PEDESTRIAN INJURY - EFFECTS IN IMPACT SPEED AND CONTACT STIFFNESS

It is shown that the recently introduced concept of Peak Virtual Power (PVP) as an injury criterion can predict injuries to pedestrians, and that the injury severity is proportional to V squared, for slight injuries, and V cubed for serious and fatal injuries. Simulations using MADYMO for head and chest injuries show that, to a first degree of approximation, the influence of vehicle contact stiffness on the acceleration of the body is approximately linear. It is therefore concluded that the effects of vehicle contact stiffness and impact speed on injury severity in a collision involving a pedestrian may be approximately modelled as: AIS will PI% will PVP .Kc.V power n, where: AIS = the injury severity of the struck pedestrian, PI% = the probability of injury, PVP = the Peak Virtual Power input to the system, K = the normal contact stiffness of the impacting vehicle (N/mm), V = the vehicle velocity at impact (kph), and n = 2 for slight injuries, and 3 for serious and fatal injuries. From this simple model it can be deduced that speed reduction is the most important parameter for the reduction of injury severity to pedestrians, as it is a function of V squared or V cubed, with the attendant advantages that it is immediate, and it also reduces the number of collisions. Reducing vehicle stiffness will have a linear effect on injury severity, and this will only be apparent after a number of years due to the improved vehicles designs filtering into the fleet. A systems-solution will be necessary to achieve a marked reduction in the severity of pedestrian injuries and, because of the timescales involved for vehicle improvements to be seen, then an urgent start should be made on effective countermeasures. For the covering abstract see ITRD E117734.

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• Authors:
  • Neal-Sturgess, C E
  • COLEY, G
  • DE OLIVEIRA, P
• Conference:
  • PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VEHICLE SAFETY 2002, HELD MAY 2002 AT THE IMECHE HEADQUARTERS, LONDON, UK
• Publication Date: 2002

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 311-22

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash severity; Injuries; Injury severity; Pedestrians; Speed; Vehicles
• ITRD Terms: 2163: Injury; 1733: Pedestrian; 1623: Severity (accid, injury); 5408: Speed; 1255: Vehicle
• Subject Areas: Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00944673
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• ISBN: 1-86058-388-1
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Jul 7 2003 12:00AM