This article describes research which provides evidence that women are more likely to be more severely injured than men if they are involved in road accidents of identical violence and severity. This difference increases with age. This research studied a sample of 1230 belted casualties, of whom 109 suffered thoracic injuries attributable to the seat belt. To avoid as many sources of bias as possible, the following cases were excluded: (a) cases in which occupants sustained an overload due to the back set occupant; or (b) sustained major intrusion preventing use of the restraining device without direct impact against the steering wheel or front panel. The injuries observed were mainly rib fractures, sometimes associated with internal injuries. To assess the thorax tolerance between males and females, the following were then analyzed (a) a sub-sample of 295 occupants wearing a seat belt equipped with a textile shock absorber; and (b) a series of thorax bone resistance tests covering 245 cadavers and vehicle occupants who had died suddenly in road accidents. These studies show that in real accidents, for an identical impact violence, restrained females reach their maximum thorax resistance sooner.
Abstract