Vehicle Design and Accident Severity

The Victorian Road Traffic Authority has 4 recently commenced detailed investigation of the behaviour of the motor vehicle in accidents. There is insufficient information on the behaviour of the vehicle in both accident causation and more particularly, in injury causation as a result of road accidents. This information can only be obtained from the investigation of actual accidents. The investigations make no attempt to attribute blame for the accidents. Particular case studies covering a range of vehicle types are examined. It is shown that reduction in accident severity and injury causing potential are possible at very little cost by considering how the vehicle or its components may behave in an accident.