Lower limb injuries to passenger car occupants.

A detailed examination was undertaken of hospitalized car occupants who sustained a lower limb injury in a frontal crash. The assessment included an analysis of the type, severity and causes of these injuries and mechanisms involved in lower limb fractures. The findings showed that fractures and dislocations occurred in 88% of lower limb injury cases, that more than half were from crashes < 48 km hour-1 and that the number of fractures was directly proportional with delta V. Ankle dislocations and foot fractures from the floor and toe pand were the most common injury-source combination overall. The most frequent mechanisms of lower limb fracture were compression, perpendicular loading of the knee and crushing or twisting of the foot. The study points to the need for further regulation to reduce lower limb fractures in frontal crashes and highlights a number of possible countermeasures.