The purpose of this work is to investigate the association between the injuries in motorcycle accident and the main accident configurations. The data were provided by a multicentric case-control study MAIDS regarding the risk of crash and injuries of motorcyclists. Chi-square test was used to evaluate the relationship between the variables and a logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association of injury severity with some variables supposed to be predictive factors. Lesive patterns characterized by internal haemorrhages are mainly associated with fronto-lateral crashes, above all in urban areas. Lacerations or abrasions, mainly reported in torso and lower extremities, are mostly associated with single crashes or accidents in queue also for crashes occurred to low speed (< 50 km/h). The severity of injuries is highly associated with impact speed, regardless of the crash configuration. Fractures and haemorrhages play an important role in determining the severity of injuries. The upper extremities are the most frequently traumatised anatomic areas.
Vehicle crash research at different levels is currently being conducted by several investigation groups in Spain, in some instances within various EU-funded projects. However there is a clear opportunity for increasing compatibility and maximizing usefulness, both at national and European levels, of the information collected by these groups. After reviewing on-going activities and programs in different countries, a framework for a nationwide crash investigation project is proposed: an organizational scheme is suggested as part of a future National Road Safety Strategic Plan; a map of investigation teams located in technological centres, universities and police agencies in Spain is presented; alternatives for several practical aspects such as team composition, deployment and operational budgets and project developmental stages are also discussed.
The Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs) accidents constitute one of the road safety targets in Europe. PTWs users' fatalities represent 15% of EU road fatalities, having increased the last few years, which is quite opposite than other road users casualties. To reduce PTW accidents is necessary to know which the accident causations are from different points of view (human factor, vehicle characteristics, environment, type of accident, situation, etc.). In TRACE project ("Traffic Accident Causation in Europe", under the European Commission 6th Framework Program, 2006-2008,) a specific task was focused on PTW users point of view, analyzing extensive databases to locate the main accident configurations (type of accident, severity, frequency), and an in-depth database to obtain the causation factors, the risk factors for each configuration founded in the extensive databases analysis and the variables associated to each causation factor in the PTW configurations.
The significant demographic changes are predicted for the European future. The age group over 65 years is permanently increasing and over next 30 years every fourth person will belong to this group. This development will continue so far that by 2050 in many countries will double the percentage of the population aged 65 and more. Many studies analyze the new phenomena of the ageing (graying) society during the last decade. Mobility is integrated part of the life of every citizen, even more it means for the elderly people. The adequate mobility is the precondition for their active life and for their social communication that contribute to their health and functional capacity and their autonomy and independency. The active seniors demand less public support. The mobility of the older citizens is closely linked with health and societal problems and creates an important public challenge. On the other side the participation of seniors in transport due to their limited physical and mental possibilities means for them an increased risk to be injured or killed. The main mobility spaces are roads that can be used not only as a traveler in a vehicle (driver or passenger) but also as a pedestrian or cyclist or even as a motorcyclist. The road traffic is then an opportunity and danger in the same time. The accident analyzes show specific risk features of seniors that are different compared with other age groups. First of all the older road users (65 and more) are facing to the higher risk (number of killed divided by the population size) to be killed in a road accident compared with the group of younger road users (0 - 64). More significant difference can be observed when comparing the road user groups. The fatality percentage of the older pedestrians is 2,5 times higher compared with the group 25 " 64. Similar frequency show the cyclist fatalities. On the other side the vehicle passengers in the younger group have more or less two time higher percentage compared to seniors and in the group of motorcyclists even achieved in 2008 almost five times higher compared with the older group. The share of the old road users fatalities (around 19%) didn"t practically change during the last 10 years in the European average. But comparing the gender involvement (2006) there is an interesting difference " female fatalities make 30, 2%, male fatalities 15, 3% of all fatalities in their groups. The risk of the senior users is more connected with their physical and mental limits than with their risk behavior. According to the Czech statistics (2007) the vehicle drivers over 65 years cause only 3, 6% of all accidents. The solution of the problem is to minimize the risk and to create a safe environment for the elderly people using the roads. In order to achieve this goal a deep knowledge of risk and of accident circumstances, full understanding of the behavior of the seniors and their limitations and accommodating approach of the whole society is necessary. Road risk of the ageing society has to be considered as a part of the health and social policy. These can build a creditable basis for the implementation of the measures that secure safe moving of seniors on the roads.
Having a look at safety to traffic and the prevention of accidents it can be observed that technical improvements in active safety of vehicles have let to various positive effects in this area. Among other components the tyre-road-contact takes a key role in the development of active safety technologies. All forces in accelerating, breaking and vehicle guidance have to be transmitted through the tyre-road contact area by friction forces. A common way to characterize a friction process is to identify the coefficient of friction μ between two touching materials. Even though there are several approaches to experimentially characterise road surfaces, no standard method exists. In this paper an overview of existing test methods is given. Furthermore the preliminary design of a newly developed portable test device with its possibility to investigate the tyre-road-friction of arbitrary roads or even places of accidents is shown.
From an automotive safety occupant protection standpoint, effective occupant restraint requires a system capable of providing non-injurious occupant ride down of anticipated crash forces. This is not only the case for frontal collisions, where occupant restraint is provided primarily by seatbelts and airbags, but is also critical for other crash modes such as side impacts, rear impacts, rollovers, as well as multiple impact events. In the rear impact crash mode, occupant restraint is provided primarily by the seatbacks and to some extent the seatbelts. Foundationally, therefore, what becomes fundamental to the seatback's role in rear occupant protection is its ability to contain the occupant within the seat, preventing occupant ramping, as well as preventing the seat's, and/or its occupant's, dangerous intrusion into the rear occupant's survival space where contact with rear compartment components and/ or rear seated occupants can present a significant injury risk. An analysis is presented of a series of rear impact sled testing conducted by the authors that evaluates the timing, position and extent of the front seatback's reward displacement toward and into the rear occupant compartment as well as consideration of the front seat occupant' ramping potential and its injury potential relative to the rear compartment. Additionally, three other series of testing are presented which assess various seat designs occupant retention capabilities. Lastly, a matched-pair comparison test series is presented which evaluates occupant motion in rear impact with and without use of a typical vehicle body mounted 3-point seatbelt. Discussion of restraint system performance observed in all the testing is included along with ATD biofidelity and thigh-gap considerations. The data collected and presented includes accelerometer instrumentation and high speed video analysis.
Automotive interiors have long been a potentially injurious impact area to occupants during accidents, especially in the absence of adequate padding. The U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 201, Occupant Protection in Interior Impact, outlines test procedures and performance criteria in order to mitigate potentially injurious head impacts to interior surfaces. FMVSS 201 specifies a finite set of impact locations and applies to passenger vehicles of a specified year range and with a gross vehicle weight rating less than 10,000 lb. In this paper, two head impact test methodologies are presented, a pendulum-test device and a Free Motion Headform (FMH) launching device, which allows for dynamic, repeatable impact evaluation of various vehicle interior surfaces and their impact attenuation abilities. The presented testing includes multiple series that evaluate the effect of differing vehicle upper interior padding on occupant head injury. One study in particular, analyzes a head impact to the side header of a heavy truck (not included in FMVSS 201) during a 90 degree rollover. Additionally, two other series of tests are presented which assess the injury reduction effect of side airbags to near side as well as far side occupants in a side impact scenario. Lastly, a forensic analysis is presented which evaluates two possible head impact locations experienced in a real world accident by analysis of the resulting interior compartment damage utilizing the FMH launching device test method. The data collected and presented includes accelerometer instrumentation and high speed video analysis. These studies demonstrate that adequate padding and airbags are very effective at mitigating head injury potential at impact speeds of 12-25 mph (19-40 kph).
Providing effective occupant protection in rollover crashes requires supplying the occupant with a restraint system proven effective in the dynamic rollover accident mode. Preventing ejection and providing restraint sufficient to prevent potentially injurious contacts with both interior and exterior vehicle components is paramount for effective rollover occupant protection. Research has shown that the injury potential can be decreased by closely coupling the occupant to the seat. This paper focuses on the effect of restraint system slack and its relationship to occupant excursion and ejection potential during rollover. Various restraint system configurations are evaluated in rollover-type test environments. A review of prior research is presented prior to presenting new quasi-static vehicle inversion studies conducted with live surrogate occupants. Additionally, dynamic rollover testing utilizing anthropometric test devices (ATDs) is presented. The influence of belt looseness and effects of various restraint designs on the belted occupants' injury potential are discussed.
Die Unfallzahlen für das Jahr 2008 zeigen, dass die intensiven Anstrengungen für die Verkehrssicherheit weiterhin Früchte tragen. Nachdem im Jahr 2007 mit 220 Toten auch in Rheinland-Pfalz der geringste Stand seit Einführung der Unfallstatistik registriert wurde, konnte dieser Trend auch im Jahr 2008 bestätigt werden. Die Verkehrssicherheitsarbeit in Rheinland-Pfalz sieht sich dabei zunächst im Kontext des anspruchsvollen Ziels der EU, die Zahl der Verkehrstoten bis 2010 zu halbieren. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei die Frage, wie die Risiken im Verkehrsverhalten der Menschen minimiert werden können. Vorhandene Sicherheitspotenziale sollen genutzt werden, Maßnahmen sind gezielt auf die Brennpunkte im Verkehrsgeschehen auszurichten. Neben Sicherheitsaktionen und Trainings für die Verkehrsteilnehmer sowie der Polizeiarbeit ist einer der wichtigsten Ansätze die Verbesserung der Infrastruktur. Zu den Maßnahmen auf diesem Gebiet zählen neue Ansätze beispielsweise bei der Überprüfung sicherheitsrelevanter Aspekte schon in der Planung, beim Bau moderner Verkehrsbeeinflussungsanlagen oder bei der Sicherheit an Bahnübergängen und in Tunnels. Ein Fokus liegt jedoch auf der Unfallkommissionsarbeit. Sie ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der Gesamtkonzeption zur Verbesserung der Verkehrssicherheit. Das Land Rheinland-Pfalz verfügt seit nunmehr über 35 Jahren über institutionalisierte Erfahrungen auf diesem Gebiet, die auch als Beispiel für die bundesweite Entwicklung dienten. In einem weiteren Schritt werden seit kurzem in einer landesweiten Unfallkonferenz nunmehr Programmschwerpunkte wie beispielsweise die Bekämpfung von Motorradunfällen oder Baumunfällen definiert. Zudem wurden mit einem aufwändigen Programm allen der etwa 400 Unfallkommissionsmitglieder in Rheinland-Pfalz Schulungen angeboten. Eine permanente Nachschulung garantiert dabei einen gleichbleibend hohen Wissensstand. Beispielgebend ist allerdings auch die zentrale Unfallauswertestelle beim Landesbetrieb Mobilität in Koblenz, die es in dieser Form so nur noch in Bayern gibt. Mit ihr steht seit vielen Jahren ein Instrument zur Verfügung, das nicht nur die Grundlagen für gezielte und effektive Verkehrssicherheitsmaßnahmen schafft, sondern auch landesweite Controllings durchführt. Ohne eine finanzielle Ausstattung ist jedoch eine effektive Unfallkommissionsarbeit nicht möglich. Aus diesem Grund wurde als Novum ein spezieller Haushaltsansatz geschaffen, der gezielt ausschließlich im Sinne der Verkehrssicherheit - derzeit mit dem Schwerpunkt Baumunfälle und Motorradsicherheit - eingesetzt wird. Dabei wurde auch in einem Bewertungsverfahren zum Ausbauplan für Landesstraßen die Verkehrssicherheit so gewichtet, dass speziell Unfallhäufungsstellen in die Prioritätenreihung gelangen. Diese Ansätze mit Strategien aus einer Landesunfallkonferenz, gezielter Schulung, finanzieller Ausstattung sowie Unterstützung und Controlling durch eine zentrale Unfallauswertestelle sind zugleich Chance und Herausforderung für eine künftige Verkehrssicherheitsarbeit.
Der Beitrag befasst sich vor dem Hintergrund der kontrovers diskutierten Zwischenhaftung bei der Ausführung von Korrosionsschutzsystemen fuer Stahl- und Stahlverbundbrücken mit einer Abfrage bei den Bundesländern zu Schäden am Korrosionschutz bei Systemen nach Blatt 87 und Blatt 94 der ZTV-ING, Teil 4, Abschnitt 3. Auslöser für die Abfrage waren Schadensfälle mit grossflächigen Ablösungen der Deckbeschichtung aus Polyurethan, die nach einer Zwischenreinigung auf die Werksbeschichtung aus Epoxidharz aufgebracht worden war. Der Zeitraum zwischen der Beschichtung im Werk und dem Aufbringen der Deckbeschichtung auf der Baustelle kann zwischen einigen Wochen oder Monaten bis - in Ausnahmefällen - zu mehreren Jahren liegen. Mit der Abfrage bei den Straßenbauverwaltungen der Bundesländer sollte herausgefunden werden, ob Schäden aufgetreten sind - und wenn ja - in welchem Umfang. In die Umfrage einbezogen sind die 16 Obersten Straßenbauverwaltungen sowie die DEGES. Gemeldet wurden insgesamt 648 Stahl- und Stahlverbundbrücken, davon 46 mit Schäden am Korrosionsschutz. Die Schadensquote liegt demnach bei 7 Prozent. Es zeigte sich, dass die Enthaftung der Deckbeschichtung unterschiedliche Ursachen haben kann, insbesondere Nichteinhaltung des Sicherheitsabstands zwischen Objekt- und Taupunkttemperatur und unzureichende Reinigung der Zwischenbeschichtung. Ein grundlegendes, systembedingtes Zwischenhaftungsproblem kann nach den bisherigen Umfrageergebnissen nicht bestätigt werden. Sehr wohl sollte jedoch wegen der Schadensquote von 7 Prozent den Ursachen der aufgetretenen Schäden weiter nachgegangen werden.
The following paper presents the nature and mechanism of injuries sustained in frontal impacts, focusing on car to car impacts. It was found that the body regions most frequently sustaining severe to fatal injuries were the legs and the thorax. The nature and mechanism of the injury sustained was investigated only for the thorax injuries, due to their potentially life threatening nature. The analysis revealed that the most frequent cause of the injury recorded was the seatbelt for low severity injuries and the front structure of the vehicle for higher severity injuries. An analysis of the effect of load limiter technology in the restraint system showed that the proportion of occupants who sustained "no thorax injury" did not increase when a load limiter was fitted to the restraint system. However, a decrease in the "organ" and "organ and skeletal" injuries was observed in the load limiter sample. Sample size and variation mean that these findings are not conclusive.
Motorcycle riders are one of the most vulnerable road users. Annually, on estimate 6000 people are killed in motorcycle accidents in the former 15 EU countries. The objective of this research was to investigate and analyze the main aspects and causes of this vulnerability and the accidents in general. For this aim around 70 accidents in The Netherlands were investigated in the framework of an international research program (MAIDS). Also a control group of motorcycles with riders was investigated so that exposure could be taken into account. An important result is that human failure is in 82% of the cases the main cause of the accident, in 52% this is due the other vehicle driver. Perception and decision failures are the most common failures. The most injuries are caused by the environment but they are typically only less severe (AIS1). Injuries caused by the car (front and side) are typically severe injuries (AIS4+). Previous convictions of the MC rider seem to be related to the chance to get involved in an accident. It was shown that the Dutch and the total MAIDS accident sample are comparable.
While many medical studies have dealt with the incidence, nature and treatment of polytrauma the injury-causing accident mechanisms are rarely discussed in detail, mostly due to the lack of documentation of the technical aspects. The present prospective study was started in late 2007 and collects data from traffic accidents with most severely injured in six south- German counties and two larger cities for the duration of one year. It is aimed at identifying and documenting all polytrauma cases (ISS ≥ 16) caused by traffic accidents and their crash circumstances. The data collection is based on an interdisciplinary concept to include both the police, emergency dispatch centers, hospitals and fire departments in the region and is completely anonymous. Potentially relevant cases where an emergency physician was called to the scene of a traffic accident are provided by the dispatch center. All three hospitals in the region suited for the treatment of polytraumatised patients record injuries, major diagnostic and surgery data. Data and images from the accident scene are provided by the police and by fire departments. The latter provide information which is usually not available from the police, like deployed airbags, vehicle extrication measures and detailed views of car interiors. The main objective of the study is to determine the structure of road users who sustain a polytrauma, their crash opponents and the injury patterns found in relation to the collision configuration and the protection by seat belts, air bags and other devices. With detailed documentation of vehicle damage and extrication measures the study is also intended to support the development of injury predictors for pre-hospital treatment and provide field data regarding further improvement of technical rescue.
A total survey of road traffic accidents involving most severely injured, defined as sustaining a polytrauma or severe monotrauma (ISS > 15) or being killed, was conducted over 14 months in a large study region in Germany. Data on injuries, pre-clinical and clinical care, crash circumstances and vehicle damage were obtained both prospectively and retrospectively from trauma centers, dispatch centers, police and fire departments. 149 patients with a polytrauma and eight with a severe monotrauma were recorded altogether. 22 patients died in hospital. Another 76 victims had deceased at the accident scene. In 2008, 49 % of patients treated with life-threatening injuries were car or van occupants, 21 % motorcyclists, 18 % cyclists and 10 % pedestrians. Among fatalities at the scene, vehicle occupants constituted an even larger portion. The number of road users with life-threatening trauma in the region was extrapolated to the German situation. It suggests that 10 % among the "seriously injured" as defined in national accident statistics are surviving accident victims with a polytrauma or severe monotrauma.
Pelvic fracture, cracking or breaking of a portion of the pelvis are extremely common injuries in the side impact collisions of motor vehicles. Due to both its shape and structural architecture, mechanics of the pelvic bone is complicated. There is a lack of knowledge regarding the dynamic behavior of the pelvis and its biomechanical tolerance under impact environment. Hence this study is aimed at the understanding of the mechanical response of the human pelvis with three-dimensional finite element (FE) models, under side impact load, applied through a structure, equivalent to a car door. The door structure was modeled, considering few layers, consisting of foam (Styrodur®, 3035 CS), plastic (UHMWPE), steel, glass and steel, putting them in series. A soft tissue layer (equivalent to fat) was also considered on the greater trochanter location. These FE models (with and without the car door structure) were analyzed with ANSYS-LS-DYNA-® dynamic finite element software to compare the effect of the car door padding system for shock absorption. It was observed that with proper combination of shock absorbing material (foam, etc.) and its thickness, the transmission of impact load to the body part (pelvis, etc.) from the outer surface of the car door could be reduced.
This paper reviews briefly the evolution of the investigation of transport accidents from the early beginnings when individual events were studied but systematic data was not collected. In the transport modes other than on the roads, accident investigation early on, even of single events, was important in introducing safety improvements. Road accidents, however, evolved enormously with the growth of car ownership without any comparable political response to the consequent deaths and injuries, equivalent to what happened with the other modes. From the 1950s data bases started to contribute to our knowledge of the epidemiology of road traffic injuries, and in-depth sample studies have contributed much to the body of knowledge in the last 30 years. However, even the basic input and output variables of a crash, its severity and the seriousness of the outcomes in terms of injuries and their consequences are not complete or agreed upon. Issues of experimental design and sampling are discussed. It is proposed that the most important area for current research to address is the effect of population variations on injury outcomes. The need for the establishment of good data bases for active safety issues is emphasised with the consequent need for better links between the research community and the police.
Verkehrspsychologische Nachschulungen stellen Maßnahmen zur Rehabilitierung von im Straßenverkehr auffälligen Kraftfahrerlnnen dar. Diese gesetzlich verankerten psychologischen lnterventionsprogramme werden mit hohem Aufwand konzipiert und sind bei der täglichen Durchführung mit beträchtlichen Kosten verbunden. Daraus ergibt sich die Notwendigkeit, die Effektivität der Nachschulungsmodelle durch eine wissenschaftliche Evaluation zu klären. Um die Effektivität der Nachschulungskurse der AAP (Austrian Applied Psychology) zu überprüfen wurde eine Fragebogenstudie mit Pre-Posttest-Designs durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse der Alkoholkurse zeigen positive Auswirkungen hinsichtlich Einstellungsänderung, spezifischer Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung, interner Attributionen, Wissen und Gesamtbeurteilung.
Im Jahr 2005 wurde mit dem Bau der Niederrheinbrücke Wesel der Bau der Ortsumgehung Wesel begonnen. Der Beitrag berichtet über einige Ausführungsdetails der im Jahr 2009 fertiggestellten Baumaßnahme: die Herstellung des Pylons in hochfestem Beton, die Montage der Strombrücke, der Einsatz von Parallellitzenbündeln.
This study aimed at developing an injury estimation algorithm for AACN technologies for Germany and compared them to findings based on Japanese data. The data to build and to verify the algorithm was obtained from the German in-depth Accident Database (GIDAS) and split into a training and a validation dataset. Significant input variables and the generalized linear regression model to predict severe injuries (ISS>15) were selected to maximize area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Probit regression with the input parameter multiple impact, delta v, seatbelt use and impact direction gave the largest AUC of 0.91. Sensitivity of the algorithm was validated at 90% and specificity at 76% for an injury risk threshold of 2%. It appears that no major differences between Japan and Germany exist for injury estimation based on delta v and impact direction. However, far side impact and multiple crash events appear to be associated with a larger risk increase in the German data.
Das Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie finanziert das Projekt "Leistra2", welches zum Ziel hat, den Reifen-Fahrbahn-Kontakt zu untersuchen und Maßnahmen zu entwickeln, die den Verkehrslärm reduzieren, insbesondere das Reifen-Fahrbahn-Geräusch. Das Projekt besteht aus drei Arbeitsgebieten: leise Reifen, leise Fahrbahnbeläge und die Verifizierung der Ergebnisse. Jedes Arbeitsgebiet gliedert sich in mehrere Unterprojekte. Dieser Vortrag gibt einen Überblick über Leistra2 und berichtet über neueste Tätigkeiten und Ergebnisse. Weitergehende Information und die Kontaktdaten der beteiligten Partner finden sich unter http:// www. LeiStra2. de . Das Programm ist Nachfolger des Programmes LeiStra (Leiser Straßenverkehr), welches ähnliche Themenschwerpunkte behandelte.