DRIVER/VEHICLE REACTIONS TO ROAD SURFACE DISCONTINUITIES AND FAILURES--THE HIDEEN TRIGGER TO ACCIDENTS

Vehicle handling performance over rough roads and over roadway disturbances is one of the last strongholds of subjective evaluation. Included is a summary of past publications on this subject which dates from 1929. Comparative tests are described which show significant differences in the response of vehicles to some roadway disturbances. A rank ordering of the severity of different kinds of disturbances has been developed based on the analysis of police narratives selected from over 15,000 accidents occurring in 1974 in North Carolina. The five most important factors were: standing water, roadway edges-dropoffs, soft shoulders, curbs, and holes. This rank ordering compared favorably with rankings determined independently using the "Delphi technique". The result is a strong indication of which disturbances have the most influence on highway safety and the kinds of disturbances that should be considered in order to design vehicles with more forgiving characteristics. /TRRL/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sixteenth International Automobile Technical Congress.
• Corporate Authors:

  International Federation of Auto Techniques Engs

  3 Avenue du President Wilson
  F 75116 Paris,   France 
• Authors:
  • Ivey, D L
  • Griffin, L
• Publication Date: 0

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 1
• Serial:
  • Publication of: International Federation of Auto Techniques Engs
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: International Federation of Auto Techniques Engs

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Curbs; Drivers; Handling characteristics; Holes; Pavement performance; Reaction time; Road shoulders; Roughness; Traffic crashes; Vehicles
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver reaction; Handling
• Old TRIS Terms: Disturbances
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 1057: Air transport network; 2992: Carriageway; 8513: Classification; 8525: Conference; 5238: Defect (tech); 1772: Driver; 3071: Evenness; 2916: Hard shoulder; 2917: Kerb; 3073: Pothole; 9074: Side; 2972: Surfacing; 8122: USA; 1646: Vehicle handling; 3015: Wet road
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00163319
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: Analytic
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 7 1978 12:00AM