This appendix presents an analysis of non struck side occupants and their injuries. Overall there were 440 cases for analysis with a total of 220 occupants. It was noted that there were a number of factors which influences the injury mechanism in side impacts; * The direction of force determines the occupant movements, and the contacts with inner elements in the occupant compartment. Thus, the movement direction for CDC12= 3 or 9 (41.1 % of impacts), is totally different from CDC12=0, 1, 5, 6, 7 or 11 (25.9% of impacts). * The horizontal location (CDC45) allows estimation of the intrusion in the occupant compartment. * Delta-V is usually calculated as a severity parameter. In this sample, only the 15.3% of impacts has a delta-V value greater than 30 km/h. However, 21.3% of cases do not contain any information in this field. * The collision partner too is an important parameter for the analysis. It is; a car or a derivative in 67.5% of cases; a pole, a post, a tree or a narrow object in 10.7% of cases; and a van, a truck or a bus in 12.3% of cases. Overall the injury severity of the non struck side occupant was low with 83% of occupants with a MAIS of 0 or 1. When the collision partner was a narrow object there were a higher percentage of severe injuries in the non struck side occupants. The main body region injured was the chest in the severe cases. Seat belt use was shown to have some benefits with regard to injury severity in the non struck side occupant. 13.8% of occupants with a seat belt had a MAIS greater than 1 whereas 26.7% of occupants not wearing a seatbelt had a MAIS greater than 1. Delta-V was also shown to have an influence on injury severity with 9.5% of occupants with a MAIS greater than 1 in vehicles with a delta-V less than 30km/h. In contrast 25.6% of occupants had a MAIS greater than 1 with a delta-V of more than 30km/h. (Author/publisher)
Abstract