BACKGROUND Navajo motor vehicle mortality is the highest among the 12 Indian Health Service (IHS) administrative areas. In July 1988, the Navajo Nation enacted a primary enforcement safety belt use and a child restraint law. OBJECTIVE Assess the impact of the laws on the rate and severity of pediatric (0-19 years) motor vehicle injury resulting in hospitalizations in the Navajo Nation. METH...

OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to determine which vehicle factors are significantly related to pelvic injury in side impact collisions. Identification of relevant parameters could aid in the reduction of these injuries. METHOD Side impact crashes from the CIREN database were separated into those in which the occupant sustained a pelvic fracture and those in which no pelvic fracture ...

Injuries unique to pregnant occupants involved in motor-vehicle crashes include placental abruption, uterine rupture or laceration, and direct fetal injury. The mechanisms and characteristics of these injuries are discussed using examples from a literature review and from recent investigations of crashes involving pregnant occupants. In addition, a review of the relationship between the pregnan...

The 2000 United States Census counted 35 million residents aged 65 years old or older. Projections indicate that this number will increase to 63 million by 2025. This increase is important for those concerned about vehicle safety because older drivers and passengers are vulnerable road users. Much of the previous research concentrates on the role of the aging process on crash involvement among ...

In January 2001, NHTSA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning the regulation of automobile head restraints in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 202. This report presents analyses of occupant posture and position data that were conducted in preparation for comments from UMTRI on the NPRM. The focus of this report is on the potential impact of head restraint geometry...

Seat belt interaction with a far-side occupant's shoulder and thorax is critical to governing excursion towards the struck-side of the vehicle in side impact. In this study, occupant-to-belt interaction was simulated using a modified MADYMO human model and finite element belts. Quasi-static tests with volunteers and dynamic sled tests with PMHS and WorldSID were used for model validation and co...

Types of vehicle rollovers can be classified into two categories: untripped and tripped. Untripped rollovers are relatively rare events resulting from high lateral friction forces between the tires and road. Tripped rollovers are the result of lateral forces caused by the tire or wheel digging into the road or ground or from striking a curb or other obstacles. As reported in the open literature...

The objective of this study is to understand the occupant kinematics and injury risks in a light tactical vehicle under frontal crash conditions using a combination of physical tests and computer simulations. A total of 20 sled tests were conducted in a representative environment to understand occupant kinematics, and quantify the effects from occupant body size (5/50/95), military gear (helmet...

A weighted logistic regression with careful selection of crash, vehicle, occupant and injury data and sequentially adjusting the covariants, was used to investigate the predictors of the odds of head/face and neck (HFN) injuries during rollovers. The results show that unbelted occupants have statistically significant higher HFN injury risks than belted occupants. Age, number of quarter-turns, r...