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Differences in injury risk between females and males are often reported in field data analysis. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in kinematics and injury risk between average female and male car occupants, pedestrians and cyclists, under well-controlled boundary conditions. Therefore, a simulation study comprising the newly introduced VIVA+ human body models was performed, representing the first model line-up consisting of average female and male models originating from the same base model. A generic vehicle interior, detailed seat models and a generic vehicle exterior were used to simulate crash scenarios close to those currently tested in consumer information tests. Differences in injury risks, load distribution and injury mechanisms were observed between the average female and male VIVA+ models for different load cases and body regions. While in some load cases, loading was more severe for the average female, opposite trends have also been observed. In order to understand trends observed in the field and to derive appropriate countermeasures, further variations in load cases and anthropometries should be considered in future work using the tools presented in this study., VIRTUAL

Objective: An integrated assessment framework that enables holistic safety evaluations addressing vulnerable road users (VRU) is introduced and applied in the current study. The developed method enables consideration of both active and passive safety measures and distributions of real-world crash scenario parameters. Methods: The likelihood of a specific virtual testing scenario occurring in real life has been derived from accident databases scaled to European level. Based on pre-crash simulations, it is determined how likely it is that scenarios could be avoided by a specific Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) system. For the unavoidable cases, probabilities for specific collision scenarios are determined, and the injury risk for these is determined, subsequently, from in-crash simulations with the VIVA+ Human Body Models combined with the created metamodel for an average male and female model. The integrated assessment framework was applied for the holistic assessment of car-related pedestrian protection using a generic car model to assess the safety benefits of a generic AEB system combined with current passive safety structures. Results: In total, 61,914 virtual testing scenarios have been derived from the different car-pedestrian cases based on real-world crash scenario parameters. Considering the occurrence probability of the virtual testing scenarios, by implementing an AEB, a total crash risk reduction of 81.70% was achieved based on pre-crash simulations. It was shown that 50 in-crash simulations per load case are sufficient to create a metamodel for injury prediction. For the in-crash simulations with the generic vehicle, it was also shown that the injury risk can be reduced by implementing an AEB, as compared to the baseline scenarios. Moreover, as seen in the unavoidable cases, the injury risk for the average male and female is the same for brain injuries and femoral shaft fractures. The average male has a higher risk of skull fractures and fractures of

To improve mobility in cities in line with environmental goals, in urban traffic, trams represent an increasingly important means of transport. Due to the close interaction with other road users, this makes collisions with trams fairly frequent. This study has investigated accidents between trams and vulnerable road users resulting in personal injury, aimed at identifying priorities for simulating collisions between trams and pedestrians to assess passive safety measures. Tram accident data collection established throughout Europe from multiple sources and with varying degree of details, have been combined and analysed. These analyses comprise risk assessments per km-driven and general tram accident partner and site type evaluations, with more detailed analyses on accident site distance to the closest tram stop and injured body regions, respectively. In total, 7,535 tram-pedestrian accident resulting in 8,802 pedestrian injuries, collected in the year 2000–2021, was analysed. Accident risk ranges from 0.934 accidents per number of tram (million) km-driven, for slight injuries to 0.063 for fatal injuries. Pedestrians represent a large proportion of tram accident collision partners, especially for severe and fatal accidents. In accidents between trams and pedestrians, 3% of reported injuries are fatal, 23% severe and 74% minor. Generally, low-speed accidents close to tram stops often leading to minor injuries were observed to be of significant importance (<20m to the GPS location of a stop). Analysis of accidents was done bases on gender of the pedestrian showing overall similar involvements in accident with slight difference for various age groups and sites. Regardless of injury severity, the most frequently injured body region in accidents involving a tram is the head. Likewise, injuries sustained to the thorax, especially for higher injury severities are of high relevance, followed by injuries to the lower extremities. Based on this study, recommendations for de

This study investigates the response of standing passengers on public transport who experience balance perturbations during non-collision incidents. The objective of the study was to analyse the effects of the perturbation characteristics on the initial responses of the passengers and their ability to maintain their balance. Sled tests were conducted on healthy volunteers aged 33.8 ± 9.2 years (13 males, 11 females) standing on a moving platform, facilitating measurements of the initial muscle activity and stepping response of the volunteers. The volunteers were exposed to five different perturbation profiles representing typical braking and accelerating manoeuvres of a public transport bus in the forward and backward direction. The sequence of muscle activations in lower-extremity muscles was consistent for the perturbation pulses applied. For the three acceleration pulses combining two magnitudes for acceleration (1.5 and 3.0 m/s2) and jerk (5.6 and 11.3 m/s3), the shortest muscle onset and stepping times for the passengers to recover their balance were observed with the higher jerk value, while the profile with the higher acceleration magnitude and longer duration induced more recovery steps and a higher rate of safety-harness deployment. The tendency for a shorter response time was observed for the female volunteers. For the two braking pulses (1.0 and 2.5 m/s2), only the lower magnitude pulse allowed balance recovery without compensatory stepping. The results obtained provide a reference dataset for human body modelling, the development of virtual test protocols, and operational limits for improving the safety of public transportation vehicles and users. © Copyright © 2021 Krašna, Keller, Linder, Silvano, Xu, Thomson and Klug.

This study has analyzed sex-specific differences in pedestrian and cyclist accidents involving passenger cars. The most frequently injured body regions, types of injuries, which show sex-specific differences and the general accident parameters of females and males were compared. Accident data from three different European countries (Austria, Netherlands, Sweden) were analyzed. The current analysis shows that for both, females and males, pedestrian and cyclist injuries are sustained mainly to the body regions head, thorax, upper extremities and lower extremities. The results show that the odds for sustaining skeletal injuries to the lower extremities (incl. pelvis) in females are significantly higher. It was observed in all datasets, that the odds of females being involved in a rural accident or an accident at night are lower than for males. Elderly pedestrian and cyclist (>= 60YO) tend to sustain more severe injuries (AIS2+ and AIS3+) than younger pedestrian and cyclists (<60YO) in some of the datasets. The findings of this study highlight the differences in males and females in both, accident scenarios and sustained injuries. Further investigations are needed to distinguish between gender- and sex-specific differences causing the different injury patterns.

Free-standing passengers on public transport are subjected to perturbations during non-collision incidents caused by driver maneuvers, increasing the risk of injury. In the literature, the step strategy is described as a recovery strategy during severe perturbations. However, stepping strategies increase body displacement, ultimately subjecting passengers to higher risk of impacts and falls on public transport. This study investigates the influence of different recovery strategies on the outcome of balance recovery of free-standing public transport passengers, challenged in postural balance by the non-uniform vehicle dynamics. From high-speed video recordings, a qualitative investigation of the balance responses of volunteer participants in a laboratory experiment was provided. On a linearly moving platform, 24 healthy volunteers (11 females and 13 males) were subjected to perturbation profiles of different magnitude, shape and direction, mimicking the typical acceleration and deceleration behavior of a bus. A methodology categorizing the balancing reaction to an initial strategy and a recovery strategy, was used to qualitatively identify, characterize and, evaluate the different balance strategies. The effectiveness of different strategies was assessed with a grading criterion. Statistical analysis based on these ordinal data was provided. The results show that the current definition in the literature of the step strategy is too primitive to describe the different identified recovery strategies. In the volunteers with the most successful balancing outcome, a particularly effective balance recovery strategy not yet described in the literature was identified, labeled the fighting stance. High jerk perturbations seemed to induce faster and more successful balance recovery, mainly for those adopting the fighting stance, compared to the high acceleration and braking perturbation profiles. Compared to the pure step strategy, the characteristics of the fighting stance see

Objective: To reduce the number of severe injuries sustained by cyclists in crashes with vehicles, it is important to understand which kinds of injuries are occurring to identify what should be assessed by means of virtual testing. Method: A detailed analysis of injuries was made based on Swedish and Dutch accident data. The most frequently injured body regions and the most frequent single injuries of these body regions were analysed. Results: Cyclists most frequently injured their heads, upper and lower extremities, and bone fractures as well as brain injuries were identified as one of the most important injuries. Conclusions: For the virtual assessment of cyclist protection, injury predictors for long bone, skull and pelvic fractures as well as brain injuries are required in Human Body Models.