Road Safety
Road accidents continue to present us with enormous challenges worldwide: According to the WHO, around 1.3 million people are killed in road accidents every year. More than half of those killed on the roads are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, and the numbers continue to rise despite global efforts. Moreover, for people between the ages of 5 and 29, road accidents are the number one cause of death worldwide.
In Germany, fortunately, a contrary trend has been observed since the 1970s. Here, safety has been significantly improved and the number of people killed in road accidents has been reduced from about 20,000 per year to currently about 2,500. With regard to light and serious injuries, a similar development can be observed in Germany in the same period. Nevertheless, the so-called Vision Zero, i.e. the goal of reducing the number of traffic fatalities to zero, is also a long way off in Germany.
Against the background of these figures and developments, increased efforts and new innovative approaches are required at all levels of road safety work worldwide to protect people from the consequences of accidents in road traffic.
Our product portfolio supports you on this and many other topics.
Selected projects
Detailed data and suitable analysis tools are required to identify potential dangers in road traffic and to be able to counteract them at an early stage with suitable measures. As part of the research project "EDDA+ Early detection of road traffic hazards through smart data" (German title FeGiS+), we are working together with partners on a proactive approach to identifying danger spots. For this purpose, official accident data is linked with reports from road users and sensor data from vehicles and a hazard potential for routes and junctions is calculated. By using additional data, such as weather data, it is also possible to identify special factors influencing the danger spots. The results are presented and made available on a Germany-wide hazard map. We are examining whether and, if so, which adaptations to our software products are necessary to support such approaches and to be able to integrate corresponding maps.
In the project BaSiGo, instruments were researched that enable an overall view when planning a large event and summarised in a handout. Simulations of arrival and departure traffic and individual pedestrian movements in the event area form an essential component.
