F2008-08-141
The Need for Accident Research that Takes Regional and Country-Specific Differences into Account
In this paper the author describes the necessity for accident research in different areas of the world.
In Europe and North America very thorough accident research is conducted by private and public organizations. This has resulted in a more thorough understanding of the effects of safety measures with regard to infrastructure, vehicle design, and driver behavior. Examples are given that illustrate this for Europe.
In the U.S.A. different conditions exist as compared to Europe. Thus results of accident research found for Europe, do not necessarily hold for the U.S.A. Examples of these differences are driver behavior including the lower rates of safety belt usage, the higher market share of SUVs, etc.
The situation in emerging markets is even more complicated. Volkswagen has therefore established an accident research program in the P.R.China, in cooperation with Shanghai Volkswagen and Tongji University. A priority list for safety measures is derived from these results and will be discussed in the paper. Priorities are significantly different to those previously discussed for Europe.
In Europe, passive safety measures are included in a wide range of vehicles, active safety measures are much more relevant in Europe. On the other hand, in China there is a large fleet of cars with a comparatively low level of self protection. If the new car fleet in China should be the same as in Europe, side effects including increasing risk levels for older cars become relevant and could compromise the benefit achieved for the newer vehicles. Therefore, China will require a transition period to reach the European level of self protection.
Driver behavior for of all types of vehicles and two-wheelers, must change, if necessary through stricter enforcement of traffic laws and licensing requirements. At this time, active safety measures analogous to those in Europe will necessarily have a lower priority in China today.
Accident examples and analyses are provided to support these findings, and are expressed in the form of a priority list.
Different findings on different continents demonstrate that safety measures cannot be carried over one-on-one from one country to the other. Each region of the world must establish its own priorities in order to achieve the greatest benefit in the context of the special conditions prevailing there.
Session: Accident Analysis II