Automated motion analysis of simulated pedestrian impacts with the aid of digital high speed film processing

A method is described which allows the efficient calculation of spatial motions from high speed films using a newly developed digital image analysis system. The method is applied to a series of simulated pedestrian impacts whereby a modified Part 572 dummy was used as pedestrian surrogate. The main objective of this series of tests is to document the properties of the resulting motions in space when the surrogate is hit by the corner area of a vehicle. Because such a configuration represents a relatively frequent type of collision, documentation of such trajectories is also of importance in view of accident reconstruction. (TRRL)