Abstract
Every year approximately 1.35 million people die as a consequence of road accidents. Almost 50% of road fatalities are vulnerable road users (VRUs). This research reviews the history of traffic safety for VRUs, presents an interesting insight into the statistics and evaluates the current legislation in Europe for pedestrians, cyclists, children on bicycle-mounted seats and motorcyclists in terms of impact situations and applied criteria. This enabled the author to have a better perspective on how the VRUs’ safety is currently verified. Furthermore, the VRU safety requirements are contrasted with the author’s research, which is mainly focused on VRU’s head biomechanics and kinematics. Finally, a new coherent method is presented, which encompasses the sub-groups of VRUs and proposes some improvements to both the regulations as well as technical countermeasures to mitigate the injuries during an impact. This study highlights the importance of numerical methods, which can serve as a powerful tool to study VRUs’ head injuries and kinematics.
Highlights
Vulnerable road user (VRU) safety is affected by many crucial factors such as vehicle design, its frontal aggressiveness, road and pavement layout, legislation, active and passive safety systems such as a car’s camera/LIDAR/RADAR or bicyclist’s helmet, to name a few
Some reports indicate that in the future connected transport system, VRU or “vulnerability” could be more related to non-connected users and people unable to fully use the potential of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) services offered to mobility [5]
The author presents each group of vulnerable road users—i.e., pedestrians, cyclists, children transported on the bicycle-mounted seats and motorcyclists—in the context of current norms and regulations, which are in force in Europe
Summary
Vulnerable road user (VRU) safety is affected by many crucial factors such as vehicle design, its frontal aggressiveness, road and pavement layout, legislation (e.g., speed limitations), active and passive safety systems such as a car’s camera/LIDAR/RADAR or bicyclist’s helmet, to name a few. Vulnerable road users are defined as “non-motorized road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists as well as motor-cyclists and persons with disabilities or reduced mobility and orientation” [1]. Some reports indicate that in the future connected transport system, VRU or “vulnerability” could be more related to non-connected users and people unable to fully use the potential of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) services offered to mobility [5]
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