Characteristics of Pole Impacts to Side of Passenger Cars in European Traffic Accidents and Assessment of Injury Mechanisms - Analysis of German and UK In-Depth Data

The national accident statistics demonstrate that the situation of passenger car side impacts is dominated by car-to-car accidents. Car side-to-pole impacts are relatively infrequent events but result in disproportionate rates of serious and fatal injuries when compared to those in car-to-car side impact. Hence their importance has been highlighted in recent studies. For the present study two approaches were undertaken to better understand the scenario of car-to-pole impacts in Germany. The German in-depth database GIDAS (German In-Depth-Accident Study) and the UK-based database CCIS (Co-operative Crash Injury Study) were used. The first part or the study is a statistical analysis of passenger car side-to-pole impacts to describe the characteristics and their importance relevant to other types of impact and to gain further knowledge about the main factors influencing the accident outcome. The second part contains a case-by-case review of passenger cars first registered 1998 and onwards to further investigate this type of impact, including regression analysis to assess the relationship between injury severity and pole impact relevant factors. The study uses a methodology that merges in-depth-accident data from different nations and shows how in-depth cases can be used for finding injury-related technical parameters like deformation pattern, load circumstances for impact locations, and directions on the vehicle for the assessment of current and prospective test regulations. Delta-v can be identified as the most significant influencing factor for MAIS, especially for injury severity for thr thorax and abdomen. The vast majority of severe and fatal injuries are in accidents involving damage to the passenger compartment. The depth of deformation has significant influence on the injury severity level of the extremities. The most frequent direction of impact in car side-to-pole impacts is perpendicular (90° ±15°).