The Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL), acting on behalf of the Vehicle Standards and Engineering (VSE) of the Department of Transport (DTp), commissioned the Accident Research Unit (ARU) at Loughborough University to analyse a sample of police reports of fatal accidents. These accidents concern car occupants who were killed following a collision with the front of a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) in 1988. The objective was principally to estimate the numbers who might have survived had underrun guards been fitted to the trucks. For each fatality the judgement was made as to whether he or she would have survived: given restraint use but no underrun guard; given an underrun guard was fitted but restraints were not worn; and given restraints were worn and underrun guards fitted. These judgements were based upon the damage pattern of the car and the HGV, the location, nature, severity and likely cause of the injuries, the speed estimates, comparisons with test impacts and the investigators experience gained from inspecting many fatal and non-fatal car-HGV collisions. The results for each category of restraint use were combined for the complete sample.
Samenvatting