Vehicle restraint system
A vehicle restraint system ( FRS , English Vehicle Restraint System ) is a passive protection device on roads . It is used by the road errant vehicles and their occupants and other road users to protect them from errant vehicles.
history
The main risks on roads (40% of fatal road accidents in Europe are caused by drifting off the road) include:
- the uncontrolled departure from the lane ,
- the collision with vehicles and obstacles along the road,
- the crash of bridges and embankments .
Simple railings have been used in bridge construction since ancient times. The necessity to protect the vehicle and other traffic from getting off the lane in the event of an accident , or at least to dampen its effects, developed in road construction with the advent of motorized traffic. While the lane was only separated by a distance on the first motorways , a minimum level of protection quickly became established in mountain road construction. The first methods were the erection of individual natural stones , low work or natural stone masonry , and planking with strong wooden fences , as can still be found today on the Glocknerstrasse and other alpine passes.
Concrete and steel soon found their way into vehicle restraint technology, first in the form of pillars, then in the form of complete restraint systems. To date, there is no restraint system in the world that gently and 100% safely brakes vehicles of all types that are coming off the road. Restraint systems have the task of preventing worse things - e.g. B. Head-on collisions in the median area, falls in the edge area over an embankment or bridge.
Constructions
The most important systems in use today include:
- Earth walls , mainly used in Europe in connection with noise protection devices
- Tension cable systems with fixed strained ropes , common since the 1960s, are now considered outdated
- Guardrails (crash barriers, guard rails ): Since the 1950s, developed in the US, are today's standard technology of steel, aluminum structures obsolete
- Concrete crash barriers : Also in use since the 1960s, they were considered inferior to crash barriers for a long time and are now standard in road construction
- Plastic restraint modules , filled with water or otherwise weighted down
Impact absorbers of various types are subject to the same standards ; they are used in particular to secure obstacles along the road and are not vehicle restraint systems in the sense of the term, but are subject to the same standards.
Two different restraint systems made of steel
Two double restraint systems made of steel each in the central reservation (Netherlands)
Steel restraint system to protect against a bridge (USA)
Concrete restraint system on the median, steel restraint system in front of a noise protection device in the outer curve (Austria)
Ready-to-assemble concrete modules for cycle path protection (Czech Republic)
Plastic restraint modules (USA)
Plastic retention modules (New Zealand)
Tension rope system (USA)
EN 1317 restraint systems on roads
The European requirements for vehicle restraint systems are specified and described in EN 1317.
Restraint systems on roads have to pass the tests according to EN 1317-1 to 1317-4. In this test procedure, not only the breakthrough security is verified in different stages, but also the safety of the occupants is checked. This is then divided into three levels: ASI A, ASI B and ASI C. ASI stands for Acceleration Severity Index (German roughly: 'Severity of the acceleration in the vehicle interior'). The value ASI A represents the best occupant safety. Restraint systems that have achieved ASI B cause higher loads and ASI C causes the highest loads. A system with ASI A should therefore always be preferred to an ASI B system with the same containment level. ASI C should only be considered in exceptional cases and as a special solution.
According to the passed test arrangements and examinations, there is a classification in detention classes . The three most important criteria:
- Containment level (T1, T2, T3, N1, N2, H1, H2, H3, H4a, H4b)
- Effective range (deformation of the protective device from W1 to W8)
- Impact severity (A or B)
The containment levels range from lightweight, transportable systems that are used on construction sites as a separation or protection system, to containment classes that have to hold up a 38-ton train themselves. The impact severity level serves primarily as a comparison value for smaller vehicles, which are involved in accidents in 90% of all cases. Here, it is important to use the impact severity value to identify the extent to which occupants of small cars or cars are generally at risk from a collision with a passive protective device. Good values for impact severity can (but do not necessarily have to) stand in the way of a high containment level.
Further norms and standards
- In Germany, the use and type of restraint system is regulated by the guidelines for passive protection on roads through vehicle restraint systems (RPS) . Technical delivery conditions for steel crash barriers (TL-SP) and quality and test regulations for vehicle restraint systems on roads made of steel - steel crash barrier systems (RAL-RG 620) contain the requirements for crash barriers made of steel.
- ÖNORM EN 1317 is valid for Austria. In addition, RVS 04/15/71 (15:47) applies to bridge equipment , vertical guidance systems, vehicle restraint systems made of concrete and metal ; RVS 05.02.31 requirements for initial constructions ("terminals") on ramps or lowerings
- Switzerland has also adopted EN 1317, and there is also SN 640 561 ( Passive road safety - vehicle restraint systems ) from the Swiss Association of Road and Transport Experts .
literature
- Concrete barrier initiative (publisher): EN 1317 . Explanations. Cologne June 2003 ( tss-koeln.de [PDF; accessed October 30, 2012]).
- Kurt Hellmich, Johann Stella, Erwin Stangl, Siegfried Piringer, Helmut Heimel, Joseph Plomer: Restraint systems on bridges in the start-up test . In: Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology , Federal Road Administration (Hrsg.): Street research . tape 521 . Self-published, Vienna 2002 ( Information , Fraunhofer IRB [accessed on September 7, 2009] Distribution: Austrian Research Association for Roads and Transport).
- Gerhard Sedlacek, Christian Kammel, Achim Geßler: Use of vehicle restraint systems with high retention capacity on bridges . Ed .: Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, Department of Road Construction, Road Traffic. Wirtschaftsverlag NW, Bremerhaven 2005 ( information , Fraunhofer IRB [accessed on September 7, 2009]).
- Marcus Gärtner, Peter Rücker, Alexander Berg: Development and testing of the requirements for protective devices to improve the safety of motorcyclists . Ed .: Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development , Department of Road Construction, Road Traffic. Wirtschaftsverlag NW, Bremerhaven 2006 ( information , Fraunhofer IRB [accessed on September 7, 2009]).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b As passive protective devices, "steel crash barriers" are the usual restraint systems on roads. In: Archive. PASS + CO, accessed on October 30, 2012 (presentation by HG Hiekmann).
- ↑ BMVIT (ed.): Restraint systems on bridges - impact loads according to RVS 04/15/71 . ( Restraint systems on bridges - impact loads according to RVS 04/15/71 [PDF; accessed on September 7, 2009]).
- ↑ Swiss Association of Road and Transport Experts (ed.): VSS individual norms . ( vss.ch [PDF; accessed on July 17, 2013]).
- ↑ Swiss Association of Road and Transport Experts (ed.): VSS set of standards, index German-French . ( vss.ch [PDF; accessed on July 17, 2013]).