SAFEWAY "Safety improvements of vehicle passages through innovative on-road `bio-mechanics' safety features".

Each year some 1.2 million accidents occur in the European Union leading to a death toll of 43,000 per year on the European Union's roads. 3% of all road casualties are caused by collisions with road barriers. Only recently the European Commission recognised the role of road infrastructure to road safety, particularly the role of road barriers. In this context, SAFEWAY aim is to develop a prototype barrier that not only conforms to standard requirements, but is also based on knowledge of the traumatological impact a collision with road safety barriers can have. Before designing a prototype barrier, Partners developed a "state-of-the-art" of various accident types, analysing the correlation of certain types of impacts on road safety barriers and certain injuries. In order to do so, Partners studied the knowledge of the traumatological prevention criteria and the behaviour of humans in the collision against safety barriers. Consequently, SAFEWAY partners developed the following tasks: the research of data on the traumatological impact of road accidents; the analysis of the found data (accident impact survey); and the development of an accident database compatible with the barrier-vehicle-passenger simulation software that will be used later on. These tasks were compiled into the project work package 1, which started in January 2001 and finished in June 2001. As a result of Partners' work, a database report (Deliverable 1) was delivered to the European Commission end of July 2001. The SAFEWAY project is a research and technological development project funded by the European Union under the GROWTH Programme. Safeway's aim is to develop a prototype barrier that not only conforms to standard requirements, but is also based on knowledge of the traumatic impact that a collision with road safety barriers can have. In addition to the prototype barrier, the project will result in a series of recommendations or guidelines for road barrier designs integrating medical as well as engineering aspects into road safety barrier design. For the covering abstract see ITRD E124693.