RELATIONSHIP OF CRASH PARAMETERS AND ACCIDENT INJURIES

To reach goal of reduced injuries and fatalities requires knowledge of the relative crash characteristics of automobile designs. A coordinated effort to establish a standardized computer data base from which this knowledge can be extracted should be pursued. The NHTSA has developed and is maintaining such a data base. Currently, this data base contains almost 400 crash tests of recent model vehicles. In addition, an effort to determine the relationship between crash tests and real-world accident experiences should be better defined. Again, NHTSA is pursuing this activity. In June 1981, at the SAE Conference in Detroit, Mr. Hackney discussed a methodology for determining the relationship of crash parameters and injury measures such as that between the Head Injury Criteria (HIC) and Chest Severity Index (CSI) and the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS). These relationships, were further explored by Hackney to determine the probabilities of serious injuries and fatalities. Comparisons were made to relationships obtained from the accident data files (using the change in velocity as the common denominator. It must be emphasized that these results are preliminary and further refinements are in progress. (Author)