The political economical and social changes in the Czech Republic in the last decade have led to increasing mobility, mostly in the private sector. Some European countries achieved substantial reduction in fatalities in the turn of the century, while others, the Czech Republic is one of them, saw road safety worsen. Beyond such variations, the overall European downward trend in fatalities demonstrates that targeted car and road safety measures which include Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) can help to avoid road accidents in spite of increasing level of car ownership and motorization. In different ADA systems there are various functions (such as ACC, ISA etc.) that are designed to reduce crash risk and enhance driving comfort. In addition, in individual ADA functions it is very common that different levels of intervention exist, ranging from informative to intervening systems. In other words, some systems are designed to reduce crash risk by providing support to drivers in a number of ways, by even taking over control of the driving task and intervening in situations of increased crash risk to eliminate or at least reduce risk to an acceptable level. Some systems aim at reducing crash risk by informing or warning drivers of imminent hazards, like following the vehicle in front too closely, hazards to be expected ahead on the route or incidents blocking the road or causing some time delays. The expectation concerning these informing or warning systems is that road users utilise this information by adapting their behaviour to account for the hazard and thus decrease the crash risk and avoid a collision. To gain the best safety effects of ADA systems, it must be ensured that the drivers understand the technical capability and the level of intervention that the system he or she is using is capable to offer. This is possible only if the functions and level of intervention of different ADA systems are described with terms that are understandable to the user. For the covering abstract see ITRD E123193.
Abstract