Citation

Morris AP, Thomas PD. Proc. Int. Tech. Conf. Enhanced Safety Vehicles 1996; 1996: 1412-1425.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, In public domain, Publisher National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examines in detail some of the factors associated with soft tissue neck injuries in the UK. The data were drawn from a retrospective study of vehicle crash injuries in which the overall soft tissue neck injury rate was 16%. This study shows how although it is commonly assumed that soft tissue neck injuries are a rear impact phenomenon, over 50% of the injuries actually occur in frontal crashes and over 25% in side impact crashes. In both front and rear impacts, these injuries are asociated with seat-belt use. The incidence of soft tissue neck injury has been shown to double over the ten-year period of the study with the effect more prominent in females. Females (21%) overall are more at risk of sustaining soft tissue neck injury compared to males (13%). In all cases, such injuries are more likely to be self-reported than clinically diagnosed. Head restraints have not been found to mitigate neck injuries in either front or rear impacts at a statistically significant level. A slight but non-significant trend towards reduced neck injury rates is observed in cases of seat back yielding in a rear impact.