Characteristics on fractures of tibia and fibula in car impacts to pedestrians and bicyclists:​ influences of car bumper height and shape

Otte, D.<sup>1</sup>; Haasper, C.<sup>2</sup>

Affiliations

¹Accident Research Unit, Medical University Hanover, Germany

²Trauma Department Medical University Hanover, Germany

Abstract

This study deals with the analysis of lower leg fractures in pedestrians and bicyclists after collisions with passenger cars and examines to what extent the shape and location of the factures in the lower leg changed, following alterations in the shape of bumpers. It can be assumed that that the bumpers changed in shape and effective impact height, not least due to the realization of the developments of vehicle safety tests as in the context of the European Union Directive 2003/102/EC on pedestrian protection. In addition, consumer protection tests, EuroNCAP, accomplished a change of the injury situation. All of these are mainly focused on pedestrian protection measurements but adopt the bicyclists also in their goal.

For the study, traffic accidents from GIDAS (German in-Depth- Accident Study) were selected, which had been documented in the years 1995 to 2004 by scientific teams in Hannover and Dresden (Germany) and for which there is detailed information regarding injury patterns and collision speeds. The accident documentations can be regarded as representative and constitute a random sample with statistic weighing of the data. Altogether 143 cases of lower leg fractures (Tibia/ Fibula) with x-rays of pedestrians and 79 cases of bicyclists were differentiated according to new and old vehicles (year of manufacture before/after 1995). The bumper shapes were divided into classical types (protruding pronouncedly/ protruding integrated /integrated rounded). Besides the injuries to the lower leg, those to thighs and feet were also regarded, and the injury conditions involving the head and trunk were included in the kinematic analytics.

Cited Works (2)

Year	Entry
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Cited By (4)

Year	Entry
2011	Martin J-L, Lardy A, Laumon B. Pedestrian injury patterns according to car and casualty characteristics in France. In: 55th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 3-5, 2011; Paris, France.137-146.
2012	Mueller BC, Nolan JM, Zuby DS, Rizzo AG. Pedestrian injury patterns in the United States and relevance to GTR. In: Proceedings of the 2012 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 12-14, 2012; Dublin, Ireland.690-702.
2023	Demidov VV, Clark MA, Streeter SS, Sottosanti JS, Gitajn IL, Elliott JT. High-energy open-fracture model with initial experience of fluorescence-guided bone perfusion assessment. J Orthop Res. May 2023;41(5):1040-1048.
2023	Halari MM. The Significance of Injuries and Anatomical Patterns of Trauma in Pedestrian and Cyclist Fatalities and Their Association With Motor Vehicle Collision Dynamics and Post-Collision Kinematics [PhD thesis]. University of Western Ontario; 2023.