Safety Issues Related to Mini-Cars from a Roadway Perspective 870233
Because mini-cars are less safe in both multivehicle and single vehicle collisions, a project was initiated to identify those types of accidents (and accident-related circumstances) where the small vehicle are overrepresented in either crashes or crash injuries. The analysis involved accident and roadway data from the States of Washington, Texas and North Carolina and computer simulation runs related to vehicle dynamics. Results include the general finding of increased rollover propensity of these small vehicles in almost all type crashes, with specific problems with roadside shoulder and sideslope design, ditches in rural areas, pavement edgedrop, culverts and catch basins, median barrier faces, rural traffic islands, utility poles, and with head-on collisions on curves where the mini-car is more often the striking vehicle. Potential treatments were identified for many of these issues, and research plans were prepared.
Citation: Council, F. and Reinfurt, D., "Safety Issues Related to Mini-Cars from a Roadway Perspective," SAE Technical Paper 870233, 1987, https://doi.org/10.4271/870233. Download Citation
Author(s):
Forrest M. Council, Donald W. Reinfurt
Affiliated:
University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center
Pages: 20
Event:
SAE International Congress and Exposition
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Also in:
SAE 1987 Transactions-V96-87, Vehicle Highway Infrastructure-Safety Compatibility-P-194
Related Topics:
Accident types
Computer simulation
Injuries
Vehicle dynamics /flight dynamics
Crashes
Rollover accidents
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