title: Analysis of the mechanism of injury in non-fatal vehicle-to-pedestrian and vehicle-to-bicyclist frontal crashes in Sweden.
abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse and compare injuries and injury sources in pedestrian and bicyclist non-fatal real-life frontal passengercar crashes, considering in what way pedestrian injury mitigation systems also might be adequate for bicyclists. Data from 203 non-fatal vehicle-to-pedestrian and vehicle-to-bicyclist crashes from 1997 through 2006 in a city in northern Sweden were analysed by use of the hospitals injury data base in addition to interviews with the injured. In vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes (n = 103) head and neck injuries were in general due to hitting the windscreen frame, while in vehicle-to-bicycle crashes (n = 100) head and neck injuries were typically sustained by ground impact. Abdominal, pelvic and thoracic injuries in pedestrians and thoracic injuries in bicyclists were in general caused by impacting the bonnet. In vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes, energy reducing airbags at critical impact points with low yielding ability on the car, as the bonnet and the windscreen frame, might reduce injuries. As vehicle-to-bicyclist crashes occurred mostly in good lighting conditions and visibility and the ground impact causing almost four times as many injuries as an impact to the different regions of the car, crash avoidance systems as well as separating bicyclists from motor traffic, may contribute to mitigate these injuries.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Surgery and Perioperative Sciences; Surgery , Umeå University , Umeå , Sweden.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Öman
authors.affiliation: b Department of Public Health, Division of Intervention and Implementation Research, Sweden and Autoliv Research , Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Rikard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fredriksson
authors.affiliation: a Department of Surgery and Perioperative Sciences; Surgery , Umeå University , Umeå , Sweden.
authors.forename: Per-Olof
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Bylund
authors.affiliation: a Department of Surgery and Perioperative Sciences; Surgery , Umeå University , Umeå , Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Björnstig
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001642:Bicycling / Q000293:injuries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018986:Motor Vehicles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Injury database (IDB); abbreviated injury scale (AIS); bicyclist; frontal crash; impact point; injury severity score (ISS); kilometres per hour (km/h); mechanism of injury; non-fatal; pedestrian; real-life crash; vehicle-to-bicyclist; vehicle-to-pedestrian