One governing relationship. Every operating second. For any system that carries kinetic energy.
Kinetic energy moving through a system should remain within what the surrounding system can tolerate. When it does, the system is forgiving. When it doesn't, harm becomes possible.
The gauge below makes that relationship visible.
The margin is continuous. These states make it legible.
The gauge is normalized: the hex stays fixed as the reference frame while the values behind it shift with road context and conditions.
System tolerance is the maximum kinetic energy a system can handle without severe injury. It is a macroscopic property — infrastructure, behavior, vehicle design, operating policy, and post-crash response acting together.
Kinetic Logic breaks that tolerance into three structured margins:
| Margin | What it governs | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Conflict | How well the system keeps kinetic energy from entering potential collision paths. | Protected bike lanes, access management, refuge islands, roundabouts, crossing guards |
| Containment | How well the system slows, redirects, or stabilizes energy before it reaches a body. | AEB, lighting, pavement friction, rumble strips, sober and attentive driving |
| Absorption | How well the system dissipates transferred energy before severe injury. | Seat belts, airbags, vehicle crashworthiness, guardrails, forgiving roadsides, helmets, EMS |
The CCA margins work together, but none is optional. Weakness in one shifts burden onto the others.
Kinetic Logic does not try to predict every crash. It measures whether the system is operating within what the environment can tolerate — so when the unexpected happens, severe harm is less likely. That is the difference between an incident and a breakdown in trustworthiness.