SAVECAP: cyclist and pedestrian protection, from theory to practice

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.