Realistically, the only way to significantly improve the pedestrian injury situation is by separation of the vehicle and pedestrian population to prevent collision occurring, since injury to a pedestrian is inevitable if hit by a car travelling at even low speeds.

However, it is important to assess the contribution that vehicle design characteristics can make to minimise the consequences of such collisions for a variety of pedestrian types, and to establish the various vehicle parameters that can influence pedestrian injury.

This paper describes the initial stages of an investigation into these parameters by means of computer simulation.

First, the joint, inertia, and contact characteristics of a 50th percentile adult dummy and a 6-year-old child dummy were established by tests. The contact characteristics of a range of car fronts were also determined from pendulum tests at speeds of 24 and 40km/h. A vehicle-pedestrian interaction model was then established, and simulations of previously staged tests were carried out by means of the Calspan Crash Victim Simulation (CVS) program. This paper shows the comparison between tests and simulations for adult and child representations with a range of front end parameters. The particular effects of the various parameters are also discussed.