The multiplicity of accident causation has led to development of various traffic safety systems for collision avoidance or reduction. Since the customer will not purchase all these systems, a question of prioritization of these systems for the manufacturers as well as authorities arises.
In previous papers a method was described which investigated the benefit potential of 43 different systems. The in-depth accident database ZEDATU which includes fatal accidents in Austria was used to select a sub-sample of accidents. For those, the pre-collision phase was reconstructed in detail with numerical accident reconstruction using PC-Crash. The efficiency of safety systems was calculated either by integration of intervening systems in the simulation (ESC, ABS, Brake Assist and Evasive Maneuver Assistant) or by subjective evaluation of the pre-collision situation. This study, called RCSTUG study (Retrospective Case Study of the Graz University of Technology), exhibited the advantage that many different systems were analyzed in detail using the same sample with a comparatively high case number. This led to improved comparableness.
In another previous paper, the selected sample (n=217) of the database was weighted to achieve statistical representativeness, since single vehicle accidents were underrepresented. For each of the selected 43 systems, the potential for collision avoidance or reduction of severity was analyzed. The results were compared to findings in literature and the authors proposed a prioritization for traffic safety systems. The results indicated that especially systems effective in lateral vehicle dynamics (Evasive Maneuver Assistant, Lane Keeping Assist, ESC) offer significant potential to avoid fatal injuries, as well as autonomous Brake Assist, Collision Warning Systems and Driver Vigilance Monitoring.
The present study continues the analysis of the RCS-TUG study. The new analysis differentiates between the vehicle categories such as motorized two-wheelers, light trucks, passenger cars, trucks and busses with respect to the ego-vehicle. Additionally, the database was checked for errors.
The limitations of the study are the restriction to fatal accidents in the area of Austria. Additionally some systems are evaluated by subjective judgment of the authors.