Citation

Olkkonen S. Proc. IRCOBI 2002; 30: 7 p..

Affiliation

The Road Accident Investigation Teams in Finland; Lappeenranta Regional Institute of Occupational Health

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The data on fatal injuries of 36 pedestrians and 23 cyclists were collected from among the urban (<60 km/h) accidents reported by the Road Accident Investigation Teams in Finland in 1998-1999. Only car collisions with a pedestrian or cyclist were included. The principal cause of death resulted in 29% of the injuries as from impact of windscreen, 27% from impact of windscreen frame, and 23% resulted from impact of the 4 EEVC test area of car fronts. The adoption of 4 EEVC tests could prevent about 3% of all traffic deaths annually in Finland, or about eight pedestrian (10-15%) and two (3-5%) cyclist deaths. Despite speed limits in the urban areas, safer car fronts are required. In addition to the legislation of 4 EEVC tests it is of great importance to decrease the risk of pedestrians and cyclists hitting the windscreen and the hard structures around the windscreen. Due to the fact that of the cars, 61% were over 10 years old, the protective effect of new safer car models will reduce serious road accident injuries slowly during the next 5-15 years in Finland.