Assessment of impact forces in standards

Models of accidental impact forces due to road vehicles recommended in Eurocode EN 1991-1-7 are analyzed. The indicative values of design impact forces given for highways and roads seem to be rather low. The impact forces determined on the basis of probabilistic methods are up to three times greater than it is recommended in current European standards. It is shown that the upper bound of impact forces should be applied for key bridges located in the vicinity of traffic routes provided that other safety measures are not taken into account.