The objective of this study is to analyze the type and entity of injuries caused to the occupants of the vehicles involved in accidental impacts against guardrails with the high containment level. At present, the installation of highway guardrails requires the maintaining of some specific control rules imposing some verifications of the characteristics of the chosen vehicle, the dynamic parameters of impacts and the behaviors during the crash.

The results of the crash tests carried out for the different types of guardrails, concerning the trajectory and the acceleration of the vehicle during the impact as well as of the damages suffered by the vehicle itself, do not allow establishing any precise element regarding the possible injuries to the occupants of the vehicle.

The aspect of the relationship between the damages to the vehicle and the injuries which could be caused to the occupants is the main problem to be solved, in order to find out some new solutions for improving road safety. In the field of impacts against the guardrails, this consideration arouses a greater concern, because the components of the speed and the accelerations transversal to the direction of the crash, cause lateral solicitations on the body of the occupant which can have more serious consequences.

Within the framework of studies and research in road traumatology carried out at the University “La Sapienza” in Rome, scientific research has been promoted with the aim of studying the behavior of vehicles and their occupants during accidental impacts against guardrails. Two crash tests on two different types of guardrails were carried out following the European norm EN 1317 parameters. The results were described and discussed.