Annual Proceedings

Anxiety and traumatic stress symptoms are common post-crash. This study documents generalised anxiety responses post-crash, and examines the association between Acute Stress Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with personality and coping styles. Sixty-two patients aged 18-60 admitted to hospital were interviewed prior to discharge, at 2-months and at 6-8 months post-crash. Anxiety symptoms were common, with 55% of participants experiencing moderate-severe levels prior to discharge, with this decreasing to 11% and 6...

An approach to costing of road crash injury has been developed using data from a 'Willingness-to-pay' survey mapped to injuries listed in the Abbreviated Injury Scale 1998 Revision. The costs derived have been applied to a database of real-world crash injuries that have been collected as part of the UK Cooperative Crash Injury Study (CCIS). The approach has been developed in order to determine future research priorities in vehicle passive safety. When all injuries in all crash-types are examined, the results highlight the cost of 'Whiplash' in the UK...

We aimed to compare the predictive accuracy of consensus-derived and data-derived injury severity scores when considered alone and in combination with age and physiological status. Analyses were based on 25,111 patients. The predictive validity of each severity score was evaluated in logistic regression models predicting in-hospital mortality using measures of discrimination and calibration. Data-derived scores had consistently better predictive accuracy than consensus-derived scores in univariate models (p<0...

A follow-up study of road injury survivors admitted to hospital was conducted in the UK. The outcomes of road injury and their impact on quality of life were assessed using the SF-36v2, EQ-5D and CES-D scales. Lower extremity injury predominated (73%) in the study. Furthermore, there was a substantial impact on physical activity, large injury costs and potentially high QALY losses. Analysis of psychological effects found that females had higher levels of depression compared to males. This study identifies the consequences of road injury on individuals, highlighting the effective use of health outcome scales to quantify the quality of life changes over a 1-year period...

In recent years there has been a significant increase in mortality among motorcyclists, especially older riders (40+ years). However, few studies have compared the nature and severity of injuries sustained by older vs. younger cyclists. The purpose of this analysis was to determine differences, if any, in injury patterns to older vs. younger motorcyclists and to explore rider, vehicle, and environmental factors associated with these differences. Older riders were found to have a significantly higher incidence of thoracic injury, especially multiple thoracic injuries, and specifically multiple rib fractures...

This paper examines effectiveness of rear seat restraint systems in reducing injury in frontal and side impacts. Results indicate effectiveness varies by crash configuration and occupant age, with age being the most important factor influencing odds of fatality/serious injury to belted, rear seated occupants in frontal and side crashes. There is no significant difference between center lap and outboard lap/shoulder belts effectiveness; however, field data shows a high percentage of misuse (wearing belts improperly or using age-inappropriate belts) associated with fatalities and serious injuries...

Far side impact trauma has been demonstrated as a significant portion of the total trauma in side impacts. The objective of the study was to assess the potential usefulness of countermeasures and assess the trade-offs associated with generic countermeasure design. Because the WorldSID dummy has demonstrated promise as a potential far side impact dummy, it was chosen to assess countermeasures in this mode. A unique far side impact buck was designed for a sled test system that included, as a standard configuration, a center console and outboard three-point belt system...

The purpose of this paper is to present the crash exposure patterns of pregnant occupants and to evaluate the effectiveness of restraint systems, including four-point seatbelts, in far side crashes. The NASS CDS database revealed that 53.0 % of pregnant occupants are exposed to frontal crashes while 13.5 % are exposed to far side impacts. Given that far side crashes were the second leading crash mode after frontal impacts, a previously validated MADYMO computer model of a 30 week pregnant occupant was utilized to investigate pregnant occupant biomechanics in far side crashes...

In child-involved crashes, there was a greater risk of rollover in pickups and SUVs than in passenger cars and minivans. Risk of injury to the corresponding child occupants in rollovers was significantly higher than for those in non-rollover crashes. There has been little change in overall rollover rates for passenger cars, pickup trucks, and minivans in the most recent model years (since 2002); however, there has been evidence of a declining rollover rate in SUVs during this same period. Even with this decline in SUV rollover risk, similarly aged passenger cars and minivans still exhibited a rollover risk approximately half that of their SUV counterparts...

Vehicle roll direction and occupant position have been shown to affect occupant kinematics. Data from NASS-CDS were analyzed for risk of serious or greater injuries and ejection with respect to the position of the occupant (near side or far side). The risk of AIS 3+ injuries was higher for unrestrained occupants, for ejected occupants, for occupants involved in rollovers with higher numbers of quarter turns, and for far side occupants. Near side occupants had an increased risk of partial ejection in rollovers consisting of one complete roll or less...

NASS/CDS 1995-2004 was used to classify rollovers according to severity. The rollovers were partitioned into two classes - rollover as the first event and rollover preceded by an impact with a fixed or non-fixed object. The populations of belted and unbelted were examined separately and combined. The average injury rate for the unbelted was five times that for the belted. Approximately 21% of the severe injuries suffered by belted occupants were in crashes with harmful events prior to the rollover that produced severe damage to the vehicle...

The increased utilization of three-point restraint systems has greatly reduced the incidence of spinal injuries in motor vehicle accidents. Nevertheless, several studies which rely upon the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) have documented lower thoracic and upper lumbar fractures in restrained occupants involved in frontal collisions of moderate severities. Although it has been postulated that the injury mechanism may be related to the occupant being out-of-position or sitting in an unusual posture, conclusions with regard to the precise mechanism of injury are difficult due to the lack of information contained in the NASS database...

An in-depth study was conducted through the analysis of medical reports and crash data from real world accidents. The objective was to investigate the abdominal injury patterns among car occupants in frontal crashes. The influence of the type of restraint system, the occupant seat, the age and the crash severity was investigated. The results indicate that the risk of abdominal AIS 3+ injuries increased with crash severity and decreased with the introduction of belt retractors. Rear belted passengers were observed to be more likely injured than front belted occupants...

Twenty years ago the American Medical Association reported the relationship between blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and crash causation. This study addresses culpability, age, gender and BAC in a population of drivers injured in motor vehicle crashes. Five years of hospital and crash data were linked, using probabilistic techniques. Trends in culpability were analyzed by BAC category. Given BAC level, the youngest and oldest drivers were more likely to have caused their crash. Women drivers had significantly higher odds of culpability at the highest BAC levels...

The objective of this paper is to investigate the accuracy of WinSmash delta-V estimates as a function of crash mode, vehicle body type, and vehicle stiffness. The accuracy of WinSmash delta-V estimates was evaluated for 121 NASS/CDS 2000-2003 cases for which direct measurements of delta-V had been retrieved from an Event Data Recorder on the case vehicle. WinSmash was found to underestimate delta-V by 23% on average. WinSmash was found to be most accurate in crashes involving full frontal engagement of the vehicle structure...

This research compares the ability of delta-V and the occupant impact velocity (OIV), a competing measure of crash severity, to predict occupant injury in real world collisions. A majority of the analysis is performed using 191 cases with vehicle kinematics data from Event Data Recorders (EDRs) matched with detailed occupant injury information. Cumulative probability of injury risk curves are generated using binary logistic regression for all data, a belted subset, and an unbelted subset. By comparing the available fit statistics and performing a separate ROC curve analysis, the more computationally intensive OIV is found to offer no significant predictive advantage over delta-V...

Despite considerable improvements in frontal impact crashworthiness, frontal crashes still account for a major number of front seat occupant fatalities in Great Britain. This study attempted to determine the remaining potential for further fatality reduction with passive safety improvements in frontal crashes. No evidence was found to support an increase in crash test speeds. Instead, assessment of scope for survival showed that at least 27% of all fatal drivers and 39% of all fatal front seat passengers have survival potential given attention to older occupant's chest injury tolerance and passenger compartment intrusion under 60 km/h...

A carotid artery dissection begins as a tear or defect of the intimal lining of the artery, and can lead to luminal occlusion and ultimately cerebral ischemia. Our aim is to conduct an organ level validation of a finite element model of the carotid artery using an experiment designed to elicit internal layer failure within fluid-filled carotid artery samples. A 2.4-kg beveled guillotine is dropped from three heights (0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 m) onto fluid-filled porcine carotid arteries and resulting damage is recorded...

The purpose of this research was to use vehicle impact test data and parametric finite element analysis to study the contribution of translational accelerations (TransAcc) and rotational accelerations (RotAcc) on strain-induced head injuries. Acceleration data were extracted from 33 non-contact vehicle crash tests conducted by the US Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A human finite element head model was exercised using head accelerations from the nine accelerometer package placed inside the driver dummy in these tests...

This study describes the fatal crash experiences of older drivers. Data from two U.S. databases (NASS-CDS and FARS) were used. Several crash, vehicle, and occupant characteristics were compared across age groups, including vehicle type, crash direction (PDOF), severity (DeltaV), and injured body region. A sub-set of 97 fatally injured drivers was chosen for a detailed case study. The mean travel speed, DeltaV, and airbag deployment rate decreased significantly with age (p<0.001 unless noted). Mortality rate increased significantly with age...