Www.vsrc.org.uk Pete Thomas Professor in Road and Vehicle Safety Vehicle Safety Research Centre Loughborough University, UK A review of ITS and their safety.

www.vsrc.org.uk

Pete Thomas Professor in Road and Vehicle Safety

Vehicle Safety Research CentreLoughborough University, UK

A review of ITS and their safety benefits

Presentation to ETSC Best in Europe ConferenceBrussels

21-22 February 2006

Casualty reduction

2010 target of 50% reduction in fatalities

Prime purpose of ITS, eSafety and related initiatives is to reduce casualties on the road

How can ITS functions improve casualty reduction?

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

VehicleOccupants

Pedestrians

Motor-cyclists

Pedalcyclists

Where are we now?

Pre-crash Road safety – driver training, road design, roads policing, vehicle performance and maintenance, belt use, helmets

Crash Crashworthiness - Restraints, structure design, biomechanics

Post-crash Rescue – Paramedics training, extrication, hospital provision

VehiclesPrimary Safety

Conventional vehicle dynamics – braking, handling, cockpit ergonomics etc

Primary NCAP – significant differences in braking behaviour

Vehicle performance varies significantly – need for improved minimum standards

VehiclesSecondary Safety

Major improvements in crashworthiness driven by EuroNCAP and legislation

Accident data shows a reduction in fatality rates of drivers of 22%

Passive safety is a mature science

Further big reductions expected from improved compatibility, side impact performance,Pedestrian protection

Learning from other transport modes

Aviation – the safest transport mode

Crashes are rare

Pilots well trained and monitored

Automatic systems reduce conflicts

Vehicles controlled in position and speed

Heavily controlled andregulated

eSafety Initiative

EU eSafety Initiative

Development , deployment and use of Intelligent Integrated Safety Systems

Information and communication technologies

Driving technology development

Research funding

Enabling actions (eg waveband allocation, eCall MoU)

Coordinating Member state support

eSafety link

Integrated Safety on Roads

Strong industry led set of projects

Provides integrated approach to active safety

Total EU investment ~ €250m (50%)

Specifies direction of technology development

Casualty reduction and eSafety

Accident data

Accident data forms the foundation of road and vehicle safety management process

Macroscopic data shows casualty trends

In-depth data supports countermeasure development

Continuous in-depth researchinto accident and injury causation is needed to identifypriorities and develop countermeasures

Accident Priorities

Primary risk factors from accident data

1. Speed 30% of road deaths

2. Alcohol 17% of road deaths

3. Seatbelt 30% of road deaths

eSafety Technology Roadmap

Priority vehicle based technologies

ESC (Electronic Stability Control)

Blind spot monitoring

Adaptive head lights

Obstacle & collision warning

Lane departure warning

Priority infrastructure based technologies

eCall

Extended environmental information (Extended floating car data)

RTTI (Real-time Travel and Traffic Information)

Dynamic traffic management

Local danger warning

Speed Alert

Prioritisation of ITS technologies

Based on maximum casualty reduction

Take account of- Numbers of relevant crashes- % reduction of relevant crashes- Confounding factors – especially

human factors

No systematic estimates of casualty reduction for ITS

How do we evaluate active safety systems?

Problems- No systematic method of

assessment- Insufficient in-depth

representative data for EU 25- Countig crashes that didn’t occur

(near misses, naturalistic driving)

Casualty reduction methods

Standard approaches are

1.Engineering2.Enforcement 3.Education

How is ITS being used to improve these techniques?- Many engineering

measures- No enforcement- Little education

Gaps in road maps

Intelligent Speed Adaptation

Alcohol interlock

Enforcementtechnologies

Integrated approach with road safety initiatives

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Advisory ISA Mandatory ISA

% R

oa

d D

eath

s P

rev

ente

d

EU-level approaches to casualty reduction

Wide range of fatality rates in EU 25- Some countries need traditional casualty

reduction methods- Others need new methods including ITS

Best practise is to have an integrated road and vehicle safety management approach

There are opportunities to improve the coordination of road and vehicle strategies at EU-level

Conclusions

1. There are still considerable gains available from improved passive safety

2. ITS has the potential for further casualty reduction

3. Countermeasures should be targeted for maximum casualty reduction

4. eSafety initiatives should be properly integrated within the wider road and vehicle safety context

Contact

Pete Thomas

Professor of Road and Vehicle Safety

Vehicle Safety Research Centre

Ergonomics and Safety Research Institute

Loughborough University

[email protected]

Attend the 1st SafetyNet Conference & Workshopon European Accident Data andRoad and Vehicle Safety Policy

Prague May 10 - 11 2006