Citation

Bjornstig U, Bylund PO, Eriksson A, Thorson J. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1984; 28: 149-153.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1984, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

Personal injuries caused by collisions with mooses on the road were analyzed within two sets of statistics: 275 collisions, from the official statistics on traffic accidents, and 46 collisions involving fatalities. The injuries were usually caused by the impact of the moose on the windscreen and front part of the roof. The severity of the injuries correlated with the deformation of the cars. Head and neck injuries predominated, especially among the fatalities. Larger animals, higher speeds, and smaller cars were other characteristic features of the fatal accident.

An improvement of the weak structures of the cars such as the frontal roof beam and the windscreen poles would probably be valuable in the prevention of fatalities in moose-car collisions. Other measures to be considered are information to car drivers concerning decreased speeds, especially at dawn and dusk and in the autumn.

Note: The animal named Alces alces in Latin is often called elk (in
English) in Europe. However, the North American counterpart (Alces alces
americanus) is called moose and recently European zoologists have begun to
use that name also for the European animal. In America, the word elk is used
for a wapiti, a variant of the European red deer.