Citation

Hitosugi M, Matsui Y. Traffic Injury Prev. 2015; 16(1): 90-94.

Affiliation

Department of Legal Medicine , Dokkyo Medical University School of Medicine , Mibu, Shimotsuga , Tochigi , 321-0293 , Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15389588.2014.885649

PMID

24499113

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Kei-cars (K-cars), which are a tiny 660 cc mini-car class 3.4 m long or less, 1.48 m wide or less and 2.00 m high or less, have become popular in Japan. To evaluate the safety of K-car drivers in frontal collisions, we retrospectively compared the severity of injuries suffered by drivers between K-cars and standard vehicles involved in frontal collisions in which at least one injury occurred. Material and METHODS: From in-depth data provided by the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis from 1993 to 2010, records for 1379 drivers aged 36.8 ± 15.6 years were collected for analysis. RESULTS: Of the 1379 drivers, 1115 subjects were in standard vehicles and 264 were in K-cars. The mean delta V of the struck vehicle was 28.6 ± 15.6 km/h. After classifying the subjects according to seatbelt use and airbag deployment, the background of the drivers and delta V, the ISSs and AIS scores were compared for all body regions. Under similar conditions, no significant differences in severity of injuries of the drivers were found between K-cars and standard vehicles. CONCLUSIONS: Although we are generally concerned that drivers of small vehicles suffer more severe injuries, our results suggest that, for real-world accidents, K-cars provide similar safety for drivers involved in frontal collisions as do standard vehicles in low delta V impact conditions.

Language: en