An Assessment of the Accident Avoidance and Severity Reduction Potential of Radar Warning,Radar Actuated, and Anti-Lock Braking Systems

A group of 215 in-depth accident reports prepared as part of a tri-level accident causation study by a multidisciplinary team was examined to assess the benefit derived from the hypothetical application of various combinations of radar warning, radar actuated, and anti-lock braking systems. The approach was to have an accident analyst evaluate post hoc the benefit which would have been derived if one or more of the vehicles involved in each accident had been equipped with various types and combinations of these hypothetical systems; ten system types or combinations were defined. On one extreme, it was found that two-wheel anti-lock systems, by themselves, had relatively little accident prevention potential; only one of the 215 accidents (0.5%) would definitely have been prevented by such a system, although with less assurance there was some possibility of prevention of up to eight accidents (3.7%). On the other extreme, the most complex of the systems defined, comprised of a non-cooperative radar system with both actuation and warning potential, coupled with a four-wheel anti-lock system, would definitely have prevented 39 of these accidents (18.0%), with some possibility of prevention of up to 90 accidents (41.9% of those examined).