Publications
and reports 1989-present (52K PDF)
Company Profile
Vehicle Design and Research Pty Ltd was formed in 1990 to provide
consultant services to the road transport industry, vehicle
constructors, vehicle insurers and government. The Principal of the
company, Mr Michael Paine is a Chartered
Professional Engineer with over 25 years post-graduate experience in
the automotive field and in computer systems and programming. He was
previously a senior engineering manager in the Roads & Traffic
Authority of NSW and was responsible for the development of automotive
engineering policies and vehicle inspection procedures.
Road Safety
Road safety projects have included:
- Vehicle primary safety (accident avoidance)
- Vehicle crashworthiness, including assessment of crash
tested vehicles.
- Assisting NSW Staysafe Committee with its enquiry into the
safety of caravans and trailers, 1992.
- Contribution of defects to crashes (see Roadworthiness)
- Bus safety, including door entrapment, flashing warning
lights on school buses, seat belts on school buses and a review of
Australian bus accidents from 1970 to 1995. B
- Technical advice for the pilot of the NSW RTA Crashed
Vehicles Study - methods of identifying the contribution of defects to
crashes, hazards
associated with inspecting crashed-involved vehicles.
- Team member: Children in Car Crashes (CAPFA study, 1993) -
crash
investigation techniques, methods of inspecting child restraints,
development
of a relational databases and analysis of data.
- Research on speed control devices for NSW RTA, 1996 - speed
limiters, speedometer design, tachographs, speeding statistics, effects
on speeding behaviour, benefits and costs. Summary: Devices to help drivers control their speed
- Pilot child restraint usage survey for NSW RTA, 1998 -
in-vehicle inspection of the quality of child restraint installation
and interviews with
carers.
- Assessment of crash tested vehicles for the Australian New
Car Assessment Program (ANCAP). Development of assessment criteria and
techniques, preparation of a relational database, preparation of
reports, handouts and papers for
international conferences (ESV, IEAust & TUV).
Reports in the road safety field include:
- "Safety of School Children Near Buses" (15Mb scanned PDF) - NSW Road Safety Bureau. May 1992.
- "Flashing Warning Lights on School
Buses" for the 1996 International Conference on the Enhanced Safety
of Vehicles, held in Melbourne. (co-authored with Dr Alec Fisher) Also
"Evalution of School Bus Signalling Systems" prepared for NSW Dept of
Transport. May 1995.
- "Passenger Car Roof Crush Strength
Requirements", co-authored with Dr Michael Henderson for the
Australian Federal Office
of Road Safety, 1995 (CR176).
- "School Bus Seat Belts",
co-authored with Dr Michael Henderson for the New South Wales
Department of Transport, 1995.
- "Australian Bus Safety Standards
& Bus Accidents" prepared for the Australian National Road
Transport Commission (NRTC) May 95.
- "The School Bus Crossing Control Arm: An Evaluation" -
co-authored with Dr Austin Adams (UNSW) for NSW Dept of Transport, Dec
1996.
- Notes on the 5th International
Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Weights and Dimensions.
- "Bike Racks on the Front of Buses: Engineering and Road
Safety Issues" prepared for ACT Dept of Urvan Services, October 1997.
- "Used Car Safety Rating Program" prepared for the UCSR
Project Team (NRMA, RTA, RAVC, FORS).
- Devices to help drivers control their
speed - paper presented at Developments in Safer Motor
Vehicles
Conference, 16-17 March 1998. Similar paper presented at the NSW Local
Government Road Safety Conference in September 1998.
- Offset crash tests - observations
about vehicle design and structural performance (1998 ESV paper)
- "Directions in Road User Protection" co-authored with Susie
Gibbs and Phil Charles for NSW RTA, October 1998.
- "Child Restraints Surveys in NSW: 1998" - for NSW RTA,
November 1998.
- Protecting
pedestrians by vehicle design - report on an international
conference held in Adelaide in February 1999.
- Consumer crash tests: the elusive
best practice - co-authored with Michael
Griffiths and Jack Haley and presented by Mr Griffiths at the
conference "Worldwide harmonization of
Crash Tests" in Germany, Dec 1999.
- Assessment of Pedestrian Protection
Afforded by Vehicles in Australia - paper presented at Impact
Biomechanics conference in Sydney, March 2000 (IEAust).
- Assessment
of Child Restraint Performance in Australia- paper presented at
seminar in Melbourne on 5 Feb 2001. Co-authored with Michael Griffiths
and Julie
Brown.
- CRASH
AND SLED TESTS USING CHILD DUMMIES - Impact Biomechanics 2001
- Devices
to Reduce the Risk to Young Pedestrians from Reversing Motor Vehicles
(pdf 1.2Mb) MAA
Professionals Page Summary
of work.
- Summary
of bus safety projects - submission to Queensland School Transport
Safety Task Force
- Safety
of
recreational scooters
- Potential
Use of Crash Test Data for Crashworthiness Research - ICRASH 2002
- PROTECTING
CHILDREN IN CAR CRASHES: THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE - ESV03
- THE
DANGER TO YOUNG PEDESTRIANS FROM REVERSING MOTOR VEHICLES - ESV03
