Crashes involving passenger cars have been investigated as part of the ongoing study of brain injury mechanisms being conducted by the NHMRC Road Accident Research Unit (RARU) and also in the course of an at the scene in-depth study of rural road accidents.

The information available in 74 fatal cases includes the results of a detailed investigation of the vehicle and the crash circumstances, and the neuropathologist’s report on the nature and extent of the injury to the brain, together with details of other injuries sustained by the occupant in the crash. The exact location of the impact or impacts to the head has also been recorded. In 43 non-fatal cases, the information on the injury to the brain is based on neurosurgical diagnosis, often supported by the results of CT scans.

On a case by case basis, selected characteristics of the injury to the brain are related to characteristics of the impact to the head and the object struck to identify those cases in which the provision of some means of energy absorption might reasonably be expected to prevent, or significantly reduce the severity of, the injury to the brain in a similar crash.