Publications
and
reports 1989-2009 (52K PDF) & 2009 onwards
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 professional
engineer with over 40 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) (report for NSW Motor
Accidents Authority, co-authored with Dr Michael
Henderson) 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 - ESV 2003
- THE
DANGER
TO YOUNG PEDESTRIANS FROM REVERSING MOTOR VEHICLES -
ESV 2003