Following the General Objective of the project “Innovative concepts for smart road restraint systems to provide greater safety for vulnerable road users” (Smart RRS) to reduce the number of injuries and deaths caused by road traffic accidents to vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, cyclists and passengers through the development of a smart road restraint system, the WP 2 evaluates the current Standards relating to motorist protection systems. Task 2.1a from the WP2 provides an evaluation and revision on the Spanish UNE 135900 regulation for motorist protection systems. This revision is envisioned as a starting point in the design of the new road restraint system that will consider the most important characteristics of accidents involving motorcyclists and roadside barriers. The requirements for the system will be established once the relevant information is obtained from this and other tasks. Road restraint systems are 4 times more aggressive to motorcycle riders and therefore require more attention than other systems. These systems are generally installed on rural roads, where the highest percentage of fatal and severely injured outcomes occurs. The Spanish government has then published UNE135900 norm to evaluate road restraint systems. Revision on UNE135900 focuses on the main characteristics of the impact and the indexes measured to provide the evaluation. The norm consists of a test using a modified Hybrid III 50th percentile dummy, impacting a barrier at 60 or 70 km/h, 30º trajectory and 3 possible impact locations. This test is capable of evaluating punctual and continuous motorist protection systems. During the evaluation phase, certain characteristics of the test procedure were analysed. One of the aspects analysed was the velocity and trajectory angle, in which a slight variation may produce significant differences in the result. Also, the environmental conditions were evaluated in order to know the effects that this could have on the outcome of the test. As a following activity, the effects that can arise from the propelling system and the freedom it has to give to the dummy on the final approach were revised. This analysis then provides a set of guidelines on the strengths and weaknesses of the test, which is up to day a reference on motorcyclist protection system normative but can include new characteristics to improve the effectiveness of the evaluation. (Author/publisher)
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