A Novel Pavement Abrasion Test for Assessing Injury Risk to Vulnerable Road Users
[EN] This study introduces a novel and user-centered surface abrasion test designed to assess the injury potential of pavement surfaces, particularly for vulnerable road users such as micromobility users. Traditional pavement evaluation methods focus on skid resistance and texture but do not account...
| Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) |
| Repository: | RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/230327 |
| Online Access: | https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/230327 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Pavement Surface abrasion Micromobility safety Non-destructive testing Surface characterization Injury risk assessment 03.- Garantizar una vida saludable y promover el bienestar para todos y todas en todas las edades 09.- Desarrollar infraestructuras resilientes, promover la industrialización inclusiva y sostenible, y fomentar la innovación 11.- Conseguir que las ciudades y los asentamientos humanos sean inclusivos, seguros, resilientes y sostenibles |
| Summary: | [EN] This study introduces a novel and user-centered surface abrasion test designed to assess the injury potential of pavement surfaces, particularly for vulnerable road users such as micromobility users. Traditional pavement evaluation methods focus on skid resistance and texture but do not account for the surface¿s mechanical aggressiveness during a fall. To address this gap, the proposed test simulates fall conditions by dragging a paraffin wax specimen¿used as a low-cost and reproducible proxy to approximate the abrasive re-sponse that could affect human skin¿over pavement at a controlled speed and load, quantifying material loss as an indicator of surface abrasiveness. The method was vali-dated on three pavement types (smooth ceramic, bituminous, and concrete), demon-strating its sensitivity and repeatability. Unlike conventional point-based tests, it enables continuous evaluation along a predefined length, offering more representative results. A full-scale case study on a micromobility-dedicated bike lane confirmed the test¿s re-sponsiveness to surface changes over time. Results suggest the method is practical, re-producible, and applicable to a wide range of pavements. Beyond micromobility, it can be extended to other vulnerable users, such as motorcyclists. The test represents a new metric for infrastructure safety audits focused on injury mitigation. |
|---|