Overview: Annually within the European Union, there are over 50,000 road accident fatalities and 2 million other casualties and the majority of these are either the occupants of cars or are in collision with a car. The European Commission now has recently recognised that casualty reduction strategies must be based on a full understanding of the real-world situation under European conditions and that vehicle countermeasure effectiveness must be properly evaluated. This study has therefore developed a co-ordinated set of targeted, in-depth accident data systems to support European Community vehicle and road safety
policy.
Objectives: The main Objectives of PENDANT are as follows;
- to develop a system to investigate the causes of injuries in eight countries;
- to develop a standardised, demonstration database system to facilitate data entry and combined analysis;
- to investigate at least 1100 accidents involving injured car occupants and pedestrians and compile the data into the data-base; and
- to analyse the composite database and identify priorities for future European regulatory and other action.
Main features of project: One of the most important aspects of PENDANT is that it harmonises the data collection process for in-depth accident investigation in a number of EU Member States. This should serve as the ‘gold-standard’ for future activities.
The role of the VSRC: As coordinator of PENDANT and also leader of major tasks within the project, the VSRC has a responsibility to ensure that all of the objectives are met and that the data are fully utilised throughout the European Union for the development of safer vehicles for EU
Citizens. |
