Crashworthiness is the relative safety of vehicles in preventing severe injury in crashes. Crashworthiness ratings for 1982 to 1994 model vehicles were developed based on data on crashes in Victoria and New South Wales during 1987 to 1994. Crashworthiness was measured by a combination of injury severity (of injured drivers) and injury risk (of drivers involved in crashes). Injury severity was based on 63,000 drivers injured in crashes in the two States. Injury risk was based on 289,000 drivers involved in crashes in New South Wales where a vehicle was towed away. The ratings were adjusted for the driver sex and age, the speed limit at the crash location, and the number of vehicles involved, factors which were found to be strongly related to injury risk and/or severity. They estimate the risk of a driver being killed or admitted to hospital when involved in a tow-away crash, to a degree of accuracy represented by the confidence limits of the rating in each case. The estimates and their associated confidence limits were sufficiently sensitive that they were able to identify 36 models of passenger cars, four-wheel drive vehicles, passenger vans and light commercial vehicles which have superior or inferior crashworthiness characteristics compared with the average vehicle. However the results are based on a number of assumptions and warrant a number of qualifications which should be noted. (A)
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