This study was designed to investigate how many Finnish drivers with new cars have ADAS in their vehicles, and how frequently and in which context they use those systems, ACC and Lane Keeping (LKA) in particular. In addition, the impacts of these systems were to be assessed. Moreover, limitations of the current systems, willingness to have the systems in the future, and willingness to pay for such systems or higher automation levels were of interest. The data was collected with an online survey of 1,005 drivers who drive regularly and have purchased their vehicle in 2016 or later. The selection of driver sample seemed to be successful and allowed collecting versatile quantitative data of the usage of the systems in various contexts and self-reported benefits of the systems. This paper concentrates into the results concerning longitudinal support systems, cruise control and adaptive cruise control.

This study was designed to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of speed display signs on driving speed at pedestrian crossings in a low-speed (40 km/h) urban environment. Driving speeds were compared 1 week before installation, after installation (1 week; 1 month; 3 months; 5 months) and 1 week after removal. The main results showed that the speed displays decreased the mean speed by 0.5-2.9 km/h, which translates to a 4-22% drop in pedestrian fatality risk. Furthermore, there was a drop in the proportion of speeding vehicles and approaching speed of individual vehicles. The decrease in speed persisted over time, suggesting that speed displays may reduce speeds in the long term. In conclusion, installing speed displays at pedestrian crossings on collector streets reduces driving speeds and could contribute to the safety of pedestrians. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The main aim of this study is to identify factors behind Finland having a poorer road traffic accident record compared to Sweden. Another aim is to study whether there are any benefits to using real disaggregate data.

The objective of the study is to estimate the realised safety effects of electronic stability control (ESC) in Finland in the current context. The modelling of impacts was based on a framework in which the outcomes of accidents are determined by exposure of road users, accident risk and accident severity. Exposure to risk was modelled in three ways: (i) by calculating the share of passenger cars equipped with ESC with a mathematical model, (ii) on the basis of an ESC fleet penetration estimate obtained from a survey targeted to car importers and (iii) with ESC fleet penetration taking into account the penetration estimate obtained from the survey weighted with the annual kilometrage of passenger cars. The results of the study suggest that around 37 fatalities and 747 injuries were avoided in Finland in 2014 because of ESC.

This field study was designed to compare to what degree various proportions of studded and unstudded winter tyres affect the roughness and polishing of road surfaces covered with ice and compact snow.

Background The winter tyre type have various effects on traffic safety. These effects have been analysed in three separate studies published between December 2014 – December 2015. Methods The main questions of the 3 studies were a): what's the safety difference between studded tires and studless tires and b) how can we promote traffic safety connected to winter tires? The study number 1, "Studded and studless tires in fatal wintertime road accidents" was based on accident data analysis. The study 2, "The socio-economical consequences of Ice grip approval" was based on literature analysis. The study 3, "The winter tyre type effects on the grip and wear of packed snow and ice" was a field test study. Results In Finland, 12% of the traffic exposure of passenger cars and vans in winter is driven by studless winter tires. If everyone in Finland would use studded tires, we would have one deadly accident per year less. There is no ice grip demands for the winter tires used in Finland. If such demand will be deployed today, there will be 0.5 million € yearly societal savings per year. If the use of studless tires increase as planned, the effects of ice grip approval will be multifold. Studded tires have an external safety effect, they make ice more rough. According to tests in test field, 50% of studded tires ensured good friction conditions for all kind of winter tires. Conclusions Use of studded tires offer still remarkable traffic safety benefits in winter time. Because there seem to be need to decrease the proportion of studded tires in large cities (studded tires may promote air quality problems), it's still important to understand, how we can minimise the negative traffic safety effects of this decrease. By deploying ice grip demands, we can be assured, that the approved studless tires meet the winter traffic demands. It's also important to remember, that if the proportion of studded tires will fall below 50%, there is high risk for increasing slipperiness.

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the safety effects of studded and unstudded winter tires based on fatal road accidents.Methods: The data included 958 road accidents involving a passenger car or van that occurred in Finland from November to March between 1997 and 2012.Results: Comparing the proportions of winter tire type in accidents and in general traffic showed that the overall effect of tire type on the number of accidents was not significant, although studded tires reduced fatal accidents by 10-15%. Compared to unstudded tires, studded tires reduced accidents significantly only on bald ice in 2005-2012. Drivers using unstudded tires were more experienced and their profession was more frequently related to driving. In addition, the vehicle age was lower for vehicles with unstudded tires. On the other hand, the state of repair was less pertinent for unstudded than for studded tires. These confounding factors offset their effects to some degree.Conclusions: The risk of fatal road accidents in winter between studded and unstudded tires does not differ significantly. However, the accident risk has recently been substantially higher on bald ice for unstudded than for studded tires. The magnitude of this risk difference is difficult to determine without specific information on exposure by road surface.

Purpose This study compared road safety and related factors in the U.S. with those in Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands (which are among the best-performing countries), in order to identify actions most likely to produce casualty reductions in the U.S.Method The reviewed topics were basic country statistics, road fatalities and various fatality rates, and selected road-safety issues.Results The main differences concerned structural and cultural factors (such as vehicle distance driven), and procedural factors (such as alcohol-impaired driving, exceeding speed limits, and use of seat belts).Conclusions The main recommendations for improving road safety in the U.S. are as follows: (1) lower states' BAC limits, and encourage the use of alcohol ignition interlocks (2) reexamine the current speed-limit policies and improve speed enforcement, (3) implement primary seat-belt-wearing laws in each state that would cover both front and rear occupants, and reward vehicle manufacturers for installation of advanced seat-belt reminders, and (4) reconsider road-safety target setting so that the focus is on reducing fatalities and not on reducing fatality rate per distance driven, and (5) consider new strategies to reduce vehicle distance driven.

Road safety impact assessments are requested in general, and the directive on road infrastructure safety management makes them compulsory for Member States of the European Union. However, there is no widely used, science-based safety evaluation tool available. We demonstrate a safety evaluation tool called TARVA. It uses EB safety predictions as the basis for selecting locations for implementing road-safety improvements and provides estimates of safety benefits of selected improvements. Comparing different road accident prediction methods, we demonstrate that the most accurate estimates are produced by EB models, followed by simple accident prediction models, the same average number of accidents for every entity and accident record only. Consequently, advanced model-based estimates should be used. Furthermore, we demonstrate regional comparisons that benefit substantially from such tools. Comparisons between districts have revealed significant differences. However, comparisons like these produce useful improvement ideas only after taking into account the differences in road characteristics between areas. Estimates on crash modification factors can be transferred from other countries but their benefit is greatly limited if the number of target accidents is not properly predicted. Our experience suggests that making predictions and evaluations using the same principle and tools will remarkably improve the quality and comparability of safety estimations.