Review of Literature Addressing Pedestrian Injury Risk and Motor Vehicle Characteristics

NHTSA seeks to understand relationships between vehicle size and weight and pedestrian injuries and fatalities. To do so NHTSA engaged the Library of Congress' Federal Research Division to identify and evaluate literature on pedestrian injury and vehicle size and weight. In Task 2, the review team examined domestically and internationally published English-language studies from 2011 to the present that address the effects of national- and regional-level requirements for pedestrian safety features on passenger vehicle design, fleet composition, and pedestrian injury. It focused on sources discussing the effects of vehicle design, particularly hood design, on pedestrian injury outcomes; and test requirements and regulations affecting vehicle design, fleet composition, and pedestrian safety. The review team focused on studies that discussed the real-world effects of pedestrian safety-related regulations, and other consumer vehicle test protocols, such as those outlined in the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) and the Japan New Car Assessment Program (Japan NCAP). The review team located a body of academic literature that broadly discussed the effects of vehicle size, as well as specific vehicle components, on pedestrian injuries, including sources on head, chest, and lower extremity injuries. However, the review team located fewer scholarly sources discussing the real-world impacts of pedestrian testing protocols, including those outlined in Euro NCAP and Japan NCAP. The few academic sources on this subject nonetheless largely agreed that pedestrian safety outcomes improved following the implementation of vehicle testing protocols. The review team divided results from the literature review into five main sections: (1) vehicle size and related design changes; (2) thoracic injuries and testing requirements; (3) lower leg injuries and high ground clearance vehicles; (4) hood design and pedestrian kinematics; and (5) testing requirements, injury patterns, and fleet composition.

• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/79220
• Corporate Authors:

  Library of Congress

  Federal Research Division
  Washington, DC  United States 

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Frazier, Heather
  • Roulett, Margaret
  • McQuistion, Ian
• Publication Date: 2025-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Task 1
• Pagination: 47p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injuries; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Risk; Vehicle size; Vehicle weight
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01944566
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT HS 813 676a
• Files: NTL, TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 30 2025 5:00PM