Abstract
n India, 150,785 road traffic fatalities are reported in 2016 (1). Driver fault is the primary contributing factor that accounts for about 80% of all fatalities. Of that, 61% of fatalities are a result of speeding over the limits. This research aims to conduct in-depth investigation of the accident cases where driver performed braking maneuvers and evaluate if optimal braking is achieved. If not, in such collision scenarios, potential benefit of driver assistance system like a Brake Assist System (BAS) is assessed. In order to conduct this in-depth study, more scientific database is needed. Road Accident Sampling System – India (RASSI) database is used for this research. A total of 2336 real world accidents from six different sampling locations across India are examined by means of in-depth accident reports. Each case in RASSI database consists of about 700 variables comprising of environment, vehicle and human factors. This study focusses on passenger cars only. A total of 1082 cases with at least one passenger car involved in accident is available in the database. Of that, 39.6% (428 cases) of the accidents are obtained where passenger car driver performed braking maneuver. Data querying is conducted using key parameters to obtain relevant data. Accident characteristics prior to the collision are derived using technical reconstructions. Vehicle movement prior to critical event (i.e., vehicle going in a straight line path) and pre-impact stability (i.e., vehicle skidding longitudinally but yaw angle < 30°) are the other two conditions used for obtaining the relevant cases. For each case, a 1g deceleration pulse of BAS is implemented in the vehicle trajectory. For wider applicability of the BAS effectiveness, each case is reconstructed by varying traveling speed and varying braking duration prior to the collision. The benefit is registered in the following three categories: total collision avoidance, impact speed reduction and no benefit. A total of 232 cases are investigated and these are reconstructed using PC-Crash. In fact, BAS is evaluated using PC-Crash simulations and injury risk curves. The accident data represent reported is from six locations only and therefore is not yet representative of the Indian road accidents. Also, cases with yaw rate more than 30° (pre-impact stability) are not considered in the present study. These cases could be with a combination of simultaneous brake and steer inputs. The potential benefits of BAS should be investigated on a wider set of accident scenarios. Also, authors assumed that each reconstructed case vehicle is equipped with ABS and BAS. The paper addresses the issue of human factor influencing the emergency scenario i.e., braking. Reaction time during over-speeding is limited and applying optimal brake is essential. Past studies have focused on system level which primarily addressed vehicle stabilities [i.e., Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Brake distribution (EBD)]. The results of BAS benefit assessment would be the next step for bringing active safety systems to India which are independent of radar based technologies. This research would conduct in-depth investigation of driver braking behaviour on Indian road accidents reported in RASSI database. For each accident case, authors integrated simulated driver braking behaviours and reconstructions would be completed to assess the benefit of BAS to ensure wider system applicability using PC-Crash. Injury risk curves would be plotted based on the real world data for both with & without BAS system and benefit assessment of BAS would be established.