Automobile Damage Scales and the Effect on Injury Analysis

A review of the biomechanics literature reveals that various parameters are used to correlate injury severity to collision severity. The primary measurement of crash severity is based upon vehicle damage. This is associated with energy loss and change of speed. However, there are a number of identification tools presently used for injury statistical purposes such as the police collision report description, TAD, VDI and CDC damage scales.

This paper discusses the development of these damage scales and evaluates the correlation between them. Numerous descriptors are utilized in the available damage scales and include verbal, photographic, and diagram descriptions. Accident rates are correlated to the damage severity and compared to the CDC levels. Efficacy of using the current CDC damage scale is evaluated by comparing it with more sensitive damage ratings.