Centre for Automotive Safety Research conference papers

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A model for determining injury risk on the basis of impact speed, using vehicle data from variable-speed impact tests
(International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, 2014) Gockowiak, K.; Anderson, R.; Searson, D.; International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury (IRCOBI) (10 Sep 2014 - 12 Sep 2014 : Berlin, Germany)
This paper discusses a model that estimates the effect of a change in impact velocity on vehicle impact response. The motivation of the study is to develop a model that will be able to predict occupant injury risk over a range of speeds based on performance in standard crash tests. The model comprises a tipped equivalent square wave (TESW) acceleration pulse to model the vehicle acceleration that is dependent on impact speed. The model was used to analyse data from five full‐width rigid‐barrier impact testing carried out at five speeds. Analyses were selected to investigate the relationship between impact speed, vehicle dynamic crush and mean impact acceleration. The results suggest that it is possible to model vehicle impact response (specifically the magnitude of dynamic crush and mean vehicle impact acceleration) using a bi‐linear, impactvelocity‐ dependent relationship, based on a limited number of crash tests. Models such as these may provide a means of integrating assessment of vehicle crashworthiness with the assessment of primary safety technologies designed to reduce the speed of crashes.
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A study of head injury in fatally injured child pedestrians
(Institution of Engineers, 2000) Brown, J.; Gorrie, C.; Waite, P.; Gibson, T.; Anderson, R.; Griffiths, M.; Impact Biomechanics Australia Conference: Neck Injury 2000 (16 Mar 2000 : Sydney, Australia)
Open Access
Advisory intelligent speed adaptation in government fleet vehicles
(Government of Western Australia, 2011) Doecke, S.; Anderson, R.; Woolley, J.; Truong, J.; Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference (2011 : Perth, Australia)
This paper details an economic analysis of the fitment of advisory intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) devices to state government fleets. Four devices were considered; two dedicated ISA devices, a navaid device that incorporates ISA functionality and a factory fitted multimedia centre that incorporates ISA functionality. Two installation scenarios were explored: the first where the ISA device can be taken from a government vehicle about to be sold and placed into a new government vehicle that has just been bought; the second where the device remains in the vehicle after it is sold to the public. The crash savings attributed to ISA were calculated by using the results of the New South Wales ISA trial and the Kloeden risk curve for travel speed. It was concluded that advisory ISA has the potential to reduce casualty crashes in government fleets by 20%. It was estimated that this would save 171 casualty crashes involving state government vehicles and $31.6 million in crash costs per year. The navaid device that incorporates ISA functionality would be the most cost effective, having a payback period of around a year in both scenarios considered.
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An equation for generalising from impact test performance to real-world crashes
(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2013) Hutchinson, T.P.; Anderson, R.; Searson, D.; 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) (27 May 2013 - 30 May 2013 : Seoul, Korea)
Research Question / Objective: Instrumented headforms are projected at the fronts of cars to assess pedestrian safety. Better information would be obtained from these and other types of impact tests if performance over the range of expected impact conditions in the field were taken into account. That is, some means is needed to convert from performance in tightly-specified test conditions to what happens in the real-world. Method: Pedestrian impact safety performance of a car is affected by speed, head mass, and the distribution of impact locations over the front of the car. The effects are complicated because bottoming out may occur, that is, the hood or other surface structure may fail to absorb sufficient energy to prevent contact with much stiffer structures beneath it. In turn, the locations are affected by the geometry of the car, the impact speed, and the pedestrian’s stature. The relative frequencies of different speeds, masses, and so on are important inputs to the calculation of an average. Results: The principal result is a theory. This has three steps. The first is to convert the test quantity (e.g., HIC, the Head Injury Criterion) observed in test conditions to what would be observed if (for example) speed or mass were different. The second is to convert the test quantity to something that can be meaningfully averaged --- for example, average dollar cost of HIC or the probability of death corresponding to a given HIC. The third is to obtain the average cost, or average probability of death, by integration over the quantities that vary from crash to crash: speed, head mass, stature, and impact location. Discussion and Limitations: The theory that is developed may be used to calculate, for example, the changes that result if test performance is improved, or the probabilities of different conditions change. With appropriate modification, the theory is applicable to many other forms of testing also. The chief limitation is that good information is required on such things as the dependence of HIC on speed and mass, the dependence of cost on HIC, and the relative frequencies of speeds, masses, and so on. Such information is difficult to obtain. Conclusions: Better representation of the effect of impact conditions on severity is required if a test regime is to provide appropriate incentives for improvement in vehicle design. This paper identifies what information is needed, and shows how it can be used to estimate average real-world performance starting from what is observed in an impact test.
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An estimate of the future road safety benefits of autonomous emergency braking and vehicle-to-vehicle communication technologies
(ACRS, 2016) Searson, D.; Dutschke, J.; Ponte, G.; Hutchinson, T.; Anderson, R.; Lydon, M.; Australasian Road Safety Conference (ARSC) (6 Sep 2016 - 8 Sep 2016 : Canberra, ACT)
The aim of this study was to examine the consequences of delaying introduction of new technologies on future reductions in fatalities and serious injuries. This was done specifically for Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications, which represent the two most promising technologies in the short-term and medium-term future. The results demonstrate that a delay in introduction, or a slower rate of introduction, can have a significant effect on how long it takes for the benefits to be realised in the greater vehicle fleet.
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An investigation of light vehicle fleet safety in South Australia
(OSIT, 2012) Mackenzie, J.; Anderson, R.; Searson, D.; Occupational Safety in Transport Conference (1st : 2012 : Gold Coast, Queensland)
BACKGROUND: Longitudinal data on work-related road crashes in Australia are limited. Available data indicate a significant number of work-related fatal and serious crashes. Fleet vehicles are assumed to account for a large proportion of work-related driving. Aims: To estimate the size of the burden of fleet-related fatal and serious crashes involving light vehicles in South Australia. Data: Fatal and serious crashes that occurred over a five-year period in South Australia. Fleet vehicles were identified using the vehicle identification number. RESULTS: There were 290 light fleet vehicles involved in 282 fatal and serious crashes. The drivers and passengers of the fleet vehicles sustained 181 casualties. An occupant of a fleet vehicle was most severely injured in 25.5% of multiple party crashes. The drivers of fleet vehicles were responsible for the crash in 38.2% of multiple party crashes. Light vehicle fleet-related fatalities make up one-third of all South Australian work-related road fatalities.
Open Access
Bicycle crashes in South Australia
(University of Adelaide, 2008) Hutchinson, T.; Kloeden, C.; Long, A.; Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference (2008 : Adelaide, Australia); Anderson, R.; Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR)
Characteristics of pedal cycle crashes (as reported to the police) in South Australia, and how they have changed over the period 1981-2004, are examined, with analysis of both the frequency and the severity of these crashes in different circumstances. In 1981, pedal cyclist casualties were mostly children and teenagers. In 2004, pedal cyclist casualties were mostly spread across the age range from 16 to 49. Child pedal cyclist casualties reached a maximum in 1982-1987, and have fallen sharply since. Adult pedal cyclist casualties reached a maximum in 1987-1990, and then fell. A more detailed examination is made of the situation in the period 2001-2004. Data are given on several aspects of both child and adult casualties: time, place, site, events, the cyclist, and the motor vehicle and its driver.
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Biomechanics of a sheep model of axonal injury
(1997) Anderson, R.; Brown, C.; Blumbergs, P.; Finnie, J.; McLean, J.; Jones, N.; IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impacts (24-26 September, 1997 : Hannover, Germany); Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR)
The aim of this project was to investigate the feasibility of using an animal model of axonal injury to study the biomechanics of the injury. The model utilises anaesthetised sheep that are mechanically ventilated and stabilised before being subjected to a single lateral impact from a captive bolt gun. The impact force was measured using a load cell mounted in the striker, and the resulting head acceleration was measured by means of a 9-accelerometer array which was rigidly mounted to the head of the sheep. Head kinematics were transformed to anatomical coordinates using stereo-radiography. High speed cine film (1000 fps) was used for the visualisation of gross head motion. After impact, each animal was allowed to survive for a predetermined period during which anaesthesia was maintained. A complement of physiological monitors was used to measure the physiological state of the animal at all times during the experiment. In one experiment, hypqxia was induced after the physical insult. After the survival period, the animal was sacrificed and the brain removed for histological processing. The brain was sectioned, processed and examined for axonal injury using the presence of amyloid precursor protein (APP) as an indicator of injury. The distribution of axonal injury in serial sections of the brain was mapped and quantified. Five experiments, displaying a range of injury responses, are reported on in this paper. In the future, the model will be used to study the biomechanics of axonal injury.
Open Access
Bull bar prevalence among types of vehicle in metropolitan Adelaide
(University of Adelaide, 2008) Doecke, S.; Anderson, R.; Ponte, G.; Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference (2008 : Adelaide, Australia); Anderson, R.; Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR)
The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of bull bars at typical pedestrian crash sites in metropolitan Adelaide, and to disaggregate the measured prevalence by type of vehicle. In 2007 a survey was conducted to examine the proportion of vehicles fitted with bull bars in Adelaide, South Australia, at sites where pedestrian crashes had occurred in the past. The sample was stratified to examine the prevalence in separate geographical regions of the metropolitan area of Adelaide. The survey results were combined using weights determined from the relative instances of pedestrian crashes in the three survey strata. The present study paper extends the results of the original survey by recording counts of different vehicle types using video footage of the original survey enabling the proportions of bull bar equipped vehicles within each vehicle type to be determined. It was found that 45.4% of four-wheel-drive vehicles (4WDs)/sports utility vehicles (SUVs), 49.8% of work utilities, 15.6% of vans, 1.5% of passenger cars and derivatives, 28% of trucks and 23.3% of buses were equipped with a bull bar. It was also found that alloy bull bars are the most common, more than twice as common as steel bull bars and over fifteen times as common as plastic bull bars. Alloy bull bars are particularly popular on 4WDs/SUVs and sedan and sedan derivatives where their fitment is three times more common than a steel bull bar. Vans were the only type of vehicle to be more commonly fitted with a steel bull bar than an alloy bull bar.
Open Access
Can personality characteristics predict the crash involvement of young drivers?
(University of Adelaide, 2008) Wundersitz, L.; Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference (2008 : Adelaide, Australia); Anderson, R.; Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR)
There is an increasing body of research investigating relationships between personality factors and crash involvement. This research estimates that personality factors account for about 10 to 20% of the variance in crashes. However, there are a number of limitations associated with this research. Most studies are cross-sectional or retrospective in design, are based on self-reported crashes or other self-reported driver behaviour and do not adequately consider driving exposure. The aim of this paper was to identify personality-related characteristics associated with crashes among young drivers using a prospective and retrospective design and official driver records. A total of 396 young drivers, aged 16 to 24 years, were administered a questionnaire measuring a wide variety of personality characteristics and driving-related factors to determine whether these variables could predict crash involvement. To determine whether personality characteristics could consistently predict crashes among young drivers, crash involvement prior to questionnaire administration and three years following were investigated separately. The results indicated that no personality factors consistently predicted crashes before and after questionnaire administration. The use of driving to reduce tension was associated with young driver crashes prior to questionnaire administration. However, this relationship disappeared when controlling for driving exposure and sex. Driving in a competitive way predicted crashes for the following three years. A greater understanding of any personality factors and attitudes that predict young driver crash involvement will assist in matching interventions to the individual needs of these drivers.
Open Access
Characteristics of High Injury Severity Crashes on 80 – 110 km/h Rural Roads in South Australia
(University of Adelaide, 2008) Mackenzie, J.; Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference (2008 : Adelaide, Australia); Anderson, R.; Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR)
This paper aims to present an overview of the characteristics of high injury severity rural road crashes in South Australia by examining the relationship between high severity injuries and other crash variables. A data set of approximately five thousand crashes was generated by taking all casualty crashes (excluding pedestrian and non-motorised vehicles) on South Australian rural roads, outside of Adelaide, with a speed limit of 80 km/h or more from the years 2002 to 2006. The results provide an overview of the proportion of high injury severity outcomes associated with various crash, road, vehicle and driver characteristics and are summarised in tables. A logistic regression analysis indicated that a higher speed limit, hours of darkness or low light and a dry road predicted high injury severity for single vehicle crashes involving cars and car derivatives.
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Choice of licensing method and crashes of young drivers
(The Australasian Road Safety Research Policing Education Conference, 2005) Anderson, R.; Kloeden, C.; Hutchinson, T.; McLean, A.; Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference (2005 : Wellington, New Zealand); Strachan, G.
Five years of data (1998-2002) were used to examine whether there was a relationship between the method of driver licensing - Competency Based Training (CBTA) or Vehicle On-Road Test (VORT) - and the subsequent crash experience of young drivers, using logistic regression analysis.
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Contribution of structural incompatibility to asymmetrical injury risks in crashes between two passenger vehicles
(ACRS, 2012) Anderson, R.; Ponte, G.; Australasian College of Road Safety Conference (2012 : Sydney, Australia); Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR)
It is well known that mass ratio affects the probability of injury and death in both vehicles in two-vehicle crashes. Likewise, other evidence suggests that typical 4WD vehicles exhibit poorer than average aggressivity such that occupants of regular vehicles are more likely to be injured in a crash when it involves a 4WD. In this study, the ratio of the incidence of injury and death to drivers in two-vehicle crashes was calculated for crashes with different vehicle mass ratios. Injury ratios were calculated for crashes involving strictly two cars and again for those crashes where the heavier vehicle was a 4WD vehicle (4WD) or a light truck (LT) and the lighter vehicle was a car. There is a common dependence of the injury risk ratio on vehicle mass ratio in both classes of crash, but that there is an additional relative risk to the lighter vehicle driver when the heavier vehicle is a 4WD/LT. The effect is stronger for fatality ratios. Around twice as many drivers are killed per crash in car-to-4WD/LT crashes, indicating that the increased risk to the driver of the car is not completely offset by reduced risks to the driver of the 4WD/LT.
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Cost benefit analysis of intelligent speed adaptation
(RCAG, 2010) Doecke, S.; Woolley, J.; Anderson, R.; Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads; Office of Road Safety - Department of Premier and Cabinet (WA); Transport Certification Australia and VicRoads; Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference (2010 : Canberra, ACT); Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR)
This report examines the potential costs and benefits of Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) in Australia. Analysis was conducted to determine the benefits of advisory, supportive and limiting ISA. This analysis suggested advisory ISA would reduce injury crashes by 7.7% and save $1,226 million per year. These figures were 15.1% and $2,240 million for supportive ISA and 26.4% and $3,725 million for limiting ISA. A cost benefit analysis was conducted considering different implementation scenarios including: all vehicles, new vehicles, fleet vehicles, market driven, heavy vehicles, young drivers and navaid devices. The cost benefit analysis was heavily influenced by the unit price of the ISA devices causing the cost benefit ratios (BCRs) to vary from as low as 0.29 to 4.03 over a 20 year timeframe. The “all vehicles” and “new vehicles” scenarios produced the greatest BCRs although it was thought that, taking into account the elevated risk of young drivers, a combination of implementing ISA on young driver’s vehicles and new vehicles may be the most cost effective implementation scenario. Limiting ISA generally produced the highest BCRs therefore this level of ISA should be implemented wherever possible.
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Crashworthiness research at the NHMRC Road Accident Research Unit
(1998) Anderson, R.; McLean, J.; StaySafe 44: Developing Safer Motor Vehicles for Australia: seminar held at Parliament House (16-17 March, 1998 : Sydney, Australia); Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR)
The NHMRC Road Accident Research Unit (RARU) at the University of Adelaide has investigated aspects of vehicle crashworthiness for many years. Recently, this work has concentrated on head injury prevention, for both vehicle occupants and pedestrians. The nature and severity ofbrain injuries to car occupants has been studied in relation to the object struck by the head and the location of the impact on the head. RARU has used this information to assess the likely benefits from padding the upper interior of the passenger compartment in terms of reducing the incidence and severity of brain injury. With support from the Federal Office of Road Safety, RARU is also developing a test facility to investigate the level of protection afforded to a pedestrian by current model passenger cars in car/pedestrian collisions. The procedure consists of three sub-system tests which consider loading to the head, the upper leg and the knee joint. The test procedure has been developed by the European Experimental Vehicles Committee and is currently being considered for adoption as a European vehicle safety standard. RARU is also using the facility to physically reconstruct fatal pedestrian accidents and to study the aggressiveness of bullbars.
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Data collection and analysis of vehicle factors in relation to pedestrian brain injury
(1996) McLean, J.; Kloeden, C.; Anderson, R.; Baird, R.; Farmer, M.; International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (15th : 1996 : Melbourne, Australia); Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR)
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Description of pedestrian crashes in accordance with characteristics of Active Safety Systems
(International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury, 2014) Hamdane, H.; Serre, T.; Anderson, R.; Masson, C.; Yerpez, J.; International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury (IRCOBI) (10 Sep 2014 - 12 Sep 2014 : Berlin, Germany)
Primary safety systems have been developed for vehicles in order to detect a pedestrian and to avoid or mitigate an impact autonomously. This work aims to estimate the safety potential of six Active Pedestrian Safety Systems (APSS) from a sample of 100 real vehicle/pedestrian crashes provided by in‐depth crash investigation. The accident cases were first reconstructed by emulating the kinematics of the vehicle and the pedestrian. These simulations provided a comprehensive set of data describing the interaction between the vehicle and the pedestrian over a crash sequence. Then, four particular pre‐crash events on the timeline were selected as fields of interest with respect to performance characteristics of APSS. They correspond respectively to 2.5s before the impact, the instant when the pedestrian is visible (pedestrian steps into the field of view of the sensor), the last moment for the vehicle to brake in order to stop before impact and one second before the impact. For each of these instants and for each of the six selected APSS, it was evaluated if the systems could detect the pedestrian according to the different attributes of these systems. Results allow describing the required performance of an APSS and understanding the issues and challenges in pedestrian safety.
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Determining accurate contact definitions in multi-body simulations for DOE-type reconstruction of head impacts in pedestrian accidents
(2005) Anderson, R.; McLean, A.; International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (19th : 2005 : Washington, D.C.)
Crash reconstruction is sometimes used to study injury mechanisms and thresholds, but is often difficult because crash and model parameters are not known precisely. If simulation is used as part of the reconstruction process, then various Design-of- Experiment (DOE) tools may be easily applied to estimate response surfaces of the dependent variable (e.g. head acceleration), to a range of possible crash factors, subject to the validity of the model. This approach relies on the validity of the model’s characteristics over the range of likely crash conditions, meaning that non-linear aspects of the system will often need to be included. The contact between the head of a pedestrian and the hood of a car is an example of a nonlinear contact that is critical to the estimation of the variable of interest: the head impact severity (as measured by linear and angular acceleration or HIC, for example). This paper describes the reconstruction of four pedestrian collisions in which the effects of uncertainties in posture and impact speed on the estimation of a head impact severity were quantified. For each case, physical tests were conducted at lower, middle and upper estimates of head impact speed on a vehicle of the same make and model as the striking vehicle in the collision. The results of these tests were used to define a single non-linear contact characteristic in MADYMO that could reproduce the results of all three impact tests. This contact characteristic was then used in the simulation of the collision to estimate a likely range for the head impact severity.
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Development of head protection for car occupants
(Plevin and Associates Pty Ltd, 2002) Anderson, R.; Ponte, G.; Streeter, L.; Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference (4 November 2002 : Adelaide, Australia); McLean, P.
McLean et al. (1997) demonstrated that energy absorbing headwear for car occupants might be effective in reducing the numbers of head injuries sustained by car occupants. They estimated that the benefits were greater than the estimated benefits of padding of the upper interior of vehicles to the requirements of the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 201. This paper will describe the development of head protection for car occupants (the RARU Headband) that would protect the head of an occupant in a crash. The development process included the testing of candidate materials, the construction of prototypes and ultimately the evaluation of the prototypes according to test methods outlined in FMVSS 201. The evaluation was made by attaching the headband to a free motion headform, and firing the headform at 24 km/h at an unpadded beam that had similar characteristics to a vehicle A-pillar, simulating a frontal collision. Three beams of varying stiffness were used to examine the protective effect of the headband over a range of impact severities. The protective effect was measured by comparing the impact severity between impacts with and without the headband present. Results showed that the headband produced marked reductions in the Head Injury Criterion value compared to the unprotected headform. In beams that produced severe impacts with the unprotected headform, that exceeded the threshold set by FMVSS 201, the headband reduced the severity to safe levels. This study showed that head impact severities can be markedly reduced for car occupants by the use of moderate amounts of head protection in frontal impacts. Further evaluation is required for other impact directions. This study was completed for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
Open Access
Emerging vehicle safety technologies and their potential benefits: discussion of expert opinions
(Australasian College of Road Safety, 2015) Searson, D.; Ponte, G.; Hutchinson, T.; Anderson, R.; Lydon, M.; Australasian Road Safety Conference (ACRS) (14 Oct 2015 - 16 Oct 2015 : Gold Coast, Qld)
The aim of this study was to consult experts from Australia and overseas about their views on emerging technologies, the likely uptake of these technologies and their potential to reduce the number of crashes or crash severity. Interviews were conducted with a cross-section of vehicle and road safety experts. The topics discussed included the most promising technologies, implementation issues, time frame, limitations, and opinions on future technologies, 20 - 30 years from now. In total, 16 interviews were conducted, with nine Australian-based experts and seven international experts. The experts' responses are discussed in the context of research literature on the technologies. The experts suggested that the most important emerging vehicle safety technologies are primary safety systems that provide increasing levels of automation. Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) was consistently identified as having the most potential in the near future, and this was confirmed in the literature. Early introduction of vehicle safety systems that are effective at preventing injury crashes will result in significant and cumulative financial and societal savings. This paper provides a brief overview of the more promising vehicle safety technologies, a summary of the opinions of the experts interviewed and potential mechanisms for accelerating uptake of vehicle safety technologies.

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