ENG 207: English for Engineering

Spring 2015

Safe Car; Accidents and Injuries Prevention

Submitted to
Dr Firas A J Al-Jubouri
Assistant Professor
English Department
American University of Sharjah
By
1 Anas Al Atrash

50512

2 Catrine ElSayegh

47408

3 Abderaouf Badjadja

48907

4 Ahmed Al Mallahi

47824

May 31st, 2015

Team 4
Engineering Building,

American University of Sharjah,

P.O. Box 23456,
Sharjah.
Dr. Firas A J Al-Jubouri,
Department of English,
College of Arts and Sciences,
American University of Sharjah,
P.O. Box: 26666,
Sharjah.
26th May 2015
Dear Dr. Al-Jubouri,
We are pleased to submit our Engineering Multi-Disciplinary Project (EMDP)
report entitled as: Safe Car; Accidents and Injuries Prevention in response
to your request of 15 February, 2015.
Since we come from three different engineering disciplines, we chose a
project that combines these various concentrations to solve a common
problem; which is decreasing the loss of lives and preventing the occurrence
of injuries by increasing car safety. Car safety could be enhanced by
implementing several safety systems in a car. The attached report will
disclose all details covered by the multi-disciplinary team.
The report discloses collaborative work from mechanical, electrical and civil
engineering disciplines. The current situation of drivers being unsafe while
driving under the increasing risks of car accidents has been discussed. The
problems occurring due to insufficient safety measures are highlighted in
terms of pre-crash and post-crash problems. Then the possible solutions that
could be implemented are presented in details. At the end, the proposed
implementation of the pre-crash and post-crash systems has been evaluated
based on their costs and benefits.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Dr. Hassan Nashash and Dr.
Ghaleb Hussein from the Biomedical Engineering Department for their
encouragement, support, and guidance. Their remarks and consultancy have
significantly contributed to the results we have reached to, as well as, they
have initially guided us towards a more useful project idea.
Regarding our secondary sources, some of them were obtained from AUS
library journal articles, books, and online data bases. Whereas, the rest of
the sources were obtained from scientific journal articles such as . That
were retrieved through Google Scholar.
I hope that our report and project idea meets the criteria needed to
successfully complete the EMDP as one of the course requirements. Please
feel free to contact us for any further queries.
Yours truly,
Catrine ElSayegh
2

Anas Al Atrash
Abdelraouf Badjadja
Ahmed Al Mallahi
Encl.: Safe Car; Accidents and Injuries Prevention Project Report

Table of Contents
List of Figures..................................................................................................iv
List of Tables...................................................................................................vi
Glossary.........................................................................................................vii
Executive Summary......................................................................................viii
1. Introduction................................................................................................1
1.1. Situation and Background....................................................................1
1.2. Purpose................................................................................................2
1.3. Scope...................................................................................................2
2. Problems Identification and Discussion......................................................3
2.1. Pre-crash problems..............................................................................3
2.1.1. Driving under the influence of alcohol............................................3
2.1.2. Fatigued and sleepy drivers...........................................................3
2.1.3. Slow braking response at uncontrollable high speeds....................4
2.2. Post-crash problems.............................................................................4
2.2.1. Whiplash injuries............................................................................4
2.2.2. Triage of injured drivers..................................................................4
3. Solutions....................................................................................................5
3.1. Pre-crash solutions...............................................................................5
3.1.1. Alcohol monitoring system.............................................................5
3.1.2. Sleep monitoring system................................................................5
3.1.3. Emergency braking system............................................................6
3.2. Post-crash solutions.............................................................................7
3.2.1. Whiplash Prevention system..........................................................7
3.2.2. Advanced Automatic Collision Notification (AACN) System............8
4. Evaluation................................................................................................10
4.1. Alcohol Detection System..................................................................10
4.2. Automated Emergency Braking System.............................................10
4.3. Sleep Detection Sensor......................................................................10
4.4. Automated Collision Notification System...........................................11
3

4.5. Whiplash Injury Preventer..................................................................11

4.6. Cost....................................................................................................11
5. Recommendations...................................................................................12
6. Conclusion................................................................................................13
References.....................................................................................................14

List of Figures
Figure 1:

explaining several system to be integrated in cars to enhance the

safety of drivers & passengers........................................................................6

Figure 2: Car Seat Model [12]..........................................................................7
Figure 3: Rescue sequence including an AACN system [13]...........................8

List of Tables

Glossary
AACN: Advanced Automatic Collision Notification
ADS: Alcohol Detection System
AEBS: Automatic Emergency Braking System
Anti-Whiplash Devices (AWDs): Devices that work on preventing whiplash
injuries
Emergency-Services: Vehicles of transportation that aid in delivering
emergency medical care to the injured and ill
Passive Device: A component that does not require electrical power to
operate
Safety-Belt Pretensioners: Seat belt add that preventatively tightens up
the belt in the event of a crash
Whiplash: An injury that occurs when a sudden force tears the neck
muscles
WIP: Whiplash Injury Preventer

Executive Summary
For a long time now, car accidents have been causing deaths, injuries
and financial losses to people from all over the world. This has come as come
as a result of different factors that could lead to a car collision. Crash reports
show that a number of several causes are most likely to reappear more than
others. Factors such as, driving under the influence, sleep deprived driving
and failure to maintain the safe distance between two consecutive cars have
all been held liable for the occurrence of car collisions. Furthermore,
addressing post-crash issues like whiplash injuries and slow emergencyservice dispatch has never been more vital. This report aims to present
viable solutions to aforementioned issues by inspecting various systems that
are sensory, mechanical and intelligent in order to implement them in a safe
car model. The team focused on examining various sources that cover the
latest findings on dealing with pre-crash and post-crash problems as well as
interviewing a university professor whose research focus covers our topic of
interest.
There are a number of problems that can be attributed to causing car
collisions in the first place. To start off, drunk driving has spread in a great
extent recently, and that intoxication has often been the reason behind
drivers losing control over their vehicle and crashing into other vehicles,
pedestrians and public property. Moreover, fatigued driving is now a major
8

cause of car accidents to the point that its effects are now compared to the
effects of driving under the influence. Third, some drivers tend to not keep
the safe distance between cars in regard when driving in high speed
freeways. This can often lead to slow response in breaking when the car
ahead decelerates and hence, rear-end impacts can occur. Moving on to
issues related to the crash aftermath, it was found that, lately, the number of
whiplash injuries has risen exponentially. Furthermore, emergency services
often take a certain amount of time before reaching a crash scene, and a
one- or two-second delay in dispatch could have its toll on a crash by causing
disabilities or even death.
The team has decided upon five different solutions to address the five
problems mentioned above. Firstly, an alcohol monitoring system that would
measure the blood alcohol level and act accordingly. To add on, a sleep
detection system that would observe and detect the drivers facial features
and react in the case the driver was falling asleep. For the slow braking
response issue, a new system that would help in mitigating front-end
impacts will be presented. For the post-crash problems, the team has agreed
on the following solutions to be implemented. First, the safe car model will
be equipped with a whiplash prevention system to absorb collision impact
and provide spinal protection. As for the emergency dispatch delay issue, an
advanced automatic collision notification system will be integrated in the
model car. Such a system will help in notifying the nearest emergency
service center to allow for a faster response, it will also provide crash details
that would help in attaining to the injured passengers.
9

All the solutions were then evaluated in terms of cost and benefits. The
proposed solutions are economically affordable if to be integrated in a
passenger car. It was found that each of the systems had displayed a
significant potential in mitigating car collisions and the consequences that
come along with it. This report shows that the implementation of the
aforementioned systems into one safe car model is viable.

10

1.Introduction
1.1. Situation and Background
The advancement of technology has had a major impact on the
facilitation of the life of mankind. One aspect of these developments is the
inception of the intelligent automobile. Research regarding intelligent
automobiles can be linked to developing countries governments efforts in
producing an intelligent transportation system (ITS) during the 1980s. The
purpose behind these research projects was to produce smart cars that run
on smart streets and highways. Moreover, the aim was to enhance vehicles
dynamics, safety, energy efficiency, drivers leisure, and route guidance; as
well as, to mitigate traffic congestion and pollution caused by vehicles.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), car accidents account for 1.2
million deaths and 20 to 50 million injuries worldwide every year [1].
In addition, car crashes have a negative effect on the nations
economy. A study, done by the national highway traffic safety administration
(NHTSA) based on data of police reported and unreported data in the US,
have shown that the cost of accidents are quite larger than the obvious cost
of collision and repair costs. The study showed that the cost of automobile
collisions involves the work loss cost, property damage, medical cost, cost to
employers as productivity and cost of police service. The data showed that
vehicle car crashes were estimated to cost the US government 242 billion
dollars [2].

Therefore, car safety and accident prevention are major concerns that
must be tackled and enhanced; hence, many companies started doing
research on various intelligent systems that will soon be produced and
implemented in future car production. These car manufactures include
Nissan, who are working on implementing an alcohol detection system that
would prevent intoxicated drivers to operate their automobiles [3]. However,
this system is still not integrated into commercial cars as it is only a concept
or theory. Moreover, Mercedes, one of the leading car manufacturers
worldwide, have initiated research to bring their consumers an automobile
that prevents collision by the implementing an anti-collision breaking system
that decelerates the car when approaching another car. However, this
proposed system is only effective on low speeds of less than 25 mph; since
at this speed, more than 75% of accidents occur [4].

1.2. Purpose
This report will serve as an extensive description and research
outcomes regarding the multidisciplinary engineering project, which is a safe
car that prevents accidents and mitigates injuries. This report will propose an
innovative idea of integrating several systems into cars to enhance the
safety of the automobiles. The main questions that this report will aim to
tackle are: What are the systems that should be installed or integrated into
the automobile, why these systems must be installed, how the integrated
systems can recognize a certain health issue and what action should be
initiated as a reaction, how can these systems be integrated into the
automobile conveniently. Furthermore, the aim of this multidisciplinary
2

project is to save the lives of the passengers and the driver, to decrease the
number of fatal car accidents, and to enhance the post-crash process of
attaining the accident site in order for the ambulance to arrive with enough
information to diagnose the injured driver.

1.3. Scope
The sophisticated design of the Smart Car requires the contribution of
multiple engineering disciplines which will hold the responsibilities regarding
the electrical and mechanical welfare of the car as a whole, as well as, the
cost benefits to the consumer and the producer. The problems that are
encountered in automobiles and occur after the collision occurs are
discussed in detail in this report. Moreover, the description and schematic of
the implemented systems will be discussed in this report. In addition, the
report will contain the evaluation and cost analysis of the integrated
systems.

2.Problems Identification and Discussion

Some problems lead to car accidents, but other problems occur due to car
accidents, after a crash has happened. In the following sections, we will be
discussing both of these major problems in details.

2.1. Pre-crash problems

2.1.1.Driving under the influence of alcohol

One of the first factors that contribute to the cause of fatal car
accidents is the irresponsibility of some drivers. These irresponsible drivers,
3

who drive under the influence of alcohol, endanger the welfare of the
passengers and the safety of the road. According to The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration [5], alcohol impaired driving contributes to 31%
of fatal car accidents. Therefore, alcohol impaired driving is an issue of great
significance that should be solved. Moreover, car manufactures are
developing researches concerning the prevention of car accidents related to
intoxicated drivers. However, there are no current automobiles that detect
the alcohol level in the driver.

2.1.2.Fatigued and sleepy drivers

The second factor that leads to collision is fatigued or sleepy drivers

who lose control over the vehicle and ultimately crash. A survey conducted
by the AAA foundation for traffic on drivers who are above the age of 16
showed that 52% of drivers have at least fallen asleep once while driving.
Moreover, studies based on records during years 1999 to 2008 [5] show that
fatigued and sleepy drivers account for 31% of fatal car accidents.

2.1.3.Slow braking response at uncontrollable high speeds

Modern vehicles, which have been produced in the recent years, have no
control on the speeding behavior of the drivers. Noting that, one of the major
and obvious causes that lead to car collisions is the drivers operation of the
automobile at high speeds that cannot be easily controlled. These drivers
4

can lose control over the car and crash causing significant damage to
themselves and to others. According to National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA), high speeding contributes to 30% of lethal car
accidents in 2012. Therefore, highlighting the significance of controlling the
speed of the car and the importance of designing a car that is speed
monitored [5].

2.2. Post-crash problems

2.2.1.

Whiplash injuries

Whiplash injuries been quite common and have been drastically

increasing in the past few decades. They are also known as neck sprain or
strain, which commonly occurs in rear-end auto accidents [6]. Occurring of
whiplash injuries could cause paralysis or spinal cord injuries. Also, according
to the Institute for Work & Health [7], a whiplash injury commonly causes
symptoms of depression soon after an accident.
2.2.2.

Triage of injured drivers

In case of major car accidents, the driver being injured will most probably
be incapable of verbally communicating his/her pain to the ambulance when
they arrive to the scene of the accident. Being unable to communicate the
source of the pain could lead to wrong diagnosis, and therefore, this could
result in a fatal loss if the injured drivers case has not been accurately
treated on time. In addition, late arrival of unprepared medical services due
to the tremendous increase of traffic in UAE could lead to disabilities, if not
fatal deaths. Keeping in mind, the number of traffic has been exponentially
increasing over the years.
5

3. Solutions
To each problem stated above, a possible solution has been found. The
solutions will be divided into pre-cash solutions and post-crash solutions to
address the problems stated earlier. The following sections will discuss the
solutions in details.

3.1. Pre-crash solutions

3.1.1.Alcohol detection system

The alcohol detection system would be implemented in the ignition of

the car. It measures the blood alcohol level of the driver and prohibits the
driver from starting the car if the alcohol level exceeds the legal threshold
[8]. Transmitters from within the car ignition will send microwave signals to
the drivers thumb, and the same system would then act as a receiver to
analyze the data, that is sent back from the thumb, which would, eventually,
determine the blood alcohol level. This system will make sure the driver is
incapable of driving under the illegal effect of alcohol.
3.1.2.Sleep monitoring system

A sleep monitoring system would observe and detect the facial

features of car drivers to determine their fatigue state [9]. If the driver was
falling asleep, this system would detect this case and react immediately [10].
Another system would be integrated in the purpose of alerting the driver to
wake up. An add-on to the safety built is capable to fill the role in which it
would tighten up the seatbelt whenever it receives a signal from the sleep
monitoring system.
6

3.1.3.Automated Emergency braking system

In the case of drivers with slow braking response issues, an automated

emergency braking system could be implemented that works on preventing
collisions at a speed of 60km/h, and possibly mitigates accidents at front-end
impacts such as at a speed of 100 km/h or more [11].

Figure 1:

explaining several system to be integrated in cars to enhance the safety of

drivers & passengers

3.2. Post-crash solutions

3.2.1.Whiplash Prevention system

The proposed whiplash prevention system (WPS) consists of seat

components that act as anti-whiplash devices (AWDs), as in automobile
elements that could mitigate or prevent the occurrence of a whiplash injury.
Two core AWDs will be integrated as part of the WPS, both the head restraint
and the seat-back [12].

Figure 2: Car Seat Model [12]

The AWDs will consist of passive devices, such as spring-damper

systems, that control the relative motion amongst the different structural
elements of the seat. The detailed design measurements for the antiwhiplash devices will be calculated in which specific breakaway forces and
torques would be set with a certain maximum value [12]. In the case of an
automobile collision, the maximum breakaway torques/forces would be
exceeded. As a result, the AWDs would then be enabled which helps in
absorbing the collision energy. The system, as a whole, is expected to
provide optimal protection for the head and spine, and hence, mitigating
whiplash injuries [12]. The last system in the safe car model would be the
advanced automatic collision notification (AACN) system [13].
3.2.2.Advanced Automatic Collision Notification (AACN) System

In order to avoid the consequences of injuries, ranging from morbidity

to mortality, they have to be prevented in the first place. However, in the
case of an injury, emergency medical services have to insure that the injured
9

are given the appropriate evaluation and care within the restriction of time,
and that is where the following system comes into place. The Advanced
Automatic Collision Notification System or the AACN, as the name suggests,
acts to minimize the amount of time for emergency services to reach an
accident scene and optimize the process of triage and treatment of injured
passengers [13].

Figure 3: Rescue sequence including an AACN system [13]

10

Whenever an accident has happened (as dictated by different sensors,

safety belt pretensions, or airbag deployment), the AACN system transmits a
remote emergency call to a service provider in order to provide the cars
location through GPS as well as data related to the accident [13]. The system
also works on opening a communication channel between the car and the
call center. Data including crash severity information, which is collected by
various sensors in the vehicle, would then be analyzed to determine injury
severity. All the info would then be rerouted to a public safety answering
point that would dispatch the suitable emergency service [13].

11

4. Evaluation
The importance of our project depends on how efficient the systems are,
and how beneficial they can be if they get implemented. The systems are
going to be evaluated. Also, investment on each part will be approximated in
some of the cases.

4.1. Alcohol Detection System

In the case of Alcohol Detection System, it is calibrated to work at certain
alcohol concentration in the blood. So, in few cases, the system can be
calibrated for the alcohol level of the driver. As the system might prevent the
driver from using the car even though he or she is not a drunk, and it is just
a result of a stable high concentration of alcohol in blood. Adding to that, the
system will start working when the concentration gets higher than that value
after being calibrated. The implementation is expected to cut-down drunkdriving offenses by 67% [14].

4.2. Automated Emergency Braking System

The Automated Emergency Braking System is targeting accidents at 80100km/h speed. The system will function to prevent these accidents from
happening; moreover, it will try to mitigate accidents done at higher speeds.
The AEBS will decrease the collision speed at which the accident will occur.
This implementation is expected to decrease accidents done at 80km/h or
less by 20% [15].
12

4.3. Sleep Monitoring System

The sleep monitoring system will calibrate itself when the driver starts
driving. It will also collect previous results from the past driving times to
compare the current result to the previous results. It is a smart system in a
way that, depending on how often the driver is blinking, or even on how the
drivers facial expressions seems to be, it will warn the driver and try to keep
him/her awake.

4.4. Advanced Automated Collision Notification System

The main concern of this system is to decrease the ambulance waiting
time, and give medics more time to tackle the injury. The AACN will
determine how severe the injury is, therefore, the medics will have an idea
which injury to prioritize in-order to save peoples lives. The system is
expected to eliminate or sharply decrease the ambulances response time
which is estimated to be 19 minutes [16].

4.5. Whiplash Prevention System

The Whiplash Prevention Systems function is as previously discussed is to
decrease the whiplash injuries that result from braking. However, this system
is still in the production stage, and the cost of the upgrade of this system is
yet to be approximated. Nevertheless, this system is expected to decrease
40% of whiplash injuries [17].

4.6. Cost

13

The price of the systems are considerably insignificant compared to the

value the accident or the value of the injury if it occurred. In general, the
average auto liability claim for property damage was $3,231; the average
auto liability claim for bodily injury was $15,443 . . . drunk driving alone
accounted for 18% of the total economic loss from motor vehicle crashes,
costing the economy as much as $199 billion in direct and quality-of-life
losses . . . speeding accounted for 21% of the total economic loss,
responsible for as much as $210 billion in costs [18]. In the case of ADS,
the price of system is around [19]. Adding to that, the price of the AEBS is
expected to be at 250 [20].

5. Recommendations
This report makes the following recommendations:

Do not attempt to fool the alcohol detection sensor, because if the driver
tried to do so, it will compare it to the previous collected results and the
newly collected ones.
Try to drive in the range of the ideal speed of the Automated Emergency
Braking System to reach the optimum working condition of the system. As
it was previously stated, the system prevents accidents at 25 mph.
Make sure to put the seatbelt, not only to enhance the safety, but also to
give a chance for the SDS to warn or attempt to wake the driver when
he/she falls asleep or be less aware of the road.
Try to take off any heavy clothing such as fur coats or anything with thick
layers, as it will make the AACN less effective.

14

 Adjust the car seat and most importantly the head restraint, it is
important to do this because this will also help in preventing the whiplash
injuries. The spine of the body should be on good shape to make sure that
the WIP will function properly and prevent the injury.

15

6. Conclusion
To conclude, the suggested systems are to be implemented in a way that
they will decrease the amount of fatal accidents and injuries occurring, as
well as decrease the ambulance waiting time. This will be satisfied by
integrating using ADS, EBS, SDS, ACNS and WIP. Lastly, the cost of these
systems will be insignificant compared to the value of the expected value of
an accidents and injuries that result from not using these upgrades.

16

References
[1] Poster 1.2 million situation reference
[2] http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/812013.pdf
[3] http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECHNOLOGY/OVERVIEW/dpcc.html
[4] http://www.thatcham.org/aeb
[5] http://www.rmiia.org/auto/traffic_safety/Cost_of_crashes.asp
[6]:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-

conditions/whiplash/basics/definition/con-20033090
[7]: http://www.iwh.on.ca/highlights/whiplash-after-traffic-accidents-can-leadto-depression
[8] S. Bhatnagar, R. Gupta and K. Singla, Apparatus for Ensuring Seat Belt
Usage and Checking Blood Alcohol Concentration, 2008 IEEE Conference on
Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics, 2008.
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Expression," Biometrics and Kansei Engineering (ICBAKE), 2013 International
Conference, vol., no.5-7, pp.320 - 326, July 2013.
[10] P. Ebrahim, W. Stolzmann and B. Yang, Eye Movement Detection for
Assessing Driver Drowsiness by Electrooculography, 2013 IEEE International
Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 2013.
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[11] Anonymous, NSW: Self-braking cars should be standard: NRMA. AAP

General

News

Wire,

2014.

Available:

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[13] Division of Injury Response, 'Advanced Automatic Collision Notification
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Control, Atlanta, 2009.
[14]

http://www.madd.org/media-center/media-library/National-Interlock-

BriefingSheet.pdfhttp://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.aus.edu/docview/213798047?
pq-origsite=summon
[Accessed: 04-Jan-2015]
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[16]
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/Emergencyandurgentcare
services/Pages/Ambulanceservices.aspx
[17] http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/ESV/esv18/CD/proceed/00206.pdf
[18] http://www.rmiia.org/auto/traffic_safety/Cost_of_crashes.asp
[19] http://dwidude.com/alcohol-monitor-devices/

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[20]
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/automotive/files/projects/report_aebs_
en.pdf

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