RANKERS - Ranking for European Road Safety
Overview
Background & policy context:
The emergence of a consensus on the safety benefits of road design and management, as materialised by a draft Directive under examination by the European Parliament at the time of this project, should not overshadow the fact that all too often, it is still road injuries and deaths that trigger reactive measures by network managers.
Abundant empirical evidence suggests that many accident types tend to happen in clusters, especially if there is a road infrastructure element in the problem. It is a well-known phenomenon that certain roads induce driver drowsiness or, worse, mislead the user into inappropriate driving choices. It is less obvious however those physical road properties also constitute an important input into the improvement of on-board active safety technology, such as Antilock Braking Systems and Electronic Stability Programmes.
Objectives:
The overall objective of RANKERS was to develop scientifically researched guidelines on road infrastructure safety enabling optimal decision-making by road authorities in their efforts to promote safer roads and eradicate dangerous road sections.
Thanks to RANKERS, new knowledge was gained to meet the needs of road operators by offering a set of practical recommendations to avoid the constitution of accident cluster zones through preventive identification mechanisms and remedial measures ranked according to cost-effectiveness criteria.
Methodology:
The project distinguished itself from previous research work insofar as RANKERS addressed the 'infrastructure safety pillar' in its interrelation with driver behaviour and vehicle design, ultimately providing a vital insight into how road characteristics affect situation awareness and accident risk. Additionally RANKERS factored economic constraints and supposed a best use of limited resources reducing the return time for road safety improvements and investments.
The safety analysis addressed all types of existing roads (dual-carriageways, motorways, rural and urban roads), integrated human behaviour and vehicle technology considerations and considered both accident prevention and mitigation.
The project carried out further research on the need to provide the most suitable environment for drivers and their vehicles, not only mitigating the effects of accidents but also reducing the risk that they occur. This objective was pursued within the RANKERS project through experimental protocols which revealed the full extent of the influence of 'behaviour setting' infrastructure as part of the road traffic system.The analysis was conducted through field studies in actual driving conditions, making use of an experimental vehicle equipped with different measurement systems for video and data logging. Ultimately, RANKERS helped answer the following questions:
- how does the road surface (e.g. rough roads) and road geometry (e.g. monotonous roads) affect drivers' state (e.g. fatigue)?
- how do road signalling design and location influence recognition of signals?
- how do the position and features of the various road elements affect driver situation awareness?
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