The influence of vehicle weight on the risk of injury to drivers

Grime, G.; Hutchinson, T. P.

Affiliations

Abstract

The results of analyses ofthe national accident statistics for Great Britain for the years 1969-1972, published in 1979, are summarised with some additional material. The effect of the ratio of the weights of the colliding vehicles (the mass ratio) in two-vehicle accidents on the severity of injury to the drivers of the vehicles was determined, severity being judged by the percentages of fatal, serious and slight injury and of uninjured drivers. The colliding vehicles included in the analysis ranged in weight from the lightest cars (kerb weight about 800 to 1700 lb-350 to 800 kg) to heavy commercial vehicles weighing up to 30,000 lb (13,608 kg). Separate analyses were made for head-on and intersection collisions. both in rural and urban areas. With single-vehicle accidents, these collisions account for most of the fatal and serious injuries in cars and commercial vehicles.

In both types of collision mass ratio was found to have its greatest effect on deaths and least on slight injuries. For example, when one of the vehicles in each of a number of head-on collisions was twice the weight of the other, the percentage of deaths in the lighter vehicles was about 7 times that in the heavier vehicles. For serious injuries the ratio of the percentages was about 3. The ratios for all severities of injury were rather higher in urban than in rural areas. The effect of mass ratio in intersection accidents was similar to that in head-on collisions.

The relation of injury severity to vehicle weight in collisions in which the two vehicles were of approximately equal weight (mass ratio 0.95 to 1.05) was examined, and no effect of weight in reducing deaths or serious injuries was found either in head-on or intersection collisions: there was some indication of an increase in the percentage of deaths in commercial vehicles with weights of 6000 to 30,000 lb (2722 to 13,608 kg). In single-vehicle accidents, whether they were of the overturning or non-overturning type, there was little or no effect of vehicle weight.

Cited Works (1)

Year	Entry
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Cited By (8)

Year	Entry
1983	Nygren Å. Injuries to car occupants: some aspects of the interior safety of cars: a study of a five-year material from an insurance company. Acta Oto-Laryngol. 1983;95(suppl 395):1-135.
1999	Thomas P, Frampton R. Large and small cars in real-world crashes: patterns of use, collision types and injury outcomes. In: 43rd Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 20-21, 1999; Barcelon, Spain.101-118.
1996	Hobbs CA, Williams DA, Coleman DJ. Compatibility of cars in frontal and side impact. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 13-16, 1996; Melbourne, Australia.617-624.
1998	Wykes NJ, Edwards MJ, Hobbs CA. Compatibility requirements for cars in frontal and side impact. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 31–June 4, 1998; Windsor, Ontario, Canada.667-681.
2001	Edwards M, Happian-Smith J, Davies H, Byard N, Hobbs A. The essential requirements for compatible cars in frontal collisions. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 4-7, 2001; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
1989	Partyka SC, Boehly WA. Passenger car weight and injury severity in single vehicle nonrollover crashes. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 29–June 1, 1989; Göteborg, Sweden.507-519.
2005	Wood DP, Simms C, Glynn C. Two car frontal collisions: the role of car mass, collision speed distribution and frontal stiffness in occupant fatality and injury. In: Proceedings of the 2005 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 21-23, 2005; Prague, Czech Republic.85-96.
2002	Thomas P, Frampton R. Car size in U.K. crashes: the effects of user characteristics, impact configuration, and the patterns of injury. Traffic Inj Prev. 2002;3(4):275-282.