Side-Impact Crash Test and Evaluation Criteria for Roadside Safety Hardware

During the past decade, reducing the severity of side-impact collisions has been an emerging area of research by a variety of organizations and research communities. The motor vehicle manufacturing and regulatory communities in the United States, Europe, and many other countries have developed dynamic side-impact test and evaluation criteria to reduce the severity of vehicle-to-vehicle side-impact collisions. Similarly, the international research community has developed test procedures for performing impacts into poles, one of the most severe types of side-impact collisions. Preliminary side-impact test and evaluation procedures have been conducted for roadside safety hardware, like guardrails, guardrail terminals, luminaire supports, utility poles, and signs. Recommendations for performing roadside hardware side-impact crash tests are summarized; the results of several side-impact roadside hardware crash tests are described; the proposed test and evaluation procedures are compared with other major side-impact test and evaluation procedures; and areas requiring further research are discussed.