Vehicle Design & Research - Australia

 

• Road Safety - Vehicle Factors
• Vehicle Roadworthiness
• Emissions
• Data Processing and Computer Applications

 
Australian Business Number (ABN) 63 003 980 809
Email: mpaine(AT)tpgi.com.au

Engineers make things happen!

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Publications and reports 1989-present (52K PDF)

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Company Profile

Road Safety

• 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).

• "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

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Roadworthiness

• Development of vehicle inspection standards and procedures
• Assessment of equipment for inspecting vehicles
• Managing surveys of vehicle roadworthiness
• Brake testing using portable roller brake test equipment
• Michael Paine planned and managed the implementation of the NSW Heavy Vehicle Inspection Scheme in the early 1980s. This included resources planning; preparation of itineraries to serve rural areas; introduction of a "toll free" telephone booking service (one of the first to use toll-free numbers in Australia); location, design and construction of several heavy vehicle inspection stations; financial projections and fee setting (using "Visicalc" on an early HP desktop computer - pre IBM) and staff and industry briefings.

• "Light vehicle brake study" for NSW RTA (Sydney Region), December 1993.
• "Contribution of vehicle defects to crashes" prepared for NRTC, 1994.
• "Mobile Safety Checks of Light Vehicles" prepared for NSW Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA), January 1995.
• "National Guidelines for Assessment of Defective Vehicles" - discussion paper prepared for Austroads/NRTC, June 95. Adopted as national policy.
• "Specification for the Provision of Inspection Services" for ACT Dept of Urban Services, 1996.
• ACT Vehicle Inspection Manual for Authorised Inspection Stations, 1999.
• Vehicle roadworthiness and accidents - submission to Victorian Parliament Road Safety Committee, April 2000. This has extracts from the above reports.
• 29 Oct 13 Telegraph: Truck cuts safety fears - "...plan to cut 21 team leader positions from the heavy vehicle inspection team". I have scanned several documents associated with the introduction of the NSW Heavy Vehicle Inspection Scheme (HVIS) in 1985:
• HVIS paper for SAE seminar Oct 1986
  
• 1980 Proposal for HVIS prepared by Rodney Vaughan
  
• Random Inspections - Time since last routine inspection - Engineering Report ER98
  
• Automotive Information Sheet 42
• Engineering Instruction  56
• Motor  Registry Circular 85/78
• Current RMS web page

Emissions

• Preparation of a specification for a stationary noise test for the RTA (early 1980s)
• "Cash for Clunkers" - analysis of strategies for dealing with older, high-polluting vehicles, for NRMA, 1995
• "Analysis of Australian In-service Vehicle Emissions Data" for NRMA, 1996.
• Review of emission and noise testing techniques as part of the preparation of a new ACT Inspection Manual, 1998.
• GREEN CAR GUIDE: DRAFT RATING PROTOCOL - Prepared for NSW Sustainable Development Authority April 2000. Includes rating electric vehicles. Project report also available.
  
• EPA of NSW: Clean Cars for NSW - green car rating system with tax incentives. Covers greenhouse and health emissions. VDR carried out research for this project.
• Dept Environment and Conservation (DEC) NSW - emissions from  small portable engines (lawnmowers, brushcutters, marine outboards)
• Comparative Assessment of the Environmental Performance of Small Engines - Outdoor Garden Equipment - Prepared for
  Department of the Environment and Water Resources 2007
  

Computers

Project Planning