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The design of active safety systems capable of helping avoiding a crash or reducing the collision severity requires data on how drivers behave in accident situations. These systems must be triggered when drivers actually need assistance. They must enhance insufficient reactions and limit unsuitable ones without being in conflict with drivers’ natural behavior. The Laboratory of Accidentology, Biomechanics and human behavior, PSA Peugeot Citroën - Renault (LAB), has conducted experiments on driving simulators and on test tracks to analyze driver’s behavior in emergency situations. Two of these experiments concern front-to-rear accident situations, each one involving more than 100 representative common drivers. The first study was carried out on a simulator with different accident scenarios : an adverse vehicle stopped or driving slowly at the top of a hill, a vehicle coming into the driver’s lane from a parking area, or a vehicle driving in front of the subject then suddenly braking.

Development of crash avoidance systems and active safety systems must not be only based on experimental knowledge. The goal is to provide an efficient answer to still unsolved severe real-world car crashes which occur despite enhanced passive safety devices. This requires to know precisely the pre-crash conditions during about 3 to 10 seconds before impact. The paper describes the multidisciplinary systemic approach leading to the comprehensive methodology used in accident reconstruction in order to determine the best scenario, and to assess initial car speeds, paths and events in the different phases of the accident. This has already been carried out for about 400 car crashes with car occupant injuries (including 6% fatal and 10% severely injured). The necessity of collecting data on the spot of the crash scene is highlighted. Three well-trained investigators are involved.