Crashing Safely: Technology at the Service of Safer Roads

Vehicle restraint systems (VRS) are passive safety devices that can serve as one of the most effective countermeasures to run-off road accidents. Devices such as safety barriers and crash cushions have been key in reducing the severity of these types of accidents. The European EN 1317 standard is one of the standards that offers a common testing and reporting system for describing the design, performance, production, and testing of vehicle restraint systems. This article describes the Road Barrier Upgrade of Standards (ROBUST) project which addresses the question of uncertainty in VRS measurements by applying state of the art technology to the existing European standards.