This decision supplements the decision "More safety in workplaces of shorter duration on  motorways" dated 27 October 2016.

Time and again, serious traffic accidents occur on motorways as a result of lorries driving onto construction sites. There is a particular risk at work sites of short duration.

Traffic is made aware of work sites in good time by advance warning devices. They order speed restrictions and announce lane reductions or swings. Shortly before the work site (min. 50 m), a mobile barrier sign (sign 616 StVO) orders the closure of the affected lane and the change to the adjacent lane.¹

Nevertheless, collisions between HGVs and movable barrier panels on motorways occur time and again, resulting in serious and sometimes fatal injuries to the construction site personnel and the occupants of the colliding vehicle and possibly other vehicles. Approximately five to six percent of all serious rear-end collisions involving HGVs on motorways occurred on movable barrier panels.²

The German Road Safety Council (DVR) welcomes and expressly supports the plan of the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) and Autobahn GmbH to reduce the number of rear-end collisions at construction sites by equipping all mobile barrier boards with C-ITS³ by the end of 2023. Signals, currently based on the WLANp standard, are transmitted via these "roadworks warning devices" to warn traffic early and reliably of approaching work sites. In addition, this information will be made available via mobile radio (4G/LTE, 5G) on the Mobilithek .⁴

Recommendations

In order to fully exploit the potential of C-ITS technology to increase road safety, the DVR recommends implementing the following measures:

1.    Network-based communication can significantly increase the safety of construction sites. In addition to direct short-range communication, Autobahn GmbH makes its data available via the Mobilithek. In order for vehicles that do not have WLANp communication to benefit from the safety potential of the C- ITS, the data transmitted to the Mobilithek must be used by service providers for warning via network transmission.
2.    At least one service provider (e.g. Here, SAS) is needed to provide a service based on the data⁵ in the Mobilithek, to monitor the quality of the information and to provide warnings for systems used in the vehicles. The BMDV should promote the solutions of the service providers accordingly.
3.    Vehicle manufacturers should consistently equip new vehicles - especially trucks - with C-ITS. In addition, transport companies should equip existing trucks with retrofit solutions to warn of construction and hazardous areas.
4.    The BMDV should promote appropriate initial equipment as well as retrofit solutions via a special programme.
5.    The BMDV should work at European level to promote the European
"Data for Road Safety" initiative⁶ to success. To this end, new business models for SRTI data⁷ must also be considered. In the medium term, the planned solution of the "Data for Roadsafety" initiative, in which Germany and German vehicle manufacturers are involved, can further increase the quality of the data through additional sensor data from vehicles and overall make the use of the services available to other vehicles as well.
6.    The BMDV should examine a corresponding equipment regulation for C-ITS and initiate it at European level.
7.    The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMDV) should implement the recommendations of the DVR resolution "Increasing road safety through vehicle-to-X communication" of 25.10.2021 and establish a national strategy for the introduction of vehicle-to-X (V2X).⁸
8.    Against the background of the intended extension of the regulations on the motorway pilot for commercial vehicles (Automated Lane Keeping Systems, UN Regulation No. 157 from registration 01.09.2024), a pilot project should be funded by the Federal Government to investigate the reaction of the systems to mobile barrier boards.
9.    In parallel, vehicle manufacturers, especially those of goods road transport vehicles, should improve the detection and classification of mobile barrier panels and other collision-relevant safety vehicles as part of the further development of their emergency brake assistance systems (NBA, AEBS) and implement the innovations of UN Regulation No. 131-02 - including the shortening of the collision warning phase as required - as quickly as possible.

Signed
Manfred Wirsch
President

Notes

1 Cf. RSA 21
2 Based on analyses of accident data on motorways in Lower Saxony for the years 2017 - 2021
3 C-ITS = "Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems" in the sense of a hybrid communication approach with WLANp and mobile radio
4 The Mobilithek is the German platform for the exchange of mobility data (e.g. traffic jams, road works, etc.).
Data provided on the platform can be used by other providers for their own offers (e.g. warning via app).
5 Delivery and processing of data from different data sources; structured and unstructured data
6 www.dataforroadsafety.eu
7 "Data for Road Safety has developed an ecosystem for Safety Related Traffic Information (SRTI) that warns drivers of dangerous driving conditions. The SRTI data can be shared and used by vehicle manufacturers, service providers and road authorities.
8 See DVR resolution "Increasing road safety through vehicle-to-X communication" of 25.10.2021. Available at www.dvr.de/ueber-uns/beschluesse