Heavy commercial vehicle design and other road users

Mackay, Murray; Walton, Andrew

Affiliations

¹Accident Research Unit, Department of Transportation, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England

Abstract

This paper reviews some of the published data on crashes in Europe involving trucks and buses with other road users. The mass ratio effect in relation to car occupants is discussed, together with the mismatching of structures, based on 226 in-depth cases involving cars and heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs). The predominance of collisions with the front of trucks is illustrated at 63%, with rear impacts at 18% and lateral impacts at 11%. The greatest risk of death for a car occupant is in cases where trucks strike the sides of cars. The consequences for design emphasize the importance of geometrical and structural matching of under-run protective structures, particularly at the front of trucks; such compatibility of truck and car structures being one of the most important priorities in crashworthiness once occupant restraints in cars are widely used.

Cited Works (3)

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Cited By (3)

Year	Entry
1990	Mackay GM, Cheng L, Smith M, Parkin S. Restrained front seat car occupant fatalities: the nature and circumstances of their injuries. In: 34th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 1-3, 1990; Scottsdale, AZ.139-161.
1985	Ashton SJ, Mackay GM, Thomas PD, Galer MD, Harms P. The effects of mandatory seatbelt use in Great Britain. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). July 1-4, 1985; Oxford, England.567-584. SAE 856077.
1995	Scott AW, Hassan AM, Gillam TJ, Mackay M. Car and truck collisions revisited. In: Proceedings of the 1995 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 13-15, 1995; Brunnen, Switzerland.365-374.