The occupant impact velocity (OIV) and acceleration severity index (ASI) are competing measures of crash severity used to assess occupant injury risk in full-scale crash tests involving roadside safety hardware, e.g. guardrail. Delta-V, or the maximum change in vehicle velocity, is the traditional metric of crash severity for real world crashes. This study compares the ability of the OIV, ASI, and delta-V to discriminate between serious and non-serious occupant injury in real world frontal collisions. Vehicle kinematics data from event data recorders (EDRs) were matched with detailed occupant injury information for 180 real world crashes. Cumulative probability of injury risk curves were generated using binary logistic regression for belted and unbelted data subsets. By comparing the available fit statistics and performing a separate ROC curve analysis, the more computationally intensive OIV and ASI were found to offer no significant predictive advantage over the simpler delta-V.
Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board's recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs.
Longitudinal barriers such as w-beam guardrails are subjected to a series of full-scale crash tests to determine their impact performance before being considered acceptable for use on the nation's highways. Once longitudinal barriers are installed along a roadway, however, they often sustain minor damage in various ways. Since barriers are exclusively tested in an undamaged condition, there is very little known regarding the crash performance of barriers that have sustained minor damage. Transportation agencies responsible for deploying and maintaining these barrier systems need a better understanding of damaged barrier performance to make timely and cost-effective barrier maintenance decisions under the constraints of limited resources. This study is believed to be the first evaluation of the crash performance of strong post w-beam barrier that has sustained minor damage. A pendulum impact testing methodology was developed for the evaluation of two-post sections of strong post w-beam barrier. Pendulum tests were then conducted on barrier sections with five types of damage: (1) vertical tear, (2) horizontal tear, (3) splice damage, (4) twisted blockout, and (5) missing blockout. Based on these tests, vertical tears were found to be a significant threat to the structural adequacy of the barrier section with a high likelihood for rail rupture. A missing blockout at the splice location was found to result in marginal performance with one test resulting in a large rail tear at the splice. Mid-span horizontal tears and splice damage, with one of eight bolts lacking bearing capacity, were found to have a less significant threat on the structural adequacy of the barrier. Twisted blockout damage was found to have no effect on the structural crash performance of the strong post w-beam barrier.
The acceleration severity index (ASI) is used to evaluate the potential for occupant risk in full-scale crash tests involving roadside safety hardware. Despite the widespread use of the index across Europe, there is a lack of research relating this metric to occupant injury in real-world collisions. Recent installation of event data recorders (EDRs) in a number of late-model vehicles presents a different perspective on the assessment of the validity of occupant risk based on the ASI. EDRs are capable of electronically recording data such as vehicle speed, brake status, and throttle position just before and during an accident. Of particular interest is the EDR's ability to document the deceleration of a vehicle during a collision event. This research used EDR technology to investigate the correlation between the ASI threshold limits and the potential for occupant injury in crash events. The longitudinal ASI was found to be a good predictor of overall injury, and the intent of the current preferred threshold value of 1.0 appears valid. Limitations include investigation of the longitudinal direction only, lack of injuries on the abbreviated injury scale (AIS) in excess of AIS 3, and no control for occupant compartment intrusion.
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