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Der Schutz schwacher Verkehrsteilnehmer wie Fußgänger und Fahrradfahrer erfordert weitere Innovationen. Gemeinsam mit Autoliv entwickelte die niederländische TNO dazu den Prototyp eines neuartigen Windschutzscheibenairbags sowie eine Erweiterung der Notbremsfunktion.

Om het aantal doden en gewonden onder fietsers in het verkeer te laten dalen werkt TNO aan verschillende projecten: Samen met I&M en RWS onderzoekt TNO de oorzaak van enkelvoudige fietsongevallen en fiets/fiets ongevallen. Analyse van videobeelden van gevaarlijke locaties biedt inzicht in welk gedrag tot dit type ongevallen leidt. De helft van het aantal fietsdoden komt door aanrijdingen tussen auto’s en fietsers. Het SaveCAP project, een samenwerking van TNO met partners, onderzoekt de mogelijkheden van veiligheidsmaatregelen, zoals een airbag aan de buitenzijde of automatisch remmen. November 2012 zal een “proof-of-concept” worden gepresenteerd. Het is belangrijk dat maatregelen in voertuigen ter verbetering van de bescherming van voetgangers en fietsers zoveel mogelijk worden toegepast. Daarom werkt TNO in het project AsPeCSS in een Europees consortium aan een beoordelingssysteem van deze maatregelen.

The CityMobil project “Towards advanced transport for the urban environment” aims at achieving a more effective organisation of urban transport, resulting in a more rational use of motorised traffic with less congestion and pollution, safer driving, a higher quality of living and an enhanced integration with spatial development. This paper describes a certification procedure for automated transport systems, developed in various European research projects and completed in the CityMobil project. The paper also describes the first experiences with the procedure. Furthermore the paper describes experiences with certification processes of automated systems in various countries where systems have been introduced.

For the development of effective vehicle-related safety solutions to improve cyclist and pedestrian protection, essential information on impact locations, impact situations and cyclist and pedestrian kinematics in impacts with passenger cars is fundamental. Accidentology research showed that cyclists typically have a higher impact location, with a larger share of injuries from the windscreen area . Majority of accidents happened at crossroads (72% of the Dutch cases). The average car speed was 36 kph, the median bicycle speed 14 kph. A cyclist simulation study captured kinematics and injuries to head, torso, pelvis and legs for several human body sizes, bicycle types and generic car models. Six full-scale crash tests (passenger car versus cyclist or pedestrian (Polar II dummy) had as main parameters: head impact location (top of bonnet, windscreen, A-pillar), vehicle speed (40 kph) and dummy speed (15 kph). Accidentology, simulation and crash test data showed that the windscreen is a frequent head and torso impact location. Accidentology and crash testing showed that cyclist protection should address higher, more rearward locations in the windscreen area than pedestrian countermeasures. Head impact speeds for cyclists in testing were generally higher than for pedestrians.

CityMobil was an integrated project in the Sixth Framework Program of the European Union. The objective of the project was to achieve more effective organization of urban transport for more rational use of motorized traffic with less congestion and pollution, safer driving, a higher quality of living, and enhanced integration with spatial development. This objective was reached by developing integrated traffic solutions: advanced concepts for innovative autonomous and automated road vehicles for passengers and goods embedded in an advanced spatial setting. The project was split into two parts: (a) research and development and (b) demonstration. The primary aim of the research and development part was to identify, address, and, where possible, eliminate barriers that still blocked the large-scale implementation of automated transport systems in urban traffic. The heart of the demonstration part consisted of three large-scale implementations of automated transport systems in urban areas and a number of smaller showcases and demonstrations. CityMobil was a 5-year project that started in May 2006 and ended in December 2011. The project results were presented at a final conference in Brussels, Belgium. This paper provides an update of a paper presented in 2009 and includes an overview of the final CityMobil results. The detailed results are available on the CityMobil website: www.citymobil-project.eu.

In the Netherlands, annually 185 cyclists and 70 pedestrians are killed in traffic accidents, half of which due to an accident with a passenger car. The project SaveCAP runs a Sensor Field Test on vehicle safety systems designed to protect cyclists and pedestrians, either by avoiding an accident or by actions such as deploying a windshield airbag. This pre-FOT (Field Operational Test) in two major Dutch cities was started, while in sustainable urban mobility, cyclists and pedestrians can play a major role. Improved safety for these vulnerable road users is necessary to persuade large numbers of people to change their current daily way of commuting. In many European cities, infrastructure is not yet optimized towards traffic flow and safety, for large numbers of cyclists and pedestrians. To improve traffic flow, focus should be on vehicle solutions and infrastructure improvements as well as on V2X (vehicle to vehicle or to infrastructure) communication. To improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians, the key is in a well balanced application of the full package of infrastructure design, training, increasing cyclist visibility and enhanced vehicle related solutions. When improving the “vulnerable road user friendliness” of passenger vehicles, intelligent systems can play a major role. SaveCAP aims at optimized triggering of various potential safety systems in the car. The Sensor Field Test is an important instrument in obtaining real life situations and thus in developing and evaluating a sensor system to detect and recognise pedestrians and cyclists, necessary for proper triggering of safety systems.

In Europe there has been a large focus on increasing pedestrian safety by requiring protection capability of cars, both using regulations and consumer tests, however none of this involved the safety of bicyclists in car crashes. The increasing use of bicycles in many major cities leads to the expectation that the number of cyclist fatalities will increase in the coming years, unless proper actions are taken.

Als iemand ir. Margriet van Schijndel vijf jaar geleden had verteld dat zij nu zou werken bij TNO Automotive, zou zij hem niet hebben geloofd. Nu werkt zij er met zeer veel plezier. ‘Het prettige van TNO is dat het een zeer brede organisatie is waarbinnen je zelf kunt ontdekken welk vakgebied of functie het best bij je past’. Van Schijndel is projectleider van een bijzonder product bij Automotive. ‘Wij ontwikkelen een airbag voor auto’s die fietsers en voetgangers beschermt'.