This report examined issues related to the ejection status of passenger vehicle occupants in fatal crashes. The tables are produced from data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for the 5-year period from 2003 through 2007. The relationship between ejection status and the following factors are included in the report: occupant restraint use, occupant injury severity, vehicle model year, speed limit at the location of the crash, rollover status, vehicle type, occupant age, occupant seat position, initial impact point, and number of vehicles involved in the crash (single-vehicle crash versus multi-vehicle crash). In fatal crashes from 2003 through 2007, only 2.0 percent of passenger vehicle occupants who were restrained were ejected from their vehicles, while 35.3 percent of unrestrained occupants were ejected. Of the nearly 400,000 occupants in these crashes, almost 14 percent overall were ejected. The percentage of occupants who were ejected has dropped significantly among newer model year vehicles. Among SUVs of MY 1989 through 1998, roughly 21 to 24 percent of the SUV occupants in fatal crashes were ejected. Starting with MY 1999, this ejection percentage experienced a steep decline as the model year of the SUV became more recent. The percentage ejected dropped to as low as 9.9 percent of the SUVs of MY 2005 and later. The corresponding decline was also large among vans, from 15 percent for vans of MY 1993 down to 8.0 percent for MY 2005 and later. The decline was less steep among passenger cars, dropping from around 11-12 percent among MY 1986 through 2000, down to around 9.0 percent among MY 2005 or later. The gradual decline among pickups was from around 18 to 22 percent up to MY 1994, down to 12.7 percent among MY 2005 or later. The percentage of occupants who were ejected was roughly twice as high when the speed limit was 60 mph or higher (18.6%) versus when the speed limit was 40 mph or less (9.6%). When the road had “no statutory limit,” the percentage of occupants who were ejected was highest, at 23.5 percent. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting