SURVEY OF CAR-TO-FIXED-OBSTACLE FATAL CRASHES

The main factor of over-risk related to road infrastructure is fixed roadside obstacles. Due to their high stiffness, they represent a major danger in the event of loss of car control. In France, on the road network outside built-up areas, about one third of the car fatalities recorded in 1990 were in crashes against fixed objects, and involved about 1600 fatalities. As far as trees alone are concerned, it should be emphasized that 900 fatalities are related to this kind of obstacle, mostly for lines of trees along the roadside. Impact characteristics are given for primary safety factors (circumstances, road conditions, driver state, etcetera), and also for secondary safety aspects (impact types, violence of impacts, intrusion frequency, etcetera). Expected benefits (saved lives) from road infrastructure improvements are studied by using guardrails, principally in front of trees. Extensive and well-documented fatal crash police records were used. These were established by the police force network for all of France over 6 months. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 864606.