About CASR

The Centre for Automotive Safety Research at the University of Adelaide, is internationally recognised as a leading research organisation in its field.

It began life in 1973 as the Road Accident Research Unit (RARU) with the planning and undertaking of an in-depth study of road accidents in the Adelaide metropolitan area. From 1981 through 1998, the Unit's work was supported by a grant from the National Health And Medical Research Council.

During that grant period RARU's research program was concentrated in two areas: the study of brain injury mechanisms in fatally injured road users and the epidemiology of drink driving and alcohol related crashes. Notably, an investigation of the influence of vehicle speed in fatal pedestrian accidents led on to case control studies of the relationship between a driver's travelling speed and risk of involvement in a casualty crash in both urban and rural areas.

RARU's analysis of the occurrence of brain injury in road crashes called into question the then prevailing paradigm of brain injury mechanisms. This prompted the development of an experimental study of axonal injury that, in turn, led to the Japan Automobile Research Institute initiating a formal collaborative research agreement with RARU, and now with CASR, in the area of crash injury biomechanics.

Also a part of our legacy is that over 40 years ago the Centre's Director, Professor Jack McLean, co-authored the first paper in the world to show that car design played a major role in pedestrian protection, revealing that pedestrians are run under, not over, by the striking car.

Today CASR is researching improvements in vehicle design to further protect pedestrians from injury. This work, in collaboration with an international committee and the automobile industry, involves at-scene crash investigations, computer modelling of pedestrian-vehicle collisions and physical reconstruction of the impacts between car and pedestrian.

A stand-out facility is the CASR Impact Laboratory, the only one of its type in Australia. Here, testing of the level of protection given to a pedestrian by new cars is done as part of the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

In investigating crashes at the scene, we focus on the role of driver, vehicle, and road and traffic engineering factors in crash and injury causation. The information collected at the scene and elsewhere is reviewed with the State road authority with a view to making improvements in road safety through changes in legislation and road infrastructure.

Among other initiatives, CASR is contributing to the University of Adelaide's degree in automotive engineering. We have developed a subject on automotive safety, with an emphasis on engineering for prevention of crash injury, for final-year students in the degree.

Through our understanding of what happens in road crashes we are well placed to interpret mass accident data from Police reports in evaluating the effectiveness of various road safety measures. We often combine these evaluations with specific studies such as the extent to which older drivers adjust to their declining cognitive abilities with advancing age.

We gratefully acknowledge the sponsorship we receive for our core work from the South Australian Motor Accident Commission and the South Australian Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. The Centre also conducts commercial research for other organisations, locally, nationally and overseas.