Study of Causation Mechanism and Dynamic Feature for Typical Rear End Situations in China-FOT

Abstract

Due to very few actual crashes occurring and the deviation of the collision and environment information between the fact and post processing,the use of surrogate events like noncrash Crash Relevant Events(CREs)found in Naturalistic Driving Studies (NDS) or Field Operational Tests (FOT) is usually motivated by referring to some version of Heinrich's classical triangle to find a faster way to learn about problems that need to be solved. To know the relationship between CREs and real crashes, we must know the causation mechanisms of them and find which types of data must be collected to verify that the “right” CREs found is usually missing. Based on the China-FOT database, the detecting criterion was firstly introduced and then 46 typical rear end situations in Chinese traffic condition were chosen to do the study of dynamic feature and causation mechanism. Driving Reliability and Error Analysis Method (DREAM) was used to study the causation mechanism from 4 kinds (Driver, Vehicle, Traffic environment, Organization) with 16 parameters, and then the logical relationship between the contributing factors were built. Ultimately, the comparison research about the causation mechanism of existing 42 rear end collisions to verify which factors were more likely to lead to rear end collision, and which factors had larger impact on the CREs but smaller impact on the real rear end collision was done. That could provide theoretical basis for the design and development of active safety products with the purpose of safety or comfort.