Traffic Accident Analysis Towards the Development of an Advanced Frontal Crash Test Dummy Indispensable for Further Improving Vehicle Occupant Protection Performance

In this study, authors investigated and analyzed the injured body region and injury type for vehicle occupants from recent traffic accident statistics; that will be a basis to determine what human body regions should be evaluated in the frontal crash test, and what injury parameters should be measured utilizing an advanced test dummy. From the traffic accident statistics of the National Police Agency (NPA) in 2004 to 2008, the number of injured front seat occupants (i.e., drivers and passengers) by injury severity of vehicles damaged on front in the vehicle-to-vehicle accidents and the single vehicle accidents were collected. This then was analyzed by the seatbelt use, gender, and age group. In five years from 2004 to 2008, the fatalities (the sum of drivers and passengers) due to the head and thorax injuries since 2005 tended to decrease conspicuously, whereas fatalities due to abdominal injuries were almost constant except for a slight increasing in 2008 from 2007. Reviewing the fatalities with regard to the seatbelt use, gender, and age group, more frequent injured body regions of the fatalities were the thorax, head, and abdomen. Of these, the most frequent injury types were organ injury on the thorax and abdomen, and skull fracture. Reviewing the fatalities by age group, the fatality rate was highest with injuries on the head in case of under 25 year olds, and was highest on the abdomen in cases of 26-64 year olds and over 65 year olds. According to investigation and analysis in this study, in order to further improve the occupant protection performance during frontal crash, it was suggested that the abdominal injury that is impossible to evaluate in the Hybrid III and the injury measurement capability of the abdomen are particularly requested for a future frontal dummy.