SOME IMPLICATIONS OF VEHICLE WEIGHT FOR THE RISK OF INJURY TO DRIVERS

The accident statistics for Great Britain for the years 1969-1972 have been analysed to determine the effect of the ratio of the weights of the colliding vehicles (the mass ratio) in two-vehicle accidents on the severity of injury to drivers of the vehicles, severity of injury being judged by the percentages of fatal, serious and slight injury and of un-injured drivers. The colliding vehicles ranged in weight from the lightest cars to the heaviest commercial vehicles. Separate analyses were made for head-on and intersection collisions, and for rural and urban areas, and several different methods of presenting the results are discussed. Mass ratio has its greatest effect on deaths and least on slight injuries. For example, when one of the vehicles in each of a number of head-on collisions is twice the weight of the other, the percentage of deaths in the lighter vehicles is about 7 times that in the heavier vehicles. For serious injuries the ratio of the percentages is about 3. The ratios for all severities of injury are higher in urban than in rural areas. The relation of injury severity to vehicle weight both in two-vehicle and single-vehicle accidents is also described. In two-vehicle accidents injury severity decreases as weight increases, but there is no effect of weight beyond that due to mass ratio (working through velocity change). In single-vehicle accidents also, whether they be of the overturning or non-overturning type, there is little or no effect of vehicle weight.(a) (TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01426052
• Corporate Authors:

  London University, England

  Senate House
  London WC1,   England 
• Authors:
  • GRIME, G
  • Hutchinson, T P
• Publication Date: 1979-2

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 34 p.
• Serial:
  • Publication of: London University, England
  • Publisher: London University, England
  • ISSN: 0142-6052

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash investigation; Crash severity; Crashes; Drivers; Fatalities; Frontal crashes; Injuries; Injury severity; Motor vehicles; Rural areas; Urban areas; Urban transportation; Vehicles; Weight
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 1631: Collision; 1772: Driver; 2163: Injury; 328: Rural area; 1623: Severity (accid, injury); 313: Urban area; 1255: Vehicle; 5485: Weight
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I81: Accident Statistics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00323117
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Report/Paper Numbers: Monograph
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: May 21 1981 12:00AM