ASSESSMENT OF THE DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF A SINGLE PERSON ATV IN PRESENCE OF A PASSENGER: OUTCOME ON THE RIDER AND PASSENGER CRASH IMPACT KINEMATICS USING COMPUTATIONAL MODEL

摘要

An ATV (All-terrain vehicle) is a gasoline powered, fast moving off road vehicle often used for farming and industrial activities as well as recreational activities. The popularity of this type of vehicle has increased over the last decade with more than 10 million in use today. Most ATVs are designed for only single rider even though the seat of the ATV may appear big enough to carry a passenger. The presence of an additional person on a single person ATV greatly^ affects its dynamic handling characteristics. This change increases the risk of a crash and subsequent injuries to both riders. ATV crashes involving climbing and descending on steep hills are common. Lateral rollover crashes are often the result of riding an ATV at a high speed on uneven terrain. The presence of passenger on a single person ATV during these conditions changes the rider impact kinematics and resuiting injury outcome, as the ATV behaves differently in the presence of an additional person. The computational model of a single person, adult-sized ATV, as developed previously for the study of child injury prevention, was used for this study.