Severity Measures in Side‐Impacts with Narrow Roadside Structures
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 120, Issue 2
Abstract
Vehicles that run off the road and then slide sideways into fixed objects along the roadside are an important accident scenario that has been often overlooked in developing roadside hardware. This paper combines the results of the 1991 side‐impact crash testing program conducted at the Federal Outdoor Impact Laboratory (FOIL) with those of previous side impact crash tests on energy absorbing, slipbase and transformer base poles to develop new injury measures related to the thoracic and head body regions. Regression models that link the crash test performance to the probability of occupant injury in the field are presented. These models predict the TTI and the HIC using vehicle‐based observable parameters that can be measured in crash tests. The predicted TTI and HIC can then be used to estimate the probability of injury based on injury distributions developed in human tolerance research. These vehicle‐based criteria, while preliminary, demonstrate a method that could be used to hypothesize about the survivability of similar real‐world collisions.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
The abbreviated injury scale (AIS‐80). (1980). American Association for Automotive Medicine, Morton Grove, Il.
2.
Afifi, A. A., and Azen, S. P. (1979). Statistical analysis. Academic Press, New York, N.Y.
3.
Ang, A. H.‐S., and Tang, W. H. (1975). Probability concepts in engineering planning and design, Vol. 1, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y.
4.
Chou, C. C., Howell, R. J., and Chang, B. Y. (1988). “A review and evaluation of various HIC algorithms.” SAE Tech. Paper Series, March.
5.
“Federal motor vehicle safety standards.” (1971). Tech. Report 208, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C., March.
6.
“Federal motor vehicle safety standards: side impact protection.” (1990). Federal Register, 55, Oct. 30, 45,722–45,780.
7.
Gabler, H. C., Hackney, J. R., and Hollowell, W. T. (1989). “Depth: relationship between side impact thoracic injury and vehicle design.” Thirteenth Int. Tech. Conf. on Experimental Safety Vehicles, Vol. 2, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Paris, France, Nov.
8.
Gabler, H. C., and Wilke, D. T. (1991). “Upper interior head impacts: the safety performance of passenger vehicles.” Thirteenth Int. Tech. Conf. on Experimental Safety Vehicles, No. 91‐59‐O‐07, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Nov.
9.
Gennarelli, T., Champion, H., Sacco, W., Copes, W., and Alves, W. (1989). “Mortality of patients with head injury and extracranial injury treated in trauma centers.” J. Trauma, 29(9), 1193–1202.
10.
Hackney, J. R., Monk, M. W., Hollowell, W. T., Sullivan, L. K., and Wilke, D. T. (1984). “Results of the National Highway Safety Administration's thoracic side impact protection research program.” SAE Tech. Paper Series, Society of Automotive Engineering, Warrensburg, Pa., May.
11.
Injury in America: A continuing public health problem. (1985). National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
12.
Michie, J. D. (1981). “Recommended procedures for the safety performance evaluation of highway appurtenances.” Tech. Report 230, National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Washington, D.C.
13.
“Motor vehicle accident costs.” (1988). FHWA Technical Advisory T 7570.1, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., June.
14.
Prasad, P., and Mertz, H. (1985). “The position of the United States delegation to the ISO working group 6 on the use of HIC in the automotive environment.” SAE Technical Paper Series, May 1985.
15.
Ray, M. H., and Carney, J. F., III. (1992). “Side impact crash testing of roadside structures.” Final Report FHWA‐RD‐92‐079, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C.
16.
Ray, M. H., and Carney, J. F., III. (1992). “Side impact test and evaluation procedures for roadside structure crash tests.” Final Report FHWA‐RD‐92‐062, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C.
17.
Ray, M. H., Troxel, L. A., and Carney, J. F., III. (1991). “Characteristics of side impact accidents involving fixed roadside objects.” J. Transp. Engrg., 117(3), 281–297.
18.
SAS/STAT user's guide. (1991). Version 6.03, 4th Ed., SAS Institute, Cary, N.C.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 120 • Issue 2 • March 1994
Pages: 322 - 338
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 25, 1993
Published online: Mar 1, 1994
Published in print: Mar 1994
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.