SERIOUS OR FATAL DRIVER INJURY RATE VERSUS CAR MASS IN HEAD-ON CRASHES BETWEEN CARS OF SIMILAR MASS
This work was performed to determine relations between car mass and driver injuries (serious or fatal) when cars of similar mass crash into each other head-on. This type of crash is examined because it is considered similar in some respects to a barrier crash. Data from the United States Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) are used to examine driver fatality likelihood as a function of car mass when cars of similar mass crash into each other. Pedestrian fatalities involving cars of the same mass are used to estimate exposure. Two additional sources of data (state data from North Carolina and New York) are used to generate information on the number of drivers seriously injured or killed per police reported crash when cars of similar mass crash into each other. The present study finds that the likelihood of driver injury (fatal or serious) when cars of similar mass crash into each other increases with decreasing car mass, both for head-on crashes and for crashes in all directions. The study does not address possible mechanisms that might lead to such relations. All the data analyzed reveal a fairly consistent picture--a driver in a 900 kg car crashing head-on into another 900 kg car is about 2.0 times as likely to be seriously injured or killed as is a driver of a 1800 kg car crashing head-on into another 1800 kg car.
-
Supplemental Notes:
- Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado, October 8-10, 1984.
-
Corporate Authors:
American Association for Automotive Medicine
P.O. Box 222
Morton Grove, IL United States 60053 -
Authors:
- Evans, Leonard
- Wasielewski, P
-
Conference:
- 28th Annual Conference of the American Association for Automotive Medicine
- Location: Denver Colorado, United States
- Date: 1984-10-8 to 1984-10-10
- Publication Date: 1984
Media Info
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: p. 123-138
- Monograph Title: PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE, DENVER, COLORADO, USA, OCTOBER 8-10, 1984. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR AUTOMOTIVE MEDICINE
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Automobiles; Data analysis; Fatalities; Frontal crashes; Injuries; Mass; Mathematical analysis
- Identifier Terms: Fatal Accident Reporting System
- Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00395801
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
- Created Date: Jun 30 1985 12:00AM