There are limited data in Europe on light goods vehicles (LGVs) crashes. The project IMPROVER shows that the country of the EU-25 with the highest number of fatalities in accidents involving LGVs is Spain (2002).
The aim of this paper is the evaluation of the accident reduction which could be achieved by incorporating active safety technologies to LGVs involved in crashes, based on a reconstruction evaluation method.
The methodology is based on a retrospective analysis of the accident technical reports from the Spanish Traffic Directorate (DGT). It comprises 254 fatal accidents with LGVs involved, occurred in rural roads during 2009 and 2010. This information has been analysed to identify the most significant stages (independent variables) during the pre-crash phase based on the HFF method. Afterwards a classification tree has been created using those independent variables and their interactions to describe and quantify their influences on LGV accidents.
Accidents have been analyzed and evaluated considering the assumed effect of each specific active safety system proposed –ABS, BAS and ESP-. Every case has been simulated using the PCCrash ® software. Two crash situations have been modelled: the first one is a reconstruction of the real accident and the second one is a simulation in which the operation of the active systems is emulated modifying the collision parameters and its potential consequences.
This study makes the identification of critical parameters easier and it simplifies the development of practical solutions by quantifying their potential impact on future actions to improve LGVs safety. Reconstructions of these accidents were performed using software techniques to estimate multiple parameters from the collision, the pre- and postimpact phases. The gathered information has been used for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Antilock Brake System (ABS), the Brake Assist System (BAS) and the Electronic Stability Programme (ESP). The performance of these systems has been simulated in reconstructions, so it is possible to assess their capacity for the avoidance of the analysed accidents.
The implementation of active safety technologies in all new vehicles will lead to achieve reductions in LGVs-involved accidents or to decrease their severity. In order to assess the safety performance of these vehicles it is necessary to be able to identify these vehicles data relating to accident involvement, vehicle registration and vehicle usage. It would improve any future evaluations of LGVs safety performance or help to monitor the effects of any policy decisions.
For many years numerous studies have conducted to estimate the effectiveness of safety systems for vehicles. However, the most of these ones has been focused on passenger cars and clear gaps were detected in the case of specific studies on LGVs.
Although the performance of active safety technologies explains basically their behaviour in test conditions, they are not enough to assess their success in each real world scenario. A full forecast of their potential is only possible by modelling the driver-vehicle-system-environment. The reconstruction of real world accidents is the core tool of the proposed method.