A Review of Crash Severity Assessment Programs Applied to Retrospective Real-

In-depth, retrospective accident investigation studies provide a means to understand how car occupants are injured in road traffic accidents. In most retrospective studies, crash severity is estimated using the CRASH3 computer program. capable of crash severity assessment, PC-CRASH is more focused on accident reconstruction, and is therefore not discussed in this paper. AiDamage is a crash severity assessment tool, and was developed in the UK. This program is not discussed in this paper because it will be reviewed at a later date. This paper gives a brief description of CRASH3, and sets out how it is used by retrospective accident investigation studies. The effects of variations in the data input by accident investigators on results from CRASH3 were investigated. Variations in vehicle damage profile measurements and the application of a single stiffness class to front wheel drive vehicles involved in frontal impacts were looked at specifically. Based on the findings of these investigations, recommendations for the use of CRASH3 in retrospective accident investigation are then given. CRASH was developed to assist investigators to assess the severity of motor vehicle crashes. “CRASH” is an acronym for “Calspan Reconstruction of Accident Speeds on the Highway”. It was developed throughout the 197Os, on behalf of the United States’ Government. By the 1980s the CRASH program was developed to its third revision CRASH3 [ 11. Data relating to the damage sustained by the vehicle are entered into the program. These data consist of a code describing the damage location and type, and measurements of the damage profile. The program then calculates estimates of crash severity. INTRODUCTION Many scientists, engineers and legislators are working towards reducing the frequency and severity of injuries to motor-vehicle occupants involved in road traffic accidents. CRASH3 has been criticised because the stiffness coefficients and other default data used by the algorithms are considered very much out of date. The program does not have a facility to substitute for the default data. This does not allow proper interpretation of the crash severity estimates to be produced. In-depth, retrospective accident investigation studies provide a means to understand how car occupants are injured in crashes. In these studies, detailed examinations of the accident damaged vehicles are correlated with occupant injury records. This is done to determine the causes of injury to car occupants. It is important to gain a measure of crash severity. In most retrospective studies, this is done using a computer program. EDCRASH is an up-to-date version of the CRASH3 program. This is part of a suite of crash and accident reconstructional aides developed by the Engineering Dynamics Corporation. As computers developed, so too did the CRASH program. The program was no longer tied to a mainframe computer desktop computers became a viable medium for the program. As a result, graphics and more streamlined calculations were introduced [ 11, but to calculate estimates of crash severity, the same algorithms as CRASH3 are used. Crash Severity Assessment Programs There are various computer programs available that can be used for the purpose of assessing crash severity, for example, CRASH3, EDCRASH, SLAM for Windows, PC-CRASH and AiDamage. CRASH3, EDCRASH and SLAM for Windows are similar programs, and are discussed in this paper. Although SLAM for Windows is another version of the CRASH3 program. This was developed by AR Software. SLAM uses a Windows based rather than a DOS based environment. It, too, uses the same algorithms to calculate estimates of crash severity.