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Self-Explaining and Forgiving Roads To Improve Traffic Safety

This document discusses improving traffic safety through self-explaining and forgiving roads. It notes that annual costs of road accidents in the EU are at least 160 billion euros and cause intolerable human suffering, with car occupants accounting for 57% of road deaths. While vulnerable road users face the highest risks, measures like vehicle crash protection and anti-drunk driving efforts can reduce casualties the most. The EU's In-Safety project aims to enhance the forgiving and self-explanatory nature of roads through cost-effective combinations of new technologies and traditional infrastructure practices.

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42 views1 page

Self-Explaining and Forgiving Roads To Improve Traffic Safety

This document discusses improving traffic safety through self-explaining and forgiving roads. It notes that annual costs of road accidents in the EU are at least 160 billion euros and cause intolerable human suffering, with car occupants accounting for 57% of road deaths. While vulnerable road users face the highest risks, measures like vehicle crash protection and anti-drunk driving efforts can reduce casualties the most. The EU's In-Safety project aims to enhance the forgiving and self-explanatory nature of roads through cost-effective combinations of new technologies and traditional infrastructure practices.

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In D. de Waard, K.A. Brookhuis, and A. Toffetti (Eds.

) (2006), Developments in Human Factors in


Transportation, Design, and Evaluation (pp. 51 - 61). Maastricht, the Netherlands: Shaker Publishing.

Self-explaining and forgiving roads
to improve traffic safety
Karel Brookhuis
1
, Dick de Waard
1
, Vincent Marchau
1
,
Marion Wiethoff
1
, Leonie Walta
1
& Angelos Bekiaris
2

1
Delft University of Technology,Department of Transport Policy & Logistics,
Delft, the Netherlands
2
Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki,Greece
Abstract
The annual cost of the road accidents amounts to at least 160 billion Euros and
intolerable human suffering. Motor vehicle occupants are the largest part of this
suffering, i.e. 57% of total European Union (EU) road deaths. Whilst the traffic
system as a whole is least safe for vulnerable road users, car occupants run the
largest risk in terms of fatal or serious accidents. Studies on effectiveness of
casualty reduction measures demonstrated that the largest reduction is expected
from vehicle crash protection (15%), measures against driving-while-intoxicated
are second with 11%, while road safety engineering measures will result in a
reduction of 6.5%. Due to the high cost of such measures, infrastructure
improvements are not expected to significantly contribute to a major reduction of
road fatalities. However, a suitable combination of new technologies with existing
infrastructure, or with limited improvements of it, may lead to much more cost-
effective solutions and may become the catalyst towards achieving the EU goal of
halving the number of road accidents in 2010.
The EU project In-Safety aims to use intelligent, intuitive and cost-efficient
combinations of new technologies and traditional infrastructure best practice
applications, to enhance the forgiving and self-explanatory nature of roads, by a
number of approaches. For instance, assessing the potential and cost-effectiveness
of combined use of new technologies and innovative HMI concepts, developing new
simulation models, risk analysis tools, and training tools for road, traffic
management and information centre (TMIC) and tunnel operators, harmonising
signing and personalising information, and issuing priority implementation
scenarios.
Introduction
Notwithstanding the undeniable and fortunate decrease in crashes, deaths and
injured in European traffic, still the costs in terms of human suffering and
economic loss are unacceptable (not yet down to zero). No less undeniable, and

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