Advanced road safety measures:

Abstract: Even though there is a number of advertisements and awareness in the area of road safety, the accidents are increasing day-by-day. In India, the number of vehicles to road ratio is very high. This is one of the main reasons that we lack in the area of road safety. The awareness of the road safety is not the only way to decrease road accidents, but also the manufacturers of automobiles should take precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the passengers. 80% of the innovation in automobiles is electronically driven. The paper involves various ideas like VANET, communications between various vehicles, congestion warning, advanced traffic updates, accident information, malfunction notification and their application categories which include traffic management, enhanced driver comfort, etc. This also studies the Indian road scenarios and the application of international road safety tools. Communication between vehicles:

Figure 1

The accident phases are mainly classified into two types namely active safety and passive safety. Figure 1 shows the accident phases.

Figure 2 shows car to car communication system. This navigation system ensures the communication between the vehicles and if this navigation is good, safety is ensured and the accident could be prevented.

Figure 2

Various instances where navigation is used for safety measures Scenario-1

The above scenario explains the communication between different vehicles that uses the same road, that is, the vehicle that meets with accidents passes information to the other vehicles those uses the same road. This intimates the other vehicles about the accident so that they can act accordingly.

Scenario-2

The above scenario shows traffic congestion control, that is, the RSU (Remote Sensing Unit) gathers information about the amount of traffic at a place and transfers information to the Central Control Unit. This sends the information to all the local RSUs. This passes information to the other vehicles using the same route. Thus the driver could use an alternative way to reach the destination. This ensures accident prevention and congestion control.

Scenario-3

If any vehicle on a particular road meets with a malfunctioning of automobile parts or runs out of fuel, the vehicle could send the information to the nearest RSU. This sends the information about the nearest service stations so that the vehicle could directly contact the service station and satisfy its need.

Technologies involved: The below picture comprises of various technologies that ensures road safety.

International standards and useful application categories: E Safety Applications: Traffic signal violation warning: Stop sign violation warning General in-vehicle signage Left turn assistant Intersection collision warning Pedestrian crossing information Emergency vehicle Approaching warning Emergency vehicle signal Emergency vehicle at scene warning Vehicle safety inspection Electronic license plate Electronic driver's license

In-vehicle Amber alert (crime haunt) Stolen vehicles tracking Post-crash/breakdown warning SOS services Pre-crash sensing Event data recording Work zone warning Curve-speed warning (rollover warning) Vehicle-based road condition warning Infrastructure-based road condition warning Cooperative (forward) collision warning Emergency electronic brake lights Blind spot warning / lane change warning Wrong way driver warning Rail collision warning

Traffic Management Applications: Highway merge assistant Cooperative adaptive cruise control Cooperative platooning Adaptive drive train management Intelligent traffic flow control Road surface conditions to TOC Vehicle probes provide weather data to TOC Crash data to TOC Origin and destination to TOC Fleet management Area access control Electronic toll payment Rental car processing Hazardous material cargo tracking

Maintenance and Enhanced Driver Comfort: Maintenance Applications Safety recall notice Just-in-time repair notification Wireless Diagnostics Software update/flashing Enhanced Driver Comfort

Visibility enhancer Cooperative glare reduction / headlamp aiming Parking spot locator Enhanced route guidance and navigation Enhanced Driver Comfort Map download/update GPS correction Cooperative positioning improvement Instant messaging (between vehicles) Point-of-interest notification Internet service provisioning / info fueling Mobile media services Mobile access to vehicle data (PDA, Handy, etc.)

Indian conditions- the real scenario and conclusion: Indian standards do not match up with the international standards. The Indian roads have a great disadvantage of congestion, that is, India has too little roads but has too many cars. In India there are a number of dividers in roads, even in highways. Indian attitude towards driving does not match up with the international driving attitude, for instance, overtaking on the wrong side may cause a lot of trouble. The tracking system has to be improved and for that we should have proper road-maps which are not yet available for small towns in India. The technological improvement is also slow in India. If these international and technical safety measures have to be brought to India, the technical improvement should be fast in India. There are many disadvantages in using the electronic sensors too. They may have some malfunctioning which may lead the vehicles to tedious situations. So, if this has to be in good effect in India, India has to concentrate much on the growth of communication and technology. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003841749440