Citation

Brun-Cassan F, Vincent JC, Fayon A, Tarriere C. Proc. IRCOBI 1984; 12: 157-177.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1984, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Accidents involving two-wheeled vehicles represent the second most frequent cause of highways fatalities, and this raises the major problem of the protection of drivers of this type of vehicle. The most representative configurations of automobile-two-wheeled vehicle collisions with regard to the frequency of their occurrence and their gravity have been investigated on the basis of data gathered on site; certain of these configurations were selected for laboratory simulations. About one score of car-moped crashes were simulated with instrumented dummies, under conditions that duplicated as accurately as possible those of the real-world accidents, and covered the majority of the most frequently occurring configurations. The findings overall enabled definition of the kinematics of two-wheeled-vehicle riders in relation with the accelerometric measurements registered during impact; they also enabled pinpointing of the vehicle areas likely to be struck by the head depending on the configuration, and made it possible to draft protective measures with regard both to the riders and to the obstacles encountered. In particular, the typology of the two-wheeled-vehicle riders' head impacts against the front parts of cars emerged as being not basically different from that of the pedestrians' head impacts, and any improvements in this car surface area aiming at pedestrian protection would probably be satisfactory for the protection of two wheeled-vehicle riders. The solutions should be considered in terms of cost versus effectiveness, but without overlooking the fact that the wearing of a proper helmet constitutes the initial priority, as it is also brought out in the present investigation. (Author/TRRL)