Vehicle Crashworthiness Ratings and Crashworthiness by Year of Vehicle Manufacture: Victoria and NSW Crashes During 1987-95

Links

URL: http://www.monash.edu/muarc/research/our-publications/muarc107

Abstract and keywords

Crashworthiness is the relative safety of vehicles in preventing severe injury in crashes. Crashworthiness ratings for 1982-95 model vehicles were developed based on data on crashes in Victoria and New South Wales during 1987- 95. Crashworthiness was measured by a combination of injury severity (of injured drivers) and injury risk (of drivers involved in crashes). Injury severity was based on 72,885 drivers injured in crashes in the two States. Injury risk was based on 332,000 drivers involved in crashes in New South Wales where a vehicle was towed away. The ratings were adjusted for the driver sex and age, the speed limit at the crash location, and the number of vehicles involved, factors which were found to be strongly related to injury risk and/or severity. They estimate the risk of a driver being killed or admitted to hospital when involved in a tow-away crash, to a degree of accuracy represented by the confidence limits of the rating in each case. The estimates and their associated confidence limits were sufficiently sensitive that they were able to identify 42 models of passenger cars, four-wheel drive vehicles, passenger vans and light commercial vehicles which have superior or inferior crashworthiness characteristics compared with the average vehicle.

Also investigated is the relationship between vehicle crashworthiness and the year of manufacture of Australian vehicles manufactured from 1964 to 1995. The data covered 977,000 drivers involved in tow-away crashes in New South Wales during 1987-95, and 218,000 drivers injured in crashes in Victoria or New South Wales during the same period. Cars, station wagons and taxis manufactured during the years 1964 to 1995 were considered.

The results of this report are based on a number of assumptions and warrant a number of qualifications should be noted.

Keywords: Injury, Vehicle Occupant, Collision, Passenger Car Unit, Passive Safety System, Statistics

Cited Works (3)

Year	Entry
1989	Hosmer DW Jr, Lemeshow S. Applied Logistic Regression. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons; 1989.
1992	Cameron M, Mach T, Neiger D. Vehicle Crashworthiness Ratings: Victoria 1983-90 and NSW 1989-90 Crashes: Summary Report. Monash University Accident Research Centre; March 1992. Report No. 28.
1996	Cameron M, Newstead S, Skalova M. The development of vehicle crashworthiness ratings in Australia. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 13-16, 1996; Melbourne, Australia.1444-1457.

Cited By (4)

Year	Entry
1998	Paine MP, McGrane D, Haley J. Offset crash tests: observations about vehicle design and structural performance. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.311-315.
1998	McIntosh L. The aging of the Australian car fleet and occupant protection. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.1269-1272.
1998	Cameron M, Newstead S, Le CM. Rating the aggressivity of Australian passenger vehicles towards other vehicle occupants and unprotectedroadusers. In: Proceedings of the 1998 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 16-18, 1998; Göteberg, Sweden.27-42.
1999	Cameron M, Newstead S, Le CM. Rating the aggressivity of Australian passenger vehicles towards other vehicle occupants and unprotected road users. J Crash Prev Injury Control. 1999;1(2):129-141.