SKID RESISTANCE RESEARCH IN FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY

A STUDY OF SKID RESISTANCE RESEARCH IN GERMANY WAS CONDUCTED ON BEHALF OF THE INTERNATIONAL ROAD FEDERATION FOR THE U.S. BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS AS A PART OF A WORLDWIDE INVENTORY OF CURRENT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ON ROADS AND ROAD TRANSPORTATION. THIS PAPER PRESENTS BACKGROUND INFORMATION RELATING TO THE SKIDDING PROBLEM AND SUMMARIZES SEVERAL SPECIFIC STUDIES INCLUDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STUTTGART SKID TEST TRAILER, THE CORRELATION OF ROAD ACCIDENT FREQUENCY WITH PAVEMENT SKID RESISTANCE, AND THE COMPOSITION OF BITUMINOUS SURFACES AS RELATED TO SKID RESISTANCE. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROVIDING GOOD SKID RESISTANCE ARE PRESENTED. THE AUTHOR OBSERVES THAT THE SKIDDING PROBLEM IS MORE SEVERE IN GERMANY THAN IN THE U.S. DUE TO THE LACK OF SPEED LIMITS AND THE PREVAILING DRIVING HABITS. HOWEVER, RESEARCH ON THE PROBLEM AND IMPLEMENTATION OF FINDINGS HAVE BEEN CARRIED FORWARD QUITE EFFECTIVELY. /CGRA/