This study focuses on typical characteristics of car accidents that may influence the extent of Cer-vical Spine Disorder (CSD) injuries and the subsequent recovery process. A statistical analysis of long-term CSD injuries in rear-end collisions was also performed, placing particular emphasis on the car models involved. 754 accidents were investigated retrospectively by analyzing insurance records (HUK - Coburg) in terms of the Quebec Task Force Injury Classification (QTF). Accidents were classified according to collision direction: frontal, rear-end and lateral. Statistical analysis of rear-end collisions by car type was performed using three categories: not injured, CSD injury, long-term (> 6 weeks) CSD injury. The range of delta v for frontal impacts where passengers sustained a CSD injury was higher than that for other types of collisions (24.9 km/h, compared with 16.5 km/h for rear-end impacts, 15.2 km/h for lateral impacts). Women showed a higher risk than men of suffering from a CSD injury. In frontal impacts the extent of general injury was higher than in rear-end impacts. 20% of patients received treatment lasting 1-2 weeks and 30% received treatment lasting 2-6 weeks. The duration of absence from work varied according to the severity of the injury (QTF I: 11 days versus QTF II: 16 days and QTF III: 23 days). Differences were also identified in the incidence of long-term injuries between various car types in the same weight class and with the same driver. According to our results, females represent the highest CSD risk group in all collision types. Thus, protection measures should focus on this group in particular. Frontal test conditions should be in a delta v range of 23-30 km/h. Analysis of the results on the basis of different car models clearly dem-onstrated a discrepancy in the protection levels afforded by the different models. For the covering abstract see E135170.
Abstract