NON-FATAL INJURIES TO CAR OCCUPANTS: INJURY ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS OF IMPACTS CAUSING SHORT AND LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO NECK INJURIES

This thesis addresses non-fatal injuries leading to disability following motor vehicle collisions, based on data from insurance files, police reports and crash recordings of real-life rear impacts where the change of velocity and the crash pulse were measured. The main focus is on minor (AIS 1) neck injuries, also called whiplash injuries. The purpose is to describe the distribution of disabilities among occupants over time and to study the importance of different injury severity assessment levels on the priority ranking of the disability pattern. Another purpose is to study the characteristics and associated risk factors of rear impacts causing short- and long-term consequences to the neck (AIS 1) regarding crash severity and risk of injury in the struck car, in different car models. It was found that during the last two decades there has been a change in the distribution of disabilities. Two body regions dominated the change. Injuries to the lower extremities have decreased since the 1970s and AIS 1 neck injuries have increased. Furthermore, depending on level of disability, different types of injuries were predominant. Concerning risk factors for AIS 1 neck injuries in rear impacts there were differences regarding crash severity parameters for long- and short-term consequences. The principal conclusion is that AIS 1 neck injuries have increased both in proportion and in number and are the dominating injury among non-fatal injuries leading to disability. This should preferably be evaluated with on-board measurement techniques in real-life collisions. It is recommended that the prevention of neck injuries in rear impacts should be directed toward the seat characteristics of the car. Priorities for intervention should be based on fatalities and injuries causing long-term consequences. (A)