INNOVATIVE IN-CAR SYSTEMS IN SERVICE OF PEDESTRIAN SAFETY

Endangerment of pedestrians in traffic is manifested by the fact that they are second on the traffic accidents mortality scale. In an attempt to reduce the mortality rate of pedestrians, national authorities and the European commission have decided to intervene by introducing specific measures of protection and security in traffic. Those measures, besides infrastructure and the driver itself, include automotive industry and are expected to give significant contribution in reaching higher level of traffic security, including both car passengers and pedestrians. Car accident involving a pedestrian in the majority of cases results in a fatality. In the attempt to reduce the number of car accidents involving pedestrians, many automotive companies have started a development of the security systems which will allow drivers to react in due time and consequently reduce the severity of injury in pedestrians. Such systems can be active and passive and are described in this paper. Active systems involve some sort of spatial awareness technology (like radar) whose mission is to recognize the pedestrian standing or moving on the car's trajectory. Furthermore, such system is to alert the driver or take control of the vehicle and avoid the collision automatically. Passive systems tend to diminish the consequences of the primary and (or) secondary contact between the car and the pedestrian.