An EC-funded project aims to coordinate research on essential tyre/road interaction parameters. A competition will help raise awareness of the project
Drivers need grip between the tyres and the road to accelerate, decelerate or change the direction of a moving road vehicle. Grip is provided by the skid resistance properties of the road surface in combination with the friction characteristics of the tyre. This combination is critical for safe driving, and many European countries have investigated the correlation of a low-skid resistance level with accident hot spots.With a sufficiently high value of skid resistance, the safety of roads can be improved and the number of accidents can be reduced. A harmonised European scale for the measurement and assessment of skid resistance still remains to be developed.
Although very important for safety, skid resistance is not the only target property of road surfaces. Modern road surfaces are also expected to provide low levels of rolling resistance and to reduce noise emissions during use. High rolling resistance leads to greater fuel consumption, contributing to CO2 emissions.
Coordinated research combining the efforts of scientists working on different aspects of road/vehicle interaction is essential in order to achieve significant improvements in all optimisation objectives.
TYROSAFE (TYre and ROad surface optimisation for Skid resistance And Further Effects) is a Coordination Action, funded by the European Community under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013).
It aims to coordinate research on essential tyre/road interaction parameters and to raise awareness of their impact, and it will create synopses of previous activities; compile the available expertise into reference documents; design recommendations, guidelines and roadmaps for future activities, and projects.
The most important deliverable documents of the two-year project, which started on 1 July, 2008, are the recommendations for future policies concerning road surface properties; the roadmaps and implementation plan for skid resistance measurement harmonisation; the report on the influence of road surface properties on skid resistance, rolling resistance and noise emission and their interdependencies, and the investigation of their interaction with climatic change.
Together with the awareness created among stakeholders, experts and the wider public through the dissemination activities, including an online video competition (see panel), the project results will help to shape future policies concerning road surface properties.
• Project coordinator is Manfred Haider (
TYROSAFE Video Competition
The aim of the TYROSAFE Video Competition is to create a short video (a maximum of five minutes) that conveys the importance and raises awareness about the interactions among tyres, roads and safety.
The video will be used to raise awareness and promote the TYROSAFE project at different exhibitions, seminars and project events.
A panel of respected judges from the road and tyre industry and research community will decide on a winner.
Participation in the competition is open worldwide, and participants of any age are eligible to take part although young researchers (of any age) are encouraged to submit entries.
The competition will run in collaboration with the The YEAR (Young European Arena of Research) 2010 Competition during the Transport Research Arena 2010 in the Belgian capital Brussels. [This is a competition for early-stage researchers who are exploring the area of surface transport within their research].
The TYROSAFE competition will run until June 2010, and the deadline for entry is 26 February, 2010
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