Current and future trends in VRU accidents in Europe - why we need ITS solutions

Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) is a collective term used to describe cyclists, motorcyclists, moped riders and pedestrians. This paper describes work undertaken within the EC’s VRUITS project which focuses on reducing VRU accidents through the use of ITS solutions. The paper determines the current accident numbers within Europe for VRUs between the years 2002 and 2012 using the CARE database. Accident forecasting is then applied to predict future accident numbers if current trends continue and no successful countermeasures including ITS solutions are introduced into the Road Transport System. This shows the number of VRU fatalities in 2030 to be almost comparable to those of car accidents since car fatality rates are reducing at a far increased proportion compared to VRUs. The results of the study emphasise why the introduction of effective ITS solutions are necessary to improve the overall safety of VRUs

A headway to improve PTW rider safety within the EU through three types of ITS

Introduction: The current safety situation for Powered Two Wheelers (PTW) within the EU is alarming. According to EU statistics, PTW riders account for 17% of all fatal road injuries in the region and twice as many fatalities per hundred thousand registered vehicles compared with occupants of cars. In recent years, too little attention has been given to Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), including PTW users, in the development of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Therefore, ITS should be developed that consider PTW riders an integral part of traffic; we focus on three systems that we believe have the potential to improve safety among PTW riders, namely Intersection Safety (INS), the Powered Two Wheeler oncoming vehicle information system (PTW2V), and the Vulnerable road user Beacon System (VBS). The present study aims to estimate quantitatively the safety impacts of the selected ITS for PTW riders in the EU-28, once the systems are fully adopted and meet selected future scenarios for 2020 and 2030. Method: An ex-ante method suggested by Kulmala [1] was further developed and applied to assess the safety impacts of ITS specifically designed for VRUs. As suggested by the method, the analysis started by determining the impact mechanisms through which the selected ITS systems affect the safety of PTW riders. Results: According to the main results, all the systems we studied have a positive impact on PTW rider safety by preventing fatalities and injuries. The greatest effects, based on 2012 accident data and full penetration, could be attained by implementing PTW2V (283 fewer yearly fatalities) and INS (261 fewer yearly fatalities). The weakest effect was found with VBS (216 fewer yearly fatalities). Forecasts for 2030, also based on estimated accident trends and penetration rates, confirm an expected edge for INS and PTW2V in terms of safety

Critical accident scenarios for cyclists and how they can be addressed through ITS solutions

It is recognised that ITS applications have been relatively successful in improving road safety primarily through technology applications the vehicle and infrastructure. However, Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) have not received as much benefit as other road users. The EC-funded VRUITS project places the VRU road user at the centre, assesses the impact of current and upcoming ITS applications on the safety and mobility of VRUs, identifies how the usability and efficiency of ITS applications can be improved and recommends which actions have to be taken at a policy level to improve ITS safety and mobility. A major focus of the VRUITS project involves the safety of cyclists within the EU as a target VRU group. To provide the evidence-base for ITS applications, data were analysed to determine critical scenarios for cyclists and these data included national data in Spain, Austria, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This analysis was matched to analysis of the European CARE data to determine the consistency between the national and European databases. The main findings from the data analysis are as follows; • The majority of cycling accidents in the accident analysis were found to occur at junctions/intersections. • One of the most common scenarios involved vehicles pulling out into the path of the oncoming cyclist at an intersection • CARE data suggests that the most common scenario involves both cyclist and vehicle heading in the same direction but the vehicle then turns into the cyclist’s path • Overall, males are over-represented in the data. • The majority of the accidents occur in fine dry weather during daylight hours • The majority occur in urban areas at relatively on roads with relatively low speed limits Data from this phase of the VRUITS project will be used to determine the ITS solutions that are relevant to the scenarios determined through accident analysis. Subsequent phases of the project will look at the feasibility of implementation of theses countermeasures which is likely to include some pilot testing of specific applications

Are intelligent transport systems effective in improving the safety of vulnerable road users?

This paper presents the results of safety impact assessment, providing quantitative estimates of the safety impacts of ten ITS which were designed to improve safety, mobility and comfort of VRUs. The evaluation method originally developed to assess safety impacts of ITS for cars was now adapted for assessing safety impacts of ITS for VRUs. The main results of the assessment showed that nine services included in the quantitative safety impact assessment affected traffic safety in a positive way by preventing fatalities and injuries. At full penetration the highest effects were obtained for the systems PCDS+EBR, VBS and INS. The estimates for PCDS+EBR showed the maximum reduction of 7.5% on all road fatalities and 5.8% on all road injuries, which came down to an estimate of over 2,100 fatalities and over 62,900 injuries saved per year in the EU-28 when exploiting the 2012 accident levels adjusted with the estimated accident trends

Impact assessment of its applications for vulnerable road users

The EU-sponsored VRUITS project has prioritized ITS applications which have a potential to improve the safety, mobility and comfort of vulnerable road users (VRUs) and performed a quantitative safety, mobility and comfort assessment for the 10 most promising systems. The assessment methodology addresses not only the direct effects of the systems, but also unintended effects and effects through changes in mobility patterns. The 10 selected ITS were: VRU beacon system, Powered Two Wheelers oncoming Vehicle information, Bicycle-to-vehicle communication, Cooperative Intersection safety, Green wave for cyclists, Pedestrian & Cyclist detection with Emergency Braking, Blind spot detection, Intelligent pedestrian traffic signal, Crossing adaptive lighting and Information on bike rack vacancy. The paper presents the quantitative estimates for the impact on safety, mobility and comfort. The outputs of the impact assessment are translated into socioeconomic indicators via a social cost-benefit analysis

Prevention of railway trespassing by automatic sound warning—A pilot study

<p><b>Objective</b>: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a sound warning system on the frequency of trespassing at 2 pilot test sites in Finland.</p> <p><b>Methods</b>: The effect of automatic prerecorded sound warning on the prevention of railway trespassing was evaluated based on observations at 2 test sites in Finland. At both sites an illegal footpath crossed the railway, and the average daily number of trespassers before implementation of the measures was about 18 at both sites.</p> <p><b>Results</b>: The results showed that trespassing was reduced at these sites by 18 and 44%, respectively. Because of the lack of proper control sites, it is possible that the real effects of the measure are somewhat smaller.</p> <p><b>Conclusions</b>: The current study concludes that automatic sound warning may be efficient and cost effective at locations where fencing is not a viable option. However, it is not likely to be a cost-effective panacea for all kinds of sites where trespassing occurs, especially in countries like Finland where trespassing is scattered along the railway network rather than concentrated to a limited number of sites.</p

Improving the safety and mobility of vulnerable road users through ITS applications [VRUITS] D2.2 assessment methodology

ITS Applications have in recent years assisted in reducing the number of fatalities in Europe. However, Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) have not benefited as much as vehicle users. The EU-sponsored VRUITS project assesses the safety and mobility impacts of ITS applications for VRUs, assesses the impacts of current and upcoming ITS applications on the safety and mobility of VRUs, identifies how the usability and efficiency of ITS applications can be improved, and recommends which actions have to be taken at a policy level to accelerate deployment of such ITS. This deliverable reports on the needed modification and development of methodologies to assess the impacts of ITS applications for VRUs in the domains of safety, mobility and comfort and cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Safety assessment estimates the potential reduction in fatalities and injuries to VRU as a result of ITS applications for VRUs. Mobility and comfort are relatively new impact areas for study. The definition of mobility used in VRUITS is: Mobility is considered any form of outside (out of house) movement based on the identified soft transport modes: walking, cycling or motorcycling. These forms of movement are defined by trips from a starting point to a destination in order to conduct an out of house activity. Thus, the mobility impact assessment investigates the changes in the movement out of house (trips, length of trips, etc.) that are the result of the use of an ITS applications for VRUs. VRUITS uses the definition of comfort from Slater: “(...) a pleasant state of physiological, psychological, and physical harmony between a human being and the environment” (Slater, 1985: p. 4). Thus, the challenge in VRUITS is to assess comfort impacts as a result of the use of ITS applications by VRUs. Finally, the CBA monetises the quantified impacts (safety, mobility and comfort) to calculate the Benefit-Cost ratios. An analysis of the sub-groups of VRUs, presented in this report, forms the basis for determining which criteria the impact assessment methodologies must meet. This analysis also illuminates the data necessary as inputs to the impact assessment methodologies. For each impact assessment area, the state-of-the-art is presented. Each impact assessment area describes the required modifications to the methodology selected for use in the VRUITS project, to meet the demands of the VRU sub-groups as well as the ITS applications selected for analysis in the VRUITS project