Policy makers

One of the problems faced by every road safety body is that the consequences of drink driving are abstract to people that have never felt them. It’s hard to imagine losing your licence, ending up in prison, killing someone, or being left with permanent disabilities because most of us have never experienced these things. We can logically understand them, but we don’t feel them. For the first time, using Virtual Reality, we could create a shocking and deeply resonant immersive experience and make these consequences feel real.
Data collected by the organisation showed that there had been a resurgence in drink driving in Ireland. A legacy of historical anti-drink driving advertising had reduced the behaviour, but a new cohort of younger people, who have never been exposed to it, were drinking and driving anew. These findings instigated creating a campaign to help reduce this worrying trend against younger adult males who considered themselves invincible and immune to road traffic collisions. For the first time, using Virtual Reality (VR), we could create a shocking and deeply resonant immersive experience and make these consequences feel real.
Our response was ‘Consequences’: a cut-through VR experience that toured the country and challenged the user by putting them in the shoes of a drunk driver, bringing this serious message home in a completely new and immersive way. Different storylines allowed the user to experience the full extent of the agonising consequences of drink driving—from injury to prosecution.

We’re addressing multiple road safety problems:`

- Improving the work safety of road inspectors by reducing time being physically in the middle of the road and reducing multitasking while driving.
- Improving road safety for cars, motorcycles and bicyclist by reducing potholes and defect road inventory such as faded road signs, damaged bollards, etc.
- Improving road safety for pedestrians by mapping crosswalks with worn-out lane markings as well as pavement uplift that causes people to fall.

Image examples can be found attached

The Mobilidata program addresses the lack of centralized, timely and qualitative real time traffic warnings in the G2B2C ecosystem.

To fulfil the need of road users to receive and be able to cooperate with (return) real time traffic warnings, Mobilidata implemented for the entire Flanders- region and on the entire public road network the European defined C-ROADS standardized Cooperation model of C-ITS or Cooperative ITS. In Mobilidata 31 different use cases are addressed – see overview of all use cases under 7.2 -images

Mobilidata is the Flanders hub where real time road safety related information comes together from these sources:
• Governmental regional and local level: e.g. roadside infrastructure like traffic controllers, variable message signs,
• Private/corporate level: e.g. Directive 2010/40/EU, EU specified SRTI (safety related traffic information) - vehicle sensor based real time warnings.
• Road user ‘community’ based: Events reported, and event feedback generated by road users.

Each of these 3 source information systems has its strengths and weaknesses, offering a neutral environment where they can be combined and distributed to all interested in a non-commercial setting is possible in a road-safety promoting context.

Road safety information in Mobilidata can be clustered in 3 subgroups per topic in the 29 on-street use case list + an extra subgroup of 2 off-street policy related use cases:
• Road regulation & policies
• Warnings / dangerous situations
• Connected infrastructure / traffic lights

Governments and administration need to do more to improve road safety. But, the statistics for road traffic accidents are still shocking. Around 90% of all road accidents are caused by human error. That means every year, about a million people die because of other people's mistakes, carelessness, or irresponsibility. So it makes you wonder, are we doing good enough for road safety? Safe Driving, aims to help and informing whole road users about every single issue in Road Traffic from A to Z.

We are solving the two main unsettled topics in Camera and LiDAR Systems and human vision in traffic situations. The internally developed Visibility Label, featuring a new universally applicable reference color, addresses the first topic, which is the lack of a universal method for quantifying the visibility of complex shapes such as cars, bikes, and busses. Crystal Glass Pigments provide a solution for the second unresolved issue, focusing on improving the functionality (i.e. visibility) of coatings on vehicles. By formulating new colors with this innovative additive, the coatings become significantly better visible for camera systems, human vision at night, and LiDAR systems 24/7.

Asociatia Drum Sigur analyzed and researched the following design errors:
- incorrect use of signs for yielding priority in intersections (Give Way and Stop signs) (error found in most countries of the world)
- the formulas used to calculate the length of acceleration/deceleration lanes at road junctions are incorrect (they do not take into account the impact of heavy vehicle traffic, as well as the volume of traffic flows) (error found worldwide)
- the use of staggered pedestrian crossings at traffic lighted intersections has negative effects on pedestrian traffic in most cases. (case analysis for all the staggered pedestrian crossings in Bucharest)
- identification of design and execution errors for T-type intersections, roundabouts, turbo-roundabouts or interchanges in some cities in Romania.
- analyzing some design errors on certain streets in Bucharest and proposing measures to improve road safety and traffic flow.

From July 2024, stricter EU regulations (GSR II) will come into force for all newly registered trucks and buses. Most of these also apply to city buses. An important exception in GSR II is the emergency braking assistance system, which is not mandatory for buses with unprotected standing and seated passengers. For this type of city bus, ZF has developed a brake assistance system that reduces the consequences of a possible collision. It contains a braking cascade which starts with a first braking pulse which enables sufficient reaction time for standing passengers in order to prepare for the actual braking maneuver, for example by holding and/or a compensating step. The deceleration is then raised to a conservatively selected value which is still controllable for standing passengers and at the same time represents a satisfactory balance with the desired reduction in the vehicle speed and the reduction in the severity of the collision. The Collision Mitigation System (CMS) protects both passengers and vulnerable road users and enables a safer urban public transport.

Our experience shows that most road accidents are caused by human error. Various analyses carried out by ALSA show that most road accidents are caused by inappropriate driver behaviour.
In order to manage road safety proactively, it is necessary to have a detailed and rigorous knowledge of the performance and behaviour of each driver in order to know their skills and behaviours, as well as to track their evolution over time.
To this end, ALSA has invested in technology in more than 3,700 vehicles in Spain that allows us to measure speeding, monitor various parameters that reflect driving style and detect various driver behaviours using innovative smart camera technology.
These smart cameras are based on "machine vision” and "artificial intelligence" (MV+IA) systems, which allow us to detect 40 types of driver behaviour and are particularly noteworthy for their innovation.
The data provided by the aforementioned technologies is used to calculate the risk profile of each driver. ALSA defines personalised actions for each driver: training, assignment to certain vehicles and routes, greater follow-up and monitoring, etc.
In addition, each driver has access to the data available on their own performance through an internal app (called "MiAlsa"). In this way, drivers can consult information on their own performance (consumption, driving styles, speeding, incidents, etc.).

Nature in Gelderland is thriving, with a growing number of wild animals. This is a beautiful phenomenon, but unfortunately, it also brings an increased risk of accidents involving wild animals. The chances of a poor outcome for the animal are high, but there is also a significant risk of material damage and severe consequences for the driver. The risk of collisions with wildlife is especially higher during certain periods, specific times, and at certain locations. Think of dawn and dusk, and the transition to winter or summer time.

In the past, the Province of Gelderland has taken various measures by adjusting the infrastructure and influencing the behavior of wild animals. Examples of these measures include the installation of warning signs, wildlife grids, and boar disappearance blocks. However, it turns out that more is needed to tackle the problem.

Drivers often underestimate the risk of animals being along the roads in the forests. Despite the recommended speed limits, they often drive too fast and are not always aware of the risk of animals along the roads. Therefore, the province of Gelderland wants to place more emphasis on the behavior of road users. In response to this need, creative behavioral agency andc and behavioral agency Dijksterhuis and Van Baaren have developed a behavior-oriented approach, including interventions, to encourage road users to adhere to the recommended speed limits.