eSafety Compendium

It can be expected that in the near future, many of the onboard safety functions will becomplemented by co-operative technologies, while further advances in road safety arebrought by co-operative functions. Therefore, in this report the safety systems areaddressed by safety function. Some of these functions are based completely onautonomous in-vehicle technologies while some others use also complementary,interactive technologies.2.4. The most effective safety functionMost of the accident databases relate the accident to a small set of accidentmanoeuvres. However, the distribution of the registered accident causes varies percountry, and the data collection methods in the different countries vary also.Most accidents are also a consequence of multiple problems.For these reasons, it is not possible to determine today what might be the most effectivesafety function and which function would save most lives. Therefore, the industry isengaged in the development and deployment of a relatively large number of IntelligentIntegrated Road Safety Systems, like safe speed and speed warning, vehicle collision alertsystem, lane support, safe following, pedestrian protection, intersection safety, vehicledynamics, driver monitoring and improved vision and perception systems. Thesesystems, their potential impact and the complementing co-operative systems such asEmergency Call and Traffic and Travel Information are discussed in detail in the nextChapter.3. THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR INTEGRATEDSAFETY3.1. The need for Accident Causation DataOne of the most important building blocks in setting up a strategy for the deployment ofintelligent integrated road safety systems into the vehicles is the availability of a Europeanwide database of accident causation data. Only on the basis of clear statistics on thecauses of accidents can the impact of new safety systems be evaluated and the realpotential of these systems highlighted.Targeted actions can then be formulated, and the deployment accelerated.Accident statistics for all Member States exist (e.g. the EU CARE database 14 ), butconsolidated data on accident causation does not. However, in some countriescomprehensive data sets are available and automotive manufacturers and insurancecompanies have also substantial data sets (e.g. GEDAS, LAB, DEKRA and Volvodatabases). A European Accident Causation Database is needed. Such a database mightbe built on the same foundations as the current EACS database 15 . EACS is notsufficiently large nor is its coverage enough to guarantee the kind of reliable picture ofaccident causation required.14 CARE database: http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/home/care/index_en.htm15 European Accident Causation Survey (EACS) Methodology, ACEA with the support of theEuropean Commission and European Road Safety Federation (ERSF)Page 23 of 490