Experiment and Accident: Comparison of Dummy Test Results and Real Pedestrian Accidents

To clarify to what extent the results gained from known automobile-pedestrian impact experiments may be applied to actual accidents, comparisons with the analysis of actual accidents and comparable experiments were made with particular attention to the pattern of damage and the throw distances of the pedestrians. These results produced parameters that should be of additional use in forensic practice for defining the location of collision on the roadway.

The injury patterns sustained by pedestrians involved in traffic accidents were related to vehicle damage and classified with respect to impact geometry. From the conclusions drawn from the pedestrians' motions, impact stress, and tolerance, experimental results may well be applied to the reconstruction of actual automobile-pedestrian collisions. However, this is true only within distinct classes of impact geometry, characterized by automobile front-end design, pedestrian size, and impact position.