using the emergency doors either because they are severely injured or the
doors are locked due to the impact. ECE-Regulation 107 currently sets out the technical rules
with respect to emergency doors. An effective measure would be a side window which, even
broken, would remain in position and would act as a safety net keeping passengers in the bus
interior. At the same time the design of coach corridors should enable rapid evacuation of bus
occupants. This would require the possibility of ejecting windows easily after the coach comes
to rest by pyrotechnic charges (Hobbs, 2001).
 Safety of wheelchair users in coaches: A study assessing the safety of wheelchair users in
coaches in comparison with travellers seated in conventional seats (fitted with headrests) has
made various suggestions for modifications (Le Claire, 2003). The work found that the heads
and necks of wheelchair users were particularly vulnerable but that this could be addressed
through the use of a head and back restraint. However, such a restraint should meet the
requirements of ECE Regulation 17 for strength and energy absorption and the wheelchair
should fit well up against the head and back restraint for maximum benefit.
Further recommendations from the work were that an upper anchorage location for diagonal
restraints is preferable to a floor mounted location and that the restraint anchorages should
meet more rigorous strength requirements than are required at present. A protected space
envelope for forward facing wheelchair passengers is also recommended. Under normal transit
conditions a vertical stanchion is preferable to a horizontal bar in terms of preventing excessive
movement of the wheelchair.
5.6 Bicycles
5.6.1 Crash avoidance

Bicycles are typically viewed as consumer products rather than road vehicles with much less
attention to design and maintenance issues than received by other road vehicles. As yet, there
is no EU-wide whole vehicle type approval system for bicycle design which is covered largely by
national regulation.
Reflectors and lighting: In many countries it is mandatory for the cycle to be fitted with a rear
reflector, and reflectors on the wheels. A Dutch study estimated that more than 30% of bicycle
accidents in the Netherlands occurring at night or in twilight could have been avoided if bicycle
lighting had been used (Schoon, 1996). In Denmark, the fitment of lamps and their visibility at a
distance of 200m are required. The quality and use of lights can be improved by enabling the
storage of separate light systems or by designing the lighting into the cycle frame (Allsop, 1999).
Braking: Studies of bicycle impacts indicate that there are large differences in component
strength and the reliability of bicycle brakes and lighting. In the Netherlands, for example, the
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failure of components such a sudden accident or brake failure causes 10% of all cycle collisions
(Schoon, 1996).
5.6.2 Crash pro tection

Bicycle helmets can reduce the risk of head and brain injuries by between 63% and 88%
(Thomas, 1994; Thompson, 1996; Sosin, 1996). A meta-analysis of studies on the benefits of
bicycle helmets indicated that wearing a helmet had an odds-ratio efficacy of 0,40, 0,42, 0,53
and 0,27 for head, brain, facial and fatal injuries, respectively (Attewell, 2001).
Legislation requiring the use of bicycle helmets has been introduced in several countries,
including Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States.
Safer car structures for cyclists: Research and development to date in Europe has been aimed
primarily at improving vehicle design to protect pedestrians in the event of an accident. There is
an urgent need for research into how cars can be made more forgiving for cyclists.
Heavy commercial vehicle side guards: When trucks and cyclists are side by side and the truck
turns into the direction of the cyclists, the cyclist is at risk of being run over by the motor vehicle.
Side guards close off the open space between the wheels of the truck. While fitment is common
in several European countries and there is national regulation, no EU-wide requirement yet exists.
6 Knowledge gaps
As the Swedish government has observed “A safe system is achieved when user capabilities,
vehicle safety, road design and speed limits all are in harmony. A holistic perspective on road
safety is under development and is important when prioritizing research efforts.” (Swedish
Government, 2011).
Relatively recent international overviews of research needs for vehicle safety have been carried
out. A progress report of recent research undertaken by the EEVC was presented in 2011
(Swedish Government, 2011). A decade earlier, the priorities for EU-wide research in vehicle
safety design were identified by the European Transport Safety Council (Hobbs, 2001; ETSC,
2001) and many of these recommendations remain relevant. The International Research Council
on the Biomechanics of Impacts is conducting a comprehensive review. The Advanced European
Passive Safety Network provides a forum for co-operation in vehicle safety research and has
produced a roadmap for vehicle safety research.
Current issues include the need for better understanding about the epidemiology of traffic injury
in accidents involving vehicles, research into areas of biomechanics, such as the biomechanics
of children, soft tissue injury and tolerance limits of different body regions. How can design
protect occupants of different shapes and sizes and in different accident conditions? How can
crash protection design take account of real world needs rather than meet specific test
conditions? How far can crash avoidance approaches contribute to vehicle safety? How does the
driver adapt to different vehicle measures? What are the implications of a mixed vehicle fleet
with differing capabilities and technologies? How can the vehicle deliver truly integrated
approaches to each stage of the crash phase? How can an effective interface between vehicles
and between vehicles and roadsides maximise the opportunities for road safety?
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A brief general summary of research needs as identified by the international organisations is

presented below:
6.1 The epidemiology of road traffic injury

Effective vehicle crash protection depends upon understanding of the distribution, nature and
mechanisms of road traffic injury. In particular:
 Better knowledge of the population differences in injury tolerance especially for the head,
chest, and abdominal regions is required.
 Analytical research is needed to optimise crashworthiness design across the ranges of
accident types, accident severities and populations.
 More realistic test requirements that reflect population variations in injury tolerance must be
developed to recognise the trade-offs between the strong and the vulnerable.
 Better, quantitative assessment measures of the long-term consequences of traffic injury are
needed.
 The safety needs of elderly road users need to be evaluated more thoroughly to take account
of changing demographics. Baseline information on the physiological changes of the elderly
and the identification of injuries of special interest is required. Issues of optimisation will need
to be addressed to ensure that protective systems optimised for a younger population are as
effective with older groups.
 The slight/serious/fatal categories currently used for injury severity scaling in large databases
are inadequate. A simple injury scale is needed that is usable by police and first responders
and is compatible with the AIS currently used in in-depth and hospital-based studies.
6.2 Biomechanical research

Biomechanical research improves understanding of the human body so that better tools can be
built to assess the risk of injury. These tools can be physical – crash test dummies –or numerical
– computer simulations. The further development of dummies and humanoid models depends
upon improving the characterisation of human biomechanical properties at tissue level and at
structural level. Future development of injury assessment functions is expected to depend on
experimental approaches using dummies to measure the forces to which the body is exposed
and simulations to assess the human responses and the specific nature and locations of injury.
In particular:
 Better description of the biophysical characteristics of the variety of human structures,
components and subsystems that can be injured are needed.
 Better characterisation of the dynamic response of these components and structures to
external insult are needed as is better characterisation of the mechanisms by which these
structures undergo mechanical failure
 Better definition and measurement of the limits at which these structures begin to fail is
necessary
 Better account needs to be taken of the variability of human beings in terms of age, sex, race,
etc. New biomechanical (biofidelity) data especially for the elderly population and for children
are fundamental.
 Materials able to simulate the human body in a more realistic way are needed.
 The applicability of current dummies to advanced restraints needs investigation.
 The interaction of crash dummies with sensors (occupant monitoring) is a fertile field for
research.
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 Knowledge of human body response in pre-crash conditions and how that response can be
simulated must be developed.
Various proposals have been made for areas of biomechanical research covering child
biomechanics, head and brain injury, neck injury, chest and abdominal injury and injury to the
upper and lower extremities International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Impact.
6.3 Crash avoidance

A range of promising new crash prevention technologies offer high potential for future casualty
reduction, are being applied and require close monitoring to assess their effectiveness in real
world accidents. Their success is highly dependent upon proven feasibility, practicability and
acceptance and use by road users. Important factors needing further research concern
limitations of human adaptation to new systems and the acceptability of the driver to relinquish
control over the vehicle. In general, there are no analytical strategies available to ensure that
passive and active safety systems are optimised together to maximise the potential casualty
reduction. In collision avoidance research, assessment methodology needs to be developed for
pre-crash sensing systems in passenger cars for occupant and pedestrian protection and in
trucks.
6.4 Crash mitigation and protection

Real-world accidents show a wide variability in terms of the people involved, the characteristics
of the vehicles and the accident configuration. To protect all road users systems should not be
optimised for one specific crash test, instead they should have versatile and robust designs that
together provide the optimum protection for the full accident population. The current use of a
small range of accident conditions to specify the performance of cars in accidents opens the
possibility that vehicles will be optimised for these tests rather than for the full range of real-
world conditions. Research is needed to develop methodologies to engineer systems for
maximum benefit, particularly for side-impact protection where safety systems are less
developed and where current standards do not offer protection for non-struck-side occupants.
Additionally, a wider range of accident types needs to be incorporated into the development
process of new cars, and methodologies based on physical or virtual testing are needed to
support this. These methods should take account of the natural bio-mechanical variations
between individuals as well as the range of vehicle types within national fleets.
6.5 Advanced and integrated technologies

Research programs are underway in several countries towards the further development of in-
vehicle car to car and car to roadside communication.
Vehicle to roadside interface The challenge here is to see how rules, standards and strategies
for line markings and road signs could be aligned with modern vehicle system devices to achieve
good functionality and safety. Strategies for speed signs have been highlighted as being
important for vehicle mounted cameras which provide the driver with information about the
speed limit. High quality, consistent lane markings are essential for modern lane departure
assistance/warning systems. For example, for vehicle systems depending on lane markings for
their performance several issues have been identified as being important. These include the
contrast to the road surface, the spacing between the dashed lines, the link-up between lanes
and exits. All these will have an impact on whether the lane departure system provides efficient
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driver support aid or will be unavailable for the majority of the road usage. A working partnership
between the Swedish Transport Administration and Volvo Car Corporation was established in
2008 towards defining the interfaces and division of responsibilities between vehicles and
infrastructure in Sweden (Eugensson et al., 2011).
Pre-crash to post-crash assistance A further key area for research is how a vehicle can restrict
and guide the driver into a safe driving envelope through improved speed management, more
advanced braking systems and through enhanced crash protection and post-crash response.
6.6 Hybrid and electric Vehicles

Electric hybrid and, increasingly, fully electric vehicles are appearing in the vehicle fleet bringing
new potential hazards to vehicle occupants and rescue workers such as exposure to corrosive
chemicals and toxic fumes and fire following accidents. A number of NCAPs are conducting
specific tests into these new risks and hazards and a paper offering recommendations for pre
and post -impact procedures has been published in Australia with the cooperation of ANCAP
(Paine et al., ESV paper 107).
6.7 Autonomous Vehicles and Safety

In recent years, there have been significant developments in terms of Autonomous Vehicle
concepts due to research activities undertaken by companies such as Google, Nissan, General
Motors and Mercedes. The replacement of human drivers in monotonous driving situation or day-
to-day traffic by the automated system is thought to offer significant potential to reduce
accidents, increase safety, increase driver comfort and reduce emissions (Gold et.al, 2015).
However, although the technology to allow the realisation of such concepts is readily available,
the real challenge is to resolve underlying human factors concerns. In early days (1990’s and
2000’s) the human factors research on automation mainly focused on driver interaction with
Adaptive cruise control (ACC) in but recent years it has moved far beyond ACC to look at a range
of driver assistance systems. In essence, a number of levels of automation exist as defined in
SAE J3013 (Table 9).
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Vehicle Safety
Table 9: SAE Levels of Autonomous Driving.
Source: Bryant Walker Smith (2013) on http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2013/12/sae-levels-driving-automation
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Vehicle Safety
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a slightly different but comparable
rating of different levels of vehicle automation.
In spite of few research projects such as CityMobil, InteractIVE and HAVEit attempting to address
the human factor issues in the autonomous car concept there is still very limited understanding
of driver behaviour and the underlying trust towards such concepts. However, Autonomous
Vehicles do have the potential to improve both road and driver safety. Appropriate understanding
of human limitations could enable vehicle designers to enhance the interaction between human
and vehicle automation. Many studies report on potential human factor concerns that need to
be address to appreciate the success of automated driving concept.
Driver Behaviour
Merat and Jamson (2009) investigated the driver behaviour to a number of critical events during
participants drive in manual compared to automated mode. They demonstrated that drivers’
response to critical events is much faster in manual driving compared to automated driving. In
the longitudinal critical events, drivers’ time to contact and minimum headway with the lead
vehicle is shorter in automated driving compared to manual driving. Moreover, the drivers’
anticipation of critical events was much slower in automated driving compared to manual driving
(Merat and Jamson, 2009). The main reason could be that in automated driving, the driver is
released from his primary task and becomes engaged with highly demanding secondary tasks
which reduces situational awareness.
Jamson et al (2013), investigating the behavioural changes in drivers experiencing highly

automated vehicle control in varying traffic conditions, reported that the drivers in highly
automated vehicles are less prone to change lanes in order to overtake slower moving traffic
than manual driving. Even in heavy traffic condition, the tendency is to let the automation takes
its course and they become unconcerned about lane choices which would result in more journey
time. The authors also report that by reducing the visual and attentional demands of the driver
in a highly automated car, the outcome is also that the drivers become involved in highly
demanding secondary activities (vehicle entertainment) rather than vehicle monitoring.
Merat et al (2012) conducted a study to examine the effect of driving a highly automated vehicle
on driver behaviour and the changes in workload that affecting driving performance. They
reported that in the absence of highly demanding secondary tasks, drivers reduce their speed of
response to a critical incident during the both the manual and automated driving. The drivers
also showed good performance in the highly automated condition in the absence of the
secondary task. They also found that the driving performance and secondary task were mostly
reduced when the two were required together during occasions in which driver had to resume
control from under-load situation imposed by automation (Merat et. al 2012).
Neubaer et al (2012) explored the impact of fatigue, stress and performance when the drivers
were given the chance to use an automation optional (AO), affording choice and non-automation
(NA). They reported that driver who experiences fatigue states would use automation but it does
not relieve the fatigue. According to their findings, the reduction of overtask demands may affect
the drivers’ active engagement with the task. Finally, the study also reported that the voluntary
automation use doesn’t reduce stress, fatigue states and driving performance.
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Vehicle Safety
Hoedemaeker and Brookhuis (1998) investigated the driver behaviour adaptation and driver
acceptance taking into account driving style with respect to speed and focus while using the
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system (level 2/3 automation). They reported that low-speed
drivers increased their braking level during emergency conditions with the ACC. The low-speed
drivers’ minimum time headway decreased with ACC compared to high speed drivers. The high-
speed drivers are less positive about ACC in terms of perceived comfort and usefulness than
low-speed drivers.
Gold et al (2015), investigated how the experience of automated driving would change the
drivers trust in automation and attitude towards using automation. They reported that elderly
drivers showed a positive rating of the automated system, a higher gain in safety and the higher
intention to use compared to the younger group. Elderly drivers showed a higher trust level and
smaller horizontal gaze. The study also reported participants’ behaviours that are not related to
supervising of the automated system such as few participants fixated their visual attention on
passing vehicles in the mirror and then from the front. Their findings reported that the experience
of highly automated driving in a simulator drive increased the self-reported trust in automation
but reduced the safety gain and discharge of driver from driving task (Gold et.al, 2015).
According to Choi and Ji (2015), the drivers’ intention to use or not to use autonomous vehicle
depends on how useful the vehicle is rather than how easy to use it. Their findings also reported
that trust on the autonomous vehicle showed strong direct effects on perceived usefulness and
behavioural intention. The data analysis revealed that system transparency, technical
competence and situation management had a significant effect on trust construct. The study
also highlighted that drivers expect for the novel experience than the thrill and sensory
experience.
Meritt et al (2012) investigated the influence of trust and implicit attitude toward automation
on trust in automation. They report that an individual’s implicit attitude or “gut reaction” to
automation significantly influences trust in a specific automated system. The authors discussed
that the user trust in automation is influenced by both implicit and explicit attitudes for example,
when the user was asked why they trust or do not trust the automated system, their answers
were to describe the effects of explicit attitudes, not the implicit ones. They study also reported
that the combination of a high propensity to trust machines and positive implicit attitude toward
automation acts as a buffer when automation makes obvious errors.
In essence, Autonomous Vehicles are expected to progress enormously over the next 20 to 30
years with many on-road trials of level 4/5 automation already ongoing. However, there is a long
way to go before the vehicle fleet is predominantly autonomous with some estimating that this
will not happen for another 30 to 40 years.
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Vehicle Safety
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Notes
1. Country abbreviations
Belgium BE Italy IT Romania RO

Bulgaria BG Cyprus CY Slovenia SI
Czech Republic CZ Latvia LV Slovakia SK
Denmark DK Lithuania LT Finland FI
Germany DE Luxembourg LU Sweden SE
Estonia EE Hungary HU United Kingdom UK
Ireland IE Malta MT
Greece EL Netherlands NL Iceland IS
Spain ES Austria AT Liechtenstein LI
France FR Poland PL Norway NO
Croatia HR Portugal PT Switzerland CH
2. This 2016 edition of Traffic Safety Synthesis on Vehicle Safety updates the previous versions produced within the
EU co-funded research projects SafetyNet (2008) and DaCoTA (2012). This Synthesis on Vehicle Safety was originally
written in 2008 and then updated in 2012 by Jeanne Breen, Jeanne Breen Consulting and in 2016 by Andrew Morris
and Richard Frampton, Un.Loughborough.
3. All Traffic Safety Syntheses of the European Road Safety Observatory have been peer reviewed by the Scientific
Editorial Board composed by: George Yannis, NTUA (chair), Robert Bauer, KFV, Christophe Nicodème, ERF, Klaus
Machata, KFV, Eleonora Papadimitriou, NTUA, Pete Thomas, Un.Loughborough.
4. Disclaimer
This report has been produced by the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), the Austrian Road Safety Board
(KFV) and the European Union Road Federation (ERF)under a contract with the European Commission. Whilst every
effort has been made to ensure that the matter presented in this report is relevant, accurate and up-to-date, the
Partners cannot accept any liability for any error or omission, or reliance on part or all of the content in another
context.
Any information and views set out in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official
opinion of the Commission. The Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this study.
Neither the Commission nor any person acting on the Commission’s behalf may be held responsible for the use that
may be made of the information contained therein.
5. Please refer to this Report as follows:

European Commission, Vehicle Safety, European Commission, Directorate General for Transport, November 2016.
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Children in road traffic
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Vehicle

5.6.2 Crash protection __________________________________________________________________ 58

6 Knowledge gaps __________________________________________________________ 58

Vehicle safety policy

Key issues for vehicle safety design

2 Vehicle design and road safety

Table 1: The role of vehicle safety measures in Safe System intervention

Figure 1: The integrated vehicle safety system ACEA safety model

2.2 What role does research play?

2.3 What can vehicle safety deliver in future?

Source: COWI, 2010

3 Vehicle safety policy

3.2.1 Who regulates vehicle safety?

EC Whole Vehicle Type Approval (ECWVTA)

Table 3: EU vehicle classification

Global Technical Regulation (GTR)

Box 1: Adopted safety GTRs

Global technical regulation No. 9: Pedestrian safety (Adopted 12.11.2008)

National type approval schemes

3.2.2 What are the key EU vehicle safety standards?

3.2.3 How are legislative crash tests developed?

3.3 Consumer Information

3.3.1 What is co nsumer information?

3.3.2 What are predict ive rating systems?

3.3.3 What are retrospective rating systems?

3.4 Car industry policies

3.5 Product liability

3.6 What can EU countries do at national level?

conditions necessitates programmes of in-depth accident injury research, crash dummy

Figure 2: EU and UK car registration rates up to/including 2013

4 Key issues for vehicle safety design

Table 4: Pedestrian deaths by impact speed

4.2 What are the main accident injury problems?

other, not motorcycle

Source: Care Database/EC

The Collective Problem of the Vulnerable Road Users

4.3 Crash avoidance and mitigation, crash protection, post-crash care,

Table 5: Vehicle safety strategies and measures

4.4 Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness

Table 6: Good, acceptable and poor BC ratios

5 Safety design needs

5.1.1 Crash avoidance and mitigat ion measures

Speed: Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA)

Table 7: Expected road safety results from a range of ISA options

See also ERSO eSafety web text.

Event data recorders

An EC project VERONICA collated information on the feasibility of black boxes in European

See also ERSO eSafety web text.

Visibility: Daytime Running Lights (DRL)

Braking and handling measures

Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS)

Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

Impairment detection systems

Alcohol interlock systems

Collision Avoidance Systems

Red-light Camera (RLC)

Night Vision and Warning (NVW)

Blind Spot Detection (BSD)