TRACE and eIMPACT conference in Paris

Creation date: 27 June 2008

TRACE’s main objective had to identify and assess the most promising solutions that can assist the driver or any other road users in a normal or in an emergency road situation. TRACE also had a crucial role to play in determining and updating the aetiology, i.e, causes of road accidents and to assess, from there, how the existing technologies and technologies to be developed can prevent them.

TRACE has made steps forward but has not accomplished yet all of its objectives. The studies and reports developed on the subject are many and the completeness of the elements taken into account is nearly exhaustive. Indeed, in order to be able to prevent accidents, all the causes and their solutions have to be considered. These elements range from ontology, technology, endogenous and exogenous factors to cultural factors. 

The project estimated that the combination of a fleet fulfilling the five star EuroNCap standards, integrating the ESC (Electronic stability control) and the EBR (Emergency Breaking) would imply a reduction of 70% of fatalities. The most promising systems, according to the studies, appear to be the Intelligent Speed Adaptation, the Automatic Breaking System and the Crash avoidance & warning.

Some of the challenges still to be faced include the evaluation of the most promising safety applications, the methodology used in terms of human factors analysis and the fact that each country still has a different definition of the variety of accidents and exposure to risk database.

eIMPACT evaluated the impact of stand-alone and co-operative intelligent vehicle safety systems IVSS and provides perspectives regarding how to introduce these systems on the market.

eIMPACT has moved a lot further and has tested a large amount of systems, the socio-economic impact assessment of IVSS is nearly complete. Among the main conclusions, it appears that the penetration rate is still too low and that a combination of systems is preferable to a single one.  The discussions also highlighted that the deployment strategy should be relying on a multi-stakeholder perspective and that awareness-raising actions are needed to convince the consumers that indeed it’s worth to pay the price.

The conference enlightened the attendees on the following issues:

•        Insights into injury accident causation
•        How have the safety benefits of IVSS (Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems)    been assessed?
•        How has the cost-benefit analysis of IVSS been performed?
•        What are the results of the assessments?
•        What are the options and challenges in the deployment of IVSS?

For more information and to access the presentations of the day, please access the workshop’s webpage at www.eimpact.eu