Citation

Mackay GM. J. Traffic Med. 1981; 9(2): 20-22.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Over the last 15 years the benefits which can be obtained from improvements in the circumstances of the 'collision phase' of traffic accidents have become widely acknowledged, and co-operation between engineers and doctors has resulted in the recognition of the validity and success of this particular branch of preventive medicine. Improvements to the collision phase of a crash result in lower forces and accelerations being applied to the vehicle occupants, with a consequent reduction in death and morbidity rates. This management of the forces of a collision is achieved either through 'active' solutions, which require the road user to take some action, such as wearing a seat belt, or through 'passive' solutions where the design of the vehicle is changed so that the loads applied to the occupants are lessened or certain exposures to risk are reduced, for example, minimising the risk of ejection by adopting anti-burst door lock designs. It has been suggested that the anti-burst door lock has perhaps saved as many lives and reduces morbidity just as much as insulin has controlled diabetes.