The overall aim of the study presented in this paper was to show the socio-economic feasibility of a road safety application based on digital maps. The concept investigated focuses on the detailed analysis of historic accident data and a comparison between typical circumstances that led to certain accidents and the current driving situation. The conducted study was initiated with a survey about the structure and availability of accident and road databases in Germany. Based on the results of the survey, two test areas were chosen, one representing the average, the other one the optimum in terms of data availability and completeness. In a next step, appropriate filter rules were developed for the proposed application. Based on a detailed accident analysis the so-called accident-road-element matrix was proposed as an algorithm to determine the degree of compliance between the historic accident data and the current driving situation. By applying the accident-road-element matrix for a given situation it can be determined whether to give a warning to the driver or not. A draft use-of-potential analysis proved that 46 per cent of accidents outside of built-up areas in Germany could potentially be addressed with this application. At the same time, the system only relies on data that is already available from state agencies and vehicle control systems. Furthermore, the transferability of the concept was demonstrated for French accident databases. Thus, the proposed application with its simple and basic structure could contribute to a reduction of road accidents in Europe (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see E217780.
Abstract