Lumen Winter 2016 - Flipbook - Page 14
Safety first
as researchers
cut the road toll
Test laboratory a life
Last year in South
saver for pedestrians
Australia 102 people died
When adult pedestrians are hit by
on our roads and a further a car they are run under, not run over.
753 were seriously injured. This may sound like semantics, but
W
hile these figures are too
high, one thing is certain –
they would have been far
worse without the unique insights
delivered by researchers at the University
of Adelaide’s Centre for Automotive
Safety Research (CASR).
For more than 40 years the centre
has been conducting world-class research
into all aspects of road safety and its
findings have had a major influence
on car designs, road layouts and
government policy.
This in turn has helped to significantly
reduce the preventable loss and suffering
occurring on our roads. Since 2004 in
South Australia fatalities have decreased
by 26 per cent and serious injuries by
43 per cent.
Lumen has taken a look at some of
the key areas where CASR is helping to
drive the road safety agenda.
12 Lumen | Winter 2016
it’s a critical piece of information for
vehicle designers.
CASR researchers made the
revelation after an in-depth accident
study which showed that the shape
of a vehicle strongly influences the
resulting injuries.
Their research program is supported
by Australia’s only purpose-built vehicle
safety laboratory which specialises in
pedestrian impacts.
The laboratory is the official testing
facility for the pedestrian component of
the Australasian New Car Assessment
Program (ANCAP).
“Our Kent Town laboratory was
initially developed to study the cause
of brain injuries in road crashes but is
now primarily used for research into the
relationship between vehicle design and
pedestrian protection,” said Associate
Professor Jeremy Woolley.
“Results from the research are proving
crucial in helping manufacturers produce
vehicles that are more pedestrian friendly.”
Jeremy has been a senior road safety
researcher at CASR since 2003 and took
over as director at the end of last year.
He said the laboratory’s work on
pedestrian protection uses computer
modelling to assess the motion of
pedestrians during a collision and
reconstructs head and leg impacts.
“CASR engineers designed testing
machines that shoot dummy heads and
legs fitted with sensors at the front of a
stationary vehicle to measure the extent
of injuries,” he said. “They can be fired at
speeds up to 80 kilometres per hour to
simulate the forces in a real-world collision.”
Crash investigations
throw up surprises
CASR researchers are often among
the first at a crash scene.
Their in-depth crash investigations are
unique in the world for their level of detail
– and the results are saving countless lives.
It was through such research that they
discovered that even the smallest increase
in travel speed is important.
“Our evidence helped convince
transport regulators to lower country and
city speed limits and the results have been
immediate and significant,” said Jeremy.
