15 research outputs found
MUNDS: a new approach to evaluating safety technologies
Real-world evaluations of the safety benefits of
new integrated safety technologies are hampered by
the lack of sufficient data to assess early reliable
benefits. To address this, a new approach was
developed using a case-control, meta-analysis of
coordinated national police data from Australia,
Finland, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK,
in assessing the benefits of Electronic Stability
Control (ESC). The results showed that singlevehicle
injury crash reductions varied between 21%
and 54%, dependent on the speed zone of the crash
and the road condition (significantly more effective
in wet/icy road conditions than dry roads). For
injury crashes involving more than one vehicle,
ESC was twice as effective preventing crashes in
high speed than lower speed zones. The findings
using this new approach were consistent with those
published by various equivalent individual studies,
bearing in mind their wider international scope in
terms of driving conditions and vehicle fleets
studied. It was concluded that this new approach
using a āprospectiveā meta-analysis method has the
potential to expedite the process of evaluating
emerging vehicle safety technologies that would
otherwise be subject to much greater delays before
sufficient evidence could be collected
A European fatal crash database
A lack of representative European accident data to aid the development of safety policy, regulation and
technological advancement is a major obstacle in the European Union. Data are needed to assess the
performance of road and vehicle safety and is also needed to support the development of further actions by
stakeholders. This short-paper describes the process of developing a data collection and analysis system
designed to partly fill these gaps. A project team with members from 7 countries was set up to devise
appropriate variable lists to collect fatal crash data under the following topic levels: accident, road
environment, vehicle, and road user, using retrospective detailed police reports (n=1,300). The typical level
of detail recorded was a minimum of 150 variables for each accident. The project will enable
multidisciplinary information on the circumstances of fatal crashes to be interpreted to provide information
on a range of causal factors and events surrounding the collisions
Recommendations for establishing Pan European transparent and independent road accident investigations
A set of recommendations for pan-European transparent and independent road accident investigations has been developed by
the SafetyNet project. The aim of these recommendations is to pave the way for future EU scale accident investigation
activities by setting out the necessary steps for establishing safety oriented road accident investigations in Member States.
This can be seen as the start of the process for establishing road accident investigations throughout Europe which operate
according to a common methodology.
The recommendations propose a European Safety Oriented Road Accident Investigation Programme which sets out the
procedures that need to be put in place to investigate a sample of every day road accidents. They address four sets of issues;
institutional addressing the characteristics of the programme; operational describing the conditions under which data is
collected; data storage and protection; and reports, countermeasures and the dissemination of data
The development of a European fatal accident database
A lack of representative European accident data to aid the development of safety policy, regulation and
technological advancement is a major obstacle in the European Union. Data are needed to assess the
performance of road and vehicle safety and is also needed to support the development of further actions by
stakeholders. A recent analysis conducted by the European Transport Safety Council identified that there
was no single system in place that could meet all of the needs and that there were major gaps including indepth
crash causation information. This paper describes the process of developing a data collection and
analysis system designed to partly fill these gaps. A project team with members from 7 countries was set up
to devise appropriate variable lists to collect fatal crash data under the following topic levels: accident, road
environment, vehicle, and road user, using retrospective detailed police reports (n=1,300). The typical level
of detail recorded was a minimum of 150 variables for each accident. The project will enable
multidisciplinary information on the circumstances of fatal crashes to be interpreted to provide information
on a range of causal factors and events surrounding the collisions. This has major applications in the areas of
active safety systems, infrastructure and road safety, as well as for tailoring behavioural interventions
Proposing a framework for pan European transparent and independent road accident investigation
Unlike the rail, civil aviation and maritime transport modes, there is currently
no standard process for investigating road accidents within Europe. There is,
therefore, a wide range of road accident investigation procedures and
protocols in place across Europe. However, as countries work towards
meeting both their own road safety targets and those set by the European
Commission, it may be that existing investigation practices are no longer
suited to facilitating the decision making processes of road safety policymakers
or practitioners.
SafetyNet is a European Commission supported project, which is building a
European Road Safety Observatory to facilitate the formulation of road safety
policy in the European Union. Work package 4 of SafetyNet is developing
recommendations for a Transparent and Independent pan-European
approach to road accident investigation.
These recommendations propose the establishment of an independent body
for undertaking transparent and independent accident investigations where
necessary, or the implementation of these investigations in existing national
safety orientated accident investigation activities, in each of the EU Member
States. This body would gather and manage accident investigation data and
use this data to further progress road safety within the EU.
To define the framework in which this body might operate, āBest practiceā from
existing investigative organisations across Europe was examined in order to
produce a set of draft recommendations which focused on four categories of
issues:
1. Institutional, referring to the structure and functioning of the body
responsible for road safety investigations;
2. Operational, detailing how the body carries out investigations;
3. Data, addressing issues surrounding the storage, retrieval and
analysis of data generated by investigations; and
4. Development of Countermeasures, dealing with how investigation
conclusions should be presented, used and disseminated.
A consultation exercise was then undertaken in order to gather the expert
opinion of European road safety stakeholders and to further develop the
recommended framework. This highlighted a number of key questions about
the Draft Recommendations including:
ā¢ Is the proposed level of transparency and independence appropriate
for road accident investigations?
ā¢ Is one type of investigative activity appropriate for all types of accidents
ranging from the most severe or āmajorā accidents to the large number
of more minor accidents that occur everyday?
The major conclusion was that a āone size fits allā approach is not appropriate
for the investigation of road accidents and therefore multiple sets of
recommendations are required. This paper discusses how the four categories
of recommendations combine to form a framework where the data gathered
during road accident investigations can be used to develop road accident
countermeasures which will assist in casualty reduction throughout Europe
The development of a European fatal accident database
A lack of representative European accident data to aid the development of safety policy, regulation and
technological advancement is a major obstacle in the European Union. Data are needed to assess the
performance of road and vehicle safety and is also needed to support the development of further actions by
stakeholders. A recent analysis conducted by the European Transport Safety Council identified that there
was no single system in place that could meet all of the needs and that there were major gaps including indepth
crash causation information. This paper describes the process of developing a data collection and
analysis system designed to partly fill these gaps. A project team with members from 7 countries was set up
to devise appropriate variable lists to collect fatal crash data under the following topic levels: accident, road
environment, vehicle, and road user, using retrospective detailed police reports (n=1,300). The typical level
of detail recorded was a minimum of 150 variables for each accident. The project will enable
multidisciplinary information on the circumstances of fatal crashes to be interpreted to provide information
on a range of causal factors and events surrounding the collisions. This has major applications in the areas of
active safety systems, infrastructure and road safety, as well as for tailoring behavioural interventions
The development of a multidisciplinary system to understand causal factors in road crashes
The persistent lack of crash causation data to help inform and monitor road and vehicle
safety policy is a major obstacle. Data are needed to assess the performance of road
and vehicle safety stakeholders and is needed to support the development of further
actions. A recent analysis conducted by the European Transport Safety Council
identified that there was no single system in place that could meet all of the needs and
that there were major gaps including in-depth crash causation information. This paper
describes the process of developing a data collection and analysis system designed to fill
these gaps. A project team with members from 7 countries was set up to devise
appropriate variable lists to collect crash causation information under the following topic
levels: accident, road environment, vehicle, and road user, using two quite different sets
of resources: retrospective detailed police reports (n=1300) and prospective,
independent, on-scene accident research investigations (n=1000). Data categorisation
and human factors analysis methods based on Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis
Method (Hollnagel, 1998) were developed to enable the causal factors to be recorded,
linked and understood. A harmonised, prospective āon-sceneā method for recording the
root causes and critical events of road crashes was developed. Where appropriate, this
includes interviewing road users in collaboration with more routine accident investigation
techniques. The typical level of detail recorded is a minimum of 150 variables for each
accident. The project will enable multidisciplinary information on the circumstances of
crashes to be interpreted to provide information on the causal factors. This has major
applications in the areas of active safety systems, infrastructure and road safety, as well
as for tailoring behavioural interventions. There is no direct model available
internationally that uses such a systems based approach
The development of a multidisciplinary system to understand causal factors in road crashes
The persistent lack of crash causation data to help inform and monitor road and vehicle
safety policy is a major obstacle. Data are needed to assess the performance of road
and vehicle safety stakeholders and is needed to support the development of further
actions. A recent analysis conducted by the European Transport Safety Council
identified that there was no single system in place that could meet all of the needs and
that there were major gaps including in-depth crash causation information. This paper
describes the process of developing a data collection and analysis system designed to fill
these gaps. A project team with members from 7 countries was set up to devise
appropriate variable lists to collect crash causation information under the following topic
levels: accident, road environment, vehicle, and road user, using two quite different sets
of resources: retrospective detailed police reports (n=1300) and prospective,
independent, on-scene accident research investigations (n=1000). Data categorisation
and human factors analysis methods based on Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis
Method (Hollnagel, 1998) were developed to enable the causal factors to be recorded,
linked and understood. A harmonised, prospective āon-sceneā method for recording the
root causes and critical events of road crashes was developed. Where appropriate, this
includes interviewing road users in collaboration with more routine accident investigation
techniques. The typical level of detail recorded is a minimum of 150 variables for each
accident. The project will enable multidisciplinary information on the circumstances of
crashes to be interpreted to provide information on the causal factors. This has major
applications in the areas of active safety systems, infrastructure and road safety, as well
as for tailoring behavioural interventions. There is no direct model available
internationally that uses such a systems based approach
Building the European Road Safety Observatory. SafetyNet. Deliverable 4.5 Recommendations for transparent and independent road accident investigation
These Recommendations for Transparent and Independent Road Accident
Investigation present the conclusions of four years of combined efforts of more
than 20 persons, involved in road safety research, representing seven different
organisations from as many European Union Member States. They establish
the requirements for conducting and promote the creation of transparent and
independent road accident investigations in all Member States according to a
common European investigation methodology. Such investigations would
address the need to have detailed, public, transparent and independent road
accident data available at European level.
The issues related to independence and transparency have been considered in
detail in previous SafetyNet work package 4 Deliverables (SafetyNet, 2005 and
2006a). A set of Draft Recommendations addressing the investigation of major
as well as a sample of routine accidents was prepared (SafetyNet, 2006b). A
consultation period culminating with a Workshop was organised for gathering
feedback on those Draft Recommendations (SafetyNet, 2007). Finally, the Draft
Recommendations were thoroughly reconsidered in light of that feedback and
used to prepare this 'finalisedā set of Recommendations, whose primary focus is
on the investigation of a sample of routine accidents
Recommendations for establishing Pan European Transparent and Independent Road Accident Investigations
A set of recommendations for pan-European transparent and independent road accident investigations has been developed bythe SafetyNet project. The aim of these recommendations is to pave the way for future EU scale accident investigationactivities by setting out the necessary steps for establishing safety oriented road accident investigations in Member States.This can be seen as the start of the process for establishing road accident investigations throughout Europe which operateaccording to a common methodology.The recommendations propose a European Safety Oriented Road Accident Investigation Programme which sets out theprocedures that need to be put in place to investigate a sample of every day road accidents. They address four sets of issues;institutional addressing the characteristics of the programme; operational describing the conditions under which data iscollected; data storage and protection; and reports, countermeasures and the dissemination of data