Use of CARSIM® for the assessment of the influence of change of speed and visibility on road safety

In this paper the Authors face the theme of road safety through the use of the calculation model CARSIM@, This software is able to show the way the vehicles answer to driving inputs from a dynamic point of view, with respect to the boundary conditions, generating the same results that would spring out from expensive real scale tests carried out with special vehicles equipped with specific instrumentation. Moving from the analysis of a C1 track designed with respect to the prescription of the new DM 5/11/01 Norms, the specific aspect of the sight distance was analysed, getting to the definition of two alternative proposals for the determination of the overtaking manoeuvre sight distance. On this matter, different scenarios characterised by dissimilar speed values of the simulation vehicles were considered, both the dimensions and the characteristics of the vehicles themselves being also changed, so as to get to two different formulations for the assessment of the minimum overtaking sight distance, which are complementary and, at the same time, alternative to what proposed by the Norms. More specifically, the Authors formulated a mathematical models set for the increase of road safety which, thanks to the help of virtual reality, allows the validation of the Italian Prescriptions and, on the other hand, integrates them with a further improvement through computerised simulations, in order to analyse all the possible situations that could be experienced in real driving conditions.