Accident reproduction system for the identification of human factors involved on traffic accidents

In this paper, a novel accident reproduction system for the identification of the main human factors involved on traffic accidents is presented. The system is based on a wireless in-vehicle Electronic Data Recorder that could be easily installed in any vehicle's cabin for the monitoring of the three basic elements of traffic safety: driver, road and vehicle. The system has been tested in a highly realistic truck simulator with a group of professional drivers. The data, collected with the system at the moments before traffic accidents, were used to generate a novel database that was carefully analyzed by a group of traffic safety experts. The validation process shows the reliability of the developed system as a tool for the identification of the main causes of the monitored traffic accidents.