Off-road vehicles have become popular in recent years and this type of vehicle now forms an increased proportion of the vehicle fleet. In 1998, they represented 4.4% of sales. This type of vehicle is often fitted with bull bars and this has created safety concerns because of their potential to increase the risk of injuries in accidents with vulnerable road users. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions commissioned TRL to develop pedestrian protection test methods for bull bars suitable for use in a regulation or standard. As part of this project TRL investigated the pedestrian protection performance of a range of vehicles both with and without bull bars fitted. The full report describes the test methods developed and discusses the limitations and effectiveness of their use in legislation and also presents and discusses the results of the test to the vehicles with and without bull bars fitted. (A)
Samenvatting