Citation

Ydenius A. Int. J. Crashworthiness 2009; 14(6): 525-532.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13588260802671407

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Crashes in Sweden taken from Folksam in-depth studies were used to show how crash severity depends on various road environments. Crash severity was shown for various speed limits, crash types and road surface friction. Data used were from 422 frontal vehicle crashes in Sweden with recorded crash pulses. The findings of the current study showed that the average change of velocity was 4.6 ± 4.1 km/h higher on roads with a 90 km/h speed limit than on roads with a 70 km/h speed limit. The corresponding difference between 90 km/h and 50 km/h speed limit was 7 ± 5.9 km/h. In single vehicle crashes into guardrails, average change of velocity was 6.6 ± 4.1 km/h lower than into ditches, stones and rocks. The corresponding difference for average mean acceleration was 1.2 ± 0.8g. Two vehicle crashes on rural and urban roads with oncoming vehicles, which had an average change of velocity of 31.8 km/h and an average mean acceleration of 8.6g, constituted the crash type with the highest crash severity. There was a significant increase in crash severity for single vehicle crashes with respect to increasing surface friction.