SAFETYNEWS 17/06/2024

Check out the latest safety advancements in SAFETYNEWS! Let's look at two important updates to get you started:

• Female Spine Prototype a Game-changer for Research
• Pedestrians twice as likely to be hit by an Electric or Hybrid-electric Car

FEMALE SPINE PROTOTYPE A GAME-CHANGER FOR RESEARCH

A new crash test dummy spine is giving researchers a clearer picture of how vehicle collisions impact older children and smaller females.

Researchers at Neuroscience Research Australia’s (NeuRA) Transurban Road Safety Centre have developed a prototype lumbar spine that more accurately mimics the spine of a small adult, around the size of a 12-year-old girl. 

Previously, researchers could not accurately study specific injury risks in small occupants because the lumbar spine of the existing smaller-adult crash test dummy was too stiff.

Small adult females and older child occupants are at higher risk of abdominal injury in a collision due to poor seat belt fit, and the abdomen is the second most vulnerable region of the body after the head. These injuries are caused by ‘submarining’.

What is submarining?

Submarining is when a person’s pelvis rotates under the lap belt and the seat belt rides up into the soft abdomen during a collision, causing injury. 

Injury risk is increased further if the person is slouched down in their seat, a position children and small adults often adopt when sitting in a typical car seat, generally designed for larger adult occupants.

Video

The new, prototype spine, modelled on how real human spines move and react to forces, was installed in a crash test dummy for testing in four different seating positions.

The crash testing showed, in conditions where submarining was expected, the dummy equipped with the prototype spine did submarine. In tests where the original spine was used, no submarining occurred. 

This new ‘extra bendy’ lumbar spine will potentially enable more accurate assessment of submarining-related injury and could inform vehicle manufacturers design of safer car seats in the future. It could also help regulators and consumer crash testing programs to better assess the safety performance of vehicles for all kinds of occupants.

Safety tips for smaller adults and older children

• Adults: always sit upright in your seat, as slouching can increase the risk of submarining and abdominal and lower spine injuries in a crash. And check out these seatbelt fitting tips.
• Children: keep children in their booster seats until they can get good seat belt fit. Every vehicle is different so use the five-step safety test to check if a booster seat is needed in whatever car your child is travelling in.

Learn more about our partnership with NeuRA.

More Information: transurban.com/news

Author/Source: Transurban

The text, images, graphics, sound files, animation files, video files and their arrangement on the news sites are all subject to Copyright and other intellectual property protection. The author resp. the authors can be find on the more information link.

PEDESTRIANS ‘TWICE AS LIKELY’ TO BE HIT BY AN ELECTRIC OR HYBRID-ELECTRIC CAR

Researchers behind Road Safety Data analysis suggest silent nature of electric cars may pose a new challenge for road safety

Pedestrians are twice as likely to be hit by an electric or hybrid-electric car than a petrol or diesel car, according to an analysis of data on collisions in Great Britain.

The study, carried out by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), analysed Road Safety Data (STATS19) datasets which hold all reports of pedestrians injured by collisions with cars or taxis in Great Britain between 2013 and 2017.

The analysis found that out of the 96,285 pedestrians who had been hit by a car or taxi 74% (71,666) were hit by a petrol or diesel vehicle and 2% (1,652) were hit by an electric or hybrid-electric vehicle. The propulsion of vehicles involved in the other 24% (22,829) of collisions was not recorded.

The researchers calculated the average annual casualty rates of pedestrians per 100 million miles for electric or hybrid-electric cars/taxis was 5.16 and for petrol or diesel cars/taxis was 2.40, showing that electric or hybrid-electric vehicle collisions with pedestrians were on average twice as likely. Pedestrian collisions with electric or hybrid-electric vehicles were shown to be even more likely in urban environments (2.5 times as likely as with petrol or diesel cars/taxis).

The research is published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Electric cars are thought to pose a higher risk to pedestrians because they are quieter than petrol or diesel cars, so pedestrians do not hear them approaching in time to react and avoid a collision. 

Phil Edwards, Professor of Epidemiology & Statistics at LSHTM and lead author of the paper, said: "Given the damaging impacts of air pollution from petrol and diesel cars, overall electric cars are almost certainly better for our health, but our research shows that more needs to be done to reduce the risk they pose to pedestrians, particularly in noisy urban environments.

"Over the years there have been concerted government-sponsored efforts to improve road safety in the UK, whether that’s through making wearing seatbelts mandatory or road safety campaigns such as ‘Stop, Look, Listen, Think’. With electric cars replacing petrol and diesel cars on Britain’s road we should consider if similar public information campaigns, or new technologies such as autonomous emergency braking, are needed to improve pedestrian safety around electric cars."

Siobhan Moore, co-author of the paper and who worked on the research as an MSc Public Health student at LSHTM, said: "Ensuring the safety of pedestrians needs to be prioritised as we navigate the important transition toward electric vehicles on our roads. The silent nature of electric cars poses a new challenge for road safety, and we must consider measures to protect vulnerable road users."

Publication

Edwards PJ, Moore S, Higgins C.Pedestrian safety on the road to net zero: cross-sectional study of collisions with electric and hybrid-electric cars in Great Britain. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. doi: 10.1136/jech-2024-221902.

More Information: lshtm.ac.uk/news

Author/Source: LSHTM

The text, images, graphics, sound files, animation files, video files and their arrangement on the news sites are all subject to Copyright and other intellectual property protection. The author resp. the authors can be find on the more information link.

These two topics offer a sneak peek into our latest SAFETYNEWS edition.

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