Feasibility of predicting light vehicle occupant injury disutility from impacts with road safety barriers

摘要

A procedure for predicting disutility associated with injury severity outcomes for occupants of vehicles impacting longitudinal road safety barriers is not well established. Roadside hazard management procedures use results from empirical studies of generic barrier types. Published literature suggests that the injury severity outcomes of vehicle-barrier interactions are more complex, and are a function of (among other things) impacting vehicle mass, impact speed and impact angle, and a road safety barrier system’s stiffness (resistance to deflection). udPresented is an exploration of the feasibility of a structural model that could be used to predict occupant injury outcome disutility arising from tracking light passenger vehicle impacts with road safety barriers as a function of the impact configuration and stiffness of the road safety barrier system. ududThe study concludes that such a structural model is feasible subject to development of a satisfactory link between barrier stiffness and likelihood of impact configuration and injury outcomes. The use of Head Impact Criterion (HIC) as a proxy to link vehicle accelerations to injury outcome is considered to show promise. ududCalibration of such a model would require reporting of the impacted barrier in terms of the factors that are expected to influence system stiffness as well as the configuration of impact (vehicle mass, impact speed and angle) and the geometric circumstances (cross-section, number of lanes, lateral offset). Other variables expected to contribute to occupant injury outcomes such as vehicle age and safety rating, number of occupants and mode of impact (tracking or non-tracking) should also be collected.