Alcohol and Traffic Safety-European Perspective

<div class="htmlview paragraph">This paper represents the results of a computer study of General Aviation accidents, particularly stall and spin accidents.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">In an introductory review, five transportation modes are compared on the basis of deaths per 100,000,000 passenger-miles. Of these, General Aviation has the highest accident rate, and domestic airlines the lowest.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Descriptions of four “stall-related” accident types (stall, spin, spiral and mush) are given. A summary for these four accident types over the years 1965 through 1973 is given for both twin- and single-engine aircraft. The patterns are found to be similar.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Stall/spin accident patterns are reviewed for a group of 31 single-engine aircraft (1965-1973) by: kind of flying, phase of flight, turning flight, airport proximity, weather, daylight, pilot experience and age, stall warning indicator, and cause of accident.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Individual results are presented for the 31 aircraft by make and model. A Chi-Square statistical test shows that some of these aircraft have significantly higher (or lower) stall/spin accident rates than the group mean.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Several recommendations are offered for consideration in improving General Aviation safety.</div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph"><b>Background</b>: The Indian automobile industry, including the auto component industry, is a significant part of the country’s economy and has experienced growth over the years. India is now the world’s 3<sup>rd</sup> largest passenger car market and the world’s second-largest two-wheeler market. Along with the boon, the bane of road accident fatalities is also a reality that needs urgent attention, as per a study titled ‘Estimation of Socio-Economic Loss due to Road Traffic Accidents in India’, the socio-economic loss due to road accidents is estimated to be around 0.55% to 1.35% of India’s GDP [<span class="xref">27</span>] Ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) accident data shows that the total number of fatalities on the road are the highest (in number terms) in the world. Though passenger car occupant fatalities have decreased over the years, the fatalities of vulnerable road users are showing an increasing trend. India has committed to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2030. In this context, the automotive industry as well as MoRTH have been taking multiple initiatives including those related to vehicular and road engineering as well as educational measures for raising awareness in the field of road safety.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">With the intent of lowering road traffic accidents, the government and the ministry are constantly upgrading the requirements related to vehicles, infrastructures, and their implementation thereof. In this context, various future regulations are being deliberated. One such regulation in discussion pertains to requirements for the protection of the passenger car occupants in the event of a full-frontal collision with a focus on restraint systems (AIS 201). This will push manufacturers to design more sophisticated restraints that would help to reduce restraint-induced injuries. The draft version of the standard is available for public input/ discussion.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The key objective of the study documented herein is to consider various aspects of the draft standard (AIS 201) from the Indian perspective. This study investigates the research questions, enumerated below: <ol class="list nostyle"><li class="list-item"><span class="li-label">1</span><div class="htmlview paragraph">What should be the appropriate test speed for the full-frontal test based on Indian accident data?</div></li><li class="list-item"><span class="li-label">2</span><div class="htmlview paragraph">What is the suitable dummy configuration in terms of gender, seating position, and age to maximize occupant safety in full frontal accidents?</div></li><li class="list-item"><span class="li-label">3</span><div class="htmlview paragraph">Is the proposed ATD’s anthropometry (weight and height) suitable, based on the people involved in full frontal cases in India?</div></li><li class="list-item"><span class="li-label">4</span><div class="htmlview paragraph">What are occupant injury attributes in full-frontal accidents?</div></li></ol></div><div class="htmlview paragraph"><b>Key findings/ expected research findings</b>: India has a very different mix of road traffic users and road traffic fatalities compared to that in Europe (Refer to <span class="xref">Table 1</span>). Further, issues like seat belt usage are of utmost concern. The demographic for India is also very different from those of developed economies. With India being a country with a rather young population, male and female dummies for driver and front passenger positions should be looked upon. This calls for India-specific safety regulations and research work on automotive test dummies.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph"><b>Practical implications</b>: The study can potentially provide a suggestion for alignment of the regulatory requirements with the actual situations, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the standard.</div></div>

<div class="htmlview paragraph">Due to protection applicances in the car, fewer persons sustain injuries in the course of traffic accidents. It can be pointed out that the injury pattern of car occupants was visibly changed by the seat belt, in earlier years the windscreen and steering wheel could hardly still be regarded as injury sources, but in the current situation with belt using of over 90% the injuries of all injured car drivers occur under other circumstances:</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">19% of all injured car drivers suffered injuries by the steering wheel, 20% by the dashboard, 29% by belt load and 14% caused by parts of the footroom region.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">It can be summarized that the present car safety measures did not avoid all major injuries and lower limb injuries occur relatively often.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">This study will explain the injury mechanisms of lower limb injuries and show demands for car developments and dummy test work. The data has been derived from traffic accidents documented by scientific team at the Accident Research Unit of the Medical University Hannover / Germany, by order of the Federal Highway Research Institute BAST.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Out of a sample of 6985 belted drivers in car crashes 2,605 belted car drivers with lower limb injuries could be analysed. Persons with pelvic fractures as well as isolated hip joint fractures were included. The accidents are documented during the years 1985 to 94 within a statistical random sample and weighting procedure.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">In the study it was established that the injury risk for the legs is different in various collision types as frontal and lateral impact. Impacts of the vehicle side against a tree cause the most frequent and the most severe consequences. The different kinds and localisations of injuries are shown related to accident severity parameter like Delta-v and the influence of intrusion will be analysed. The pelvis has to be included in the explanation of mechanisms. Important for the resulting injury are impulse direction and position of lateral force transmission.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Isolated femural fractures are incured when a direct impact to the thigh region occurs distinctly in front of the pelvis laterally or transversally. A combination of femural and pelvic fractures can be found when the impact occurs transversally from the front. Isolated pelvic fractures are found when the lateral impact involves the pelvic region. Pelvic girdle fractures do also often determine a transverse longitudinal axis component. Pelvic fractures were exposed to high collision severity. They occur mainly in lateral impacts, especially with poles.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">The kind of interior deformation is responsible for the kind of injury pattern and the intrusion can be seen as an important influence factor.</div>

<div class="htmlview paragraph">Accident cases involving cars without head restraints are compared with cars having this device to evaluate the effectiveness of head restraints, their position when impact occurred and to provide some details concerning the relationship between occupant position, seat back damage and cervical injury. A reduction in non-dangerous cervical injury was associated with the head restraint group. However, due to small numbers this could not be confirmed, statistically.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Approximately 73 percent of the adjustable head rests were in their lowest position. The position of the occupant on the seat strongly influenced injury. Larger amounts of rearward rotation of the seat back were associated with lower injury severity than limited rotation.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Injuries to the cervical region resulting from automobile accidents have been the subject of a number of research reports. Concern over these injuries culminated in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 202 which requires that a head restraint be provided for front seat occupants of cars manufactured since 1 January 1969.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">The term most commonly associated with neck injuries observed in rear impact accidents is “whiplash.” Although the term has been derided by many authors as describing an injury mechanism and not a diagnosis, it continues to have widespread usage. The injury it is intended to describe results from hyperextension or hyperflexion of the neck as the head rotates to the rear in a rear end collision. The resulting injury may range from pain or simple muscular sprains to torn ligaments, cervical fractures or dislocations, or combinations of these injuries.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">A report by Kihlberg<sup><span class="xref">1</span></sup> indicated that neck injury was more frequent among front seat passengers than among rear seat passengers in the same car, and that the frequency of driver's injuries did not differ substantially from that of their rear passengers. Seat back damage, i. e., rearward bending of the seat, was associated with a lower frequency of neck injury to the occupant although this damage usually occurred in the more severe accidents. Kihlberg also found that the frequency of neck injury did not appear to be related to the height of the occupants, possibly because the top of the seat back is lower than the neck and shoulder area for most adults. Interestingly enough, neck injury was up to twice as frequent among women as among men. No explanation was found for this difference but it was hypothesized that the neck structure of women might not be as strong as that of men.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">In the present report, head restraint position and neck injuries among occupants of cars with head restraints are compared with those among occupants of cars without such devices.</div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">In 1993 new European legislation regarding side-markers for passenger cars became effective.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Volvo requested the TNO-Human Factors Research Institute (HFRI) to investigate the possible safety benefit of this European side-markers configuration. A test panel at TNO- HFRI was used to determine the difference in response time and detection error of drivers, confronted with slides of vehicles with and without the mentioned new vehicle side-marker configuration in several visibility conditions, crossing illumination and different vehicle approach angles. The investigation showed a significant faster vehicle recognition with less detection errors in case the approaching car was equipped with the bright amber side-markers. This improved vehicle conspicuity can be a benefit in crash avoidance, especially when the driver approaches a crossing with complex light environment and reduced visibility.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Allowing the bright amber European side-markers in US legislation could be the start of better crash avoidance worldwide.</div></div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has developed moving deformable barriers for vehicle crash test procedures to assess vehicle and occupant response in partial overlap vehicle crashes.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">For this paper, based on the NHTSA Oblique Test procedure, a mid-size sedan was tested. The intent of this research was to provide insight into possible design changes to enhance the oblique collision performance of vehicles.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The test results predicted high injury risk for BrIC, chest deflection, and the lower extremities. In this particular study, reducing lower extremity injuries has been focused on. Traditionally, lower extremity injuries have been reduced by limiting the intrusion of the lower region of the cabin's toe-board.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">In this study, it is assumed that increasing the energy absorbed within the engine compartment is more efficient than reinforcing the passenger compartment as a method to reduce lower extremity injuries. However, CAE analysis for the NHTSA Oblique test shows that reinforcing the engine compartment structure can result in an increase in vehicle aggressiveness.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">An issue is that the Research Moving Deformable Barrier (RMBD) Oblique Test will lead to an overall increase in vehicle aggressiveness. The RMDB oblique crash alone is not an effective assessment of collision compatibility.</div></div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The 2011 Report of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India states that the total accidents with injuries is estimated about 497, 686 out of which the injuries are 511, 394 and fatalities are 142, 485, an average of one fatality per 3.5 [<span class="xref">1</span>]. Social losses on account of these crashes are estimated at over Rupees 100 000 Crores annually or 3% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) [<span class="xref">2</span>]. The irony is that these causalities are rising at 5.9 % annually. India accounts for 10% of the global road crash fatalities. Therefore traffic safety became very important in India. In order to understand the root causes of accidents data is needed in more detail which could be analyzed and points out the major issues to find solutions to stop this trend. Besides vehicle safety, infrastructure related issues and education skills can be derived out of accident data.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Official statistics regarding accidents in India are available in national and state wise reports. More detailed information about accident causes, accident conditions and consequences are roughly obtained. There is a lack of engineering data in the available reports. To address traffic safety related issues like infrastructure, driving behaviour and benefit of vehicle safety systems more detailed accident data is needed.</div></div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">As modern society develops rapidly, people’s requests for traffic convenience and traffic safety become greater and greater, and it is essential to eliminate traffic congestion and traffic accident to sustainable development of urban areas. Therefore, this paper brings forward novel solution based on hybrid sensor networks to observe the status of traffic in road networks in order to alleviate traffic jam and prevent traffic accident. With the collection of precise traffic flow information at the time, it realizes traffic flow control at crossroads, gives warning in advance with the congestion or accident. We carried out a bunch of simulation experiments in succession, the main discoveries are as follows. a. The energy consumption is great reduced under the sensor deployment rate between 1:50–1:60 (sensor : vehicles). b.The sampling rates can keep a very high level of precise and efficiency under the appropriate range between 1:50–1:60 (sensor : vehicles).The critical segments of roadways are fitted with the radar sensors to accomplish not only reliable surveillance of traffic congestions but also timeearlies warning of traffic accidents as opposed to relying on the single-sensor network. As reflected in Fig. 17, the heterogeneous sensor network is more robust against sensor errors because of the complementarity effects without relying on individual sensors. The experimental results highlight the potential for hybrid sensing architecture for intelligent transportation systems(ITS) and provides a well-technical basis to alleviate urban traffic jam and improve transportation efficiency.</div></div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">With the continuous advancement of economic globalization, international trade has been developing rapidly, and Marine transportation is an important part of international trade. Shipping and port are facing greater opportunities for development, the shipping industry gradually to the modernization, specialization, large-scale rapid development. The rapid increase of the number of ships, the tonnage of ships, the flow of ships, the density of ships, and the busier of the channel traffic, these changes make the navigable conditions of navigable waters. Under the limited port water conditions, the ship traffic density increases, the ship distress probability increases, and the navigation environment becomes more complex, which make the water transportation safety face greater challenges and threats.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The waters of dense traffic flow, danger, accidents, the importance of its navigation safety assessment is self-evident. Preventing some accident risk in the process of ship navigation has become the main content of navigation safety risk management. How to use appropriate methods to evaluate the navigation safety of Shantou waterway is of great significance to improve the management level.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Therefore, it is necessary to scientifically and reasonably and accurately evaluate the safety situation of the navigable environment according to the current situation of maritime traffic changes. Combined with the natural environment and navigation situation of water area, this paper establishes various factors that may affect the traffic of water area and establishes the evaluation index system of water traffic safety. Combined with the factor analysis method and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to analyze the safety of the water traffic environment, the evaluation results can provide a decision-making basis for the maritime safety management work.</div></div>

<div class="htmlview paragraph">This paper provides final results of an accident investigation project conducted by the Indiana University Institute for Research in Public Safety (IRPS), for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, emphasizing particularly the role of vehicular factors in causing accidents. In addition, these results are put in context with other recent studies which have provided information on the same topic.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Data collection for the Indiana University accident causation study was confined to Monroe County, Indiana, where between 1970 and 1975, 2,258 accidents were investigated by teams of technicians using a consistent set of procedures and terminology. Concurrently, 420 in-depth investigations were conducted by a multidisciplinary team.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Vehicular degradations, malajustments, and failures were identified as <u>definite</u> <u>causes</u> in 4.5% of these accidents by the multidisciplinary team, and in 4.1% by the technicians. Vehicular problems were considered either definite or probable causes in 12.6% of these accidents by the in-depth team, and in 9.1% by the technicians. Problems with brakes and tires predominated as vehicular causes, with gross brake system failure and inadequate tread depth being two of the leading problems identified.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">The other studies referenced, while varying somewhat in the proportion of accidents in which vehicular factors were implicated, also reflect brakes and tires as predominant problem areas.</div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">It is expected that the world's energy demand will double by 2050, which requires energy-efficient technologies to be readily available. With the increasing number of vehicles on our roads the demand for energy is increasing rapidly, and with this there is an associated increase in CO₂ emissions. Through the careful use of optimized lubricants it is possible to significantly reduce vehicle fuel consumption and hence CO₂.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">This paper evaluates the effects on fuel economy of high quality, low viscosity heavy-duty diesel engine type lubricants against mainstream type products for all elements of the vehicle driveline. Testing was performed on Shell's driveline test facility for the evaluation of fuel consumption effects due to engine, gearbox and axle oils and the variation with engine operating conditions.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">To complement the rig-based testing, a field test protocol has been developed to better understand the linkage between operating conditions and fuel economy changes when driveline lubricants are changed. Two standard, delivery-type, 18-ton trucks have been modified with fuel-flow, engine operation and GPS (global positioning system) measurement equipment. Following a fixed on-road test route in the UK containing city, local, highway and hill driving conditions, the fuel consumption data was separated out for each situation to demonstrate the relative differences. To minimize variability, tight controls were placed on the test set-up, measurements taken and the operation of the vehicles.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Using a Mercedes Benz OM 460LA heavy-duty diesel engine run under the World Harmonized Transient Cycle (WHTC) and World Harmonized Stationary Cycle (WHSC), a combination of a SAE 5W-30 engine oil, SAE 75W-80 gearbox oil and SAE 75W-90 axle oil gave average fuel consumption improvements of 1.8% and 1.1%, respectively, relative to a SAE 15W-40 engine oil, SAE 80W gearbox and a SAE 90 axle oil. Using the WHSC cycle, significant variations in the individual lubricant contribution under different speed/load conditions within the cycle were identified. Additionally, an average fuel consumption improvement of 1.8% was observed using medium-duty trucks under a range of typical European driving conditions in a controlled field trial.</div></div>

<div class="htmlview paragraph">The high level of protection afforded by the safety belt has been proved in the past beyond doubt. The results of national and international studies of its effectiveness are given. The possible relative reduction of the frequency of injuries to different parts of the body is pointed out. These reduction quotas are derived by means of direct comparison from equivalent real-life accidents. The effects of a 100% and 85% belt-wearing rate is described for the traffic accident incidence in the Federal Republic of Germany.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">On the basis of selected study material comprising 200 belted car drivers who were involved in head-on collisions, the injuries to the different parts of the body are presented in relation to the accident severity. In the light of these injuries, technical measures to the car and the belt system are proposed which might effect a further reduction of injuries.</div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) for motorcycles have already contributed significantly to the safety of powered two-wheelers (PTW) on public roads by improving bike stability and controllability in emergency braking situations.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">In order to address further riding situations, another step forward has been achieved with Motorcycle Stability Control (MSC) system. By combining ABS, electronically combined braking system (eCBS), traction control and inertial sensors even in situations like braking and accelerating in corners the riders' safety can be improved. The MSC system controls the distribution of braking and traction forces using an algorithm that takes into account all available vehicle information from wheels, power train and vehicle attitude. With its ability to control fundamental vehicle dynamics, the MSC system will be a basis for further development and integration of comprehensive safety systems.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The contribution of ABS towards motorcycle safety has been confirmed by numerous international research studies, making it the safety technology with the highest possible benefit for motorcycles available today. Recent investigations by Bosch accident researchers show the contribution of the MSC system to further increase the safety benefit for motorcycle riders by extending the acceleration and braking control functions to cover more riding situations. The MSC systems could avoid more than every 3<sup>rd</sup> accident with casualties involving a motorcycle in Germany.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">This paper focuses on these new motorcycle technologies developed with centralized system architecture and their safety benefits in preventing and mitigating motorcycle accidents with injuries and fatalities.</div></div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Now-a-days, Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) is equipping cars and drivers with advance information and technology to make them become aware of the environment and handle potential situations in better way semi-autonomously. High-quality training and test data is essential in the development and validation of ADAS systems which lay the foundation for autonomous driving technology.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">ADAS uses the technology like radar, vision and combinations of various sensors including LIDAR to automatize dynamic driving tasks like steering, braking, and acceleration of vehicle for controlled and safe driving. And to integrate these advance technologies, the ADAS needs labeled data to train the algorithm to detect the various objects and moments of driver. Image annotation is one the well-known service to create such training data for computer vision.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">There are number of open source annotated datasets available viz. COCO, KITTI etc. But these datasets are limited to either US or European road environment scenarios. There is hardly any dataset available for Indian Specific road conditions. In order to capture all the India Specific objects on road, we are capturing data through various environmental conditions, road conditions and annotating objects on the collected camera images. 2-D bounding boxes are being used to annotate objects in an image.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">These annotated images will then be used to train a machine learning model. Finally this trained model will be then used to detect Indian specific objects with real time data acquired through camera sensors mounted on the vehicle. Object detection is one of the prime aspects for ADAS functionality. The complete process will demonstrate end to end solution for object detection techniques from data generation to real-time object identification and recognition.</div></div>

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving systems (ADS) continue to expand into the market at a rapid pace. As improved (i.e., next generation) versions of these systems become available, they will continue to face many challenges in their implementation and benefits for safety and driving operations. The solution will involve many parties, including road safety professionals and researchers who see the potential in these systems but may have difficulties keeping up with them, and safety advocates who are calling for these systems to achieve higher levels of safety now.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph"><b>The Challenges of Next-gen ADAS and ADS and Related Vehicle Safety Topics</b> explores these challenges that will fall on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and automakers as they balance costs and benefits; establish reasonable regulations and standards; and determine how to improve, test, deliver, and use these systems successfully. Perhaps the most formidable challenge will be overcoming the expectation that ADAS—and especially ADS—will always work perfectly in every scenario.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph"><a href="https://www.sae.org/publications/edge-research-reports" target="_blank">Click here to access the full SAE EDGE</a><sup>TM</sup><a href="https://www.sae.org/publications/edge-research-reports" target="_blank"> Research Report portfolio.</a></div></div>