Unprotected Road Users Research Articles

Slow-moving vehicles in Swedish traffic.

The objective of this study was to reach a better understanding of accidents on Swedish roads involving slow-moving vehicles and to suggest ways of preventing such accidents. We analyzed accident data from a 5-year period (1992-1996) involving all types of farm vehicles as well as horses and horse-drawn vehicles. During each year of the period under investigation, slow-moving vehicles were involved in more than 250 traffic accidents on Swedish roads, and an average of 10 people were killed, 66 sustained serious injuries, and 192 sustained slight injuries. This was about 1.3% of all persons injured in traffic accidents in Sweden. The deaths and injuries mostly involved car drivers and passengers. Tractor drivers and unprotected road users (people walking or traveling by motorcycle, moped, or bicycle) also sustained serious injuries and deaths. Vehicles overtaking slow-moving vehicles from behind were the most common type of accident (30%), followed by turning accidents (27%), accidents at crossroads (26%), and with oncoming vehicles (17%). To strengthen the suggestions for improvement, a questionnaire was sent out to driving school teachers in Sweden. Subjects were asked about their experiences with farm vehicles on the roads and their suggestions for ways to increase traffic safety. Based on the accident data and the questionnaire responses, we developed several suggestions for reducing road accidents, including measures for making farm vehicles more visible, improvement of the training provided at driving schools, and information campaigns directed at drivers of farm vehicles and other road users. Further in-depth research is needed to analyze road accidents involving slow-moving vehicles and to test different intervention measures.

An active hood as pedestrian protection

Vehicle development in recent years has given more thought to the importance of pedestrian protection. In addition to vehicle occupant safety in the event of an accident, emphasis has recently been placed on the role of the unprotected road users, for example pedestrians or cyclists.

Public transport in metropolitan areas — a danger for unprotected road users

The risks associated with bus and tram traffic (Am. cable car) for unprotected road users, within a well-defined geographic area, were analyzed in a descriptive study using data from the hospital's special traffic injury register and from all other available sources of crash and injury data. The risk of suffering a non-fatal injury was four times higher per vehicle-kilometer for tram traffic compared with bus traffic, while the risk of death was 9–15 times higher for tram traffic. The injury incidence in relation to age had a biphasic shape with the highest risks for young and old people. However, the tram injury rate for men was highest for middle aged men (30–49 years at age). Three quarters of those injured both in bus and tram incidents sustained their injuries at bus or tram stops, or at pedestrian crossings. One third of the injury cases with trams, and one quarter with buses, occurred in the dark. The greater danger associated with trams for unprotected road users is a factor worth to be considered. However, injury-reducing measures, e.g. in the vehicle design and in the traffic area, especially at and near tram and bus stops, might reduce the injuries caused by both trams and buses.

The CHAMELEON and PROTECTOR projects

CHAMELEON (Pre-Crash Application All Around the Vehicle) and PROTECTOR (Preventive Safety for Unprotected Road Users) are two European projects carried out within the 5th Framework of the Research and Development Programme.

Rating the Aggressivity of Australian Passenger Vehicles Towards Other Vehicle Occupants and Unprotected Road Users

Two measures of aggressivity of Australian passenger vehicles have been developed. The first measures the aggressivity to occupants of other cars. This type of aggressivity rating is based on two-car crashes between passenger vehicles and measures the injury risk each make/model in the collisions poses to the drivers of the other vehicles. The second measures aggressivity to unprotected road users. These aggressivity ratings reflect the threat of severe injury to pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists by die make/model of vehicle colliding with them. This analysis was based on nearly 102,000 drivers involved in tow-away crashes with the makes/models which were the focus of the study and on nearly 22,000 injured pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. The results suggest that crasbworthiness and aggressivity are two different aspects of a vehicle's safety performance, with good performance on one dimension not necessarily being associated with good performance on the other.

Fatal motorcyclist injury from a hinged and rounded rearview mirror

Rigidly mounted sharp projections from automobile exteriors have been replaced by flexibly mounted rounded structures believed to be less hazardous to unprotected road users. The present report of a fatality from an external rearview mirror indicates the continued potential for harm from a projecting structure in spite of a hinged mounting and rounded shape.

Unprotected road users—the most important category of road traffic casualties

The author examines the distribution of road traffic injuries among different categories of road users by reference to casualties registered at Halmstad in Sweden in 1970. 770 casualties were classified into four groups according to severity of injuries and an investigation made into the accuracy of reports sent to the central bureau of statistics. It is concluded that (1) there are equal numbers of protected and unprotected road users among road casualties, (2) a majority of road casualties are injured in collision accidents and (3) unprotected road users receive the most serious injuries. The suggestion is made that the quality of statistics should be improved. /TRRL/