Within the framework of a one-year study of passenger car accidents involving 257 seriously and 153 fatally injured belted drivers and front seat passengers, the injuries to the head (skull, face and eyes) and neck (soft parts and cervical vertebrae) were analysed. It was established that the head is the part of the body most at risk, even with belted occupants. Whiplash trauma of the cervical vertebrae, often quoted as the classic safety belt injury, was found to be less frequent than snapping of the cervical vertebrae as a result of head impact despite the safety belt. Severe injury to the soft parts of the neck and especially the aorta carotis through the safety belt is a rare event. The effectiveness of head rests in a frontal collision was not able to be proved. It was however shown that correctly mounted head rests offer effective protection against cervical vertebrae injuries in rear end collisions. A short version of the thesis appeared in zeitschrift fuer unfallmedizin und berufskrankheiten, 1977, vol 70, p174-88.
Abstract