Injury Rates for Older and Younger Belted Drivers in Traffic Accidents

This paper describes the correlation of a person's age to the risk of injury occurrence and the corresponding injury severity in traffic accidents. A representative sample of belted drivers was analyzed by using data from the German In-Depth-Accident Study (GIDAS) to investigate the influence of age on injury severity and special injuries to different body regions. The study focused on two age groups: 17-30 year old (younger drivers) and older drivers 50 year old and older (50+). The injury risk was described as a function of delta-v and injury risk curves based on Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS). Furthermore, individual parameters like age and body mass index (BMI) as well as age and mass of the vehicle were considered. The statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive and multivariate statistics. This paper presents an overview of injury patterns of belted drivers and the probability of these drivers being injured in different accident scenarios. The age-related probability for special injury patterns to different body regions was shown for younger versus older drivers. A risk score to predict the injury severity expressed in relation with AIS for different body regions was developed from the resulting statistical analysis.