This paper looked at a relatively small sample of Great Britain’s car accidents which resulted in pedestrian fatalities. A sample of 49 vehicle and pedestrian collisions were selected where the front of the car had impacted the pedestrian. The cars were categorised as "new" (registered in 2002 or later) and "old" (registered before 2002). The aim of the study was to investigate if the fatally injured pedestrians had different injury patterns when involved in collisions with the newer compared with the older cars.

It was found that 95% of fatally injured pedestrians received head or neck injuries when impacted by cars. Pedestrians struck by older cars received a lower percentage of AIS2+ injuries in all body regions except for legs. Pelvis, thorax and arm injuries demonstrated the largest difference between old and new car impacts with a much greater proportion of these injuries resulting from impacts with the new car group. Most AIS2+ head injuries were due to strikes to the windscreen both for old and new cars, but it was also found that strikes to the windscreen result in higher MAIS to the head in new car impacts than old.

It should be noted that the sample of 49 pedestrians is a relatively small sample size, however this paper demonstrates the types of analysis that can be carried out on a larger scale and provides an indication of the types of patterns that may be found.