TRENDS IN OCCUPANT PROTECTION AND CRASH PERFORMANCE IN EUROPE

Within the nine countries of the European community, representing a population of 242 M, there are annually some 58000 fatalities and 1.6 M other casualties as a result of vehicle accidents. The author refers to the suggestion that if the protection offered by present day restraint technology were available to all vehicle-occupants involved in fatal accidents; the number of lives saved in the community in 1977 might be approximately 1200. The design rules and performance standards as they affect vehicle safety regulations in Europe are reviewed and compared with those of other countries. The limitations behind the application of design rules in that all vehicles do not have the same mass, the same geometry and the same dynamic stiffness are considered, and the implications behind the transition from design rules to performance standards in an attempt to solve this problem are discussed. The proposed American fmvss 208 regulation is examined. This performance standard specifies the forces, decelerations and time histories on a dummy which reproduces all dynamic response characteristics of the human frame under crash loading conditions. Seat belts as occupant restraint systems are considered by the author to be the most important factor in planning occupant protection for the future. Developments of such systems are considered in relation to steering assembly requirements, lateral impacts, head restraints and seats, and the windscreen and the instrument panel. /TRRL/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/11198060
• Corporate Authors:

  International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine

  Huddinge University Hospital Center, Traffic Medicine Center
  Stockholm,   Sweden  141 86

  International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine

  Huddinge University Hospital Center, Traffic Medicine Center
  Stockholm,   Sweden  141 86
• Authors:
  • Mackay, G M
• Publication Date: 1977

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 16-18
• Serial:
  • Journal of traffic medicine
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine
  • ISSN: 0345-5564

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Anthropometry; Crash tests; Crashes; Crashworthiness; Dummies; Fatalities; Injuries; Injury severity; Laws; Legislation; Manual safety belts; Protection; Restraint systems; Statistics; Steering; Traffic crashes; Vehicle design; Windshields
• Uncontrolled Terms: Decreases
• Geographic Terms: Europe; United States
• Old TRIS Terms: Occupant restraint
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 1057: Air transport network; 1618: Anthropometric dummy; 8525: Conference; 9009: Decrease; 9011: Design (overall design); 5911: Efficiency; 8034: Europe; 1602: Fatality; 1648: Impact test (crash); 2163: Injury; 1556: Legislation; 1752: Motorcyclist; 1466: Passive safety system; 1733: Pedestrian; 1665: Safety; 1476: Safety belt; 1623: Severity (accid, injury); 187: Specification (standard); 6555: Statistics; 8122: USA; 9084: Use; 1715: Vehicle occupant; 1311: Windscreen (veh)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Design; Highways; Law; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Vehicles and Equipment; I84: Personal Injuries; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00163977
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: Analytic
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 27 1977 12:00AM