A major study is currently underway in Britain, funded jointly
by the Department of Transport, Ford, and BL Technology, to
investigate the causes of injury to occupants in car accidents. The
Accident Research Units at the Institute for Consumer Ergonomics,
Loughborough, and a Birmingham University each have a team of
researchers who, together with the Department of Transport Traffic
Area teams, investigate approximately 700 accidents each year. The
data are collected in a uniform manner by all investigators, and
the data bases are compatible. The accidents are strictly sampled
from a predominately urban (Birmingham) and a rural (Loughborough)
catchment area.
High-quality data are collected on the performance of the
vehicles in crashes by detailed investigations after the accident;
occupant injury details are provided by hospital consultants and
coroners, sometimes by the occupants; sources of injury are
assigned by the ARU teams.
The computerised data can be structured in an analysis from the
point of view of the vehicle's performance in the accident, to
which occupant's details can be applied, or an occupant's
performance, to which vehicle details can be applied.
This paper describes the organisation of the study and provides
some preliminary data on accident circumstances, occupant injuries,
and vehicle performance