Safety

Road safety is a huge problem and one of the worst public health problem worldwide.  More than 1.3 million people die annually in traffic accidents and the figure is expected to increase to over 2 million in 2020 if progress is not interrupted. For every fatal accident occurs in the order of 40 times more accidents involving personal injury and 100 times more if one includes material damage.

Testing and verification is an important aspect of the innovation process and is where possibilities are identified. TSS will enable new technology to be tested effectively, which creates knowledge of the problems concerned and is a condition for effective, highly innovative technological development.

Lighter vehicles

Energy efficient transportation in combination with maintaining traffic safety standards places new demands on future traffic systems. TSS provides for the development of light, small cars with maintained safety standards by providing world class verification and validation. Zero emission vehicles will, for technical reasons (e.g. battery technology), need to be considerably lighter than present day vehicles. From a raw material resources perspective, it is also more economical to build smaller cars. It is not possible to achieve present day traffic safety standards without applying active safety technology (prevention of accidents). It is necessary for research and technological development within this field.

Active safety systems

A prerequisite for more effective transportation and logistics is that trucks and extremely light cars (small electric cars), as well as unprotected road-users can successfully share the roads. Active safety systems are necessary for the efficient use of the road network. This in turn improves the efficiency of the road network allowing for an increase in the amount of traffic. Furthermore, many of these systems contribute to a much more even rhythm in the traffic, which reduces emission.

Active systems - the future 

Present day protection against road accident injury is based on passive safety measures, i.e., road-users are protected structurally in an accident. After many years of successful research and development, there is a general consensus that the big steps have already been taken. Continued improvement in safety based on passive systems will constitute small step-wise improvements. The significant improvements in the future will be made through active systems that, through combining sensor technology, vehicle communication and in-built computers, prevent accidents from occurring in the first place. TSS enables the development of this new technology within Europe by providing the necessary test infrastructure. Also the infrastructure can be intelligent. Below is an example of intelligent road markings.