How crash severity in rear impacts influences short- and long-term consequences to the neck

The main public-health problem concerning WAD are injuries leading to long- term consequences. Yet epidemiological studies mostly concentrate on data b ased on the injury outcome occurring shortly after the crash. The purpose o f this article is to study the influence of crash severity in rear impacts leading to short and long-term consequences to the neck (WAD 1-3), lasting less than or more than 1 year. The influence of change of velocity as well as the car acceleration were investigated by using data from crash pulse re corders (CPR) installed in vehicles, involved in rear impacts. The influenc e of the car acceleration were also investigated by studying the frequency of occurrence of a tow-bar (hinge) on the struck car. Apart from real-life data, full-scale car-to-car crashes were performed to evaluate the influenc e of a tow-bar on the struck car. The crash tests showed that a tow-bar may significantly affect the acceleration of the car as well as that of the oc cupant. According to real-life crashes, a tow-bar on the struck car increas ed the risk of long-term consequences by 22% but did not affect the risk of short-term consequences. Out of the 28 crash recorder-equipped struck cars involving 38 occupants, 15 sustained no injury where the peak acceleration was 6g or less, 20 sustained short-term consequences where the peak accele ration was 10g or less. Three occupants from two different crashes sustaine d long-term consequences. The two crashes which resulted in long-term disab ling neck injuries had the highest peak acceleration (15 and 13 x g), but n ot the highest change of velocity. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All right s reserved.