Theoretical vs. Empirical Solutions for Vehicle/Pedestrian Collisions

There are many mathematical and empirical models to facilitate technical analysis of vehicle-pedestrian collisions. The main objective of the technical analysis is to determine the vehicle impact speed. In the real world, post-impact data from vehicle/pedestrian collisions is often insufficient to use pure mathematical models. However mathematical models can be utilized successfully with the aid of some empirical data or reasonable assumptions. Conversely the empirical models overcome the difficulty of insufficient data, but must be applied within the model defined limits. This study compares the mathematical and empirical models. In addition, a slight variation of an earlier model [1] is presented to test the sensitivity of empirical models.