Cervical spine distortion injuries in various car collision directions and injury incidence of different car types in rear-end collisions

Hell, Wolfram; Höpfl, Fritz; Langwieder, Klaus; Lang, Dina

Affiliations

¹GDV German Insurance Institute for Traffic Engineering, Department for Vehicle Safety, Munich

Abstract and keywords

This study focuses on typical characteristics of car accidents that may influence the extent of Cervical Spine Disorder (CSD) injuries and the subsequent recovery process. A statistical analysis of long-term CSD injuries in rear-end collisions was also performed, placing particular emphasis on the car models involved.

754 accidents were investigated retrospectively by analyzing insurance records (HUK – Coburg) in terms of the Quebec Task Force Injury Classification (QTF). Accidents were classified according to collision direction: frontal, rear-end and lateral. Statistical analysis of rear-end collisions by car type was performed using three categories: not injured, CSD injury, long-term (> 6 weeks) CSD injury.

The range of delta v for frontal impacts where passengers sustained a CSD injury was higher than that for other types of collisions (24.9 km/h, compared with 16.5 km/h for rear-end impacts, 15.2 km/h for lateral impacts). Women showed a higher risk than men of suffering from a CSD injury. In frontal impacts the extent of general injury was higher than in rear-end impacts. 20% of patients received treatment lasting 1-2 weeks and 30% received treatment lasting 2-6 weeks. The duration of absence from work varied according to the severity of the injury (QTF I: 11 days versus QTF II: 16 days and QTF III: 23 days).

Differences were also identified in the incidence of long-term injuries between various car types in the same weight class and with the same driver.

According to our results, females represent the highest CSD risk group in all collision types. Thus, protection measures should focus on this group in particular. Frontal test conditions should be in a delta v range of 23–30 km/h. Analysis of the results on the basis of different car models clearly demonstrated a discrepancy in the protection levels afforded by the different models.

Keywords: accident analysis; whiplash; rear-end, frontal and side impacts; rear-end car crashworthiness

Cited Works (6)

Year	Entry
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1999	Hell W, Langwieder K, Walz F, Muser M, Kramer M, Hartwig E. Consequences for seat design due to rear end accident analysis, sled tests and possible test criteria for reducing cervical spine injuries after rear-end collision. In: Proceedings of the 1999 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 23-24, 1999; Sitges, Spain.243-259.
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Cited By (6)

Year	Entry
2007	Ono K, Ejima S, Kaneoka K, Fukushima M, Yamada S, Ujihashi S. Biomechanical response of head/neck/torso and cervical vertebral motion to lateral impact loading on the shoulders of volunteers. In: Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 18-21, 2007; Lyon, France.
2004	Linder A, Avery M, Kullgren A, Krafft M. Real-world rear impacts reconstructed in sled tests. In: Proceedings of the 2004 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 22-24, 2004; Graz, Austria.233-244.
2005	Ono K, Ejima S, Kaneoka K, Fukushima M, Yamada S, Ujihashi S, Compigne S. Biomechanical responses of head/neck/torso to lateral impact loading on shoulders of male and female volunteers. In: Proceedings of the 2005 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 21-23, 2005; Prague, Czech Republic.383-396.
2005	Schick S, Hell W. Cervical spine distorsion (CSD) injuries after rear end car to car collisions. In: Proceedings of the 2005 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 21-23, 2005; Prague, Czech Republic.415-418.
2006	Ono K, Ejima S, Suzuki Y, Kaneoka K, Fukushima M, Ujihashi S. Prediction of neck injury risk based on the analysis of localized cervical vertebral motion of human volunteers during low-speed rear impacts. In: Proceedings of the 2006 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 20-22, 2006; Madrid, Spain.103-113.
2020	Shen D. Investigation of Whiplash Associated Disorders Using Finite Element Neck Models With Active Musculature in Frontal, Rear and Lateral Impact [Master's thesis]. University of Waterloo; 2020.