Injuries in rollovers by crash severity

Digges, Kennerly; Eigen, Ana Maria

Affiliations

¹The National Crash Analysis Center, The George Washington University, USA

²The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, USA

Abstract

Earlier studies by the authors have examined factors that contribute to rollover crash severity. These factors include: (1) belt use, (2) the number of quarter-turns aggregated according to number of vehicle inversions, and (3) the damage severity from planar impacts with fixed and non-fixed objects that occur before or during the rollover. Further research indicated that rollovers with severe damage from planar impacts should be analyzed separately from other rollovers since the injury rates for these crashes is 2 to 3 times greater than equivalent rollover crashes with less severe damage.

This paper separates rollovers into two categories, based on the presence or absence of severe damage from a planar crash. The research then examines the distribution of MAIS 3+ injuries and harm by body region and contact for belted adult occupants in each rollover category. The rollover categories are further examined using the number of vehicle inversions to quantify rollover crash severity.

Based on the analysis, the magnitude of the opportunities for injury and harm reduction through safety enhancements such as air curtains and safety belts designed for rollover protection is examined.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv20/07-0236-O.pdf

Cited Works (4)

Year	Entry
2006	Digges KH, Eigen AM. The injury risk from objects impacted before and during rollovers. In: Proceedings of the 2006 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 20-22, 2006; Madrid, Spain.385-388.
2003	Digges KH, Eigen AM. Crash attributes that influence the severity of rollover crashes. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
2006	Digges K, Eigen A. Classification of rollovers according to crash severity. In: 50th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 16-18, 2006; Chicago, IL.141-153.
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Cited By (8)

Year	Entry
2015	Kent RW, Forman J. Restraint system biomechanics. In: Yoganandan N, Nahum AM, Melvin JW, eds. Accidental Injury: Biomechanics and Prevention. 3rd ed. New York: Springer; 2015:113-141.
2011	Bose D, Kerrigan JR, Foster JB, Crandall JR, Tobaru S. Planar impacts in rollover crashes: significance, distribution and injury epidemiology. In: 55th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 3-5, 2011; Paris, France.243-252.
2013	Tahan F, Cohen S, Digges K, Kan C-D. Assessment of a dynamic test device to evaluate vehicle rollover safety. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 27-30, 2013; Seoul, South Korea.
2015	Eigen AM, Digges K. Opportunities for injury reduction in rollover crashes. In: Proceedings of the 24th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 8-11, 2015; Gothenburg, Sweden.
2008	Ridella SA, Eigen AM. Biomechanical investigation of injury mechanisms in rollover crashes from the CIREN database. In: Proceedings of the 36th International Workshop on Human Subjects for Biomechanical Research. November 2, 2008; San Antonio, TX.
2008	Ridella SA, Eigen AM. Biomechanical investigation of injury mechanisms in rollover crashes from the ciren database. In: Proceedings of the 2008 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 17-19, 2008; Bern, Switzerland.33-47.
2014	Tahan FJ, Digges K, Kan C, Grzebieta R, Bambach M. Assessing chest injuries for different pitch angles and drop heights rollovers using strengthened roof. In: Proceedings of the 2014 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 10-12, 2014; Berlin, Germany.41-50.
2014	Tahan FJ. An Integrated Approach to Identify Thoracic Injuries in Rollover Crashes [PhD thesis]. Washington, DC: The George Washington University; January 31, 2014.