Over the past few years, road safety projects and initiatives for reducing traffic accident rates have become ever larger. The concern to prevent drivers and passengers from taking risks has become an emergency. As from the moment that death rates in traffic have reached exorbitant levels.
By the end of the last decade, about 1.3 million people have died every year on roads around the globe. In addition, traffic accidents have hurt 20 to 50 million individuals every year.
These rates have resulted in the need to discuss campaigns for safer driving and actions to provide better road signs and proper structure in order to serve the millions of people who use ground transportation every day.
In this paper, we will show how road safety has changed in the last decade, efforts to make road projects more efficient and vehicles safer. Also, check out and stay informed of the actions intended for less dangerous traffic.
Road safety decade
Currently, we are living the Decade of Actions for Traffic Safety 2011-2020. In this campaign, launched in May 2011 by the United Nations (UN), governments around the world are committed to take new measures to prevent traffic accidents.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is responsible for coordinating global efforts over the decade and monitoring progress, both nationally and internationally.
The agency, linked to the United Nations, also provides support for initiatives aimed at:
- reduction of alcohol consumption by drivers;
- increased use of helmets and seat belts;
- in addition to improving emergency care.
The impact of preventive actions and the decrease in the rates of fatal accidents around the world can only be definitively verified by the end of 2020, but the effects of the Decade of Actions for Traffic Safety can already be observed.
Changes in road safety regulations
One of the main effects of the actions for safer traffic was the increase in the force of the laws and the change to the norms regulating road safety, with the establishment of a new concept for protection systems and signaling equipment on highways.
Containment levels in road safety devices
A clear example of how concern about traffic safety has changed the use of protection systems are the containment levels, which establish a new concept of performance in metal defenses. Also known as guardrails, these barriers are designed to redirect vehicles, thus minimizing the impact on automobile accidents and reducing the risks to drivers and passengers.
Historically, the road safety market in Brazil was standardized mainly by NBR6970 and NBR6971, which did not include containment levels because they were not tested in laboratories. These documents established how to make metal protections – describing materials and dimensions to be followed. Models followed what had been done in the international market since the 1970s. The standard NBR15486/2007 was also applicable, which left a large number of gaps in the concept of containment levels.
As of March 2016, with the revision of the NBR15486 standard, all new road safety projects must, necessarily, follow the guidelines of containment levels.
Thus, a new concept of containment levels was established, which takes into account the performance of the installed equipment. This is reflected in all the standards, which are created in order not to specify materials, but rather the expected performance of that product. The guaranteed efficiency of these pieces of equipment is ratified by means of crash tests.
Crash tests
As we said, before the NBR15486 standard, metal protections were not tested in a laboratory. However, when determining a containment level of a device, the system manufacturer is required to perform the actual Crash Test in a credited laboratory.
According to the European standard EN 1317-2, used as reference for the revision of NBR15486 of 2016, the matrix of crash tests performed in an accredited laboratory is carried out considering the criteria of
• velocidade de impacto (km/h);
• ângulo de impacto (graus);
• massa total do veículo (kg);
• o tipo de automóvel.
Then it is imperative to check the workspace (work zone) and the safety of vehicle occupants by severity when the car hits a containment barrier (ASI and THIV).
Changes in the Brazilian Traffic Code
To ensure that drivers avoid driving dangerously and endangering their lives and those of others, governments have adopted stricter legislation. In Brazil, this has been intensified in recent years, with the Prohibition and the application of more expensive fines for actions that disobey traffic laws.
Since November 2016, refusing to take the breathalyzer test constitutes a very serious infraction. The fine is almost R$ 3,000, and driver will not be allowed to drive for a year. A driver who reaches 20 points in 12 months will be unauthorized to drive for at least six months.
Serious violations lead to penalty of 7 points on the driver’s license. Another example of this violation of traffic laws is exceeding the darkest legal window tint. It is often used by drivers so that they are not caught using cell phones while driving.
Changes in the public and automobile industry
Just as governments have been concerned with improving the structure of highways, vehicle assemblers develop safer automobiles. Each year, new actions and changes in the manufacture of cars, buses and motorcycles are implemented so that drivers and passengers can travel more peacefully.
The safest cars in the world
In 2015, Euro NCAP, the agency responsible for safety testing of vehicles sold in the European market, has chosen Volvo XC90 as the safest car in the world.
Manufactured in Sweden, this vehicle leaves the factory equipped with six airbags (front, side and curtain), automatic braking system with night vision, unintentional track change alert, electronic stability controls, traction and rollover protection, plus comfort and convenience items.
And in 2016, 48 cars and crossovers were awarded the title of “Top Safety Pick+” (“safer choice”) of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), organization that aims to reduce the impacts of traffic accidents.
In its assessment, the IIHS gives scores based on tests of light and moderate frontal impact, lateral impact, ceiling strength and head protection. All cars classified as safer choices have systems to avoid collisions that have been classified as “advanced” or “top” by the tests.
Some of the cars rated as safest by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are available in Brazil.
The impact of population aging on traffic safety
One of the major concerns about increasing traffic safety is related to the aging of the population. As a consequence of the improvements in the social conditions that Brazil has experienced in the last decades, life expectancy and the elderly population in the country have increased.
Maintaining the current rate, the aging of the Brazilian people will be more than twice faster than the world average. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of persons aged 60 years or older in Brazil increased from 9.8% to 14.3%.
What does the population aging impact on traffic? As the human being grows older, he/she has their vision affected, especially with the loss of sensitivity to light. That way, the elderly have more difficulty in seeing the signs, which increases the risk of accidents.
Autonomous cars and the future of road safety
One of the expectations for traffic to become safer in the future lies in the development of autonomous cars. These vehicles would avoid human errors that cause accidents, thus ensuring that drivers and passengers arrive at their destinations without great risk.
Unlike humans, robots can drive cars without distraction, fatigue or drunkenness. About 92% of auto accidents involve human errors caused by these factors.
The reality of autonomous cars is not far off. Most automakers point out that these vehicles could be produced and marketed by 2020.
However, autonomous cars still generate ethical conflicts. Robots do not have the same perception as humans to predict how other humans will behave, and this could lead to accidents. The first death caused by an autonomous car happened in July of 2016.
The discussion still involves how these vehicles would behave if they need to deviate from an obstacle and start moving toward pedestrians or other cars. In order to minimize the risks to passengers of autonomous cars, one possibility is that people are prevented from riding in the front seats.
It is a fact that the evolution of the automobile industry and the manufacture of more modern automobiles tend to collaborate for road safety. The project of containment devices based on the performance of these systems is another factor that will contribute to reduce the risks in traffic.
Did you like to know more about the changes in road safety? So use and share this article on your social networks.
Thank you very much,
Marcelo Raymundo
Commercial and marketing director