According to the total number of traffic accidents where the first party is a car, senior drivers have skyrocketed to be a perpetrator. Because the number of all accidents dropped 55% in 2010 compared to 2000, but senior driver perpetrators accidents grew from 15% to 22.3%. So we investigated the difference between senior and young drivers’ physiological function in the expressway driving, we collected the relevant data from some senior and young drivers’ 2 hours driving along a section of 140km on Tomei expressway. Then we interviewed those drivers and measured their physiological function before, during and after the driving. As a result, we found that senior drivers got tension during driving on expressway and got tired from driving, but they were not aware of driving fatigue and tension themselves compared to young drivers.

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The authors have been working on development of methods to detect driver’s inappropriate posture with pressure distribution sensors on the driving seat of a car. Pattern recognition techniques are used to the “image” of the pressure distribution of a driving posture. In a previous research, the authors applied Higher-order Local AutoCorrelation（HLAC）features to the recognition of a driving posture. The results of the previous experiment showed that the correct recognition rate was approximately 85%, therefore it has been necessary to develop a more reliable method. This paper proposes a novel posture recognition system that is based on SIFT（Scale-Invariant Feature Transform）method for feature extraction and the bag-of-keypoints method for classification. The SIFT method is robust to changes in size, illumination, noise and to rotation, and the bag-of-keypoints method contributes to the robustness to changes in location. Results of experiments show that the mean correct recognition rate of the proposed system is more than 99 percent if both the sensors on the seat cushion and on the backrest are available and the training is done individually for each person. The recognition rate is much higher than that of the previous study. Even if the training data include other persons’ data, the recognition rate becomes a little bit low but could be acceptably high. If one of the two sensors is not available, the recognition rate can be reduced significantly. However, the recognition rate could be acceptably high if the training is done individually for each person.

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Traffic related fatalities and injuries are still a serious social problem in Japan. In 2012, 4,612 people died due to trauma in the 24 hours following vehicle crashes. Besides the continuous improvement of vehicle safety design, improved emergency protocols to facilitate immediate medical treatment at the scene of road accidents are required. So far, traffic injuries in databases were classified according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale（AIS）．However, the AIS coding provides no information about the injurious process, which is the key to understand, treat and prevent injuries. In order to provide this crucial information, we have deployed a new accident research network system in conjunction with the competent infrastructures including accident data collection groups, emergency assistance teams and medical institutions. In addition, an accident sampling survey is conducted by the new medical and engineering network which allows to provide basic data on accident conditions, emergency response, and systems for the transmission of accident information that were not adequately considered before. The new accident research network system aims at providing the required coordinated infrastructure in Japan to sustain improved investigation methods to effectively reduce the number of traffic injuries and fatalities.

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This research seeks to improve the accuracy of calculating the collision speed of a vehicle in a car-pedestrian accident using computer simulation because most fatal accidents are pedestrian accidents. In the computer simulation, we used two different brake conditions（braking level and braking time）to investigate the relation between the distance a pedestrian is thrown and the vehicle speed upon collision. The results of our research indicated the relation formula of V= √8X regardless of braking level in the vehicle of 1box type and if the braking is delayed, they indicated the irregular relation.

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The pursuit of traffic safety toward ‘death and injury=zero’ is important for all road users. Key areas are the prevention of accidents, strategies for reducing injuries, and emergency medicine for victims of traffic accidents. Real-world traffic accidents require detailed scientific and objective analysis to ensure development of effective countermeasures. Here I suggest an optimal method, which combines medicine and engineering, to comprehensively investigate traffic accidents and reduce accidents in Japan. I also propose a strategy for reducing injuries. The key points of my proposal are as follows：Accidents should be investigated at the scene using clear criteria in a financially feasible manner. However, no such criteria exist and need to be created. The base for the investigations should be situated in medical facilities that specialize in trauma treatment. Computed tomography （CT） and autopsy should be performed to determine the cause of death. A database containing details of traffic accidents, medical information of victims, CT after death, and autopsy must be created and made available to researchers in Japan. Advanced automatic collision notification （AACN） is useful for reducing the time between an accident and medical contact and can help to save lives. An important point of AACN is the determination of collision details and triage of critical victims. Detailed analysis of a large number of cases is necessary to improve the precision of an automatic triage system. Assimilating the details of accidents and injuries is essential for developing a safe road traffic environment. Using medical facilities that specialize in trauma treatment, with an engineer on 24-h standby, as the base for investigation, researchers should use their experience to improve road safety in Japan by investigating accidents as soon as possible after they occur, perform CT or autopsy to determine cause of death, and develop a suitable database with free access to researchers. Moreover, the existing emergency medical system should be reformed to be applicable to AACN; although, implementation issues we can be anticipated.

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