TYROSAFE - Tyre and Road Surface Optimisation for Skid Resistance and Further Effects
Overview
Background & policy context:
TYROSAFE is a Coordination Action funded by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 217920. The TYROSAFE project began on the 1st of July 2008.
The contribution that the road surface makes to road safety is often underestimated. Whilst first advances have already been made in the technology of tyres and braking systems, at the time of an accident or near-accident one of the major underlying factors is the condition of the road. The awareness of such issues varies widely across the EU. In the United Kingdom, which has one of the best road safety records in Europe, the importance of skidding resistance, as safety indicating parameter of the road surface, has been recognised for decades.
It is interesting to note that it is on the roads where such skidding resistance policies are applied where there are the lowest accident records. The reasons why such policies are not adopted more routinely across the EU are various. The project addressed the three most fundamental factors. These are the lack of awareness of the importance and contribution of skidding resistance, the lack of harmonised systems of comparing skidding resistance (even within Member States), and the concern over conflicts with other important characteristics of road surfaces (like rolling resistance and noise emissions). Very often policies are only focused to optimise road surfaces for only one parameter, whilst disregarding the other characteristics. That often led to negative impact on other related parameters.
The benefit that the project set out to provide to all three areas will help public authorities in Member States to make a contribution already, based on the coordinated application of existing research knowledge, towards reducing fatalities as well as negative environmental effects. In addition, the project will also create a solid platform for the development of new harmonised technologies that will contribute towards casualty reduction and additionally decrease CO2 and noise emissions in all Member States.
Objectives:
The main objectives of the project were to raise awareness, to coordinate and prepare for European harmonisation and to optimise the assessment and management of essential tyre/road interaction parameters in order to increase safety and support greening of European road transport.
This Coordination Action not only focussed on the road surface but also on tyres and on the interaction between the road surface and tyres. Only an optimised interaction can lead to a high level of safety for drivers on the roads in European countries while ensuring the most positive greening effect, through reduction of CO2 output and noise emissions.
This project provided a synopsis of the current state of scientific understanding and its current application in national and European standards. It identified the needs for future research and propose a way forward in the context of the future objectives of European road administrations in order to optimise three key properties of European roads: skid resistance, rolling resistance and tyre/road noise emission.
Methodology:
In addition to Administrative Management and Dissemination, there were four technical work packages (WP's):
- WP1: Policies of EU countries for: skid resistance / rolling resistance / noise emissions;
- WP2: Harmonisation of skid resistance test methods and choice of reference surfaces;
- WP3: Road surfaces properties: skid resistance / rolling resistance / noise emissions;
- WP4: Environmental effects and impact of climate change: skid resistance / rolling resistance / noise emissions;
- WP5: Dissemination and raising awareness; and
- WP6: Project Management.
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