Annual proceedings. Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine最新文献

This paper presents the potential safety benefits of the experimental French LAVIA Intelligent Speed Adaptation system, according to road network and system mode, based on observed driving speeds, distributions of crash severity and crash injury risk. Results are given for car frontal and side impacts that together, represent 80% of all serious and fatal injuries in France. Of the three system modes tested (advisory, driver select, mandatory), our results suggest that driver select would most significantly reduce serious injuries and death. We estimate this 100% utilization of cars equipped with this type of speed adaptation system would decrease injury rates by 6% to 16% over existing conditions depending on the type of crash (frontal or side) and road environment considered. Some limitations associated with the analysis are also identified. LAVIA is the acronym for Limiteur s'Adaptant à la VItesse Autorisée, a French Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) project that was set up towards the end of 1999. At the time, 1998 French national road safety statistics recorded 8437 road related deaths, a figure which had shown virtually no positive evolution since 1994. Detailed analysis of the contributory factors involved in fatal road crashes highlighted the time-honoured crash and injury causation mechanisms - alcohol, speed and seatbelts. Of the three, excessive speed (over and above the posted speed limit) was a contributory factor in half of all fatal crashes Inappropriate behaviour such as excessive speeding can be dealt with either by legislative or driver-incentive programmes. The first of these two solutions involves the introduction of new legislation and/or the enforcement of existing laws. This is the domain of Public Authorities and will not be discussed in detail here. Alternatively, incentive schemes can involve the implementation of speed related driver assistance systems, categorised according to their voluntary or mandatory character and the degree of autonomy proposed to or imposed on the driver. The LAVIA project set out to address several possible combinations of these two factors. The generic term Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) encompasses a wide range of different technologies aimed at improving road safety by reducing traffic speed and homogenising traffic flow, within the limit of posted speed limits. "Fixed speed limit" systems inform the vehicle of the posted speed limit whereas "variable speed limit" systems take into account certain locations on the road network where a speed below the posted limit is desirable, such as sharp curves, pedestrian crossings or crash black spots. Taken one step further, speed limit systems may also take into account weather and traffic flow conditions. These systems are known as "dynamic speed limit" systems and benefit from real time updates for a specific location. The different ISA systems are generally characterised by the degree of freedom of choice given to the driver in moderating

This study examined the performance of a booster seat in different seating configurations in side-impact hyGe sled tests (crash severity 30 km/h) with two attachment systems: a standard seatbelt and ISOfix (rigid). The objectives of the study were twofold: (i) to identify the relative benefits of ISOfix attachment compared with seatbelt attachment of a near-side booster seat in a 3-abreast seating configuration with adjacent occupants in child restraints (CRS); and (ii) to examine the effects of 3-abreast seating configurations compared with no adjacent passengers on booster seat crash protection characteristics. Overall, the findings confirmed the superior performance of the rigid anchorages in reducing lateral motion of the booster as well as the two adjacent CRS. However, the expected benefits of the rigid attachment in reducing head accelerations were not uniformly observed across the three occupants/seating positions and also appeared to be influenced by seating configuration (3-abreast versus no adjacent occupant). Further research is warranted to explore the applicability of the findings for different CRS types and seating configurations.

The Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) provides significant details on injuries, and data on patient outcomes that is unavailable in the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS). However, CIREN cases are selected from specific Level I trauma centers with different inclusion criteria than those used for NASS, and the assertion that a given case is similar to the population of NASS cases is often made qualitatively. A robust, quantitative method is needed to compare CIREN to weighted NASS populations. This would greatly improve the usefulness and applicability of research conducted with data from the CIREN database. Our objective is to outline and demonstrate the utility of such a system to compare CIREN and NASS cases. This study applies the Mahalanobis distance metric methodology to determine similarity between CIREN and NASS/CDS cases. The Mahalanobis distance method is a multivariate technique for population comparison. Independent variables considered were total delta V, age, weight, height, maximum AIS, ISS, model year, gender, maximum intrusion, number of lower and upper extremity injuries, and number of head and chest injuries. The technique provides a unit-independent quantitative score which can be used to identify similarity of CIREN and NASS cases. Weighted NASS data and CIREN data were obtained for the years 2001-2005. NASS cases with Maximum AIS 3 resulted in a subset of 1,869 NASS cases, and 2,819 CIREN cases.

Side impact pole/tree crashes can have devastating consequences. A series of 53 CIREN cases of narrow-object side impacts were analyzed. Twenty-seven of 53 had serious chest injury and 27 had serious head injury. Unilateral chest trauma led to the examination of residual crush pattern that often demonstrated oblique door intrusion into the occupant thorax space. It was hypothesized that unilateral chest trauma was caused by antero-lateral chest loading. This hypothesis was evaluated by conducting two (PMHS and ES2) vehicle side impact tests into a rigid pole. The PMHS test produced an oblique chest deformation pattern with injuries very similar to the real world trauma: unilateral rib fractures, spleen laceration, pelvic fracture, and a basilar skull fracture. Narrow-object side impacts are severe crash environments that can induce oblique chest loading and unique head trauma. Because the human may be more vulnerable in this type of crash scenario, dummy response and measurements, as well as a re-examination of side injury criteria may be necessary to design appropriate injury-mitigating safety devices.

A series of sled tests was performed to analyze the responses of an anthropomorphic test device (ATD), particularly neck forces, when rear-facing child restraint systems (CRS) are tethered. Nominally identical rear-facing CRS were tested in four tether conditions: untethered, tethered down to the floor, tethered down to the bottom of the vehicle seat, and tethered rearward to a point above the back of the vehicle seat. The CRABI 12MO ATD with head, upper neck, and chest instrumentation was used in all tests. The tests were conducted using the ECE R44.02 test bench. Both frontal and rear impacts were performed and each condition was repeated for a total of 16 sled tests. Motions of the CRS and ATD were recorded using high-speed digital video (1000 fps). The highest ATD accelerations, forces, and moments were observed during the primary impact of a frontal test, rather than on rebound. The loads observed during rebound from frontal impact were similar in magnitude to the peak loads collected during rear impact. The four tethering geometries produced distinct loading patterns. The lowest HIC, neck forces, and chest accelerations in both impact directions were observed with the rearward tether. The upper neck moment data did not show a clear trend relative to tethering geometry. ATD and CRS motions were best controlled in frontal impact by the rearward tethering geometry while the motions in rear impact were best controlled by tethering to the floor. The data show a potential benefit in both frontal and rear impacts of tethering rear-facing CRS to a point above the vehicle seatback.

High back booster (HBB) seat use was studied in the field and in the laboratory. This paper presents details of a case series of 19 children using HBBs in real world crashes. More than half were using HBBs when a forward facing restraint would have been more suitable (i.e. inappropriately), and incorrect use was identified in 3 cases. All serious injury occurred in children inappropriately or incorrectly using HBBs. Laboratory simulations modelled on real world cases demonstrate a greater injury potential in misused HBBs than in correctly used HBBs due to excessive upper body excursion.

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

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

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

This study examines the residual injuries reported in NASS/CDS 1997-2004 by crash mode, crash severity, body region and occupant age. It examines how serious injuries are distributed in present day crashes and identifies opportunities for further injury reduction. In planar crashes, approximately 66% of the MAIS 3+ injuries occur in crashes less severe than 25 mph delta-V. Chest injuries predominate in these crashes, particularly among elderly occupants. A reduction in chest injuries to belted elderly occupants during low severity frontal crashes offers a prime opportunity for further improvement of safety systems. Younger occupants could also benefit from improved chest protection.