Forty three areas were identified in the brake, steering, suspension, tire, lighting and signalling systems where safety or inspection benefits might be obtained through the application of on-board vehicle sensors utilizing either on-board or off-board readout. These areas were screened against a variety of criteria, the most important being their potential for accident reduction as determined in the Indiana Tri-Level Studies in Accident Causation. Eleven areas were judged to warrant detailed evaluation of implementation considerations. These eleven candidate areas were then subjected to further analysis including identification of: currently available hardware, existing techniques for sensor application, conceptual devices where hardware does not now exist, and improvements possible in existing devices. In addition, a cost benefit analysis was performed for each candidate area, utilizing estimates of sensor life-cycle cost and benefit, including both safety and other impacts. These results are preliminary in nature, due to the weakness of the data bases in all important areas. Limited consideration was also given to alternative countermeasures in each area. Four candidate areas are judged to offer the potential of a favorable benefit/cost ratio. These are brake performance, tire tread depth, brake lights and brake friction material.
Abstract