HIGHWAY SAFETY APPURTENANCES. SUCCESSES AND FAILURES

The failure of highway safety systems to perform in the real world as designed and tested under laboratory conditions has limited the effect of such systems in reducing the severity of highway collisions. In some instances, these safety systems have actually increased vehicle damage and occupant injuries. This paper attempts to identify some of the missing design criteria which are leading to the in-service failure of laboratory-proven techniques. Examples of various appurtenance problems are given with explanations of why the systems did not perform as intended. The heart of the problem seems to lie at the design phase of planning a highway system and in maintaining the roadway and safety devices after construction. Only by investigating real-world accidents to understand better the effects of deviations from laboratory test conditions can useful information be collected to assist the designer as well as the appurtenance implementor and maintainer. (Author/TRRL)

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas, October 3-6, 1983.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Association for Automotive Medicine

  P.O. Box 222
  Morton Grove, IL  United States  60053
• Authors:
  • Wagoner, W T
• Conference:
  • 27TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR AUTOMOTIVE MEDICINE
  • Location: San Antonio Texas, United States
  • Date: 1983-10-3 to 1983-10-6
• Publication Date: 1983

Media Info

• Features: Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 337-356
• Monograph Title: PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, USA, OCTOBER 3-6, 1983. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR AUTOMOTIVE MEDICINE

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Conferences; Crash investigation; Crash reconstruction; Crash severity; Data collection; Design; Guardrails; Highways; Improvements; Laboratory tests; Performance; Prevention; Roadside; Safety; Safety equipment; Test procedures
• Uncontrolled Terms: Design criteria; Field performance
• Old TRIS Terms: Appurtenances
• ITRD Terms: 8525: Conference; 9011: Design (overall design); 2755: Highway; 9108: Improvement; 9149: Prevention; 1621: Reconstruction (accid); 1665: Safety; 1686: Safety fence; 6288: Test method
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00389450
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Institute for Road Safety Research, SWOV
• Files: HSL, ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 30 1984 12:00AM