FESTA Handbook main modifications

List of main modifications in Version 5

Version 5 is the result of the activity of five Working Groups(WG) in the FOT-Net 2 Support Action during 2012 and 2013. The focus of Working Groups was on the following items: Data Analysis, Events and Incident Definition, Legal and Ethical Issues, Impact Assessment and Scaling Up, Data Sharing. The Working Groups proceeded in parallel, organising dedicated workshops and setting up links to running FOTs. Intermediate progress was presented to the main ITS International congresses. A final workshop was then organised in Turin (4-5 November 2013) amongst experts in order to validate the content to insert and agree amendments to the new version. An important additional document which contains all the details of the Working Groups activity is the deliverable produced by FOT-Net 2: D3.2 - Working Group Additions to FOT Methodology [1].

Results from Working groups

The main modifications introduced in the FESTA Handbook by the FOT-NET working group are described in the following.

WG1: Data Analysis

The Lessons Learned related to Data Analysis have been clustered into the main categories:

• Experimental design

• Data collection and storage

• Data processing

• Data analysis

The following Recommendations from WG1 were added in different chapters of the handbook:

• Recommended to take a layered approach to data analysis

• Check before data analysis, if selected data sets are feasible for analysis

• Focus on few in depth analysis of RQ rather than general analysis of many RQ (especially for uncontrolled NDS data)

• Data analysis needs to be involved in the overall planning from beginning

• Methods for automation of the analysis are necessary

• Video data analysis is generally quite time consuming

• New ways to derive driver data for subjective analysis need to be found

• Real-time data synchronization is mandatory

• Timing is essential for cooperative FOT (especially time stamps from different systems which need to be synchronized for data analysis)

WG 2: Events and Incident Definition

The issue discussed by this WG is a new subject for the handbook and is related to the definition of Crash relevant Events(CRE)s. The performed analysis show that there is not a single and unambiguous way for defining CREs. Different level of details about CRE selection and the choices that need to be made when defining them : ch.5.3.5 ( intended to be an easy to read introduction)and Annex C (more detailed). They are derived from the report of the complete analysis contained in D3.2[2] ch.4. There are four theoretical approaches in general use but not any final recipes that can be used off the shelf without involving own reflection. The approaches are the following:

• Driver response based (vehicle or body kinematics)

• Function response based

• Driving context based

--- Static

--- Dynamic

• Driving history based

--- Individual

--- Group

WG 3 – Legal and Ethical aspects

In the previous FESTA HBK versions Legal & Ethical issues were only described from a German point of view. The WG3 main objective was to Integrate a broader view on legal issues (from other EU-Member States). Using a questionnaire prepared in the WG the viewpoint of different organizations was collected about the following items:

• Data privacy

• Criminal law

• Liabilities/ insurance

• Ethical approval

• Special Licenses

• Product Liability

• Contractual Agreements

• Open Questions

Answers were received from France, Italy, The Netherland,Spain. Specifically, the following organizations participated:

• Spanish Clubs RACC and RACE

• Italian Automobile Club ACI

• Dutch ANWB

• French Automobile and Touring Club ACAFA

Not all items where answered by all responders but the answers were very accurate. An analysis of commonalities and peculiarities in the different countries was then performed. All details are contained in D3.2[3] Chapter 5. The update of the FESTA-Handbook was focused on:

• Data privacy situation for video data on vehicle surroundings

• Data Sharing

• Other revisions about ambiguous or obsolete items

The new contents and the report in D3.2[4] allow for a good estimate on challenges to be met in Legal & Ethical terms and are helpful in case of European Projects. However it is always important to seek the advice of a legal expert for every FOT at national level.

WG4: Impact assessment and scaling up

Also the items dealt by this WG are very challenging. The complete report of the activity is contained in D3.2[5] ch.6. The main points inserted in chapter 10 and different other chapters are summarized in the following:

Safety impact assessment

• Gaps in knowledge: relation between measures and accidents is not known

• Different approaches are used

--- Qualitative / expert judgment

--- Speed – accident relationships

--- eIMPACT method using accident statistics

--- Event based analysis

• Managing expectations of policy makers

Data Issues

• Importance of explanatory variables to explain effects observed during the FOT

--- Video data

--- Questionnaires and travel diaries

--- Data on surroundings

--- Meta data

--- Audio data

--- Logging of the function

• Option: collect in-depth data for part of FOT

• Write down data needs, including

--- Way in which they will be measured

--- Alternative sources for data measurements

--- Parallel back-up systems (possibly with lower accuracy)

• Have fall-back options and do not rely on single data collection

Scaling up approach

• Not one ready-to-use approach available – now usually done in very rough way

• Timing

• Availability of data

• Discussive analysis in terms of trends

• Representative sample vs. imperfect sample

• Know limitations of sample

WG5: Data Sharing

Data Sharing is estimated to be a quite important domain in the future of FOTs. Reuse of data open new possibilities but, in order to make this possible a numbers of issues must be solved and rigourous procedures must be adopted in order that the data could be really reused. The main output of WG5 is the report contained in ch.7 of D3.2[6]. A comprehensive list of relevant aspects to be analyzed and developed in order to provide a complete platform for datra sharing are described. This is a sound basis for the new FOT-NET DATA project recently launched. In the handbook Version 5 it was decided to introduce specific sentences in different chapters (especially in chapter 3 dedicated to legal aspect) specifically addressed to data sharing.

Other updates

All chapters were updated and obsolete information changed or removed. In particular the previous annex C dedicated to reasearch questions and hypoteses was removed and its content (enhanced) was mainly distributed in different sections of Chapter 4. Moreover it was precised that many aspects related to FOTs are also appliable to NDSs. Differences in applicability between the two types of studies are underlined whenever relevant.