In the present study, real life data from insurance documentation and police records of accidents, as well as laboratory crash tests, were used. Insurance data on persons who sustained medical impairment from a neck injury Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 1, and the correlation between the impairment and the impact direction of the car were investigated. The same data was used to analyze the structural damage of the car. Laboratory tests of dummy movements were also analyzed. The paired comparison method was used to evaluate the influence of vehicle weight and car model as well as the age and sex of the occupants. The laboratory crash tests indicated that similar body movements may occur in rear-end and frontal impacts. The acceleration pulse also seem to have an influence on the occurrence of neck injuries in rear-end collisions. (A)
Abstract