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Chapter 7
User-centered Approach to Design
an Adaptive Truck Driving Assistance:
Detection of Vulnerable Users
in Urban Areas
7.1. Introduction
The safety of vulnerable road users is an important issue in terms of public
health. Indeed, statistical studies on road safety show that more pedestrians and
cyclists are killed than motor vehicle users in an urban environment in France
(66.9% of those killed [CHA 08]). More globally, statistics show that in numerous
countries pedestrians, cyclists and bus passengers are the user groups which are at
the greatest risk of being involved in a serious accident [TRA 04]. Finally, the
majority of accidents involving a vulnerable user and a heavy vehicle have fatal
consequences for the vulnerable user.
With a poor awareness of the requirements and constraints linked to driving
heavy vehicles, vulnerable users frequently adopt unsafe attitudes and behaviors
when in proximity to such vehicles, particularly in an urban environment (see
Figure 7.1). Furthermore, the presence of trucks often causes negative, even
aggressive, reactions from the others in the town. Thus, proximity to the population
and the struggle for occupation of public space have a direct impact on road safety,
linked to the circulation of trucks in town, as well as to the idea the public has of
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