Browse Topic: Pedestrian injuries
Taking the pedestrian-vehicle accidents in the China in-Depth Accident Study (CIDAS) database as a sample case, 13 accidents morphological parameters were selected from three aspects: human, vehicle and environmental factors, and their depth analysis was carried out to obtain their distribution law through the card. The chi-square test and logistic regression method are used to analyze the correlation between the injury severity of pedestrians and other accidental morphological parameters in pedestrian-vehicle accidents. The results show that there is no significant correlation between gender/season and injury severity of pedestrians. The age of pedestrians and the collision speed is the strongest correlation with injury severity of pedestrians. When a pedestrian is over 65 years old, the pedestrian height is in the range of 160-170cm, the collision speed is greater than 60 kilometers per hour, and the pedestrian speed is greater than 8 kilometers per hour, the probability of pedestrian injury is significantly increased.
This document provides recommendations of safety message minimum performance requirements between a Vulnerable Road User (VRU) and a vehicle. It addresses the transmission of Personal Safety Messages (PSM) from road user devices carried by pedestrians, bicycle riders and public safety personnel, to provide driver and vehicle system awareness and potentially offer safety alerts to VRUs. This document includes the recommendation of standards profiles, function descriptions and minimum performance requirements for transmitting the SAE J2735-defined PSM [1] over a Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) Wireless communication link as defined in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1609 and the IEEE 802.11 Standards [[1]]-[5]]. While other wireless media may be used to deliver the PSM, DSRC is explicitly assumed in this document, because of anticipated regulatory ruling in the United States and other countries requiring vehicles to be equipped with a DSRC-based safety system using V2V communication. This recommended practice is limited at this time to communications between the VRU device carried by walking pedestrians and DSRC equipped vehicles. Later versions may incorporate improvements based on field experience with this recommended practice and may include other provisions for communicating with other DSRC equipped devices, and with other VRUs.
This study aimed to clarify the relationship between truck-pedestrian crash impact velocity and the risks of serious injury and fatality to pedestrians. We used micro and macro truck-pedestrian accident data from the Japanese Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA) database. We classified vehicle type into five categories: heavy-duty trucks (gross vehicle weight [GVW] ≥11 × 103 kg [11 tons (t)], medium-duty trucks (5 × 103 kg [5 t] ≤ GVW < 11 × 103 kg [11 t]), light-duty trucks (GVW <5 × 103 kg [5 t]), box vans, and sedans. The fatality risk was ≤5% for light-duty trucks, box vans, and sedans at impact velocities ≤ 30 km/h and for medium-duty trucks at impact velocities ≤20 km/h. The fatality risk was ≤10% for heavy-duty trucks at impact velocities ≤10 km/h. Thus, fatality risk appears strongly associated with vehicle class. The results also revealed that a 10 km/h reduction in impact velocities could mitigate the severity of pedestrian injuries at impact velocities ≥30 km/h for all five analyzed vehicle types. Therefore, serious injuries and fatalities to pedestrians could be decreased by the development and deployment of collision mitigation systems (CMSs) to all vehicles, including to commercial trucks, because CMSs can detect pedestrians in even severe conditions, such as when the drive’s view is obstructed, and can reduce the impact velocity. The present results indicate that CMS design specifications should differ between vehicle types because of the strong dependence of serious-injury and fatality risks on vehicle type.
Model-Based Design (MBD) has been widely used for automotive embedded software design. Automobile manufacturers and suppliers have often underlined the importance of an unified approach for electrical and electronic (E/E) system design. In this scenario, MBD can provide a mutual benefit for stakeholders due to the share of information, workflow, and tool-chain. In this paper, we highlight MBD application for automotive Exterior Lighting System (ELS) design. In fact, ELS is an event-driven control system typically needed for car lighting and signalization, in particular at night. Furthermore, this system is mandatory for every road vehicle according to current Brazilian laws and legislation. Also, it provides safety drive preventing car accidents and pedestrian injury. In this context, we present how to boost ELS design using MBD concepts. ELS was developed in three MBD workflow (Model-In-the-Loop, Software-In-the-Loop, and Processor-In-the-Loop), from supplier’s viewpoint. The results highlight how MBD can provide better system design leading to significant automotive embedded software quality improvement. Function’s integration and software architecture is an ongoing research project and it will be considered in future work. The paper is organized as follow. Second section presents a brief literature review of the research domain. Third section shows MBD workflows for ELS design. Last section highlights concluding remarking and future work.
In a car accident which is involving pedestrians, head injuries occur very frequently as the head of the pedestrian hits the windshield. The head injury criterion (HIC) obtained through the windshield impact test is used to evaluate the pedestrian injury, and car manufacturers are trying to meet the criterion by changing the design and/or materials.. However, there are some difficulties in the windshield impact test, e.g. a large scatter of the test data or windshield shape-dependent property of the test. These problems make it very difficult to obtain the meaningful results from single test and thus, tests should be executed several times. In this study, a lab-scale windshield impact test was performed using a modified instrumented dart impact (IDI) tester. Tests were carried out by switching test conditions such as the impact speed, the size of the head form and the specimen thickness. The key results such as acceleration and displacement curves of a head form, peak values from the acceleration curve, cracking modes, etc. were compared for various test conditions. In addition, the numerical simulation was carried out to correlate the lab-scale test results with full-scale windshield impact test, and the correlation between the lab-scale simulation result and full-scale simulation result of the earlier study is discussed.
Each year, more than 270,000 pedestrians lose their lives on the world's roads. Globally, pedestrians constitute 22% of all road traffic fatalities, and in some countries this proportion is as high as two thirds of all road traffic deaths. Millions of pedestrians are non-fatally injured and some of whom are left with permanent disabilities. These incidents cause much suffering and grief as well as economic hardship. To lower the rate of pedestrian injuries and fatalities, the Euro-Ncap committee adopted an overall impact star-grade system in 2009, making the pedestrian protection cut-off score required to obtain the best impact-star grade more stringent until 2016. It is very difficult to surpass the enhanced pedestrian cut-off score using past methods. In this paper, I determine the hood's worst-performing areas in terms of pedestrian protection by analyzing previous pedestrian test results. To improve performance at these areas, I developed a Damping latch & hinge and a 3-corner rearward pop-up system. I then proceeded to optimize the design of the hood inner panel, Long hood + Damping latch & hinge, and 3-corner rearward pop-up systems. Each system was put through a real vehicle pedestrian protection test to verify that it could improve pedestrian protection performance at the designated areas. As a result, we found that a 3-corner rearward pop-up system is the best method for pedestrian protection with consideration for cost, weight, and design.
Globally, road traffic crashes kill about 1.24 million people each year. Pedestrians constitute 22% of all road deaths, and in some countries this is as high as 60%. The capacity to respond to pedestrian safety is an important component of efforts to prevent road traffic injuries. Pedestrian collisions, like other road traffic crashes, should not be accepted as inevitable because they are, in fact, both predictable and preventable. Examination of pedestrian injury distribution reveals that given an impact speed, the probability of fatal injuries is substantially greater when the striking vehicle is a pick-up rather than a passenger car. Given their utility areas, pickup vehicles require negotiating rough terrains and are therefore engineered with higher ground clearance and larger approach angle. The challenge is to optimize these design parameters and also style the vehicle for pedestrian safety while maintaining a low design cost at the same time. This document presents methodology and a set of solutions to meet pedestrian impact safety for pickup vehicles as per the guidelines recommended by Regulation (EC) No 78/2009, of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 January, 2009. Pedestrian lower leg simulation is performed on LS DYNA with an Impactor propelled at a speed of 40Km/h towards the front end of the pickup vehicle. Head injury risk is assessed separately for adults and for children by identifying Head Impact Zones for both in CAD software CAVA CATIA. Head impact simulation is then performed in the relevant parts of the bonnet top area using LS DYNA software. The results thus obtained are used to optimize vehicle's front end to meet pedestrian safety requirements.
Pedestrians and bicyclists account for a significant share of deaths and serious injuries in the road transport system. The protection of pedestrians in car-to-pedestrian crashes has therefore been addressed by friendlier car fronts and since 1997, the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) has assessed the level of protection for most car models available in Europe. In the current study, Euro NCAP pedestrian scoring was compared with real-life injury outcomes in car-to-pedestrian and car-to-bicyclist crashes occurring in Sweden. Approximately 1200 injured pedestrians and 2000 injured bicyclists were included in the study. Groups of cars with low, medium and high pedestrian scores were compared with respect to pedestrian injury severity on the Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS)-level and risk of permanent medical impairment (RPMI). Significant injury reductions to both pedestrians and bicyclists were found between low and high performing cars. For pedestrians, the reduction of MAIS2+, MAIS3+, RPMI1+ and RPMI10+ ranged from 20-56% and was significant on all levels except for MAIS3+ injuries. Pedestrian head injuries had the highest reduction, 80-90% depending on level of medical impairment. For bicyclist, an injury reduction was only observed between medium and high performing cars. Significant injury reductions were found for all body regions. It was also found that cars fitted with autonomous emergency braking including pedestrian detection might have a 60-70% lower crash involvement than expected. Based on these results, it was recommended that pedestrian protection are implemented on a global scale to provide protection for vulnerable road users worldwide.
Global regulations intended to enhance pedestrian protection in a vehicle collision, thereby reducing the severity of pedestrian injuries, are presenting significant challenges to vehicle designers. Vehicle hoods, for example, must absorb a significant amount of energy over a small area while precluding impact with a hard engine compartment component. In this paper, a simple passive approach for pedestrian protection is introduced in which thin metal alloy sheets are bent to follow a C-shaped cross-sectional profile thereby giving them energy absorbing capacity during impact when affixed to the underside of a hood. Materials considered were aluminum (6111-T4, 5182-O) and magnesium (AZ31-O, AZ61-O, ZEK100) alloys. To evaluate the material effect on the head injury criterion (HIC) score without a hood, each C-channel absorber was crushed in a drop tower test using a small dart. Two high speed cameras captured dart image data before and during impact from which HIC scores were computed with stereo digital image correlation (DIC). The only absorber material that fractured during impact, Mg AZ31-O, had the lowest and hence most favorable HIC score relative to those materials that crushed without fracturing. Test results were then compared with predictions from finite element (FE) simulations of the dart impact tests for Mg AZ31-O and Al 5182-O. Good correlation between the tests and simulations was achieved indicating that FE simulations can reliably be used in material selection and design optimization of energy absorbers as passive means for pedestrian protection.
While the number of traffic fatalities as a whole continues to decline steadily over time, the number of pedestrian fatalities continues to rise (up 8% since 2009) and comprises a larger fraction of these fatalities. In 2011 there were 4,432 pedestrians killed and an estimated 69,000 pedestrian injuries [1]. A new generation of Pedestrian Pre-Collision Systems (PCS) is being introduced by car manufactures to mitigate pedestrian injuries and fatalities. In order to evaluate the performance of pedestrian PCS, The Transportation Active Safety Institute (TASI) at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis is developing a set of test scenarios and procedures for evaluating the performance of pedestrian PCS with the support of the Collaborative Safety Research Center of Toyota. Pedestrian crashes are complex in that there are many aspects about location, driver behavior, and pedestrian behaviors that may have implications for the performance of the PCS. This complexity will generate far more scenarios than can be reasonably tested. This paper describes a test scenario selection process that uses not only the percentage importance of crash scenarios in terms of combinations of variables, but also ensures that individual variables are adequately represented in the chosen tests. The total number of test scenarios can be specified based on the percentage representation coverage according to the crash data or by the testing agency. The advantage of this method is that both important scenarios and important scenario variable values are guaranteed to be included in the set of test scenarios. The proposed method is demonstrated using GES and FARS pedestrian crash data for 2010 and 2011. The crash scenarios are described with variables that can be used for setting up vehicle tests, such as the pedestrian sizes, light conditions, pedestrian motion directions, pedestrian motion behavior/speeds, vehicle motion directions, and vehicle motion speeds. This method can also be used for creating a parsimonious set of test scenarios for other vehicle active safety features.
The first purpose of this study is to clarify the relation between the car impact velocity and pedestrian injury severity or mortality risk. We investigated the frequency of serious injuries and fatalities of pedestrians using vehicle-pedestrian accident data from the database of the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA) in Japan. The vehicle types considered are sedans, minivans, and box vans (ordinary automobiles) and light passenger cars and light cargo vans (light automobiles). The results revealed that a 10-km/h reduction in impact velocity could mitigate severe pedestrian injuries in cases involving impact velocities of 40 km/h or more for the five vehicle types analyzed. Specifically, if the impact velocity was 30 km/h or less, the frequency of serious injuries was less than 27% and the frequency of fatalities was less than 5% for the five vehicle types. Therefore, if the collision damage mitigation braking system (CDMBS) that uses a sensor to detect pedestrians can effectively reduce the impact velocity for various vehicle types, pedestrian injuries will be greatly mitigated. The second purpose of this study is to identify the factors that affect injury risk. Impact experiments were conducted in which a sedan impacted against a pedestrian full-scale dummy at 40 km/h and a pedestrian headform impactor was impacted against a road surface. The results indicated that the risk of pedestrian serious injury was significantly affected by multiple impact conditions, such as the pedestrian height, car impact velocity, car frontal shape, and car stiffness in cases where the car impacted the pedestrian's head, the degrees of influence of which were driven by the vehicle impact velocity.
Pedestrian protection evaluations have been developed to encourage vehicle front-end designs that mitigate the consequences of vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes. The European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) evaluates pedestrian head protection with impacts against vehicle hood, windshield, and A-pillars. The Global Technical Regulation No. 9 (GTR 9), being evaluated for U.S. regulation, limits head protection evaluations to impacts against vehicle hoods. The objective of this study was to compare results from pedestrian head impact testing to the real-world rates of fatal and incapacitating injuries in U.S. pedestrian crashes. Data from police reported pedestrian crashes in 14 states were used to calculate real-world fatal and incapacitating injury rates for seven 2002-07 small cars. Rates were 2.17-4.04 per 100 pedestrians struck for fatal injuries and 10.45-15.35 for incapacitating injuries. Euro NCAP style pedestrian headform tests were conducted against windshield, A-pillar, and hoods of the study vehicles. When compared with pedestrian injury rates, the vehicles' Euro NCAP scores, ranging 5-10 points, showed strong negative correlations (−0.6) to injury rates, though none were statistically significant. Data from the headform impacts for each of the study vehicles were used to calculate that vehicle's predicted serious injury risk. The predicted risks from both the Euro NCAP and GTR 9 test zones showed high positive correlations with the pedestrian fatal and incapacitating injury rates, though few were statistically significant. Whether vehicle stiffness is evaluated on all components of vehicle front ends (Euro NCAP) or is limited to hoods (GTR 9), softer vehicle components correspond to a lower risk of fatality.
Most studies of pedestrian injuries focus on reducing traumatic injuries due to the primary impact between the vehicle and the pedestrian. However, based on the Pedestrian Crash Data Study (PCDS), some researchers concluded that one of the leading causes of head injury for pedestrian crashes can be attributed to the secondary impact, defined as the impact of the pedestrian with the ground after the primary impact of the pedestrian with the vehicle. The purpose of this study is to understand if different vehicle front-end profiles can affect the risk of pedestrian secondary head impact with the ground and thus help in reducing the risk of head injury during secondary head impact with ground. Pedestrian responses were studied using several front-end profiles based off a mid-size vehicle and a SUV that have been validated previously along with several MADYMO pedestrian models. Mesh morphing is used to explore changes to the bumper height, bonnet leading-edge height, and bonnet rear reference-line height. Simulations leading up to pedestrian secondary impact with ground are conducted at impact speeds of 40 and 30 km/h. In addition, three pedestrian sizes (50th, 5th and 6yr old child) are used to enable us to search for a front-end profile that performs well for multiple sizes of pedestrians, not just one particular size. In most of the simulations, secondary ground impact with pedestrian head/neck/shoulder region occurred. However, there were some front-end profiles that promoted secondary ground impact with pedestrian lower extremities, thus avoiding pedestrian secondary head impact with ground. Previous pedestrian safety research work has suggested the use of active safety methods, such as ‘pop up hood’, to reduce pedestrian head injury during primary impact. Accordingly, we also conducted simulations using a model with the hood raised to capture the effect of a pop-up hood. These simulations indicated that even though pop-up hood helped reducing the head injury criterion during primary impact, it changed the overall pedestrian kinematics in some cases. The specific design with pop up hood evaluated in this study did not prevent pedestrian head secondary impact with the ground or actually led to more severe pedestrian secondary head impact with the ground.
Injuries in car to pedestrian collisions are affected by various factors such as the vehicle body type, pedestrian body size and impact location as well as the collision speed. This study aimed to investigate the influence of such factors taking a Finite Element (FE) approach. A total of 72 collision cases were simulated using three different vehicle FE models (Sedan, SUV, Mini-Van), three different pedestrian FE models (AM50, AF05, AM95), assuming two different impact locations (center and the corner of the bumper) and at four different collision speeds (20, 30, 40 and 50 km/h). The impact kinematics and the responses of the pedestrian model were validated against those in the literature prior to the simulations. The relationship between the collision speed and the predicted occurrence of head and chest injuries was examined for each case, analyzing the impact kinematics of the pedestrian against the vehicle body and resultant loading to the head and the chest. Strain based indicators were used in the simulation model to estimate skeletal injury (bony fracture) and soft tissue (brain and internal organs) injury. The study results primarily showed that the injury risk became higher with the collision speed, but was also affected by the combination of the factors such as the pedestrian size and the impact location. The study also discussed the injury patterns and trends with respect to the factors examined. In all of the simulated conditions, the model did not predict any severe injury at a collision speed of 20 km/h.
With many vehicles now achieving high marks in NCAP frontal and side impact, many countries around the world are considering or have already implemented pedestrian impact protocols to help address these types of crashes, due to the incidence rate of pedestrian injuries and fatalities. The leading global protocol put forth by the working party No. 29 (WP29) of the United Nations is the Global Technical Regulation (GTR) [1], which includes testing that simulates a pedestrian's head impacting a vehicle's hood through the use of a free flight head form. In conducting this test, it is important to be aware of the sources of variation inherent in the testing equipment and testing methodology so that steps can be taken to mitigate their influence. Testing facilities that can maintain high standards of repeatability can be relied on for producing valid tests that meet the GTR tolerances as well as maintaining reasonable costs and testing throughput. This paper will present a study of the various factors in the test setup and method that can introduce variation to the head form speed and impact point accuracy. Furthermore, the authors will present a novel design for the impactor arm that dampens the recoil that occurs during the launching of the pedestrian head form to improve the test accuracy and long term durability of the equipment.
Pedestrian crashes are the most frequent cause of traffic-related fatalities worldwide. The high number of pedestrian accidents justifies more active research work on passive and active safety technology intended to mitigate pedestrian injuries. Post-impact pedestrian kinematics is complex and depends on various factors such as impact speed, height of the pedestrian, front-end profile of the striking vehicle and pedestrian posture, among others. The aim of this study is to investigate the main factors that determine post-crash pedestrian kinematics. The injury mechanism is also discussed. A detailed study of NASS-PCDS (National Automotive Sampling System - Pedestrian Crash Data Study, US, 1994-1998), showed that the vehicle-pedestrian interaction in frontal crashes can be categorized into four types: “Thrown forward”, “Wrapped position”, “Slid to windshield” and “Passed over vehicle”. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed and 11 independent factors were identified for study from a set of 26 variables, as defined in NASS-PCDS. Pedestrian-vehicle size ratio and the impact speed are the two most influential factors that determine post crash pedestrian kinematics. However, the standing posture of a taller pedestrian can also cause rotational movement around the local Z axis, leading to a face-up/down mode of head-face impact before falling on the hood. The findings from the NASS-PCDS study were also confirmed and verified with the help of numerical simulations performed using two modified JAMA human FE models. An adult model (male, 175cm and 72kg) and a properly scaled child model (6 years old, 120cm and 21kg) were effectively utilized to investigate the post-crash kinematics in different conditions.
The e-born₃ is an innovative urban electric vehicle which can be easily transformed from a van to a passenger vehicle. The e-born₃ was created from scratch as an electric vehicle, which permits greater versatility in component packaging and volume usage. The innovative character of the e-born₃ is developed along three lines: passive safety performance, vehicle energy efficiency and the ergonomic considerations linked to the interior layout. The elimination of conventional combustion engine powertrain elements together with the use of wheel-embedded electric motors leads to certain freedom when packaging and designing the body in white and vehicle interior. This freedom enables improvement of the passive safety performance by permitting innovative concepts, such as an innovative layout of the driver and passengers or a short vehicle front end that minimizes pedestrian injuries. The different combination of types of closures achieves a versatile range of utilization, from taxi to load carrier and family usage. The second goal of the e-born₃ was optimal energy management. The placement of the electric motor on the wheels permits a very clean external body design, which leads to important advantages regarding vehicle aerodynamics. The e-born₃ exterior body design includes a clean smooth under body, together with closed front-end grilles and an upper-bonnet optimized by means of CFD simulation, which means minimal Cd in its class. The third main innovation is the vehicle concept itself and the versatility of usage. The e-born₃ can be easily transformed from a passenger vehicle to a van by converting the four rear seats into a flat floor. Furthermore, the e-born₃ includes innovative concepts, such as, front and rear independent HVAC systems, two separate loading spaces in the taxi configuration, etc. To sum up, the e-born₃ is an optimal solution for the urban mobility of persons and goods, regarding safety, vehicle efficiency and usage versatility.
The number of traffic deaths in Japan was 4,863 in 2010. Pedestrians account for the highest number (1,714, 35%), and vehicle occupants the second highest (1,602, 33%). Pedestrian protection is a key countermeasure to reduce casualties in traffic accidents. A striking vehicle's impact velocity could be considered a parameter influencing the severity of injury and possibility of death in pedestrian crashes. A collision damage mitigation braking system (CDMBS) using a sensor to detect pedestrians could be effective for reducing the vehicle/pedestrian impact velocity. Currently in Japan, cars equipped with the CDMBS also have vision sensors such as a stereo camera for pedestrian detection. However, the ability of vision sensors in production cars to properly detect pedestrians has not yet been established. The effect of reducing impact velocity on the pedestrian injury risk has also not been determined. The first objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the CDMBS in detecting pedestrians when it is installed in production cars. The second objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of reducing impact velocity on mitigating pedestrian injury. Firstly, impact experiments were performed using a car with the CDMBS in which the car collided with a pedestrian surrogate. In these tests, the velocity was chosen for the various test runs to be 20, 40 and 60 km/h, respectively, which were based on the velocity distribution in real-world pedestrian crashes. The results indicated that the impact velocity reduction ranged approximately from 10 to 15 km/h at the standing location of a pedestrian surrogate at both daytime and nighttime lighting conditions. These results show that the system has the potential to reduce pedestrian casualties from car-to-pedestrian contacts. Secondly, finite-element analyses were performed simulating vehicle-to- pedestrian impacts with the THUMS pedestrian models. The vehicle models selected for the study included a medium sedan, a minicar, and an SUV. Since head and chest injuries are the most typical causes of pedestrian deaths in car-to-pedestrian accidents, the risk of head and chest injuries was calculated when the impact velocity was reduced from 50 km/h to 40 km/h, 30km/h, and 20 km/h. The results revealed that an impact velocity reduction of 10 km/h mitigated severe pedestrian injury at impact velocities greater than or equal to 40 km/h. Specifically, a significant effect was observed in collisions with the medium sedan and SUV. In Japan, the CDMBS has just started to be installed in medium sedans. The pedestrian injury mitigation will be greatly improved if the system can be applied to various types of vehicles including SUVs in the future.
Hood development of internal structures in vehicles is an important alternative to minimize the injuries to pedestrians in case of a running over accident. In fact, according to Berg et al (2002), about 17% of head impacts occur on the hood. Moreover, according to Farooq and Schuster (2003), 62% of fatal injuries are caused by head trauma. This study focuses on evaluating the influence of free space between the hood and rigid components, considering cut out hood inner panel design, which is one of the geometries most commonly used by auto industries. The major advantage of this structure is its weight, leading, however, to small stiffness. Injuries to the head of a pedestrian is measured through a finite element model, in accordance with the European Committee for improvement in vehicle safety. There are several ways to measure the damage caused by the deceleration of the head. Here, the measure HIC (Head Injury Criteria), created by the NHTSA (National Highway Transport Safety Association) in 1971, is chosen, since it is still the most used and recommended method in the literature. Finally, the analyses of the numerical results lead to practical suggestions for auto industry.
Over half of the 1.2 million annual traffic fatalities worldwide are pedestrians struck by motor vehicles [ 1 ]. Medical databases, such as the National Inpatient Sample (NIS), have been utilized to ascertain injury patterns in the general population of injured pedestrians [ 2 - 3 ]. However, the authors are not aware of any studies investigating how factors, such as physical impairments, intoxication, and pre-existing medical implants (e.g. hip replacement, artificial knee, etc.) affect the prevalence of pedestrian accidents or injury outcomes. Five to eight million inpatient hospitalization records are included in the NIS annually, and this large sample size allows for analyses that are not possible with smaller data sets on pedestrian injuries. The current study utilizes the NIS to evaluate how several factors such as blindness, deafness, intoxication, and pre-existing medical implants affect injury patterns when compared to the general population of hospitalized pedestrians. In the deaf population, the most common injury diagnoses involved the head, face, and neck, whereas in the blind and medical device populations, the most common injury diagnoses involved the lower extremities. Intoxicated individuals accounted for almost 20% of injured pedestrians, and the injury patterns of the intoxicated pedestrians were largely similar to the control population, although some statistically significant differences were found. Further breakdowns of the injury patterns in each of these populations are presented and discussed.
Each year, over half of the world's 1.17 million fatalities resulting from traffic collisions are pedestrians (World Bank, 2008). Mitigation of such fatalities and serious injuries requires a thorough understanding of the common injury mechanisms that occur in pedestrian impacts. Studying the frequency of injury to each body region and how injury patterns are related may provide additional insight into pedestrian injury mechanisms, which could be used to develop additional prevention strategies. There is a wealth of information regarding pedestrian collisions within national databases that have not been extensively used to investigate these issues to date. This paper presents a review of selected databases that contain information regarding injuries to pedestrians who have been involved in a motor vehicle collision, including the strengths and weaknesses of each in performing this type of analysis. The National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database was utilized to perform statistical analysis on the types and patterns of injuries sustained in pedestrian collisions, with supporting information being provided from other related databases. This analysis demonstrated a high likelihood of lower extremity and head injuries in pedestrians involved in a motor vehicle collision and provided further details regarding these injuries. Additionally, common injury patterns were explored by evaluating the co-diagnoses codes for the most prevalent injuries.
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