This study shows results of 762 car to pedestrian collisions, documented within in-depth investigations on the scene at the Medical University Hannover, Germany. Special attention is paid to the shape of the car front. The situation for the pedestrian injuries is described in relation to collision speed, and the following is found: (1) 70% of all accidents with pedestrians happened at an impact speed of up to 40 km/h, and 30% were higher; (2) Collision speed of more than 40 km/h had an injury severity risk of 31% Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 1, 65% MAIS 2-4, and 4% MAIS 5-6; and (3) 4.7% of the pedestrian heads colliding in the speed range of up to 40 km/h suffered injuries during an impact to the windscreen region, but 63.6% of the heads with speeds of more than 40 km/h suffered injuries from that region. The detailed head impact situation in the area of the windscreen was analyzed, and the deformation patterns of the glass and the frame were compared to the head injury pattern. Most of all windscreen impacts with the head occurred to the lower half part of the screen. The head injury severity is not significantly higher in the frame region than in the middle-part of the screen. Improvements for reducing the injury severity are postulated, and a proposal for an optimized test procedure is briefly described.
Abstract