Applications of three-dimensional computer generated visualisations in road safety

Road safety practitioners face increasing pressure and public scrutiny in demonstrating that new road safety initiatives will be cost effective and will deliver guaranteed results once implemented. Such initiatives can differ significantly in size and complexity ranging from new and improved safety schemes at individual sites to area wide strategies and legislation. Additionally, there is increasing pressure for highways authorities to ensure protection against liability and personal injury claims that may arise from new initiatives.

These factors exist in an environment where road safety countermeasures are becoming increasingly refined and where a greater complexity and interaction of contributory factors need to be considered. Compounding this, in many areas it has become more difficult to reliably collect information due to the specialist nature of detailed information required and the practicalities of collecting this information, resource constraints and privacy concerns.

This paper provides examples of situations where TRL has applied computer visualisation technology in the field of road safety in an effort to address these issues. The accompanying presentation will include additional examples of broader applications of visualisation technology in road safety.