This study is based on accidental information collected at accidents in Hannover and reports 207 accidents with trams in Hanover documented by the accident research unit at the medical university of Hanover. The study shows injury situation for different participants in collisions with trams, collided with 95 pedestrians, 29 bicyclists, 59 cars and 14 trucks. A lot of information for environment, vehicles, persons, injuries and traces on the road are stored in a database, additional calculations of driving and collision speeds are added. It is shown that accidents with trams are seldom in the traffic world, but due to the partial regional implementation of the rail system these collisions, are certainly danger for other traffic participants in a certain region. Pedestrians and bicyclists are especially at risk when colliding with trams, because they do not have a protective collapsible zone. Here, protective measures for reducing severity of injury can only be implemented on the trams themselves. The study could not find a statistical evidence that form-giving of the tram front is important for the collision with the vulnerable traffic participants, pedestrians and bicyclists. But in a detailed analysis of single cases the shape of the front is responsible for refusing laterally or pull down under the front. The following approaches for optimisation of safety of trams can be derived from the results of study involving tram accidents: -Front of trams should have vertical inclination and horizontal rounding; -Front area should be designed nearly to the height to the track; -The front area should have energy-absorbing zones especially for vulnerable road users; -Conflict points of accident situation in the road infrastructure should be prevented by road constructional designs and safety paths. Risk for passengers of trams, as is observed in the official statistics could not be confirmed with this study. Only 5 % of the traffic accidents documented in Hannover led to injuries to passengers of trams. Passengers of automobiles are at risk during collisions with trams, as is shown in the official statistics. Passengers in automobiles basically have a high safety standard. High side deformations to automobiles are associated, which cannot be absorbed by safety elements, like side airbags, especially since the door threshold area is not in the deformation zone. Therefore, the car is partly pulled down under the front of the tram and automobile passengers seating on the collision side, usually suffer the most severe injuries. Here, protective implementations of collision energy absorption zones to the trams and more compatibility of shock absorption zone regarding the height can help to improve vehicle safety. Moreover, consequences of accidents can be avoided if the accident situation is prevented. In regional area for instance, crossing points with regular road traffic are to be designed as safety as possible.
Aspects of passive safety of trams for pedestrians, bicyclists and car occupants
Aspekte der passiven Sicherheit von Straßenbahnen bezüglich Fußgängern, Radfahrern und Fahrzeuginsassen
2002
11 Seiten, 14 Bilder, 8 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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