The Accident Research Unit at the Medical University Hannover carried out an in-depth investigation of road accidents in a statistical representative manner. Each year approx. 1000 accidents are collected on order of BASt. These data are a good tool for analysing the accident scene of severe car crashes, answering the question how car crashes of severe and fatal injury occurrence look like. While many safety measures for car occupants and test procedures for car developments exist, 1/3 of all severe and fatal injured persons in road accidents are car occupants. 5.5% of all car occupants involved in road accidents suffered injury severities of more or equal than MAIS 3, but it must be the aim to avoid these victims. For this purpose the accident situations were analysed in detail. In the study the injury mechanisms are described, measures reducing these residual severe and fatal injuries assessed and demands for test procedures and car design formulated with regard to an optimized occupant protection. (A)
Abstract