a review of riders and pedestrians in traffic collisions

A REVIEW OF RIDERS AND PEDESTRIANS IN
TRAFFIC COLLIS IONS
by
S . J . Ash ton ,
J . B . Pedder and G . M. Mackay
Accident Rese arch Uni t , Departrnen t o f Transportation and
Environrnen tal P l annin g , Unive r s i ty of B i rmingham, U . K .
ABSTRACT
Thi s paper reviews the inforrnation avai lab l e on the b i omechanics o f traurna to
r i ders of two-whee led machines and to pede s trians . Data corne frorn hospi tal
s tudies , field accident inve s tigations and experimen tal work . A general
des c r ip tion of the tr aurna received by these groups of road users is given
in te rms of the f requency and severity of inj uries to the main anatorni cal regions
of the body .
Informat ion on the circurns tances of co l l i s ions i s s uIIUnari sed as far as i s known ,
i n relation to s p e c i f i c s o urces o f inj ury , the rel ative importance of vehicular
and ground contacts and the inf luence o f speed on these cir cums tance s . The
paper concludes by emphas i zing the importance of improved vehi c le de s i gn in
m1n1m1 s 1ng inj uries to the s e classes of road use r , an area which has s o far
rece ived relative ly l i t t le at ten tion.
129
INTRODUCTION
The las t decade has seen a large research effort concentrated on protecting car
occupants .
The knowledge acquired is now being tran s lated into vehicle design so
that the occupant of a new car can ,
in the main , expect to be substantially better
protected now than would have been the case ten years ago .
lock design, windscreen s ,
s teering assemb lies ,
Improvements in door
compart�ent integrity and above
a l l in the provis ion of seat belts , mean that given the o ccurrence of a crash,
the restrained car occupant has a markedly improved chance of avoiding death or
serious inj ury in comparison to the typical crash of the 1950s or early 1960s .
One may suggest for examp le that the introduction of the an ti-hur s t door lock ,
considered as a pub li c health measure , has probably saved more lives than the
vaccination agains t poliomye l i tis .
Wi th compulsory use o f seat b e l ts now accepted by most motorised countries of the
western world, the importance of the other road users , especially pedestrians and
riders of two-wheeled machines ,
is now being recogni sed .
The conventional wis dom
that nothing can be done in the conf lict be tween an 80 kgm. pede s trian and a
1000 kgm. motor car is being questione d , and data are naw being gene rated which
should eventually al low the optimum crash performance design for the vehicle exterior
to be specified, j us t as the vehicle interior i s now .
In many ways the s tate of
�
knowledge on the biomechani cs of trauma to the other ro d users parallels the work
on car o ccupants of ten years ago .
The time s cale for �he acqui sit ion of new
knowledge is
likely to be at least as long because the problems are in many ways
.
con f l i c ting requirement s w i l l not
more comp lex and the optimisation of the various
permit easy solutions .
This review divides
1nto two sec tions dealing with two-wheeled machines and their
riders firs t , and then pedestrians are dis cus s e .d .
TWO-WHEELED VEHICLES AND THEIR RIDERS
During the las t decade there has been an overall increase in the popularity of
the two-wheeled veh i c l e in many countries .
This res urgence has been particularly
prominent over the l as t five years .
Injuries and fatalities sus tained by users
of these vehicles have fol lowed a similar trend.
Two-wheeled vehicles p rovide an alternative form of transport to the car at low
cos t .
They are fas t and convenient , an insubstantial .addieion to the conges tion
of high dens i ty roads .
A world wide fuel shortage and subsequent increase in
fuel costs , and the avai labi l i ty of a wide range of machines has increased their
attractiveness in recent year s .
They are made up o f two main vehicle types ; pedal cycles and motor vehicles .
Pedal
.
cycles are propel led s o le ly by the expendit ure of user energy .
Two-wheeled motor
vehi cles include motorscooters , mopeds and motorcycle�.
Motorscooters are typ i cally
characterised by sma l ler whee l s than a �onventional motorcycle and include an open
frame and p latform for fee t .
Mopeds have an engine capacity not over 50c . c .
and
are equipped with pedals .
Motorcycles are a l l other twq-wheel�d motor vehi cles or
combinations .
lt is recognised that the design di fferences of these three groups
of motor vehicles may affect their performance in certain s ituations but as few
research reports dis tinguish between them, for convenience the term "motorcycle"
wi l l subsequently refer to all two-wheeled vehicles unless otherwise specified.
Pedal cycles w i l l b e considered as a separate group .
130
The two-wheeled vehicle i s inherently uns tab le , therefore by the very nature of
t he i r ins tab i l i ty one would expect a higher acc ident rate . especially for s ingle
veh i cle accidents ( Sharp , 1 9 7 1 ) .
The rel ative frequency o f two-whee led vehicle accidents i s diffi cult to as s es s .
S ta t i s t i cs are confounded by the di fferences i n reporting procedures b o th w i thin
and b e tween countries and the type and dens ity o f the motor vehi cle population .
For ins tance , in s ome European countries - such as France , Belgium , The Nether­
lands , Wes t Germany , - special b i cy c l e tracks are provided along h i gh-use roads .
However the main prob lem lies in the known h i gh number o f inj ury accidents which
are not reported to p o l i ce authori t i e s . Pub li shed s tatis t i cs which rely s o l e ly
on p o l i ce accident s tat i s t i c s are typ i ca l ly an unde restimate of the true frequency
of two-wheeled vehi c le injuries in a community .
Several workers have e s t ab l i shed that only about a third to a half o f all two­
whee led accidents result ing in medically treate d inj uries are reported o r known
t o the p o l i ce ( C l ark and Mo rton, 1 9 7 1 ; Kraus , Riggins , Drysda l e , and Franti , 1 9 7 2 ) .
B u l l and Rob e r ts ( 1 9 7 3 ) looked at a sample o f 1 200 cases attending the Bi rmingham
Accident Hospi tal , England as a result of road accidents . In the i r samp le of
40 s e rious and 1 14 s l ight cases o f inj ury to pedal cy cl i s ts , they found only 14
s e rious and 2 2 s l i gh t cases were known to the pol ice (35% and 1 9 % ) . Mos t o f
the cas e s n o t known t o the p o l i ce were riders who fe l l o f f their machine s , no
o ther veh i c l e being involve d . l t i s reas onab le t o expect that any two-wheeled
acciden t resulting i n no o r minor inj ury to the user and/or l i tt le damage to
the machine or other property w i l l not be reported. The rate o f no t i f i cation for
mo torcy cl i s ts was 85 known to po l i ce out of a total of 1 2 8 inj ury cases (66% ) .
The magn i tude o f the prob lem o f two-wheeled accidents i s certainly much worse
than nationally recorded numbers would ind i cate . So , f igures ob tained through
p o l i ce records raust be us ed wi th caut ion, especially when making comparison s w i th
o ther c lasses of road user .
A l though the cas ualty rate per mi leage for two-wheeled vehi cles i s e lus ive for
many countries , the numbers of p P. r s on s reported injured and k i l led in many countries
is h i gh and increasing (Depar tmen t o f the Environment , 1 9 7 6 and press notice ;
Drysdale , Kraus , Franti and Riggins 19 7 5 ; Bo thwe l l , 1 9 60 , 1 96 2 , 1 9 6 3 ; U . N . Economic
Commi s s ion for Eruope , 1 9 7 4 ) .
In general , e s timates o f accident involvement of different types of veh i c le s show
that the two-whee led veh i c le produces the grea tes t rate of accident inj ury relative
to mi leage performed than any o ther veh i c le type .
Before looking at injury pa tterns i t w i l l be he lpful to note s ome of the character­
i s t i cs of the two-wheel acc i dent and the user population revealed from an overview
of p e rtinent l i terature .
Mo torcyc les : There i s a h i gh degree o f cons i s tency about the age and sex b i as of
motorcy c l e users . The mo torcy c le operator i s predominan t ly male and under 25
years o f age . Data avai l ab le for motorcy c l e pas sengers show a s imilar trend wi th
a sugges t i on o f more fema le s .
A large number o f accidents involve co l l i s ions wi th another moving veh i cle . Typic­
a l l y , the o ther veh i c le making a right-angle turn into the intended path of the
mo torcy c l e - ini tially b o th vehc i l es are trave l l ing in oppo s i te directions on the
131
s ame road . The other most s igni f i cant accident c lass are s ingle veh i cle
acc idents , involving no o ther moving vehi c le s . They predominan t ly result from
loss of contro l . However , the operation o f the aforementioned unreporting b i as
prec ludes further conunent about the comparative rate of these two main accident
c l as s e s . l t i s important to s tress that subsequent accident-type f i gures typ i cally
represent only reported accidents and almo s t certainly do not reflect gene ral acc­
i dent-involvement trends . There i s an over-invo lvement o f motorcy c l e s w i th more
powerful engines .
The lower ratio of accident inj uries o c curs among persons
us ing sma l l e r mo torcy c l e s ( le s s than 1 25 c . c . ) . Highes t observed ratios are
f o r pers ons us ing mo torcycles w i th intermedi ate ( 250-500 c . c . ) or larger engines
(500-750 c . c . ) .
Further the more powe rful machines are more o f ten involved in
s e rious inj ury producing acciden t s .
The l arge maj ority o f motorcycle co l l i s ions w i th o ther moving vehi c l e s occur
in urban areas :t at speeds unde r 40 m. p . h . Reported s ingle veh i c l e accidents
o ccur at a l l speeds , but h i gher speeds are recorded for rural s ingle vehi cle
accidents .
PEDAL CYCLES
The population o f pedal cy c l i s ts is not easy to i s o late . Mul t i speed gearing
and improved li gh-we i gh t cons truction p lus the i r convenience and a t tract ivenes s
to the environmental i s t , has sharp ly increased the adu l t user population i n
recent years . However there remains a h i gh percent age o f chi l dren and teenagers
be low the l e gal driving age and of b o th s e xes . Pedal cyc le s are used by the very
young in an extension of p lay rather than as a s erious means of transpo r t . Mos t
pedal cycles are used on local and residential s treets , therefore they are
unlikely to be involved in high speed accidents .
De s p i te the recent increase in adult pedal cy c l i s ts , the pedal cy cle accident
prob lem predominan t ly involves chi ld re n . Male riders are nearly twice as
often involved in acc i den ts as fema le s . l t has been sugge s te d that there i s
a greater like lihood o f inj ury when a chi ld i s riding a modern ' h i gh-rise ' machine
(high handle bars and a long seat wi th a back res t ) than when r i ding conventional
mode l s (Craf t , Shaw and Car t l idge , 1 9 7 3 ) . However envi ronmental and r i de r character­
i s t i cs may explain this difference .
'Tihe concern caused by the increasing casualty rates of two-whee led vehi c le users
i s ref le c te d in the increasing amount of work in thi s area . P ub li shed reports
gene r a l ly be long to one o f three categorie s : inves tigations of real accidents ;
experiment a l s tudie s ; mathema t i cal mode l ling and computer simulation4 A s e l e c tion
of pub l i s hed work cons i dered representative of the overall two-whee l e d veh i c l e acc­
iden t i s reviewed .
STUDlES OF REAL ACClDENTS
There are two main me thods of s tudying real acciden ts . l ) A retrospective e xamination
o f the accident by use o f information ava i l a b l e from p o l i ce , med i cal , and/or
Coroner reports . 2 ) At-the-s cene inve s t i gation o f accidents . Compari son o f the
results i s diffi cul t , the data source differs , and the cri te ria for recording and
reportin g inj uries seems to vary cons iderab ly . lnj ury data i s s ummarised in
F i r s t l y , s tudi es o f the former type w i l l be reviewed w i th
tab les 1 to 5 .
fatal accident s t udies des cribed at the end .
132
POLICE AND MEDICAL DATA STUDIES
Aston and Perkins ( 19 5 4 ) des cribed the inj ur ies sus tained by a l l road acci dent
cases treated at the Royal Hampshire County Hospi tal , Winche s t e r , England . There
were 2 6 8 motorcy c l i s ts involved ( 3 8% of the tota l ) . N o t only were they the
large s t of the various groups reviewed , they also had the highes t proport ion of
s evere , but non-fatal inj uries (22% ) . There were 120 cy c l i s t s . One feature o f
pedal cyc l i s t s inj uries was the high proportion of upper l imb inj uries compared
wi th lower limb s . The authors sugge s t a p o s s i b l e e xp l anation is that pedal
cy c l i s ts put out thei r hands to prote c t thems e lves when thrown off their b i cy c le s ,
whereas motorcy c l i s ts trave l ling at greater speeds , do not have time to do this .
Gissane , Bul l and Roberts ( 19 70 ) s tudies 4 , 342 road accident casualties who received
treatment from Bi rmingham Accident Ho spi tal , Eng land , during 196 1 . There were
1 1 16 motorcy c l i s ts ( 9 2 4 riders and 192 pas s enger s ) of which 328 were treated as
inpatients , 26% of the total inpatient acciden t population . Almo s t one-third
of the motorcy c l e accidents involved no other vehi c le s , a s imilar number resul ted
from co l l i s ions with car s . I n collis ion accidents , femoral fractures were
parti cularly connno n and mos t were due to the p rimary co l li s ion impact . Thirteen
percent ( 168) of the inpatient popul ation were pedal cy c li s ts , a further 659 treated
as outpatients . Ab out half their accidents involved no other vehi c l e . Whitaker
( 1 9 7 6 ) des cribes inj uries sus tained in 425 motorcycle accidents reported to two
divisions of the Thames Val ley P o lice , Eng land during 1 9 7 4 .
In the U . S . A. , the motorcycle population and the numbe r of motorcycle accidents
has increased mos t marke dly in California, s o , not surprising ly , many mo torcycle
(Depar tment of the California
accident s tudies have been based in this are a .
Hi ghway Patro l , 1 9 6 8 ; Harano and Peck , 1968 ) .
Drysdale e t a l ( 19 7 5 ) using police accident reports and hospi tal medi ca l records
in Sacramento County , Cali fornia, U . S . A. identified 1 , 2 7 3 motorcycle casual ties
for 19 7 0. Offi cial p o l i ce reports were avai lable for only 450 ( 3 8 . 5 % ) of the
accidents . Of the s e , 6 3% involved another motor vehicle and accounted for
65% of the s erious inJ uries . Overturning the motorcycle accounted for 2 6 . 6% of
a l l accidents and 2 6 . 4% of the s e rious injurie s .
Of the to tal s amp l e of 1 , 2 7 3 injured persons , 1 8 ( 1 . 4% ) died , 2 5 7 (20 . 2% ) were
hospi talize d and 2 9 3 ( 2 3 . 0 % ) vis i te d an emergency department for treatmen t and
received outp atient care . These comprised the serious injury group . The
ave rage length of s tay for a l l hospitalized persons was 12 day s , medium length
of s tay was 6 day s . The bones mos t frequently injured were in the l e g ( tib ia
16 . 3% , fibula 1 1 . 6% ) o r the hand/wris t ( 1 3 . 4% ) .
Thirty percent of the tibia
frac tures were open . Multiple fractures or o ther s e rious inj uries were common .
Serious inj uries were limited to one of four main body areas . Mos t commonly invol­
ved were the lower extremities ( 30 . 8% ) , upper extremities ( 2 1 . 7 % ) and the head ( 19 . 0% ) .
The immediate cause of de ath for 5 of the 1 8 fatalities was mul tip le traumatic head
inj uries wi thout other s e rious inj uries . Helmet use was not reported at the time
o f the accident .
Motorcy cles wi th more powerful engines (250 c . c . or more) were more o f ten involved
in s erious inj ury producing accidents than would be expected from their dis tribu­
tion in the comparison group (Kraus , Riggins , Drysdale and Franti , 1 9 72 ) . The
converse was true for motorcy c l e s less than 250 c . c .
A c l inical analysis of 12 7 motorcycle users invo lved
in
accidents i n Southern
133
California was carried out by Hight , Seige! and Nahum ( 1 9 7 3 ) . The results of
the.ir s tudy show definite inj ury patte rns associated with . occupant kinematic
motion. Based upon the occupant kinematics they divided motorcycle accidents
into three primary c l as s ifi cations : non-ej ected , ej ected, and deflecte d .
Non-ej ected occupants typically came to rest within about 10-15 feet o f the impact
are a . This group generally sustained the most extensive inj ury patte rn , often
including severe to fatal les ions to two or three body areas . In a typical
frontal impact the non-ej ected motorcyclis t moves forward in a seated pos1 t1on ,
the knees contact the s teering and upper fork area. Depending on the amount of
pitching the motorcyclis t ' s knees will s trike the opposing vehicle or obj ect
fol lowed by head contac t . The upper torso w i l l usually contact the forward
surface l as t .
Ejected o c cupants were generally airborne along their original direction of travel
for more than 10- 1 5 fee t . Two principal e j e ction patterns occurre d . Firs t ly , acc­
idents invo lving contact with the f ront or rear wing of the other vehicle . Riders
were ej ected over the hood or trunk . Overall inj ury severity appeared dependent
on whether the head or other part of the body s truck the road surface firs t .
Se condly , accidents when the motorcy c l i s t los t control and the motorcycle was
overturned. Generally , the occupant deve loped l es s vertical velocity than in the
f irs t e j e ction mode . Although abrasions and road burn injuries were impo rtan t ,
these occupants usually received moderate or less overall injuries when the head
was not inj ure d .
Def le c ted o ccupants included glancing impacts by the mo torcycle with the opposing
veh i c le ' s front or rear corner or bumper or where the motorcy c l i s t was s t ruck on
the s i de . Severe leg injury was frequent . Head injuries appeared to be lowe r .
Almo s t a l l occupants received injuries to more than one body region, several to
mo s t body regions . The most frequently injured part of the body was the head .
Persons not wearing a he lmet sus t ained 43% severe head injuries (American Medical
Association Abbreviated Inj ury S cale (A . I . S . ) 03-06 ) . In contrast only 2 ( 1 1 %)
of the he lmet-wearing group received severe head inj uries . This fi gure excludes
five cases of helmet ' failure ' during the impact sequence . In four of these
cases the s trap or s trap connector fai le d . After head injuries , legs were the
mos t frequently injured area . A high incidence of severe leg injuries (70%)
was recorded for the de flected group in comparison to about 35% for each of the
other two group s . The def lected occupants were subj e cted to lateral forces which
tended to rip or tear the lower leg.
Hight et a l comp ared the inj ury severity for operators and passengers on the
same motorcycle . They found s ome difference s , occasionally passengers fared
be tter in motorcycle frontal co l li s ions because they loaded the operator and were
ej e cted without sustaining primary frontal impact inj uries .
Where the motorcycle
was s truc� on the s i de the inj ury severity was dependent on the velocity of the
s triking veh i c le . In accidents where the motorcy c li s t has los t control , the
passenger has a tendency to be thrown from the motorcycle firs t . The ride r ' s
vertical motion or lateral separation from the machine is limited by holding onto
the handlebars .
One further inj ury des cribe d , dire c t ly re lated to motorcycle de sign, was the geni talia
inj ury sus t ained by s i x male operators . Al though the numbers are smal l , the f i l l e r
cap and the front-fork ins trumen t cluster were important causes of this inj ury .
1 34
In North Carolina , U . S . A . , the Highway Safety Research Cente r ' s accident files for
1 9 7 2 were s canned (Griffin, 1 9 7 4 ) . Of 2 , 4 10 motorcycles invo lved in accident s ,
706 ( 2 9 . 3% ) were involved in s ingle vehicle accident s , and 1 , 41 8 (5 8 . 8%) collided
with a car . A probably bias through unreported s ingle vehicle accidents is repor ted.
This i s one of the fßw s tudies reporting es timated motorcycle speeds before the
acciden t .
For s ing l e vehicle accidents , 7 2 . 6% of the speed es timates lie be tween 20-59 m. p . h . ,
for motorcycle co l l i s ions with cars , 70 . 1% lie be tween 10-49 m . p . h .
Campbe l l , Macb e th , and Ryan ( 1 9 6 7 ) iso lated 3 6 3 motorcycle accidents from Police
records in the O t t awa are a , Canada, for 1 9 6 7 . There were 229 inj ury accidents
in which 2 83 pers ons were recorded as k i l l e d or injured. No other vehicle was
involved in only 1 1 . 2% of the accidents . Hos p i tal records were ava i l ab l e for
180 of the police reported accidents . These were supplemented with 1 7 1 motorcycle
cas ual ties no t known to the po l i ce , and the inj ury dis tribution reported.
C l ark and Morton ( 1 9 7 1 ) reported on 2 2 6 mo torcycle accidents in Monroe County ,
New York , U . S . A . in 1 9 69 ) . A simultaneous s tudy of injuries r e s u l t ing from
b o th pedal cycle and motorcycle accidents was carried out from J anuary 1 , 1965
to Sep tember 1 , 1 9 6 7 in Wis consin . In Sweden , Backs trom e xamined pol ice reported
traffic accident inj uries in Scanai (excluding Lund city ) in 1 9 5 8 . The i r sample
included 5 4 1 motorcy c l i s t s and 256 cycli s ts . Gogler ( 1 96 2 ) analy s e d injury data
for inpatients of the Heidelberg Clini c , Ge rmany , from 1 95 2 - 1 9 5 8 . B� ( 1 9 7 2 )
de s crib ed injuries received in all accidents i n O s lo and Akenshus County.
Several s tudies have focused on the nature of injuries to pedal cyc l i s ts (Aldman ,
Thomson and Ashb e r g , 1 9 6 9 ; Chlape cka , 1 9 7 4 ; Gui chon and Myles , 1 9 75 ) . Wright
( 19 74 ) reviews s ome of the U . S . based re se arch in this are a . He concludes that
about 30-40% of pedal cycle injuries involve the leg, about 20-25% involve the
arm, and about 1 5 % are sus t ained by the head . For more serious injurie s , head
and facial injuries account for about one-third of the inj uries .
McDermo t t and Wood ( 1 9 7 5 ) s tudied 6 1 3 pedal cycle injuries treated at hospital s
i n t h e greater Seattle-King County area , U. S . A. over a one year perio d . Most
fatal injurie8 w�r� uf Lh� heaJ , bu t inj uries to the shouldcr wcrc cons idered
unique to the pedal cyc l e .
FATAL ACCIDENTS
S latis ( 19 6 2 ) examined 349 cases of traffic accident fatalities in He ls inki , Finland
during 1956-1960 . The s e ries includes 45 motorcycl i s ts and 56 pedal cyclis ts .
For b o th groups head injuries p redominated but simultaneous injuries to several
gross body areas were recorded for 55 . 5 % . They found the numbe r and distrib ution
of injuries for motorcy c l i s t s seemed to depend on the type of accident . The
number o f injuries sus tained was higher for accidents involving ano ther vehicle
( 2 . 2 injuries / cas e ) than for single vehicle accidents ( 1 . 4 inj urie s / case ) .
G i s s ane and Bul l ( 19 6 1 ) s tudied 149 persons who died as the result of road
accidents in Birmingham during 1960 and an additional 34 invo lved in fatal road
accidents outside the ci ty. Of the total 34 motorcycle deaths , 26 were eje cted
from the machine , and s ub s e quently 7 were run-over by other roaJ vehicle s . Seven
of the 22 pedal cyc l i s ts were run ove r . Head injuries pre dominat e d , and simultaneous
i nJ uries in several b o dy areas was also high . Of the 1 5 motorcy c l i s t s wearing crash
h e lme t s , 8 sus tained s ome degree of b rain inj ury . However Gis s ane and Bull report
135
that even in fatal accidents fewer head injuries occur to motorcy c l i s ts wearing
crash helme ts .
Sev i t t ( 1 9 6 8 ) s tudied material from 250 necropsied road users in Birmingham during
1 9 6 1 - 1 9 6 6 . A later ana lysis of 2 5 4 road deaths in Bi rmingham during 1969 and 1 9 70
was carried out (Sevi t t , 1 9 72 ) . Only the injuries known to have caused or
con t ributed to death were recorde d .
A l l avai l ab le documents re lating t o 2 1 9 rnotorcycle accidents which occurred i n the
Me tropo l i t an P o l i ce Dis trict , England during 1 9 7 0 , 1 9 7 1 and 1 9 7 2 were e xamined
( Renton , 1 9 7 3 ) . There were 2 8 4 users involved , of these 2 2 6 were ki l l e d . The
accidents comprised 62 (28%) s ingle vehicle accidents , but in 46 ( 74%) of these
the mo torcycle co l l ided with s omething else . Only 2 3% (SO) of the riders and
1 2% ( 8) of the pas sengers were be lieved to have received their most serious injuries
frorn other vehi c l es , however a l l but 3 of these were fatal . Thirty-five percent
( 76 ) of the riders and 5 1% ( 33) of the passengers were mos t seriously injured
by the road surface , of these 72 were fatally inj ured .
Tonge, O ' Re i l ly and Davison ( 1 9 6 4 ) analysed data on 2 2 1 4 traff i c accident fatali ties
occurring in Brisbane , Aus tra l i a , during 1 9 35- 1 9 6 3 . Brain damage occurred in
85 . 3% of total motorcycle casua l t ies and 80 . 1% of a l l pedal cyclis t s . I n 70 . 3%
mo torcy c l i s ts and 7 1 . 3% pedal cy c l i s ts there was an as sociated skull fracture .
The incidence of crash helmet wearing was not reported . A continuation of this
s tudy was carried out for 1 96 3- 19 6 8 .
(Tonge , O ' Re i l ly , Davison and Johnston ,
1 9 7 2 ) . There was no change in proportion of head fractures , but there was a
decrease in the occurrence of brain damage . Only 4 mo torcy c l i s t s were known to be
wearing a crash helme t .
J amieson and Tait ( 1960) report an inves tigation of 1000 consecut ive admi s s ions to
hospi tals on deaths due to traf f i c accident inj ury in Brisbane during 1962- 1 9 6 3 .
There were 1 5 1 rnotorcy clis ts and 7 0 pedal cycl i s ts .
Injury distribution for
motorscooter riders , p i l lion pas sengers , and other two-wheeled motor vehi cle users
were simi l ar . However there was a greater incidence of severe mul ti p le injuries
in the latter group . Injury patterns of p i l l ion passengers sugge s t they are
protected by the rider from the ini ti a l frontal con tact inj ury .
Hodge ( 1 9 6 2 ) reported an inves tigation of injuries for 1 7 4 road accident deaths
in the Adel aide metropo l i tan area during 1959- 19 6 1 . Twne ty-eight mo torcy c l i s t s
were k i l led , 2 4 sus taining fractured skul l s .
Henderson ( 1 9 70) e xamined p o l ice records for 120 motorcycle accident fatalities
in New South Wales , Aus tral i a , during 1970. Al though the data source did not
provide detai l ed injury dat a , in 72 . 5% of the samp l e head and /or neck inj ury
was reported as a maj o r cause of death .
Graham ( 19 6 9 ) looked a t autopsy reports for 324 of 352 motorcycle f atalities in
Los Ange les , Cal i fornia from 1 9 6 2- 1 9 66 .
AT-THE- S CENE INVE STIGATION
Jamieson , Duggan , Twedde l l , Pope and Zvirbulis ( 19 7 1 ) report on 2 1 8 accidents attended
Brisbane during 1 9 6 3 . Only 14 were mo torcycles , invo lving 18 persons , and there
were 9 pedal cycl i s ts . Although the numbers are small they found that the severe
.motorcy c l i s t injuries resu l ted frorn vehicle con tact .
136
An at-the-s cene inves t i gation of injury producing traf f i c accidents was carried
out in Ade laide , Aus tralia in 1963 and 1 9 6 4 (Robertson, McLean , and Ryan 1966 ;
Ryan ,
196 7 ) . The 408 accidents inves tigated included 74 motorcyclists and 45
pedal cy clis ts . About one - third of all two-wheeled veh icle accidents invo lved
co l l i s ion with cars or trucks . Fractures of the lower half of the tibia and
f ibula were common , attributed to contact w i th the car bumper . When the s ide
of a motorcycle is hit by the front of a car , the legs of the rider are
exposed to direct impact from the front of the car , particu l arly the bumper b ar .
Al though the bumper height varies with vehicle make , a t the time o f this s tudy ,
the authors recorded the bumper bar generally about 6- 1 2 inches above the foot­
r e s t of the cyc l e . They a l s o concluded that fractures of the sma l l bones o f the
hand were typically caused as the motorcycle handgrip swung agains t the car .
The road was reported the most connnon cause of head inj urie s . Howeve r , overal l ,
injuries sus tained through vehicle contact were more severe .
Kolbus zewski , Mackay , Fonseka , Blair and Clayton ( 1 9 6 9 ) describe at- the-s cene
inve s tigation o f 425 road accidents in Bi rmingham during 1965 and 1 966 , and 2 10
in Worcestershire 1 9 6 7- 1 9 6 8 . The proportion of motorcy clis ts who were
concus s e d was higher in frontal impact co l l i s ions . S ide impacts resulted in
a higher proportion of leg fractures (McLean and Mackay , 1970) . The injuries
received by 17 riders were compared with that of their passengers . The riders
received more lower leg and arm fractures , though there was no diffe rence in
the incidence of concus s i on.
Newman and Webs te r ( 1 9 7 4 ) des cribe an at-the-s cene inve s t i gation of 1 3 3 motorcycle
accidents in O t t awa, Canada during 1 9 7 3 . Over 65% of the 100 accidents reported
to the police invo led ano ther vehic le . Single vehi cle accidents predominantly
resulted from loss of contro l . The large s t proportion of al l accidents ( 20 . 6%)
In an analysis of the inj ury mechanics of the
occurred at an interse c tion .
motorcycle accidents , Newman and Webster are in general in agreement with Hight
et al.
Notwi ths tanding the difference in s tudy me thodo logy there i s gene ral agreement
that the overal l pattern o f inj ury sus tained by users of two-whee led vehicle s ,
is one o f severi ty and mu ltiplici ty . Head injuries predominate , fol lowed by
lower l imb injuries and then injuries to the upper arm.
Injuries sus tained corne from three primary sources - the machine , the obj ect
s truck , and the road surface . Typ i cal ly two-whee l e d vehicles are invo lved in
two types of accidents .
1 ) Co l l i s ion with another vehic le . The oc cupant is
protected from the machine , sometimes receiving injuries as he/she passes over
the handle bars . However the maj or traurna are sus t ained during the primary impact
with the other vehi c l e . The o ccupant then f a l l s to the ground where additional
injuries may be received from the road surface or other intervening obj e c ts . The
machine is usually badly darnaged , front wheel and front fork distortion is typical .
In more severe accidents dis tortion may extend to the frame . 2 ) Single vehicle
accidents as the ride r looses control of the machine . As the machine overturns
the rider usually s lides along the road surface independent of the bike .
The rider s trikes whatever obj ects may be in his /her path . There is l i t t l e damage
to the machine .
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
Severy , Brink and B laisde l l ( 1 9 70) report on 7 co l l i s ion e xperiments be tween a
motorcycle and rider s triking the s i de of a passenger car . Independent variab les
137
s tudied were speed at impac t , s ize of motorcy cle , pos ition impacted along the
·
s i de of the passenger car . Methodology, including apparatus and dunnny specifi­
cations is des cr :lb e d .
A t impact the ' rider ' s l ides forward maintaining a normal seated posi tion un til
its knees impact an opposing s tructure . The knee contact causes the torso
to undergo a j ackknife action frequently accompanied by torso e levation over
the hand lebars and into or rotating over the car . Damage to the mo torcycles
was confined almo s t exclus ively to the front whee l suspension sys tem. In
gene r a l motorcycle col lapse was comp l e te 40-60 ms fol lowing contac t , after
maximum col lapse the rear of the motorcycle e levates , then re turns .
The sequential nature of the mo torcycle co l l apse produces a continuous dece le ration
pattern . Considering this and the extended dis tance availab le for the motor­
cyc l i s ts to decelerate before impact they sugge s t a pass ive restraint sys tem for
the legs and torso would al low the rider to decelerate in a much safer manne r .
Prote ction would b e given during primary impact without s igni ficantly reducing
the handling character i s t i cs of the mo torcycle .
A series of 4 1 motorcycle tes ts were run at the Mo tor Indus tries Re s e arch As soci ation
Crash Tes t Faci l i ty , Nune aton, England (Peterson and Bo thwe l l , 1 9 7 3 ) . They were
the beginnings of a progrannne initiated by the University of Denver Re s e ar ch
Ins ti tute to es tab lish the role of the various aspects of mo torcycle des i gn in
producing injuries and so to provide safety performance Standards . The tes ts
simulated a representative group of traffic accidents .
Several hazards in perpendicular impacts were identifie d , i . e . the fire hazard
created by ' f lip-top ' f i l l e r caps and fibre g lass fuel tanks from the ini tial p e lvic
impact on the fuel-tank ; leg/pelvis imp act with handleb ars /s teering head and other
body contacts on sharp proj e ctions on the motorcycle .
Taneda ( 19 73) reports on ini tial experiments in Japan on the simulation of
mo torcycle co l li s ions with a fixed or moving barrie r .
COMPUTER S IMULATION
Three digi tal computer programmes have been developed by the Unive r s i ty of Denver Denver Research Insti tute (Pe terson and Bo thwe l l , 1 9 7 3 ) . Firs t ly , a two-dimens ional
ten degree-of-freedom model of the motorcycle and rider was deve lop e d . The se cond
progrannne is a modified version of the f i rs t . The third progrannne is a digital
computer simulation o f the three-dimensional notion of a nine degree-of-freedom
mode l of the motorcycle ,
Work is curren t ly underway to modify the CALSPAN 3D-Occupant-Simulation for use
as a model for the 3D notion of the motorcycle us e r (Fleck , But ler and Voge l , 1 9 7 4 ) .
COUNTERMEASURES
Except for the advent of the protec tive helme t , there has been no s i gnifi cant
injury protection device for users of two-wheeled vehicles .
Crash he lme ts
The high incidence of head injuries for a l l types of two-whee led traf f i c accidents
1 38
is we l l e s t ab lishe d . Cairns ( 19 4 1 ) reported on the s ignifi cance o f the crash
he lmet in the reduction of head injuries .
Crash helmets have improved a great
deal s ince then , and p re s ent day helmets are manuf actured according to more rigorous
de s i gn specifications . Avai lab le res earch li tera ture shows that the use of
prote ctive helmets is an effective means of reducing the occurrence and seve r i ty
of head injuries in accidents (Chandler and Thompson, 1 95 7 ; Fo ldvary and Lane , 1964;
Honda Overseas Driving Safety Promotion Commi t tee , 1 9 7 2 ) .
Several s tudies report that the presence or absence of crash helmets have li t t le
effect on the incidence o f head injuries . However , such conclusions are usual ly
i l l-founded . There is a typical s ample b i as - only motorcycle accidents resul ting
in injury sufficient to cause death or require hospi tal treatment are include d .
I t seems highly likely that on occas ions where a he lme t effe ctively prevented
any head inj ury , no as s i s tance was neede d , and so the accident was no t reported.
Crash he lmet ' f ailure ' has been reported. Frequently failure of the fas tening
device to adequately re tain the helmet in pos i t ion for the duration of the
accident (Renton, 1 9 7 3 ) .
I t seems obvious from reported inJ ury patterns , that head prote ction should extend
to the pedal cyc l i s ts . Lewicki and Newman ( 1 9 75 ) discuss this need and outline
specific requirements of such a helme t .
Efforts have not only been directed a t improving the performance o f protective
Imp rovements in motorcycle des i gn is the subj e c t of an increasing number
helme t s .
o f pub lished reports (Second International Congres s , Bar to l , Livers and Hirsch , 1 9 7 3 ) .
The s tructural s afety measures can be divided into two main categorie s . Firs tly ,
accident prevention s afety measure s . These inc lude an ti-skid devices , improved
s teering/handling characteri s ti cs , improved tyre performance , increased machine
visib i l i ty , e t c . Se condly , safety measures for the reduction of the severity of
o ccupant inj ury .
Severy e t al ( 1 9 70) sugge s t that substantial inj ury reduction in motorcy c l e / auto­
mob ile c o l l i s ions can be accomp l ished by modi f i cation of mo torcycle des i gn . They
cons ider i t would be impractical to improve the s ides of cars s o as to at tenuate
the force of impact t o r the motorcyc l i s ts .
The recognition o f the high incidence of lower l imb injuries is reflected in the
avai lab i l i ty of crash b ars and leg shie lds . However their current de s i gn is inade­
quate . Accident cases h ave been reported whe re these leg ' guards ' have folded back ,
and trapped the l eg agains t the res t of the machine (Kolbus zewski e t al , 1 9 6 9 ;
Japanese Council o f Traffic Safety , 1 9 7 1 ) .
Bo thwe l l ( 19 6 2 ) sugges te d that the b e s t protect ion to the motorcy c li s t would be
gained by a combination of s ome s o r t of retentive harne s s and suitab ly shaped
ro l l-b ars .
Wes co t t ( 1 9 75 ) extends this concep t . Using s caled mode ls he describes rather
extreme des i gn modifications to ensure motorcy c l i s t retention and pro te ction
during accidents .
139
INTRODUCTION TO PEDESTRIAN INJURY STUDY
Three dis tinct methods of s t udying the prob lem of inj ury causation to pedestr ians
are use d ; they are the inves tigation of real accidents , the reproduction o f
accidents b y experimental tests and the s imulation of accidents b y mathematical
mode l l ing. Accident s tudies can be based on the data that are routinely noted
by the po l i ce or the hosp i tal s , or on data col lected by specific accident s tudies .
The first s tudies of pedes trian accidents described the inJuries sus tained by
pedestrians and compared them with other road user casual ties . Thes e s tudies
based on medical dat a , whi l s t describ ing the nature and location of the injuries
provided no information about the accident circumstances or the cause of the
inj ury
The use o f police data enab les the general overa l l features o f accidents to be
describ e d , for examp l e factors such as the age and sex of the casua l t ies , the
total number of casual ties , the time and date of the accident and the vehicles
invo lved can b e adequately cons idere d . However data on the injuries sus tained
is limited due to the methods us ed for noting inj ury . In Great Bri tain the
following injury c l as s i f i cations are us e d :
' S light Injury '
- an inj ury of a minor character such as
a sprain, bruise or a cut or laceration
not j udged to be severe .
' Serious Inj ury '
- an injury for which a person is detained
in ho spital as an ' inpatient ' or any of the
fol lowing injuries whe ther or not he is detained
in hospital : fractures , concuss ion , internal
injuries , crushings , severe cuts and lacerations ,
severe general shock requiring medi cal treat­
men t .
' Ki l le d '
- died wi thin 3 0 days o f an accident .
By combining p o l i ce and medical records the maximum amount of information can
be gleaned from the data that are routinely no ted . Differences in inj ury pat terns
b e tween different types of accidents can be examined and given large enough
samp les i t is possib le that differences in inj ury patterns be tween different
vehi cle types can be shown . The usefulness of this data is limited by the
information ava i l ab l e ; the police rarely note the exact location and nature
of the pedes trian contacts on the vehi c l e , or ascertain the speed of the vehicle
at impact .
When i t is required that the cause of inj ury be determined i t is ne ces s ary to
carry out accident s tudies with this as one of the obj ectives ; this type of s tudy
norma l ly requires an at-the-scene inve s t i gation b y ski l led accident inves tigators .
A number of s tudies have been made throughout the wor l d , the maj ority o f which
have cons idered a l l road users not j us t pede s t rians .
Experimental work ranges frorn the tes ting of various sect ions of the vehicle
s tructure , for exarnp le the st iffness of the b onne t , to the reproduction of real
accide�ts using anthroporne tric dummies and cadavers . Mos t of the experimental
tes t work performed has used anthropornetric dunnni es and has been concerned with
inves tigating the variations in pedes trian dynarni cs with changes in vehi cle
shape and impact ve locity . Tests have been performed using real vehi cles and tes t
vehi cles in which the vehi cle shape parame ters can b e eas i ly al tere d . One
important aspect of cadaver work has been the determination o f human tolerances .
140
Another approach to unders tanding the dynamics of pedes trian accidents is the use
of mathematical mode ls and computer simulation, the accuracy of the s imulation
depending on the sophi s t ication of the mode l .
The use of anthropome tric dunnni es in experimental tests and mathematical mode ls
in computer s imulations has led to the development o f methods to predict the
severity of injuries that could be e xpe cted in similar real accident si tuations ,
so that comparisons b e tween different des i gns can be made .
In the fol lowing pages a b rief review o f the pub lished work on pedes trian injuries
and vehi cle des i gn w i l l be made .
REAL ACCIDENT STUDIES
INJURY STUDIE S
The various medi cal s tudies that h ave described pedes trian injuries can be divided
into two main groups ; those which des cribed the injuries sus tained by fata l ly
inj ured pedes trians and those which reported on a l l casualties . S tudies of the
latter type wi l l be considered firs t .
Aston and Perkins ( 19 5 4 ) reported on a l l road accident casua l t ies treated at the
Royal Hampshire Ho s p i t a l , Winche s t e r , England in 195 1 and 1 9 5 2 . Gis s ane , Bull
and Roberts ( 1 9 70) described the injuries sus tained by one year ' s admissions ,
1 9 6 1 , to the B i rmingham Accident Hospi t a l , and the long term consequences of
those inj uries . In Germany Gogler ( 19 6 2 ) considered in-patients treated in
Heidelburg clinic b e tween 1 9 5 2 and 195 8 . In S candinavia Backstrom ( 1963)
described the injuries received in traffic accidents in S cania , South Sweden ,
excluding the city of Lund, for the year 1 9 5 8 . B� ( 19 72 ) described injuries
received in a l l accidents around O s l o , Norway . In b o th these s tudies a l l severities
of inj ury were take n . McN i co l-Smith and Le theren ( 19 6 1 ) reported on one years
admi s s ions , from Apri l 1 1 9 5 9 to March 31 1960 , to Alfred Hos p i tal , Melbourne ,
Aus tralia . Jamieson and Tait ( 19 6 6 ) considered 1000 consecutive hospital
admiss ions or fata l i ties resulting from accidents in the c i ty of Brisbane .
In a l l these s tudies pedes trians formed only a sma l l proportion of the total s tudy .
The s tudy b y McNicol-Smith and Letheren was based on a l l accidents whi l s t the
other s tudies reported s o l e ly on road accidents .
Direct comparisons be tween the re sults of these s tudies are not pos sib le due to
the differences in definit ions and se lect ion criteri a . Aston and Perkins , Back­
s trom and B � described a l l severities of inj ury , whi l s t the other s tudies consid­
ered only hospi tal inpatien ts . The de scriptions of injuries varied throughout
the s tudies , for e xamp le Aston and Perkins divided the body into head and neck,
trunk , arms and legs ; the arms and legs b e ing further subdivided into left or
righ t , and above or be low the e lb ow : Gogler s p l i t the body into head , spine ,
ehes t , abdomen , p e lvis , upper limbs and lower limb s . Table 6 gives de tai l s of
these s tudies .
N o t withs tanding the differences b e tween the s tudies there is general agreement
that head injuries predominate , f o l lowed by injuries to the lower limb s . Injuries
to the upper limbs ranked third.
14 1
Tab le 7 sunnna rizes the results of the various s tudies of fatal pedes trian dCCLdents .
Again direct comparisons b e tween the s tudies are not possible due to differences
in the description and severity of inj uries note d . Tonge e t a l ( 1969 , 1 9 7 2 ) in
describing leg injuries have divided the legs into left and right s i de and upper
and lower l e g . Other authors have considered all leg injuries togethe r . However
general conclusions about the pattern of inj ury can be rnade , there being general
agreernent that the head is the area mos t frequently inj ured followed by the lower
limbs including the pelvis , the thorax, the abdornen and finally the upper limb s .
POLICE DATA STUDIES
Hutchinson ( 19 7 4 i , 1 9 7 4 i i ) at Unive r s i ty Col lege London has analysed national
police s tatis tics to inves tigate the differences in injury severity sus tained
by pedes trians s truck by different vehi cle types . He used as a measure of severity
the ratio of severe injuries ( s erious and fatal inj uries ) to a l l injuries and ,
in order t o minimize the effect of spee d , only accidents occurring in areas sub­
j e ct to a 30 mph ( �50 km/h) speed lirnit were cons idere d . He found sma l l but
s tatis tica l ly s i gnifi cant differences b e tween the severity of injuries for
different car types but was unab le to re late the differences to variations in
vehicle shap e .
Vaughan ( 19 72 ) in a s tudy in Sydney Aus tralia supp lied special forrns for police
officers to cornplete on pedes trian accidents so that more data than that routinely
noted could b e obtained . He cons idered the first location of the contact on
the vehi c l e , the action of the pedes trian and the speed of the vehi cle at impact.
The sarnp l e cons i s te d of 119 pedes trians of whom 19 were ki l led . At leas t 16
of the 19 fatalities had head injurie s , in the other 3 cases exact details of
the injuries were not known . Fifty two persons had injuries classified as severe
and 18 ( 34 . 6% ) of those pedes trians had head inj uries . There was no s ignificant
difference b e tween the mean impact speed of the fatal and severely injured ped­
es trians but there was a difference be tween the mean impact speed of those
groups and the moderately injured pedes trians .
McLean ( 19 72 ) in New York used data co l lected by the police to inves tigate the
differences in injury severity sustained by pede s t rians s t ruck by Cadi l lacs and
Volkswagens . He supp lemented the police data by ques tionnaires to pedes trians
and drivers . From an initial s amp l e of 5 35 Cadillacs and 584 Volkswagens , the
exclusion of cases where the contact was not fronta l , where no e s t imate of impact
speed could be made and where there was insufficient information to determine
the inj ury severity , limited the final analysis to 1 5 2 Cadil lacs of which 9
invo lved fata l i t i es and 1 6 6 Volkswagens of wh ich 7 invo lved fata l i tes .
l t was
from this samp l e that the conclusions that
"A pedes trian is more likely to be ki l led if he is s truck by the front
of a Cadi l lac rather than by a Vo lkswagen"
and
"half of the pedes trian fatalities occurring in col lis ions with the fronts
of Cadi l lacs may be able to be e l iminated by rede s i gning the shape of the
front of the car"
were made . The sma l l number of fatalities in each group makes the reliab i l i ty
of the conclusions questionable as the differences could have arisen due to
variations in inj ury susceptib ility due to age differences and injury to lerance
dif ferences .
Indeed at one s t age in the analysis it was noted that
"Cad i l lacs have a higher case fata l i ty rate but Volkswagens have a
higher rate of severe injuries"
142
0
A s tudy o f one year ' s pedes trian accidents in New South Wales (Fisher and Hal l , 1 9 7 2 )
us ed routine police dat a . A description of the injuries sus tained b y the injured
and k i l led was given using the inj ury data noted by the police officer, but it
was noted that this was the leas t rel iab le data in the s tudy . Neverthe less the
reported pattern of injuries was in general agreement with that reported in other
s tudies . The influence of frontal des i gn on injuries was cons idered by grouping
the vehicle makes into three groups , each having different frontal shapes ; these
shapes were a) h i gh square front consisting of Ford Falcon and Fairmont , b ) low
square front cons is ting of Morris Mini and 1 100 and c ) low s loping front consis ting
of Volkswagen Bee t le . No s i gnifi cant difference in the numher of injuries per
accident was found but there was a signifi cant diffe rence in the fatality rates ,
fatalities being over-represented for the Vo lkswagen Bee t le and under-represented
for the Ford group . l t mus t be noted that the number of fata l i t ies invo lved were
sma l l being 7 , 8 and 12 for the three shapes respectively and the reservations
noted to McLean ' s s tudy app ly . l t was found that head injuries were more frequent
( 6 4 . 6% ) in the Volkswagen Beetle group than in the Mini / 1 100 group (55 . 0%) and
the Ford Falcon/Fairmont group (43 . 1%) , ( the differences however were j us t not
s i gnifi cant at the 5% leve l ) .
ACCIDENT STUDIES
The data ava i l ab le from the detailed s tudy of real accidents ranges from the pre­
sentation of a single case in great detail to the analysis of large numhers of
accidents each of whi ch has been subj e c t to an in-depth inves tigation .
Schmidt and Nagel ( 1 9 7 1 ) gave de tails of an accident in which prompt medical
at tention resulted in the survival of a female pedes trian s truck by a car
at approximately 50 m . p . h . ( 80 km/h) .
In Aus tralia at-the-s cene s tudies have been carried out in Brisbane by Jamieson
e t al ( 19 71 ) and in Ade laide by Robertson , McLean and Ryan ( 1966 ) .
In the Brisbane s tudy Jamieson e t a l , inve s t igated 49 accidents involving 5 1
lt was
pedes trians ; 3 4 o f these pedes trians were s truck by the front o f a car .
found that, considering a l l the pede s t r ians and a l l severities of inj ury , head
and l e g inj uries were the injuries most frequently sus taine d ; 6 4 . 7% sus tained
head injuries , 70 . 6% injuries to the right leg and 7 2 . 5% injuries to the left
leg. The 34 cases where a pedes trian was s t ruck by the front o f a car were
considered in some detai l , but the sma l l number of cases made comparison of the
factors influencing inj ury impossib le . However it was sugges ted that when the
vehicle is braking i t is preferab l e for the motion of the pedes trian after
impact to cons i s t o f trans lation , rather than rotation , as rotation of the
head towards the car can result in head impacts on the s tiff vehicle s tructures
and rotation away from the car exposes the pede s t ri an to being run over by the
vehi cle .
Robertson, McLean and Ryan reported on 79 accidents involving 82 pede s t rians ; 6 3
of the pedes trians were invo lved with cars and 4 5 were s truck b y the front o f a car .
For pedes tri ans s truck by cars , and for a l l severities of injury, injuries to the
head and the legs were the injuries most frequen t ly sus tained 8 7 . 3% re ceiving
lower limb injuries and 76 . 2% head injuries . l t was noted that 83 . 6% o f the leg
injuries and 3 5 . 4% of the head injuries resulted from vehi c l e contact . Half the
fatal head injuries came from vehi cle contact and half from ground contac t . In
an attempt to cons ider the effect of vehi c l e shape on inj ury severity a comparison
· was made of the seve r i ty of injuries sus tained by pedes trians s truck by the front
of Vo lkswagen 1200 ' s and Ford Falcons . l t was concluded that :
143
' (a ) b e l ow 20 m . p . h . ( <. 30km/h) a Falcon is more likely to injure a
pedes trian seriously than is a Volkswagen 1 2 00 .
(b ) in the speed range 20-25 m . p . h . ( 30-40 km/h) the inj ury producing
potential is the same for each of these two cars .
( c ) above 25 m . p . h . (40•km/h) the Volkswagen 1200 wi l l probably cause
more severe injuries than the Falcon '
However the small number o f cases available for analy s i s , 6 Volkswagens and
6 Falcons , makes these conclusions extremely tenuous . Variations in the age
of the pedes trians in each group could have a greater effect on inj ury severity
than the vehi c l e shap e .
Wooler ( 19 6 8) reanalysed the re s u l ts o f these two s tudies with particular
emphas is on the speeds of the vehi cles . He cons idered the re lationships b e tween
impact speed and trave l ling speed and concluded that at trave lling speeds greater
than 25 m . p . h . ( 40 km/h) the impact speed is norma l ly close to the trave l ling
speed.
The Transport and Road Re search Laboratory in the United Kingdom (T . R . R. L . 1 9 7 4 )
have s tudied pedes trian accidents using a follow-up technique , the vehi cle being
e xamined a few days after the acciden t . The s tudy reported on mechanisms of
inj ury to 104 pedes trians requiring hospi tal inpatient treatment and 45 fatally
injured pede s trians . l t was reported that
' the region of the body mos t commonly injured by contact with the
vehi cle is the lower leg'
and that
' for the upper part of the body . . . contact with the ground is
of almes t equal importance as a cause of injury '
The b umper bar was identified as b e ing respons ib le for 84 . 1% of lower leg
injuries and the windscreen frame as respons ib le for 33 . 9% of the head inJ uries .
The se figures only refer to si tuations where the cause of inj ury could be es tab li shed .
In 22 . 0% of the injuries the cause could not be de termined .
In Germany at-the-s cene accident inve s tigations have been carried out in Hannover
and Berlin under the direction of the Institute of Automotive Engineering at the
Technical University Berlin . Wanderer and Weber ( 19 74 ) reported on 50 pedes trian
accidents . They suggested that approximately two-thirds o f minor injuries (65 . 6% )
were caused b y ground contact but that for the more severe injuries the vehicle
was most frequently respons ib l e ; for AIS 04 83 . 3% of the injuries were vehi cle
induced. Figures were presented showing the average AIS rating by impact speed
for vehicle contacts and ground contacts for two vehi c l e shapes , the Volkswagen
Bee t le and the more connnon rectangular front s tructure or ' pontoon form' . l t
was sugges ted that there was li ttle difference in the severity o f ground induced injury
sus tained b e tween the two shapes but that at higher speeds less severe injuries
followed contact by the Volkswagen . Once again only a sma l l number of cases were
availab le for analysis and the resul ts mus t be treated with caution.
S turtz et al ( 1 9 74 ; 1 9 7 5 ) have described the s tudy in greater detail and in a review
paper by Appel , S turtz and Gotzen ( 19 7 5 ) the various res ul ts of the study were
presented.
Appel et al reported on 150 pedes trian accidents ; 80 of which involved children defined as a person under 15 yrs o l d .
lt was noted that contact with the vehi c le
144
generally produces more severe injuries than contact with the roa d .
were divided into three main shapes .
Vehicles
- the box form : - these are vehicles �ith a flat front s tructure
such as the Volkswagen Minibus
- the pontoon form : - the normal rec tangu lar f ront s tructure
- the ' v ' form : - these are vehicles with a low front s tructure
and smoothly curved bonne t s tructure such as the Vo lkswagen Beetle
l t was found that injuries from contact with the box form were generally more
severe than injuries f o l lowing contact with the pontoon form or ' v ' form. At
low speeds , less than 4 3 km/h ("' 2 7 m. p . h . ) the pontoon form is more dangerous
than the ' v ' form but that at higher speeds the converse is true . Differences in
inj ury pat terns b e tween the various shapes were noted. For children the head was
the body area mo s t frequently involved for all three shapes . With the pontoon
form 54% were reported to h ave upper leg injuries and 28% lower leg injuries whi l s t
w i th the ' v ' form 1 1 % had upper l e g injuries and 6 7% lower l e g inj uries . No
injuries to the legs were recorded for the b ox form. The number of pedes trians
contacted by each shape and their age dis tribution was not given, consequently
the confidence of the results is open to que s t ion .
For adults it was noted that ehe s t injuries were rnore frequent with the box form
than the o ther two forms and that abdominal injuries were more frequent with the
box form and the pontoon form than with the ' v ' form. These variations in
inj ury with vehicle shape for b o th the chi l dren and adults are what would be
expected from considering the areas of the body exposed to the ini tial vehi c le
contac t .
The que s t ion of different inj ury potential b e tween the various vehicle shapes
was a l s o considered by Schneider and Be ier ( 1 9 7 4 ) . They noted the injuries sus­
tained by pedes trians s truck by the three b a s i c shapes using data from autopsies
and police reports . The effect of the location of the leading edge of the pontoon
form was cons idered by taking cases where the leading edge was a) near the centre
of gravity of the pedes trian , and b) about 20-38cms ( 8- 1 5 inche s ) be low the centre
of gravity . Differences in inj ury between the different shapes were note d . For
e xamp le when the pede s tr i an was s truck at the centre of gravi ty , pelvic injuries
were more frequent than femoral injuries but when the cont act was b e low the cPntrP.
of gravity the converse was true . When the s triking vehicle had a ' v ' form then
i t was found that b o th pelvic and femoral injuries were infrequen t .
An at-the-s cene s tudy of accidents including pedestrian accidents has been carried
out in the City of Houston by the Universi ty of Houston (Tharp 19 7 4 ; Tharp and
Tsongos 19 74 ) . One hundred and seventy five ( 1 7 5 ) accidents invo lving 190 pedes­
trians ; 1 35 accidents involving 148 pedestrians were classified as frontal impac ts .
When only cases where the pedes trian sus tained a direct b l ow from the vehi c le ,
rather than a glancing contact i . e . corner contact are cons idere d , the total reduces
to 103 acciden ts . The relat ionship b etween impact speed and severity was examined
by performing a regression analy s i s on impact speed and inj ury severity rated on the
Abb reviated Inj ury S cale ' ( i n the ana lysis the original version of the AIS in which
the f atal i t i es were divided into different leve ls was used) . From this analysis
it was concluded tha t :
' a) A fata l i ty w i l l result only occasionally ( le s s than 5 % probab i l i ty )
from a colli sion when the vehicle speed is 2 0 m . p . h . ( 32km/h) o r les s .
b ) Multiple fatal injurie s , . . . re sult from impact speeds above 30 m. p . h .
( 4 8 km/h) .
145
c) The average impact speed for an injury severity of AIS 04 ( serious
injury) is 22 m . p . h . ( 35 km/h) with 90% confidence levels at 11 m . p . h .
( 1 8 km/h) and 3 3 m . p . h . ( 5 3 km/h) . '
These results take no account of the age of the pedes trian . l t was s tated in
the report that the correlation coe ffi cient for age and severity varied b e tween
0 . 35 and 0 . 2 4 whi l s t the correlation coefficient for impact speed and severity
was 0 . 86 . However a comparison b e tween pede s t rian age and impact speed sugge s te d
that these variab les were relate d ; a greater proportion of chil dren i n the
sample b e ing involved in low speed ( < 15 m. p . h . ( 2 4 km/h) ) accidents .
Corne l l Aeronautical Laboratory conducted a s tudy of 265 car-pedes trian accidents
in Toronto as part of a s tudy into pedestrian, mo torcycle and cycle accidents ( C .
A. L . 1 9 7 1 ) . The s tudy was based o n accidents inves tigated e i ther b y the police
using specia l ly des i gned forms or by an accident inves tigation team from Corne l l .
In addition the team from Corne l l extended the data on those accidents inves tigated
by the police by follow-up procedures . In describing the injuries , a l l injuries
to the various body areas were no ted , rather than the mos t severe inj ury as in
mos t o ther s tudie s . The pedes trians were divided into two groups , children and
adu l ts , by height of pedes trian rath e r than age , the dividing l ine being a height
of 48 inches (122 cms ) . An�lysis of the data was by these height groups , by
two speed groupings - less than 20 m. p . h . ( 32 km/h) and greater than or equal
to 24 m. p . h . ( 32 km/h) by type of vehi cle - Ame ri can cars , foreign sports cars
and Vo lkswagen bee t le s , and by location of con tact - front or s i de . l t was reported
that for frontal impacts with American cars 45 . 9 % of a l l injuries to adults and
5 1 . 6% o f all injuries to chil dren were vehicle induced and that if only non-minor
injuries are cons idered the importance of vehicle induced injuries increases ; 64 . 9%
o f non-minor injuries to adul t s and 7 1 . 9% of non-minor injuries to children being
vehicle induce d . Head injuries were the mos t frequent inj ury sus tained by
chi ldren accounting for 3 3 . 6% of a l l injuries . For adults head injuries were the
s e cond most frequent inj ury accounting for 20 . 0% of the injuries , leg injuries
accounting for 3 3 . 6% of the inj urie s .
lt was noted that the maj ori ty of minor
head injuries were ground induce d ; 7 7 . 8% of the minor head injuries sus t ained
by adults and 7 1 . 4 % of those s us tained by chi ldren being cause d by ground contac t .
However for non-minor head injuries i t was found that for adults 49 . 4% were caused
by veh i c l e contact but that for chi l dren 80% were caused by vehicle contact .
In England on-the- spot s tudies of accidents in Bi rmingham in 1 9 65 and 1966 and
in Worcestershire in 1967 and 1 9 6 8 provided data on 103 pede s t rian accidents . The
me thodology of these s tudies was reported by Kolbus zewski e t al ( 1969 ) . McLean
and Mackay ( 19 70) sugges ted that child pedes trians were less severely injured
than adults and that this could be due to differences in impact speeds and locat ions
of ini t i a l contact on the vehicle rather than differences in inj ury tolerance .
Fonseka ( 19 6 9 ) noted that chi l dren ,
' be cause of their sma l l height and low centre of gravity they were thrown
downwards . Provided they are no t run over thi s appears be tter than being
thrown upwards to be h i t by the res t of the car ' .
A further s tudy of only pede s t rian accidents was s tarted in Sep tember 19 7 3 . Ashton,
Hayes and Mackay ( 19 74) described the resul ts of the firs t 100 accidents inve s t i­
gated in the s tudy together with an analysis of the cases inve s t igated previous ly .
Particular atten tion was paid to the ques tion of bumper location and it was shown
that a b umper height of 1 8-20 inches (45-50 cms ) results in the maximum number
of pedes trians sus taining a direct knee contact . In a l ater report on 1 7 1 pedes­
trians s truck by cars or car derivatives (As hton 1 9 75) it was s tated that
' - chi ldren sus tain less severe injuries than adults at high
impact speeds and that this is mainly due to their sustaining less severe
146
head injuries .
- for b o th children and adults the head is the body area sustaining most
life threatening or fatal inJuri es .
- l ife threatening or fatal head injuries are more of ten caused by
vehicle contact than road contact .
- the windscreen frame is responsible for mos t of the l i fe threatening o r
fatal head injuries caused by vehicle contact .
At the end of this review are Tab les 6 through 9 which s unnna rise the dis tributions
of injuries to pede s trians des cribed in these various s tudie s . Table 6 l i s t s
the re l ative frequencies of injuries to the body areas of pede s t rians based
on s tudies of hosp i ta l data. Tab le 7 sunnna rises the same type of data for fatally
injured pedes trians .
Table 8 s imilarly lis ts the rel ative frequencies of injuries to various body
areas for pedes trians b ased on field accident s tudy data. These three tables ( 6
8)
are all tabulations of the injuries per person. Tab le 9 l i s ts the data in an
alternative form, i . e . the rel ative frequency of injuries to body areas out of the
total number of injuries (not persons ) in the samp l e s e xamine d .
-
147
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
A comprehensive programme investigating probl eros of pedes trian protection is being
carried out at the Ins ti tute of Automo tive Engineering, Be r l in Technical University .
A s eries of vehi cle-pedes trian c o l l i s i on tes ts using three different vehicle shapes ,
the Volkswagen Bee t l e , the Opel R3 and the Volkswagen Mini truck, have been performed
( Kuhne l 1 9 7 4 ; Kuhne l and Rau 1 9 7 4 ) . In these tests a moving pedes trian dummy was
used rather than a s tationary dummy as this was fe l t to be more representative o f
real accidents . l t was found that with the Opel and the Vo lkswagen Bee t le the
pedes trian gene rally rotated through 90°, meaning that the legs did not rise
above the level of the front o f the b onne t , up to impact speeds of 30 km/h ( 19 m. p . h . ) .
At higher speeds the angle of rotation increases ; the rotation angle was generally
greater for the Vo lkswagen Beetle than for the Ope l . The height that the centre
of gravity reaches was also monitored and it was found that the dummy tended to
be thrown higher into the air by the Vo lkswagen B e e t le than by the Ope l . With
the s lab fronted min itruck the rotation angle was always zero and the dummy was
not thrown into the a i r .
It was noted that head contact w i th the windscreen
frame produced much higher head acclerat ions than contact with other vehicle s truc­
tures and that in general higher head accelerat ions resul ted from impact by the
Opel than by e i ther of the Vo lkswagens . The ground contact tended to be more severe ,
at higher spee ds , fol lowing impact by the Vo lkswagen Beet le , ref l e cting the
greater height reached by the dummy . Kuhnel ( 1 9 7 4 ( i i ) ) sugges ted that the problem
w i th the conventional ' pontoon' form car was the s t iff leading edge which resulted
in considerab le inj ury and that perhaps the best form may be a pontoon form with
a much softer l eading edge .
The accuracy o f experimental col l i s i ons has been considered by reproducing real
accidents (Kuhne l , Wanderer and O t te 1 9 7 5 ) .
A tes t trol ley has been developed on which the shape of the veh i c le front s tructure
can be a l tered so that the effects of variations in des ign on pedes trian dynami cs
can be s tudied ( Kramer 1 9 7 4 ) . The effect of varying the height and s lope of the
b onne t on a rounded front pontoon shape vehi c l e has been inves tigated ( Kramer 1 9 7 5 ) .
The overall length of the b onne t was l . lm (�43 inches ) , the s lope was varied
from 1° to 60 , and the height of the front of the bonnet from 85 cms (""llr' 3 3 ! inches)
through 9 5 cms ("'='3 7 ! inches ) to 105 cms <'=" 4 1 ! inches ) . The height and s lope of
the bonnet were b o th found to have an infl uence on the point of head contact and
hence on the severity of the head injuri es . The mo s t favourab le si tuation for
head contact was found to be with the low hood ( 85 cms) and it was sugge s ted that
this height together with a smooth s loping profile would be preferab le . It was
found that the initial vehicle con tact provided higher accelerations and impact
forces than the se condary contact with the ground .
From inj ury tolerance work using cadavers (Burrow 19 7 1 ; Krame r , Burrow and Heger
1 9 7 3 ) a te chnique has been developed for e s t imating the severity of leg injuries
from the measurements recorded in experimen tal tests using dummies (Kraroer 1 9 7 4 ) .
The s ame technique has also been app lied to ehe s t injuries (Kramer and Heger 1 9 7 5 ) .
The Laboratory of Physiology and Biomechanics of the As sociation Peugeo t-Renaul t
have · conducted an extens ive s eries of e xperimental pede s t rian collisions in which
eight different vehi cles and two dummies , adu l t and chi l d , were used ( S t cherbatcheff
e t al 1 9 75 ) . The vehicles were divided into three groups for an alysis
�-
148
a ) low, short vehicles
- height of front s tructure less than 70 cms
- bonnet l ength less than 100 cms
- height of front s tructure b e tween 70 cms and 80 cms
b ) medium vehicles
- bonne t length be tween 100 cms and 130 cms
c) high , long veh i c l es - height of front s tructure greater than 80 cms
- bonnet length greater than 130 cms .
For the adult i t was found that the traj e ctory of the head and the lo cation of the
head impact varied with the shape of the vehi c l e , a ' hi gh ' vehicle producing
a curved head traj e c tory ending with a b onne t impact whi l s t a ' low ' vehicle
produced a f latter traj e c tory ending with an impact with the windscreen or
frame ; the head to vehicle impact ve locity was found to b e be tween 0 . 8 and 1 . 2
times the veh i c l e impact speed . The atti tude of the dummy at the se condary
impact with the ground was found to be inf luenced to a greater extent by the
length of the b onne t , and to a lesser extent by the col l i s ion speed . Wi th regard
to the relative importance of vehi cle and ground head contacts i t was noted that
the severity of the vehi cle head contact increases with increasing col l i s ion
speed but that there was l i t t l e correla tion between impact speed and ground
head contact severi ty . In general however the severity of the head to ground
contact was lowe s t for the long b onnet vehi cles . At co l l i s ion speeds less than
32 km/h ( 2 0 m . p . h . ) the head to ground contact was more severe than the head
to vehicle contact whi l s t at impact speeds be tween 32 and 40 km/h (20 to 25 m . p . h . )
head contacts with ' medium' and ' shor t ' vehi cles were o f the s ame severity as the
ground contacts but with the long vehicle the ground contact tended to be less
severe than the vehicle contact .
For the chi ld the height o f the front s tructure was found to have a s ignificant
effect on the mo tion. The low front s tructure resulted in the child leaving the
vehi cle with an angular rotation of the head towards the vehi c le , this motion could
be des cribe d as the legs being knocked away . The high front s tructure produced
the opposite s i tuation w i th the chi ld b e ing knocked over resul t ing in a higher
head to ground impact ve loci ty . l t was found generally that the head to ground
contacts tended to be more severe than the head to vehicle con tac t s .
The reproduction o f real accidents using b o th anthropome tric dununi es and cadavers
has been performed w i th par t i cular emphas i s on the cause of the head injuries
( S tcherbatcheff e t a l , 1 9 7 5 ) .
One of the main differences b e tween dummi es and real peop le is that dununies are
made much s trenger and in an at temp t to produce more rea l i s t i c dunnni es frangible
lower l imbs have been deve loped ( S t cherbatcheff e t al 1 9 7 3) .
In the Uni te d S tates a series of 12 pedes trian impact experiments was carried
out at the Unive rs i ty of California in 1964 ( Severy and Brink 1966 ; Severy 1970) .
Pedes trian s i ze was con s i dered by using a number of dunnni es : a toddler dunnny ,
a 3 year o l d chi l d dunnny , a 6 year o l d chi l d dununy and an adult dunnny . Impact
speeds were varied from 10 m. p . h . (16 km/h) to 40 m . p . h . (64 km/h) in 10 m. p . h .
( 16 km/h) s tep s . l t was concluded from this s tudy that
' Auto-pedestrian accidents are mul tiple impact events for which the
ini t i a l car to pedes trian contacts are not nece s s ar i ly the most serious
trauma likely to be inf licted . Subsequent impact with the p avement
wi l l , for many acciden ts , produce injuries more serious than the original
vehi cle imp ac t '
• • •
•
. With respect to vehicle shape i t was s ugge s ted that wedge shape front ends increase
149
upward proj e c tion of the pedes trian. A s tudy at Bat te l le using a t e s t buck con­
s i s ting of a s ty lized car front s tructure on an impact s led inves ti gated the effect
of vehic l e design using two basir vehi cle pro f i le s , a s tandard Ame ri can car
profi le and a low s loping profile , and two pedes trian s i zes , a 6 year o l d child
and an adu l t . I t was noted that
' wh i l e (on a limited sample b as i s ) the low profile seems to cause lower
injury. severi ty than the s tandard profi le at a 10 m. p . h . ( 1 6 km/h) impact ,
i t also tends to cause a greater severity at higher speeds ' .
An important feature of the s tudy was the making of s ix identical tests to examine
repeatab i l i ty o f dununy respons e . Repeatab i li ty was found t o be b e t ter than
expected, the atti tude of the dununy at the same time after ini t i al contact being
virtually the s ame in each tes t (Herridge and Fri tz 1 9 7 3 ) .
The same te s t buck was us ed in a later s tudy using cadavers (Pritz e t a l , 1 9 75 ) .
Results from th:i.s s tudy sugges ted that , with regard to leg injuries , a s ignifi cant
increase in injuries occurs in the 15-20 m. p . h . ( 2 4- 3 2 km/h ) imp ac t , that the
inj uries are locali zed at the point of contact and that dire ct impacts near the
j oints produce substantially more severe injuries than impacts away from the
j oint. The reaction b e tween the pedes trian and the ground was measured and it
was found that sof tening the b umper reduced the leg-bumper force but increased
the foot- ground frictional force . No reduction in inj ury severity was found with
the softened b umper and it was sugge s te d that this was probably due to the increase
in the ground frictional forces of f s e t ting the reduced bumper force . The head
velocity was calculated at the posi tion at which the windscreen would be and i t
was found that lowering the front s tructure resulted in an increased head ve loci ty .
There was also s ome indication that s o f tening the front s tructure increased the
h ead ve locity .
From te s ts in Japan using three different vehi cles , a Volkswagen 1200 , a Pub l i ca
which has a low front and s loping bonnet and a B l uebird which has a high front and
a f l at bonne t . i t was suggested that the lower the initial contact the greater the
angular rotation of the p edes trian and the higher the pedes trian is thrown (Kendo
and Taneda 1 9 7 1 ) . At low impact speeds , 30 km/h ( 18 m . p . h . ) vehicles with low
f ront s tructures are preferab le but that at around 40 km/h ( 2 4 m. p . h . ) no diff­
erences were de tected be tween the vehi c les (Taneda et a l 1 9 7 3) .
Fiat carried out a series of pedestrian impact tes ts as part of the i r Experimental
Safety Vehicle (ESV) progrannne (Montanari 1 9 7 4 ) . The motion of pede s t r i ans s t ruck
by the various E . S . V . ' s was presented but as the vehic les were s imilar in de s i gn
the effect o f vehi cle shape was no t discus s e d .
I n the Uni ted Kingdom experimental t e s t s using vehicles have been carried out by
Bri tish Ley land (Finch 1 9 7 4 ) (New Scien t i s t 1 9 7 4 ) and at the Transport and Road
Re s e arch Laboratory ( T . R . R . L . 1 9 74 i ) . In particular attention has been given to
the des i gn of a pedes trian catcher to keep the pedes trian on the vehicle preventing
se condary ground con t act . Ro l ls-Royce have inves tigated the inf luence of vehi cle
de s i gn using a s imulated vehicle impact s led and child and adult dunnni es . Amongs t
the factors being considered are properties and location of the b umpe r , bannet
leading edge height and p o s i t ion and b onne t and windscreen s lope .
150
Tes ts on s tructures have been carried out in Aus t ralia by Sarrailhe and Hearn ( 1 9 7 1 )
and in America b y Corne ll Aeronautical Laboratory ( C . A . L . 1 9 7 1 ) .
Sarrailhe and Hearn used an impactor to inves tigate the properties of the leading
edge of a number of vehicles .
lt was found that the leading edge of most vehi cles
tested was a s ti f f s tructure , a force of 1000 lbf producing deflec tions of less
than lin ( 2 . Scm) . Tes ts on a Vo lkswagen produced a def l e ction of 6in ( 15cm) . A
further tes t on the boot of a Holden showed that if the leading edge of the bonne t
was des igned in the s ame way as the rear edge of the boot an improved si tuation
would res u l t .
The tes ts a t Corne l l used a pendulum on which a s imulated headform was mounted.
Areas tes ted were the leading edge of the b onne t and the top surface of the bonne t .
l t was noted that contact on the bonnet predominately resulted in e l as t i c
deformation w i t h n o permanent indentation whereas leading edge contact resulted
in permanent deformation.
lt was sugge s te d that modifi cation of the leading edge
to produce b e t te r load dis tribution should result in a reduction in pedes trian
hazard.
151
MATHEMATlCAL MODELLlNG
°
A two dimens ional 5 freedom pedes trian model was developed at Corne l l Aeronautical
Laboratory as part of the i r res earch programme into impact pro tec tion for pedes­
trians and and cyc l i s t s ( C . A . L . 1 9 7 1 ) . Factors cons idered were vehi cle shape ,
vehi c l e front s tructure s t iffne s s , vehicle braking and pedes trian s i z e . Two
vehicle shapes were s tudied, a conventional square fronted vehicle and a vehi c l e
with a smoo th , r i s ing contour leading b a ck from the bumper . Comparison with the
accident data co l lected in the same s tudy showed the s imula tion was reasonably
good in predi cting the furthe s t point of pedes trian contact . l t was sugges ted
that the risk of receiving serious or fatal injuries increases sharply b e tween
15 to 20 m. p . h . ( 24-32 km/h ) . Parame ter s tudies indicated an imp roved pedestrian environment with a more rounded front contour and a l e s s s t iff front
s tructure .
°
Katayama and Shimada ( 19 7 1 ) describ e d a two dimens ional 7 freedom mode l . A
comparison b e tween the mode l and an e xperimental pedestrian co l l i s ion was made
and reasons for the dif ferences in results dis cus s e d . ·
Maclaugh lin and Daniel ( 19 7 4 ) presented a parame tric s tudy of pedes trian inj ury
in which a two dimensional 60 freedom model was used to inves ti gate the inf luence
of cert ain vehicle and pedes trian factor s . The aspects of vehicle design considered
were vehi cle shap e , s tiffnes s of the bumper and sheet me tal s tructures and the
maximum a l l owab le deformation of the s tructure contacted . Pedes trian factors
considered were pedes trian s i ze , orientation and muscle tension . The results of
the s tudy , however , were s omewhat limited as the inf l uence of impact speed was
not cons idered , a l l s imulations being made at an impact speed of 18 m. p . h . ( 2 9
km/h) . Main conclusions were that
' - pede s tr i an s i ze and orientation tended to have effects on pedes trian
injury which were equally as important as the vehicle parame ter effects .
- a l though vehi cle parameter changes were generally effec tive in reducing
injury, no s ingle parame ter was highly dominan t . Rather they varied
in re lative degree of s ignifi cance , depending on which inj ury criteria
was cons idered ' .
lt was sugges ted that the reduction in s tiffne s s of contacted areas was beneficial .
Niederer ( 19 7 5 ) presented the f i rs t res ults of a s tudy using the CALSPAN 3
dimens i onal s imu lat ion (Fleck e t al 1 9 7 4 ) . He cons idered the case of a pedes­
trian s truck by a car moving at a constant speed of 20 km/h . l t was noted that
a l though comparison of the results with experimental t e s t s showed that the general
motion of the pedestrian was predicted, there were s ti l l a number of problems to
be resolved before the mode l was acceptab le in detai l .
152
CONCLUSIONS
The above reviews of the s tudies which have been conducted to date on both riders
of two-wheeled machines and on pedestrians show a number of charac teri s tics common
to both groups o f road users . In severe inj ury accidents , multiplicity of inj ury
is the rul e , with head and lower limb injuries pre dominating .
For mo torcy c l i s ts the data show that the types and frequencies of injuries vary
cons iderab ly according to the configurations of the co l l i s ions and their
severi ties , a l though the que s tion of col lison speed has not been examined adequately
in this context . The use o f helmets by motorcy c l i s t s appears to be beneficial , but no
definite s tudy of this one crash-protective i tem of mo torcycling has yet been
conducted, because of the difficu l ties in the reporting procedures for s ingle
vehicle accident s .
This prob l em puts a reservation over much of the frequency data given in s tudies
o f two-wheeler accidents which are based on p o l i ce data particularly. With regard
to s tudies of specific origins of the various injuries sus tained by riders , the
mo s t severe condi tion described is where the rider receives mos t of his injuries
from ·s triking the opposing vehi c l e , al though the tank and handlebars of his own
machine are ci ted as s i gnifi cant sources of trauma. In general much more
epidemio logical s tudy of a detailed nature is needed before the various priori ties
for remedial measures can be es tab lished .
The biomechanics of pedes trian trauma in comparison is relatively we l l do cumen ted .
Like riders , pedes trains receive head and leg injuries most frequently . For legs ,
b umper impacts are the main cause of serious leg injuries , and there is every
sugges tion that present bumper designs are far from optimal from this point of
view . Ground contacts give rise to mos t of the minor leg inj ur ies .
For adult pedes trians the vehicle accounts for at least half of the s e rious head
injuries and and that proportion increases with children. The severity of injuries
f rom vehicular contacts in general appears to be directly related to speed but
no such dependance exis t s for contacts with the ground where perhaps the orien­
tation of the pedes t ri an is more important than his horizontal ve locity .
S tudies show that a s teep increase in pede s trian inj ury severity occurs at be tween
15 and 20 m. p . h . impact speed. Be low 1 5 m . p . h . minor injuries predominate , whi l s t
above 20 m . p . h . the chances o f serious inj ury are high.
Vehicle des i gn appears to have a real inf luence over the frequency and severity
of p edes trian inj ury , but impact speed is a cri tical parame te r . What may be
b e s t for one s i ze of pedes trian at one speed may not necessarily be good for
another s e t o f condi tions . Because chi ldren form a large proportion of the
pedes trian casualty populat ion , account mus t be taken of the circums tances of their
accidents and injuries . At this s tage , the opt imum vehicle exterior de s i gn has
n o t y e t been de fined .
153
REFERENCES ON TWO-WHEELED VEHICLE STUDY
ALDMAN , B . , THORSON , J . , and ASBERG, A . ( 1 9 6 9 ) .
' Bicy cle accidents to chi l dren and
b lunt trauma to the abdomen ' . Proceedings of Third Triemial Congress on Med ical
and Related Asp e c t s o f Motor Vehicle Acciden t s , May 2 4 to June 4, 1 9 6 9 .
ASTON , J . N . and PERKINS , T . A . - 9 1 9 5 4 ) .
' The c l inical p a ttern o f inj ury in
road a c c i dents ' . B r i t i s h Medical Journal , p . 200-20 3 .
BACKSTROM , C . G . 9 19 6 3 ) .
' Traf f i c injuries in South Sweden wi th special reference
to medico-legal autops i e s o f car occupants and value o f s afety b e l t s , Acta
Chirurgi a Scandinav i c a , Supplementum 3 0 8 .
BARTOL , J . , LIVERS , G . D . and HIRS CH , N . R. ( 1 9 7 3 ) .
' N e ar term s afety improvement s
f o r motorcycle s ' ,
U . S . Department o f Transpor tation , National Highway Traf f i c
S afety Admin i s tra t ion , Washing ton , D . C . , Report No . D . O . T . HS-8009 7 1 .
B0 , 0 . ( 1 9 7 2 ) ,
s fo rlage t .
' Road cas ualties - an epidemi o l o g i cal inve s t i gation ' .
BOTHWELL, P . W .
( 19 60 ) .
' Mo t or-cycle accident s ' .
BOTHWELL , P . W .
1 8 8 , p . 4 7 4- 4 8 8 .
( 19 6 2 ) .
' The prob l em of motor-cycle accidents ' .
Unive r s i tet­
The Lance t , p . 807-8 1 0 .
The Practi tione r ,
BOTHWELL , P . W . ( 1 9 6 3 ) .
' Motor-cy cle accidents ' ,
Paper presen te d to the Royal
Col lege of Surgeons Conven tion on Accident Prevention and Life Saving.
' Raad accident s ta t i s t i cs - a comp a r i s on
BULL, J . P . and ROBERTS , B. J . ( 19 7 3) .
o f p o l i ce and hospi tal information ' .
Accident Analy s i s and Prevention, 5 , p . 45-5 3 .
CAIRNS , H .
2 , p . 465-
( 19 4 1 ) .
' He a d inj uries in motor-cycli s ts ' ,
B r i t i sh Medical Journ a l ,
' Mo torcycle accidents
CAMPBELL , E . O ' F . , MACBETH , M . E. and RYAN , S . W . ( 19 6 7 ) .
P a r t I and I I Traf f i c Inj ury Research Foundation o f Canada.
O ttawa area 1 9 6 7 ' .
CHANDLER, K . N. and THOMPSON , J. K . L. ( 19 5 7 ) .
' The e ff e c tivene s s o f presentday crash helmets for motorcycli s ts 1 •
Operational Res e arch Quar t e r ly , 8, p . 6 3- 7 1 .
CHLAPECKA, T . ( 1 9 7 4 ) .
' The nature o f b i cy c l i s t accidents and inj uries ' .
Third
International Congre s s on Automotive Safety , (Additions and corrections to
printed p r o ceedings ) , July 1 5- 1 7 , 1 9 7 4 , San Fran c i s co , Californ i a , U . S . A.
CLARK , D . W . and MORTON , J , H . ( 19 7 1 ) .
' The motorcy cle acciden t : a growing
prob l em ' .
The Journal of Trauma , 1 1 , p . 2 30- 2 3 7 .
CRAFT , A. W . , SHAW , D . A . and CARTLIDGE , N . E . F . ( 19 7 3) .
in children ' .
British Me d ic a l Journa l , 4 , p . 1 4 6- 14 7 .
' Bicycle inj uries
DE FONSEKA , C . P . 9 19 6 9 ) .
' Caus e s and effects of road accidents ' .
Part VI ,
The inj uries to road us ers , Department of Transportation and Envi ronmental
P lanni n g , The Unive r s i ty of B i rmingham.
DEPARTMENT OF THE CLAIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL ,
s tudy ' .
January 1 9 6 8 ,
( 1968) .
' A motorcycle acci dent
DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT , ( 19 76 ) .
' Road accidents in Great Bri tain 1 9 7 4 1 •
A pub l i c a tion of the Government S tatis tical Serv i ce , H . M . S . 0 . , London .
DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT ,
3 May 1 9 7 6 , London .
( 1976) .
' Road cas ualties in 1 9 75 ' .
Press no tice ,
DRYSDALE , W . F . , KRAUS , J , F . , FRANTI , C . E . and RIGGIN S , R. S . ( 1 9 7 5 ) .
' Inj ury
patterns in motorcycle c o l l i s ions ' .
The Journal of Irauma , 1 5 , p . 9 9 - 1 15 .
154
' An improved three dimensional
FLECK, J . T . , BUTLER, F . E . and VOGE L , S . ( 1 9 7 4 ) .
computer s imu lat ion of mo tor vehi cle crash victims ' . CALSPAN Corporation, 1 9 7 4 .
' The e f f e c t of compulsory safety he lmets
FOLDVARY , L . A . and LANE , J . C . ( 1 9 6 4 ) .
on motorcycle accident fatalities ' . Aus tralian Road Research, 2 , p . 7-24.
GISSANE , W. and BULL, J. ( 16 1 ) .
'A s tudy of 1 8 3 road deaths in and around B irmingham
in 1 9 60 ' . British Medical Journa l � 1 , p . 1 71 6- 1 72 0 .
GISSANE , W . , BULL, J . and ROBERTS , B . ( 1 9 70) .
' A review o f one year ' s admiss ions
to an accident hospital ' . Injury , .!:., p . 195- 203 .
GOGLER, E . ( 19 62 ) .
l!!. , p . 79-86 .
' Road accidents ' .
GRAHAM , J . W . ( 19 6 9 ) .
Series Chirurgica Gei gy , No . 5 .
' Fatal motorcycle accidents ' .
Journal o f Forensic Sciences,
GRIFFIN , L . I . ( 19 7 4 ) .
'Motorcycle accidents : who , when , where , and why ' .
s i ty o f North Caro lina, Highway Safety Research Cen te r , Chape l Hi l l , North
Caro lina, March 1 9 7 4 .
Univer­
GUICHON , D . M . P . and MYLE S , S . T . ( 1 9 75 ) .
' Bicycle injuries : one-year s ample
in Calgary ' . The Journal o f Trauma, 15, p . 504-506 .
HARANO , R. M. and PECK, R. C . 9 19 6 8 ) .
' The California Motorcycle s tudy . Driver
and accident characteris t i cs ' . Department of Motor Vehi c le s , California, July , 1 9 6 8 .
HENDERSON , M . ( 19 70 ) .
' De a ths on motorcycles - a s t udy of 120 f a tali ties ' .
ment of Motor Transport , New South Wales , Octobe r , 1 9 7 0 .
Depart­
HIGHT , P . V . , SIEGEL, A . W . and NAHUM, A. M. 9 1 9 7 3 ) .
' Inj ury mechanisms in motor­
cycle c o l l i s i ons ' . Proceedings of 1 7 th Conference of the A. A . A . M . , Oklahoma City ,
Ok l ahoma , November 1 4- 1 7 , 1 9 7 3 .
HODGE , P . R . ( 19 62 ) .
' Fatal traf f i c accidents in Ade laide ' .
o f Aus tra l i a , l_, p . 309- 3 1 4 .
HONDA OVERSEAS DRIVING SAFETY P ROMOTION COMMITTEE ( 1 9 7 2 ) .
motorcycli s ts ' . Helmet materi al , Sep tember 1, 19 7 2 .
The Medical Journal
' He lme t s for
JAMIE SON , K . G . , DUGGAN , A . W. , TWEDDELL , J . , POPE , L . I . and ZVIRBULIS , V . E . ( 19 7 1 ) .
' Traffic crashes in Brisb ane ' . Aus tralian Road Research Boar d , Special Report No . 2 ,
February , 19 7 1 .
JAMIESON , K . G . and TAIT , I . A . ( 1960) .
' Traffic inj ury in Brisbane ' . Report o f
a general s tudy , National Health and Medical Re se arch Counci l , Speical Report
Series N o . 1 3 , Canberra, 19 6 6 .
' Characteri s t i cs o f mtorocycle accid­
JAPANESE COUNCIL OF TRAFFIC SAFETY ( 1 9 7 1 ) .
ents ' . Tra f f i c Accidents S tudy Connni ttee , Decemb e r , 1 9 7 1 .
KOLBUSZEWSKI , J . , MACKAY , G . M . , FONSEKA, C. P . , BLAIR, I . and CLAYTON , A. B .
( 19 69 ) .
' Causes and e f f e c t s o f road traf f i c accidents ' . Department of Trans­
portation and Envi ronmental P l anning, Unive rs i ty of Bi rmingham, Departmental Pub l i ­
cation No . 3 3 , June , 1969 .
KRAUS , J . F . , RIGGINS , R. S . , DRYSDALE , W . and FRANTI , C . E . 9 1 9 7 2 ) .
' Some
epidemio logical features o f motorcycle inj ury in a California Communi ty ' . Paper
presen ted b efore the Epidemiology Section of the American Pub lic He a l th Assoc­
iation at the lOOth Annua l Mee t ing in At l antic City , New Jersey , November 1 4 ,
19 7 2 .
' Head prote ction for the bicyclis t ' .
LEWICKI , L . R . and NEWMAN , J . A. 9 1 9 75 ) .
Pro ceedings o f the 1 9 th Conference o f the A . A . A. M . , S an Diego , Californi a , November
20- 2 2 , 1 9 7 5 .
155
McDERMOTT , J . E . and WOOD , P . A . ( 1 9 75 ) . ' Pedal-cycle injurie s ' . Proceedings of
the 1 9 th Conference of the A . A . A. M . , S an Diego , Californ i a , Novemb e r 20- 2 2 ,
1 9 75 .
' The e .x terior co l l is ion 1
McLEAN , A. J . and MACKAY , G. M. ( 1 9 70) .
ted at the 1 9 70 International Automob i le Safety Conference .
•
Paper presen­
' An asses sment of measures to reduce cy c l i s t and mo tor­
MESS ITE R , G . F . ( 19 7 2) .
cyc l i s t acciden ts ' . Depar tment of Motor Transport , New South Wale s , Decemb e r ,
1972 .
NEWMAN , J . A . and WEBSTER, G . D . ( 19 7 4 ) .
' The mechanics of mo torcycle accidents ' .
Proceedings of the 1 8 th Conference of the A . A . A. M. , Sep tember 1 2- 1 4 , 1 9 7 4 , Toronto ,
Ontario , Canada .
PELLEGRINO , E . A . ( 19 6 8) .
p . 4 1 3-4 1 7 .
' Cycle inj uries ' .
The Wisconsin Medical Journa l ,
' Dynamics of motorcycle impac t ' .
PETERSON , H . C . and BOTHWELL, P . W. ( 19 7 3) .
Paper No . 7 3035 , Se cond International Congre s s on Automo tive Safety .
RENTON , M. ( 1 9 7 3) .
' Mo tor cyc l i s t fatal i ties 1 9 70- 1972 ' . Metropoli tan P o l i ce
Traf f i c and Accident Rese arch Branch (B . 5 . ) Report No . 1 1 / 7 3 , New Scotland Yard ,
Decernb e r , 1 9 7 3 .
ROBERTSON , J . S . , McLEAN , A . J . and RYAN , G . A . ( 1 9 66 ) .
' Traf f i c accidents in
Ade laide , South Australi a ' . Aus tral ian Road Research Boar d , Special Report No .
1 , July , 1966 .
RYAN , G . A. ( 1 9 6 7 ) .
' Inj uri e s in traf f i c accidents . ' The New Engl and Journal of
Medicine , 11.fJ...,. p . 1066- 1076 .
1 Mo torcycle s afety . '
SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONGRE SS ON AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY ( 1 9 7 3) .
Congress Pro ceedings , Volume 1 , parts 1 and 2 , July 1 6- 1 8 , 1 9 7 3 .
SEVERY , D. M . , BRINK , H . M . and BLAISDELL , O . M . ( 1 9 70 ) .
' Motorcycle co l l i s i on
experimen ts ' . Proceedings of Fourteenth S tapp Car Crash Conference , Novemb e r 1 7- 1 8 ,
1970 , Ann Arbo r , Michigan.
SEVITT , S .
p . 3 1-505 .
( 1968) .
' Fatal road accidents ' .
The Bri tish Journal of Surge ry, 12_,
-
SHARP , R. S . ( 1 9 7 1 ) .
' The s t ab i l i ty and control of motorcycle s ' .
Mechan i ca l Engineering Science , l1., p . 316-32 9 .
SLATIS , P . ( 1 9 6 2 ) .
' Inj uries in fatal traf f i c accident s ' .
Scandinavi ca, Supp lementum 2 9 7 .
Journal of
Acta Chi rurgia
SLATIS , P . ( 1 9 6 7 ) .
' Injury pat terns in road traf f i c accidents ' . Anna les Chirurgi ae
e t Gynaecologi ae, 5 6, Supplementum 150 .
TANEDA, K . ( 1 9 7 3) .
' Experimental results on rno torcycle co l l i s ion te s ts ' . English
trans lation f rom author , pub l ished source unknown .
TONGE , J . I . , O ' REILLY, J . J . and DAVISON , A. ( 19 64 ) .
' Fatal traf f i c accidents in
B r i s b ane from 1 9 35 to 1 9 64 . ' The Medical Journal of Aus tralia, ..2..., p . 81 1-820 .
TONGE , J . I . , O ' REILLY, M. J . J . , DAVISON , A. and Johns ton , N . G . 9 19 72 ) .
' Traf f i c
crash f a t a l i t i e s - inj ury patterns and o ther factor s ' . The Medical Journal o f
Australia, ..l. p . 5- 1 3 .
UNITED NATIONS E CONOMIC COMMIS SION FOR EUROPE ( 1 9 7 5 ) . ' S ta t i s t i c s o f road traf f i c
accidents in Europe - 1 9 7 4 ' . Volume 2 1 .
156
' Safety motorcycle ' .
WESCOTT , J . S . ( 19 75 ) .
Engineers , Proceedings 1 9 75 1 Volume 189 .
The Ins t i tution of Mechanical
'Motorcycle s afety - accident survey and rider injuries ' .
WHITAKER, J . ( 1 9 76 ) .
Transport and Road Research Laboratory , Crowthorne , England .
(To be presented
at I . R. C . O . B . I . , Ams terdam, 1 9 76 . )
WRIGHT , P . H . ( 19 7 4 ) .
' An overview of the b i cycle accident prob l em ' .
Volume 1 ,
Third International Congress on Automo tive Safe ty , San Fran c i s co , California, July
15- 1 7 , 1 9 7 4 .
157
REFERENCES ON PEDESTRIAN STUDIES
APPEL , H . STURTZ , G . and GOTZEN , L . ( 1 9 75 ) . ' In f l uence of Impact Speed and
Vehicle Parame ter on Inj uries of Chi ldren and Adults in Pedes tr ian Accidents ' .
Proc . 2nd Int . Conf . B i omechanics of Serious Trauma , I . R. C . O . B . I . , 1 9 7 5 .
ASHTON , S . J . ( 1 9 7 5 ) .
' The Cause and Nature of Head Injuries sus tained by
Pedes trians ' . Pro c . 2nd In t . Conf . B i omechan i c s of Serious Trauma , I . R . C . O . B . I . ,
1975 .
ASHTON , S . J . , HAYE S , H . R. M . and MACKAY , G . M . ( 19 7 4 ) . ' Ch i l d Pede s t ri an
Injuries ' . Proc. In t . Meeting Biomechan i cs Trauma in Chi ldren, I . R. C . O . B . I . , 1 9 7 4 .
ASTON J , N . and PERKINS , T . A. ( 1954) .
' The Clinical Pattern o f Inj ury i n Road
Accidents ' . B r i t . Med . J . , Vo l I I , p . 200 , 1 9 5 4 .
BACKSTROM , G . G . 9 19 6 3 ) . ' Traf f i c Inj uries i n South Sweden ' .
Scandinavi ca, Supp lementum 308, 1962 .
Acta Chirurgica
B�, O . ( 19 72 ) .
' Road Casua l t ies - An Epidemi o lo g i ca l Inves t i gation ' .
Univers i ty Books , 19 7 2 ,
Scandinavian
BUROW , K . H . ( 19 7 1 ) . ' Inj uries of the Thorax and the Lower Extremi ties to Forces
app l i e d by B lunt Ob j e cts ' . Proc 1 5 th Ame r . As s o c . Auto . Med . , 1 9 7 1 .
C . A. L . ( 19 7 1 ) . ' Resear ch in Impact Protec tion for Pedes trians and Cyc l i s t s ' .
C . A. L . Report N o . VJ- 2 6 7 2-V-2 , Corne l l Aeronaut i cal Laboratory In c . , Buffalo , 1 9 7 1 .
ECKERT , W . G . , KEMMERER, W . T . and CHETTA , N . J . ( 19 59 ) .
of Traff i c Accidents ' . J . Forens i c S e i . 4 : 309 , 1 959 .
' The Traumat i c Pathology
FINCH, P . M. ( 1 9 7 4 ) . ' Vehi cle Compatab i l i ty in Car to Car S i de Impacts and Pedes­
trian to Car Frontal Impacts ' . Int . Tech. Con f . on Experimental Safety Vehi cles ,
D . O . T . , Washington , 1 9 7 4 .
FISHER, A. J . and HALL , R . R . ( 19 7 2 ) . ' The Influence o f Car Frontal Des i gn on
Pedes trian Accident Trauma ' . Acci d . Ana l . and Prev " , Vo l . 4 , p p . 4 7- 5 8 , Pergamon
Pres s , 1 9 7 2 .
FLECK, J , T . , BUTLER, F . E . and VOGE L , S . ( 19 7 4 ) . ' An Improved Three Dimens ional
Computer Simulation of Motor Vehicle Crash Vi c t ims ' . CALSPAN Corporation , 1 9 7 4 .
FONSEKA, C . P . ( 19 69 ) . ' Causes and Effects o f Traf f i c Accidents Volume 4 . ' .
Dep t . of Transportat i on and Environmental P l anning , Univer s i ty of Birmingham,
Depar tmental Repo r t No . 3 3 , 1 9 69 .
GISSANE , W and BULL, J . ( 19 6 1 ) . ' A S tudy of 1 8 3 Road Deaths in and around
B i rmingham in 1 9 60 ' . Bri t . Med. J . , Vo l . 1 , p . 1 7 1 6 , 1 9 6 1 .
' Sequelae of Road Inj uri es GIS SANE , W . , BULL , J . and ROBERTS , B . ( 19 70 ) .
A Review o f One Year ' s Admi s s ions to an Accident Hospita l ' . Inj ury , Vo l . 1 ,
No. 3 , 1 9 7 0 .
GOGLER , E . ( 19 6 2 ) .
' Raad Accidents ' .
Series Chirurgica Ge i gy , N o . 5 .
HALL , Ro R. and FISHER, A. J . ( 19 7 2 ) . ' Same Factors af fect ing the Trauma of
Pedes trians involved i n Road Accidents ' . Med . J, Aus t . , 1 9 7 2 , 1 : 3 1 3 , (February
12) .
HALL, R. R. , VAUGHAl� , R. G . and FISHER, A. J . ( 1 9 74 ) . ' Pedes trian Crash Trauma
and Veh i c l e Des i gn in New South Wales , Australi a ' . Proc. 3rd Int . Cong. Automotive
Safe ty , National Motor Vehicle Advis ory Safety Counci l , D . O . T . , Washington, 1 9 7 4 .
158
' A S tudy of the Dynamics of Pedestrians
HERRIDGE J . T . and P RITZ , H . B . ( 1 9 73 ) .
and generally unsupported Transit Occupants in Sele cted Accident Modes ' . Pro c .
1 7 th Ame r . As s o c . Auto . Med . , 1 9 7 3 .
HODGE , P . R . ( 19 6 2 ) .
V a l . 1 , p . 309 , 1 9 6 2 ,
' Fatal Traffic Accidents in Ade laide ' .
Med . J . Aus t . ,
HUELKE , D . F . and DAVIS , R. A. ( 19 6 9 ) .
' A S tudy of Pedes trian Fatali ties in
Wayne County , Michig<in ' . Highway Safety Research Ins titut e , Unive r s i ty of Michigan,
Report No . Bio9 , 1 9 69 .
HUTCHINSON, T . P . ( 19 74 ( i ) ) .
' The Severity of Inj ury Sus tained by Chi ld Pedestrian,
w i th Special Reference to Vehi cle Design ' . unpub lished report by Traffic
S tudies Group , University College London , January 1 9 7 4 .
HUTCHINSON , T . P . ( 19 74 ( i i ) ) .
' F actors Affec ting the Inj ury Severity of Adu lt
Pedes trians Involved in Raad Accidents ' , Report by Traffic S tudies Group ,
Unive r s i ty College London, Apr i l 1 9 7 4 .
JAMIESON , K. J , , DUGGAN , A. W. , TWEDDELL , J , , POPE , L. I . and ZVRIBULIS , V . W.
( 19 7 1 ) .
' Traff i c Crashes in Brisbane ' . Aus tralian Raad Research Board , Special
Report No . 2 .
JAMIESON , K . G . and TAIT , I . A. ( 1960) .
' Traffic Injury in Brisb ane - Report of
a General S urvey ' . National Health and Medica l Research Counci l , Special Report
Series No . 1 3 , Canberra, 1966 .
KAMIYAMA, S . and S CHMIDT, G , ( 1 9 70) .
' Re lations between Collis ion Spee d , Car
Damage , Fractures and Dis tance of Proj e c t i on in Fifty Cases of P e de s tr i an-Car
Accidents ' . J . Legal Med. 6 7 , p . 2 8 2 , 1 9 7 0 .
KATAYAMA, K . and SHIMADA. T . ( 1 9 7 1 ) .
' Analy s i s of the Behaviour of Pedes trian
in Co l li s i on ' . CCMS Report No . 2 7 , Pedes trian Safety Proj e c t , N . H . T . S . A. , D. O . T . ,
Washington.
KOLBUSZEWSKI , J . , MACKAY , G. M. , FONSEKA, C. P . , BLAIR, I . and CLAYTON , A. ( 1 9 69 ) .
' Causes and Effects o f Traffic Accidents ' . Dep t . of Transportation and Environmental
P lanning, Unive r s i ty of B i rmingham, Depar tmental Report No . 3 3 , 1969 .
' Same Results of Vehicle-Pedes trian (Durrany )
KONDO , M. and TANEDA, K . ( 19 7 1 ) .
Collis ion Tes t made Recently in J . A . R. I .' . Meeting of experts on Pedes trian
S afety , 2 4 Sep tember 1 9 7 1 , Brus s e l s , Fonds d ' E tudes e t de Recherches pour
la Securite Rout iere .
KRAMER, M . ( 1 9 74 ) .
' A New Tes t Device for Pedestrian-Vehicle Accident Simulation
and Evaluation o f Leg Injury Criteria ' . Proc. 18th Con f . Ame r . As soc. Auto .
Med . , 1 9 7 4 .
KRAMER, M. ( 1 9 75 ) .
' Pedes trian Vehicle Accident Simulation Through Duunny Tests ' .
SAE Paper 7 5 1 1 6 5 , Pro c . 1 9 th S tapp Car Crash Conference , 1 9 7 5 .
KRAMER, M. , BUROW , K . and HEGER, A.
under Impact Load ' .
1973.
' Fracture Mechanism of Lower Legs
( 19 7 3) .
SAE Paper 73096 6 , Pro c . 1 7 th Stapp Car Crash Conference ,
KRAMER, M . and HEGER, A . ( 19 7 5 ) .
' Schwe re-Indices fur Brus tkorb und Unters chen­
kelvertetzungen ' . Proc. 2nd Int . Cong. Biomechanics of Serious Trauma , I . R . C . O . B . I . ,
1975.
' Vehi cle-Pede s trian Co l l i s ion Experiments with the Use
KUHNEL , A . ( 1 9 7 4 ( i ) ) .
of a Moving Dummy ' . Pore. 18th Conf . Ame r . As s o c . Auto . Med . , 1 9 7 4 .
159
KUHNEL , A.
( 19 74 ( i i ) ) .
Personal Connnuni cation .
' Der Zusannne nstoss Fahrzeug-Fus sganger unter
KUHNEL, A. and RAU , H . ( 1 9 74 ) .
Berucks ichtigung der Eigenbewe gung des Fuss gangers ' . Der Verkehrs Unf a l l He lt 1
and He l t 2 , 1 9 7 4 .
KUHNEL , A. , WANDERER, U . and OTTE , D . ( 19 75 ) .
' Ein Vergleich von realen mit nach­
gefahren Fuss gangerunf a l len' . Pro c , 2nd In t . Conf . Biomechanics of Serious Trauma ,
I . R . C . O . B . I . , 1 9 75 .
' A Parame tric S tudy o f Pedes trian
MACLAUGHLIN , T . F . and DANIEL, S , ( 1 9 74 ) .
Injury ' . Pro c . 3rd Int . Cong. Automo tive Safety , National Motor Vehi cle
Safety Advisory Counci l , D . O . T . , Washington,
McCARROLL, J . R . , BRAUNSTEIN , D. W. , COOPER, W. , HELFERN , M. , SEREMETIS , M. ,
WADE, P . A. and WEINBERG , S . B . ( 1 9 6 2 ) , ' Fatal Pedes trian Automotive Accidents ' .
J . Ame r . Med , As s oc . , Vo l . 1 80 , No , 2 , p . 12 7 , 1962 .
McLEAN , A. J . ( 19 7 2 ) ,
' Car Shape and Pedes trian Injury ' .
Sympos ium, Canb e rra , March 1 9 7 2 .
National Road Safety
McLEAN , A. J . and MACKAY , G . M . ( 1 9 70) .
' The Exterior Co l l i s i on ' . SAE Paper
No . 700434 , Pro c . In t . Auto . Safety Conf . Compendium, SAE P ub li cation P30 , 1 9 7 0 ,
McNI CHOL- SMITH , J , and LETHERE N , B . F . ( 19 6 1 ) .
' Alfred Hospi tal Accident Survey
1960- 1 9 6 1 ' . Univers i ty of Me lb ourne , Dep t . of Surgery , 196 1 .
MONTANARI , V . ( 19 74) .
' F l at Technical Presentation ' , Report on 5th In t . Tech .
Conf . on Experimen tal Safety Vehic les , D . O . T . , Washington, 1 9 7 4 .
NEW SCIENTIST ( 19 7 4) .
9 May , 1 9 7 4 , p . 3 1 1 .
' BLMC Loses Money but Catches Pedes trians ' .
New Scientis t ,
NIEDERER, P . ( 19 75 ) .
' Computerized Simulat ion and Re construction of CarPedes trian Acciden ts '
7th Int . Mee ting of Forensic Science s , Zurich , 1 9 7 5 .
PERRY , J . F . ( 19 6 4 ) .
' Autopsy Findings in 12 7 Patients fol lowing Fatal Traffic
Accidents ' . Surgery , Gyneco logy and Obs tetrics , Va l . 1 1 9 , p . 5 86 , 1 9 6 4 ,
FRITZ , H . B . , HASSLER, C . R. , HERRIDGE , J . T. and WE IS , E . B . ( 1 9 75 ) .
' E xperimental
S tudy of P e des trian Injury Minimization through Vehicle Des i gn ' . SAE Paper 75 1166 ,
Proc. 1 9 th Stapp Car Crash Conference , 1 9 7 5 .
ROBERTSON , J . S . , McLEAN , A. J . and RYAN , G . A. ( 1966) ,
' Traffic Accidents in
Ade laide , South Aus trali a ' . Aus tralian Raad Research Board , Special Report
No. 1 .
RYAN , G . A. and McLEAN , A. J .
Car Crash Conference .
( 1966 ) .
' Pedes trian Survival ' .
Pro c . 9 th Stapp
' Deformation Characteris tics of Cars in
SARRAILHE , S . and HEARN , B . M. ( 1 9 7 1 ) .
Tests to Simulate Pedes trian Impact ' , Dep t . of Supp ly , Aus tralian Defence
S cientific Service , Aeronautical Research Laboratorie s , 1 9 7 1 .
SEVERY , D . M . ( 19 65 ) .
Car Crash Conference ,
' Auto Pedes trian Impact Experiments ' .
' Vehi cle Exterior Safety ' .
SEVERY , D . M. ( 19 70) ,
In t . Auto. Safety Conference Compendium.
SEVERY , D. M. and BRINK, H . ( 1966) .
Congre s s , January 1966 .
Pro c . 7th Stapp
SAE Paper 7004 32 , Pro c .
SAE Paper 660080, Automo tive Engineering
160
SEVITT , S . ( 19 6 8 ) . ' Fatal Road Accidents - Inj uries , Comp l i cations and Causes
of Death in 2 5 0 Sub j e cts ' . Bri t . J . Surg . , Vo l . 5 5 , No . 7 , p . 3 1 , 1 9 6 8 .
SEVITT, s . ( 19 7 3 ) . ' Fatal Road Accidents in Bi rmingham - Times to Death and
thei r Causes ' . Inj ury , Vo l . 4 , N o . 4 , 1 9 7 3 .
S CHMIDT , D . N . and NAGE L , D . A. ( 1 9 7 1 ) .
1 5 th Conf . Am . As s o c . Auto . Med.
' Pedes trian Impact Case Study ' .
Pro c .
S CHNE IDER, H. and BEIER, G. ( 19 74) . ' E xperiment and Acciden t Comparison of
Dummy Tes t Res u l ts and Real Pedes trian Accidents ' . Pro c . 1 8 th S tapp Car Crash
Conference , SAE , 1 9 7 4 .
SLATIS , P . ( 19 6 2 ) . ' Inj uries i n Fatal Traf f i c Accidents - An Analys is o f 349
Med i co legal Autopsie s ' . Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica , Supplementum 2 9 7 , 1962 .
' Pedestrian Deaths in O s lo Traf f i c Accidents ' .
SOLHEIM, K . ( 1 9 6 4 ) .
J . , Vo l . 1 , p . 81- 8 3 , 1 9 6 4 .
Bri t . Med.
STCHERBATCHEFF , G . , FAYON , A. and TARRIERE , C . ( 19 7 3 ) . ' S imulation B i omechanique
des Membres Inferieurs ' . Proc. l s t Int. Conf . Biomechan i cs o f Trauma , I . R . C . O . B . I . ,
1973.
STCHERBATCHEFF , G . , TARRIERE , C . , DUCLOS , P . , FAYON , A. , GOT. C . and PATEL, A .
( 19 7 5 (i) . ' Re cons tructions experimentales d ' impacts te te-vehi cle de p i e tons accidentes ' .
P ro c . 2nd Int. Con f . Biomechanics of Trauma , I . R. C . O . B . I . , 1 9 7 5 .
STCHERBATCHEFF , G . , TARRIERE , C . , DUCLOS , P . , FAYON , A. , GOT , C . and PATEL , A.
( 19 7 5 ( i i ) ) . ' Simulation of Co l li s i ons be tween Pedestrians and Vehicles using
Adult and Chi ld Dunnni es ' . SAE Paper 7 5 1 1 6 7 , Proc. 1 9 th S tapp Car Crash Conference ,
1975.
STURTZ , G . , SUREN , E . G . , GOTZEN , L . , BEHREN , S . K . and RICHTER, K . ( 19 75 ) . ' Kop f ,
Hals-und Wirb e ls avlenver letzungen und Todes ursachen vie Ausseren Verkehr s te i lnehmern ' .
Proc. 2nd Int. Con f . B i omechan i cs o f Serious Trauma , I . R. C . O . B . I . , 1 9 7 5 .
STURTZ , G , SUREN , E . G , GOTZEN , L . and RICHTER , K. ( 19 74) . ' Analyse von Beweguns ab l auf ,
Verle tzungsursache , - s chwere und - Folge bei Fuss gangerun fal len mi t Kindern durch
Unfallforschung am Unfal lort" .
TANEDA, K . , KONDO , M . and HIGUCHI , K . ( 19 7 3 ) .
' E xperiment on Passenger Car
and Pedes trian Dunnny Co l l i s i on ' . Proc . ls t In t . Conf Biomechan i cs of Trauma ,
I . R. C . O . B . I . , 19 7 3 .
TARRIERE , C. , STCHERBATCHEFF , G . , DUCLOS , P . and FAYON , A . ( 1 9 74) . ' Short Syn thesis
of Works on Pede s tr i an Protect ion ' . Proc 5th In t . Tech. Conf . on Experimental
Safety Veh i c les , N . H . T . S o A. , 1 9 7 4 .
THARP , K . J . ( 19 7 4 ) . ' Mu l t i d i s cipl i nary Accident Inve s t i gation - Pedes trian
Involvemen t ' . D. O . T . Report HS . 80 1 . 165 , N . H . T . S . A . , Washington , 1 9 7 4 .
THARP , K. J . and TSONGOS , N . G . ( 19 7 4 ) . ' F actors in Urban Vehicle Pedes trian
Collis ions ' . Pro c . 3rd Int . Cong. Automo tive Safe ty , National Motor Vehicle Safety
Advisory Counci l , D. O . T . , Washington , 1 9 7 4 .
TONGUE , J . I . , O ' REILLY , M. J . J . and DAVISON , A. ( 1 9 6 4 ) .
' Fatal Traf f i c Accidents
in Brisbane from 1935-1964 ' . Med . J . Aus t . , Vo l . 2 , p . 81 1 , 1 9 6 4 .
TONGUE , J . I . , O ' REILLY , M. J . J . , DAVI SON , A. , and JOHNSTON , N . G . ( 1 9 7 2 ) . ' Traf f i c
Crash Fatali t i e s Inj ury �at terns and o ther Factors ' . Med . J . Aus t . , 19 7 2 , 2 , p . 5- 1 3 .
T . R. R. L . ( 1 9 7 4 ( i ) ) .
. LF 3 9 4 , April 1 9 7 4 .
' Car Front End De s ign and Pedes trian Safety ' . T . R. R. L . Leaflet
161
T . R. Ro L . ( 19 7 4 ( i i ) ) . ' Pedes trian Inj uries ' .
Leaf let LF3 1 7 , Issue 4 , April 1 9 7 4 .
Transport and Road Research Laboratory ,
VAUGHAN , R . G . ( 19 72 ) .
' A Study o f Measures to Reduce Inj uries t o Pedestrians ' .
National Raad Safety Symposium, Canberra , March 1 9 7 2 .
' Fi e l d Results of Exact Acci dent Data
WANDERER, U . N . and WEBER, H . M . ( 1 9 7 4 ) .
Acqui s i tion on Scene ' . SAE Paper 7405 6 8 .
WOOLER, J . ( 19 6 8 ) . ' Raad Traffic Accidents in Ade laide and Brisbane , Aus tralia
excerpts from a Report in preparation'. Proc . 4th Conf. Aus t . Raad Re s . Board ,
Melbourne , 1 9 6 8 .
4
162
1-'
O"I
w
NOTES
(1968)
SEVITT
(1964)
R
L
m/c
p/c
upp
low
TONGE e t al
(1962)
SLATIS
0962)
HODGE
(1961)
-
GISSANE & BULL
STUDY
181 p/c
18 p/c
c)
-
c)
#
d)
e)
-
-
83
72
-
80
76
-1-
>--
I'-
_
-
2
-
2
-1-
-
-
-
/
7
1. 7
0.6
-
3.0
0.6
c)
-
-
c)
--
c)
5.5
5.5
- - --
24
12
#
-
#
c) - Serious injuries
d) - Surface injuries
e) - Lu��ar and sacral injuries
#= - Fractures
22
-
#
ARMS
-
upp
low
-
upp
low
L. upp
L . low
R.upp
R . low
16
11
17
5
10
1t
-
-
upp
low
,_
upp
low
33.3
-
- 22
11
6
22
21
9
3.9
3.9
3.3
4.4
-
8.5
6.3
11.0
9.6
1 7. 9
-
5.9
-
21.4
14.3
18.2
-
20 . 6
-
-
L . upp
L. low
R. upp
R. low
L . upp
L . 101•
R. upp
R. low
-
upp
low
-
upp
low
#
-
LEGS
-
->2.2
2.2
1.1
2.2
3.8
4.7
4.4
6.3
3.6
-
13.3
-
10 . 7
21.4
4.6
-
17 . 7
-
-
L. upp
L . low
R. upp
R. low
,._
-
-
upp
low
_,___
#=-
12.2
9.9
8.9
-
11.1
5.9
14 . 3
-
23.5
-
-
-
#
1!
-
PELVIS
#
a) - Concussion and brain injury
39
33
-
12.1
liver
spleen 6 . 6
kidney 5 . 0
-
b ) - Excluding kidneys
c)
-
49
39
21.0
31.0
-
l ung
rib
-
-
liver 2 1 . 1
spleen 1 7 . 3
kidney 8 . 5
-
28.2
35 . 1
-
b)
17.8
kidney 2 . 2
lung
rib
-
33. 3
-
-
liver
5.9
spleen 1 1 . 8
kidney 1 7 . 6
-
-
liver 2 8 . 6
spleen 1 7 . 9
kidney 2 1 . 4
---
ABDOMEN
10 . 7
b)
kidney 3 . 6
- --
-
-
11.8
11.8
23.5
14 . 3
32 . 1
28.6
27.3
40 . 9
-
• 32 . 4
35 . 3
42.9
-
heart
lung
rib
-
heart
lung
rib
lun6
# rib
-
h:ng
# rib
THORAX
-
--
-
-
-
dorsal 1 1
dorsal
e)
e)
':'"s
-
-1-
5.5
-
1.9
12
-
dorsal
lu:nbar
/
„
7.1
7.1
-
-
dorsal
l umbar
-
SPINE
-
6.7
-
17 . 7
4.6
-
11.8
10 . 7
-
-
-
-
-
-
NECK
'
-,_
54.1
80 . 1
71.3
61.4
78.2
68.2
62.5
57.4
64.4
62.2
82 . 4
70 . 6
-
89 . 3
85 . 7
- -
-
-
86 . 4
77.3
64.7
61. 8
motorcyclist ( Al l 2-wheeled motor vehicle users)
pedal cyclist
upper
lower
lef t
right
SA.'1PLE :
non-minor injuries
SA."IPLE : 41 m/ c
SA."IPLE :
d)
a)
non-mino r injuries
S�1PLE : 365 m/ c
#
a)
#
a)
#
-
a)
#
- -
#
a)
ff'
a)
#
- -
a)
HEAD
SAMPLE : 56 p / c
maj or inj uries
SAXPLE : 45 rn/c
SAMPLE : 17 p / c
non-minor injuries
SAHPLE : 28 m/c
Sfü"IPLE : 22 p / c
non-mino r injuries
Sfü'fPLE : 34 m/ c
NOTES
Tab le 1 - Relative Frequencies o f Inj uries t o Body Areas for Motorcyclis t s and Pedal Cycl i s t s
Involved in .Fatal Accidents
1--'
O"I
�
NOTES
(19 7 3)
-
motorcyclist
pedalcyclist
upper
lower
left
right
SAHPLE : 10 p l c
fatal injuries
SAMl'LE : 25 ml c
SEVITT
(1973)
all injuries
SAi'1PLE : 284 mlc
d)
a)
#
SAMPLE : 37 p l c
...__
-
d)
a)
Tf=
HEAD
non-minor injuries
SAMPLE : 41 mlc
NOTES
64
100
-
65
-
-
-.
NECK
\.
--
83 . 7
73.0
70. 3
-
85 . 3
63.4
73.1
-
e)
-
-
-
SPINE
-
./
5.4
-
5.4
12 . 1
-
"
10
-
10
-
20
2 7.5
-
liver 10 . 8
spleen 8 . 1
-
liver 2 4 . 4
spleen 1 2 . 1
kidney 9 . 8
ABDOMEN
- ·-�
40
--
29.7
16.2
31. 7
46 . 3
-
-
lung
rib
-
lung
rib
THORAX
a) Concussion and brain inj ury
d) Surface injury
e) Lumbar and sacral injuries
II - Fractures
8
-
8.1
-
10 . 8
7.3
#
-
#
-
--
#
PELVIS
ARMS
-
11
/
- -
-
14. l
L . upp
L . low
R.upp
R. low
2.7
2.7
8.1
5.4
- -
22.9
L . upp 4 . 8
L. low i . 3
R. upp 7 . 3
R. low 14. 6
- -
LEGS
- -
L . upp 2 . 4
L . low 7 . 3
R . upp 4 . 8
R. low
_,___
L . upp 5 . 4
8.1
L . low 2 . 7
R . upp 5 . 4
R. low 5 . 4
4.9
Relative Frequencies o f Injuries to Body Areas for Motorcyclists and Pedal Cycli s t s
Involved i n Fatal Accidents
mlc
plc
upp
low
L.
R.
-
REN TON
( 1972)
TONGE e t al
STUDY
Tab le 2
......
°'
lJ1
-
all casualties
all injuries
SAMPLE : 569 m/ c
PELLEGRINO
NOTES
(1960)
m/c
p/c
upp
low
L.
R.
SAMPLE : 168 p / c
hospital inpts
non-minor injuries
SA.'!PLE : 328 m/c
SA..'1PLE : 195 p/ c
- motor cycli s t
-. pedal . cy c l i s t
- upper
- lower
- left
- right
GISSANE, BULL, &
ROBERTS
(1968)
(1963)
SA.'!PLE : 256 p I c
all casualties
all inj uries
SAMPLE : 541 m/ c
SA.'1PLE : 747 p / c
BAG<STROM
( 1962)
hospital inpts
all inj uries
SAMPLE : 2062 m/ c
SA.'!Pl.E : 120 p/c
all casualties
all inj uries
SAMPLE : 268 m/c
NOTES
-
(a)
-
(a)
-
....._
1-
-
-- -
-
-
1. 1
-
0.7
2 . 18
_,_
-
3.9
0.3
-
2.4
-
62.5
# rib
-
4.2
-
...._
-
-
2.7
-
-
-
25.0
-
33.3
-
3.0
6.0
4.5
-
-
1.2
··
•- .
#L.
# R.
�
#L.
10. 7
8.9
-
-
# R.
# L.
-
:/l= R.
#L.
R.
L.
7.1
3.0
-
11. 3
-
20. 1
46.3
35.2
-
42 . 2
32 . 4
35 . 6
- -
47 . 1
38.3
-· -
31 . 6
3.4
1. 9
4. 1
3.4
11.6
15.7
18. 3
-
11.9
- -
R.
L.
-�
....
_
--
7.9
6.7
-34.5
30.0
45. 8
37.4
26.5
-
26.8
14.7
-
-
--
# R.
R.
L.
R.
L.
-
-
17.4
L . upp 2 1 . 7
L . low 1 2 . 5
R. upp · 12 . 5
R. low . 16. 7
L . upp
L . low
R . upp
R. low
LEGS
7.5
L . upp
L . upp
L. low
L. low 12. 3
R. upp
R. upp
9.0
R. low
R. low 15
- - - -
AR..'15
_,_
-
-
3.1
-
5.9
4.8
-
5.6
-
-
--
-
-
-
2.7
-
PELVIS
_.._
/
-
-
-
ABDOMEN
- - -
4.3
12.5
13.9
13.3
6.5
8.1
-
-
-
# rib
,__
-
-
-
6.4
11. 7
-
11.6
THORAX
-
----
-
52 . 8
-
-
J
-
3.3
-
--
-
(b)
--
(p)
--
-
>-/ ' '-
-
3.7
-
SPL'llE
_,,1,
a ) - Concussion and brain inj ury
b) - Includes pelvis
# - Fractures
10. 7
48.8
-
8.2
45 . 1
36.7
-
17
-
-
�
-
72 . 7
--
55 . 9
66.6
-
�
V"
�
-
NECK
V
71.5
55.8
-
51 . 9
>---- -
'
'
HEAD
Re lative Frequencies of Injuries to Body Areas for Two-Wheeled Vehicle Users
HEIDELBERG
( 1954)
ASTON & PERKINS
STt;DY
Tab le 3
f--'
°'
°'
NOTES
(19 72)
BO
(1971)
HEAD
226 m/c
St�IPLE :
189 ? f c
hospital inpts
major injuries
SA.'1PLE : 345 m/ c
SAMPLE :
al 1 inj uries
SA.'IPLE : 1 8 m/c
'-
......
l \-
64.5
-
3.2
-
1.3
3.4
5.6
-
-
2.1
'-.
-
-
ABDOMEN
- - -
-
1.4
4.'4
5.6
15 . 7
-
14.6
THORAX
-
-
7.1
-
b) Includes pelvis
-
b)
-
SPINE
a ) Concussion and brain injury
-
1.6
-
1.4
-
-
NECK
-
45.0
14.3
61.1
hospital inpts
68. 2
non-minor injuries
a)
29 . 8
SAMPLE : 1 5 1 m/ c
- - ,__
SAl1PLE : 70 p / c
75 . 7
27.1
a)
NOTES
m/c - motorcyclist
p/c - pedalcyclist
L . - left
R. - right
CLARK & MORTON
(1971)
JAMIESON e t a l
(1966)
JANIESON & TAIT
STUDY
-
-
-
PELVIS
2.6
2. 35
�
2.8
11.1
2.9
-
10 . 6
1
Table 4 - Relat ive Frequencies o f Inj uries to Body Areas for Two-Whee led Veh i cle Users
/
-
3.1
-
,/
--
R.
L.
-
-
13 . 8
14.5
25.2
61.1
-
R.
L.
-
13.8
35 . 9
42 . 7
44 . 4
38. 9
-
-
LEGS
-
27 . 1
46.4
38.9
-
ARMS
-
-
/
......
(j'\
-.J
-
NOTES
( 1975)
DRYSDALE e t a l
(1973)
HICHT et a
l
(1967)
SLATIS
(1966)
& RYAN
26.4
56.0
NECK
0. 7
,/
p / c - pedalcy c l i s t
N
- number of casualties
m/c - motorcyc l i s t
m/ c,N=370 1=505
non-minor injuries
11.3
4.1
34
a) - includes pelvis and spine
I - number o f injuries
3.5
14
9
68
3) Deflected N=44
18
15
t\=36
;.-�
r
2
42 . 6
93
41
25 . 8
72
83
17. 1
46
7
;
20 . 0
31.
43.2
14.4
47
-
LEGS
-1 6 . 4
-+ -
16. 8
- 1
2 1 .6
2.3
17
-
ARMS
20
1.0
-1
o. 7
-
-
PELVIS
1 -:-)
-
0.3
-
35
1.7
7
-·-
15
-
83
,-
0.6
;
7.
2) Ejected N=46
0.4
-
1.6
;-; r -
31.
-
-
2.7
4.0
ABDOMEN
53
51'--.
______/
-- _
_
r
6.1
18.0
8
44.
1 '------'-/-
7
THORAX
19
�
41.1
29.6
5.3
- 5.
SPINE
- - - - - - ra;
HEAD
92
1) Non-ej ected
atics
occupan t ' s ki nem­
a l l injuries by
m!Caccidents
-­
p / c , N=l221 1=1828
m/c,N=1776 1=2896
all injuries
all casualties
p / c , N =35 !=98
m/c,N=71 1=148
a l l inj uries
SAJ-IPLE 324 m/ c
all injuries
fatalities
NOTI:S
The Percentage of Inj uries to a Given Body Area for Two Wheeled Vehicle Users
ROBERTSON, MCLEAN ,
(1969)
GRAHAM
STUDY
Table 5
1-'
O'\
Q)
(1962)
NOTES:
(1972)
B
(19 70)
I
-
SAMPLE
# - Fracture
648
HEAD
l
a)
IF
a)
a)
#
'
NECK
#
�
I\
ll
48 4
59.0
12. 1
66.7
65.9
66.6
24 . 3
22.5
53. 8
�
a) - Concussion and Brain Injury
•
inj uri e s
hospital inpatient
maj o r
hospital inpatient
non-minor injuries
SAMPLE = 39 8
Right side
low - Lower
1 149
hospital inpatient
non-minor injuries
SAf!PLE • 243
=
a 1 1 casua 1 ties
a l l i nj uries
SAftPLE = 220
Left side
upp - Upper
R
L
ROBERTS
CISSANE, B l lLL &
(1966)
JAMIESON & TAIT
(1963)
BACKSTROM
SAMPLE
hospital inpatient
( 1961)
91
GOCLER
•
SAMPLE
hospital inpatient
non-minor injuries
SAMPLE • 169
(1954)
McNICOL SMITH &
LETHEREN
a l l casualties
a l l inj uries
ASTON & PERKINS
"".'
,
o 5
o.o
3.2
".'
2 2
3.0
SPINE
J \
2.8
J
14.0
4.5
1
0.0
# rib
#rib
THORAX
':'
3.4
4.3
26. 3
9.5
8.1
6.5
\
I\
16 5
ABDOMEN
-
�8
4
#-
31�3
4.1
6.0
1F
PELVIS
J
8. 0
J
7.3
5.6
18.9
1
#L
#R
#'low
# upp
L . upp
L. low
R . upp
R. low
ARMS
11. 8
4.5
5.3
17 . 3
21.4
14.7
7.7
3 .0
8.8
4.4
9.9
12. l
#- R
#L
11 upp
# low
L. upp
L . low
R . upp
R. low
LEGS
Re lative Frequencies of Inj uries to Body Areas for Pedestrians from Hosp i t a l based S tudies
( i . e . Injuries per Person)
NOTES
-
STUDY
Table 6
17.2
28 . 6
18.8
13. l
50.2
47.3
38 . 3
56.2
9.9
23. l
11.0
20.9
1-'
O'I
\.0
NOTES:
(1975)
L - Left
R - Right
ASHTON
(1975)
all injuries
STURTZ et al
=
adults
SAMPLE
(
30
65yr)
(15 - 65yr)
37
l5yr)
cars
HEAD
l
l
•
6.1
83. 3
13
3
l
b)
b)
a)
,/
0.0
76�2
a)
a)
SPINE
'
,
76 . 5
90
81
92
NECK
y
64 . 7
...
64 . 7
•
a) - Pelvis includes Spine
Spine included in Body Area applicable
b)
c)
Legs includes Pe lvis
adul t s ( 15yr)
SAMPLE 2 66
all inj uries
front contact cars
children ( l5yr)
SAMPLE • 5 1
=
adults
SAMPLE
children (
SAMPLE 2 76
all injuries
all contacts
SAMPLE D 63
ROBERTSON , McLEAN
& RYAN
(1966)
a l l inj uries
front contact cars
SAMPLE = 34
all injuries
all contacts
SAMPLE = 5 1
(1971)
NOTES
13
5
l
THORAX
25.8
5.9
23
16
20
22.2
5.9
13. 7
19.7
19.6
7
14
26
15.9
23.5
27.5
ABDOMEN
c)
c)
a)
a)
a)
PELVIS
47
16
17
17.5
26 . 5
25.5
Relative Frequency o f Injuries to Body Areas of Fatally Injured Pedes trians
( i . e . Injuries per Person)
STUDY
-
JA.'!IESON et a l
Table 7
L
l!.
L
R
ARMS
48.5
29.4
27
8
11
50.8
35 . 3
41.2
35 . 3
43.l
c)
c)
.
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
L
R
L
R
LEGS
87.9
78.4
30
73
27
62
40
26
87. 3
79 . 4
70.6
72 . 5
70.6
'. �
-.J
0
1 : 180
B:8
B:6
cars
1 : 90
B:B
B : lO
1 : 1 37
inj uries
B:6
chi ldren (
14yr)
B:6
1 : 10 7
B:6
(
14yr)
B:6
i7!8
\.
tall
f)
f)
a)
h)
h)
h)
l.3
d)
d}
THORAX
b) - Includes Hip joint
2.2
o .o
0.2
0.7
SPINE
h)
R - Right
L - Left
* - Child defined as person less
I - Number of Injuries
d ) - Upper Torso
c) - Includes Shoulder
(122cm)
.30. 7
36 . 4
20.0
33.3
2 .9
J
J
j
1
B - Number of Body Areas
than 48in
18
°".'3
\
27.2
41
:1
\.
28.2
. NECK
a ) - Dack (Thoraco-lumbar)
I : 179
HEAD
'
N - Number of Pedestrians
N : 66
adults
front contact cars
all injuries
N:Sl
front contact cars
(1975)
1 : 444
a ll inj uries
ASHTON
N: llO
adults*
front contact cars
a1 1
N : 39
chi ldren*
1 : 382
front co11tact cars
N : 149
non-minor injuries
N:Sl
al l contacts
( 19 7 l )
NOTE S ;
B:6
non-minor injuries
N:Sl
al l contacts
1 : 95
a l l injuries
N : 63
a l l contacts
a l l inj uries
al
1 : 170
cars
non-minor injuries
C.A.L.
(1974)
T..R. R . L .
( 1 9 71)
JAMIESON
·H
N : 63
(1966)
al l contacts
al l inj uries
ROBERTSON , McLEAN
& RYAN
NOTES
STUDY
9.5
2.8
5.4
8.0
6.3
6.7
3.9
10 . 5
8.2
PELVIS
g)
g)
b)
h)
h)
h)
h)
14.1
14.4
7.2
11.6
6.5
c)
R
L
R
L
ARMS
17.9
14.0
18.2
18 . 2
6.8
4.4
2.2
12.2
10.0
8.4
18.8
g)
g)
Lower
Upper
Knee
R
L
R
L
LEGS
h)
- Pelvis includes Spine
g) - Includes Pelvis
f) - Spine included in Body Area applicable
7.3
9.3
17.8
11 . 7
3.1
11. l
7.8
5.3
5.9
e ) - Lower Torso
e)
e)
ABDOMEN
Tab le 8 - Relative Frequency o f Inj uries to Body Areas o f Pedes trians from Field Accident Studies
( i . e . Inj uri e s per Person)
1.8
32. 4
37.4
38. 3
27.7
23.6
12.8
16.7
16.7
20.6
20.0
23. 2
32 . 4
,_.
-....)
,_.
fatali ties
quoted in HODGE
SANPLE = 121
fatalities
non-minor injuries
SAMPLE = 61
ECKERT e t a l
HODGE
fatali ties
non-niinor injuries
SAf!PLE = 168
fatalities
non-minor injuries
SA.'1PLE a 5 7
SOLHElM
PERRY
fatalities
non-minor injuries
SAMPLE • 232
HUELKE
NOTE S :
(1969)
- Left side
- Right side
R
upp - Upper
low - Lower
L
DAVIS
SAMPLE
( 19 7 2 )
&
fatalities
non-minor injuries
TONGE et a l
g)
e)
a)
#
#
e)
a)
#
a)
#
a)
"II'
a)
HEAD
NECK
42.2
55.0
d)
e)
f)
g)
33
19.8
61
81. 4
48. 7
49 . 5
12.4
62.2
73.2
61.0
,
,
12.8
2.5
7.8
2.2
7.2
g)
41. 7
44
28.S
42.2
18.3
42.4
lung
rib
lung
rib
38
29 . 6
29 . 8
53.6
49 . S
11.S
21. 3
36. 1
67
50.0
27.8
33.9
d)
heart
lung
rib
# rib
lung
# rib
THORAX
Serious injuries
Surface injuries
Lumbar and Sacral injuries
Fatal injuries only
f)
f)
dorsal
j
J
J
dorsal 2 1 . 3
lumbar
1.6
-
1 0
:
16 1
-:
1 4".°l
29 . 5
4
SPINE
22. o
"II' i5:5
10. 4
g)
I\.
1\.
I\.
#
ll
ll
63.2
61.4
72.0
64 . 1
58. 3
77.0
54 . 1
61
61.0
69 . 1
58.8
a) - Concussion and Brain lnjury
b) - Excluding Kidneys
c) - Legs include Pelvis
:IF - Fracture
355
SA1'1PLE = 910
( 1964)
•
fatalities
non-minor injuries
TONGE et al
( 1968)
fatali ties
non-minor injuries
SAflPLE = 125
Sf.VITT
(1964)
(1964)
(1962)
fatalities
main cause o f death
SAflPLE = 192
SLATIS
( 1962)
( 19 59)
( 1962)
fatalities
non-minor injuries
SAMPLE X 200
McCARROLL e t a l
(1961)
fatalities
non-minor injuries
SAflPLE = 9 7
BULL
NOTES
&
STUDY
GISSANE
42.0
14
9.6
24.6
24.4
22.9
8.9
g)
19 . 8
28
liver 20.0
spleen 1 8 . 9
kidney 10. 1
liver 19 . 0
spleen 1 1 . 6
kidney 3 . 9
d)
kidney
b)
liver 1 8 . 0
spleen 1 3 . 1
kidney 2 3 . 0
ABDOMEN
g)
c)
#
PELVIS
4.8
39
33.2
21. 8
36.0
25.6
24 . 0
49.2
66
46.0
32.0
L . upp
L. low
R. upp
R. low
L. upp
L . low
R. upp
R. low
upp
low
upp
low
#
ARMS
4
14
10. 1
5.6
4.5
4.8
4.3
4.8
3.8
4.4
14
10
24.6
19.0
21.4
16.4
14 . 8
19 . 0
17.5
L. upp
L. low
R. upp
R. low
L. upp
L . low
R. upp
R. low
upp
low
c)
upp
upp
upp
low
LEGS
#
Table 9 - Relative Frequency o f Inj uries to Body Areas out o f Total Number o f Injuries to Pede s trians
- ( i . e . Inj ury Based)
58
17. 7
14. l
36. l
31.3
6.9
6.9
18. 7
18.7
48
16
37
70 . 2
33.3
44.8
26.2
65.6
17
53
54.0
42.3