Reset to zero and specify active safety systems according to real world needs

Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and alternative instantiations of intelligent vehicle control systems aspire to support the driver in controlling the vehicle and alleviate the incidents that would lead to collisions and injury. This paper resets to zero and based on data from the On-The-Spot (OTS) accident study challenges the capability of active safety systems to aim at the sources of longitudinal control failures. The road user interactions file from 3024 road accidents in Thames Valley and Nottinghamshire in UK was analysed. Interactions where “failure to stop” or “sudden braking” is the precipitating factor are analysed and the main contributory factors are identified. Some of those factors are addressed by current and coming technologies – like low road friction, excessive speed and close following, but other common ones are significantly neglected – like distraction, failure to judge other person’s path, failure to look, and “look but did not see” instances.