THE STATISTICAL ACCURACY OF DELTA-V IN SYSTEMATIC FIELD ACCIDENT STUDIES

Much attention has been paid to the importance of calculating delta-V (the change of velocity during impact) and other impact severity measures accurately. However delta-V cannot be evaluated in every case sampled by a systematic study of road accidents. This can lead to statistical distortions if the subsample of cases for which delta-V is calculated is not representative of the whole sample. This problem has received less recognition than the problem of calculating delta-V accurately when it is calculated. This paper contains new results on the accuracy of CRASH3 delta-V for European passenger cars and a discussion of the problem of calculating delta-V for a representative subsample. On the data available, CRASH3 underestimates delta-V for rigid and deformable barrier impacts but not frontal car-to-car impacts. The statistical results obtained using any single method for calculating delta-V are likely to be unrepresentative of certain classes of impact type, impact severity and collision partner. A flexible approach towards using a variety of methods to evaluate delta-V is necessary to counter this difficulty. For the covering abstract see ITRD E107709.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/1860582710
• Corporate Authors:

  PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PUBLICATIONS LTD

  NORTHGATE AVENUE
  BURY ST EDMUNDS, SUFFOLK  United Kingdom  IP32 6BW
• Authors:
  • LENARD, J
  • HURLEY, B
  • Thomas, P
• Conference:
  • VEHICLE SAFETY 2000 - PROCEEDINGS OF AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HELD 7-9 JUNE 2000, INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, LONDON, UK
• Publication Date: 2000

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 201-8

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobiles; Biophysics; Crash severity; Crashes; Deformation; Errors; Injuries; Injury severity; Measurement; Vehicles
• ITRD Terms: 2060: Biomechanics; 1243: Car; 1631: Collision; 5595: Deformation; 6440: Error; 2163: Injury; 6136: Measurement; 1623: Severity (accid, injury); 1255: Vehicle
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00805320
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• ISBN: 1-86058-271-0
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Feb 7 2001 12:00AM