A major study is currently underway in Britain, funded jointly by the Department of Transport, Ford, and BL Technology, to investigate the causes of injury to occupants in car accidents. The Accident Research Units at the Institute for Consumer Ergonomics, Loughborough, and a Birmingham University each have a team of researchers who, together with the Department of Transport Traffic Area teams, investigate approximately 700 accidents each year. The data are collected in a uniform manner by all investigators, and the data bases are compatible. The accidents are strictly sampled from a predominately urban (Birmingham) and a rural (Loughborough) catchment area.

High-quality data are collected on the performance of the vehicles in crashes by detailed investigations after the accident;​ occupant injury details are provided by hospital consultants and coroners, sometimes by the occupants;​ sources of injury are assigned by the ARU teams.

The computerised data can be structured in an analysis from the point of view of the vehicle's performance in the accident, to which occupant's details can be applied, or an occupant's performance, to which vehicle details can be applied.

This paper describes the organisation of the study and provides some preliminary data on accident circumstances, occupant injuries, and vehicle performance