Injuries in heavy trucks and the effectiveness of seat belts

Andersson, Åke; Högström, Kjell; Svenson, Lennart

Affiliations

¹Medical Doctor, Health Service Dept., Volvo Truck Corporation, S-405 08 Gothenburg, Sweden

²Driver Environment and Traffic Safety, Volvo Truck Corporation, S-405 08 Gothenburg, Sweden

³Driver Environment and Traffic Safety, Volvo Truck Corporation, S-405 08 Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract

The paper describes heavy truck accidents, injuries resulting from these accidents and their distribution over the body.

The accidents have been investigated by Volvo Truck Corporation's Accident Investigation Group. The report covers 124 accidents, with personal injuries to occupants of Volvo trucks in which six people have been killed and 125 injured.

Half of these accidents were single accidents and a third were collision with another truck.

In 80% of the accidents the truck involved is a forward control type of truck. As forward controlled trucks are responsible for 82% of the traffic work in Sweden the risk for injury per driven kilometer is the same as in a normal controlled truck

In 66% of the accidents the most severe injury was not more than AIS 1. Another 18% were AIS 2 and 8% AIS 3. The remaining 7% are AIS 4-6.

The fatal injuries are either head or abdominal injuries.

The steering wheel is the single item which has caused the most injuries and suggestions are given for technical solutions to this problem. The distribution of steering wheel injuries over the body is shown.

A three point safety belt could decrease the severity of the injuries in as many as 74% of the cases.

A technical solution for a three-point retractor belt in combination with a suspension seat is described.

Cited By (2)

Year	Entry
1982	Ranney TA. Injury causation and heavy truck occupant crash protection. In: 26th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 4-6, 1982; Ottawa, ON.149-165.
1987	Jarl T, Thorson J, Ostman A, Stenlund H, Svensson L. Occupational traffic injuries to truck occupants. In: 31st Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 28-30, 1987; New Orleans, LA.201-213.