Crashworthiness of Roadside Features Across Vehicle Platforms

Abstract

Each year more than 14,000 persons are killed and 1 million persons are injured as a result of roadside crashes. Recent estimates of the annual societal costs associated with these roadside crashes amounted to $80 billion. Clearly, there is a need for further understanding of the roadside safety problem. The impact performances of roadside safety features are typically evaluated through full-scale crash testing with two vehicles selected from the extremes of the passenger vehicle fleet in terms of weight and size. The implicit assumption is that if a roadside safety feature successfully passes the test requirements for vehicles at the extremes for the fleet, the feature will perform satisfactorily for all other vehicles in between. Many vehicle parameters could influence performance during impacts, and this assumption may or may not be valid. The safety performances of roadside features for various passenger car platforms and light-truck subclasses were evaluated. The study approach consists of evaluations of the frequency and severity of roadside crashes for these generic platforms and subclasses by using recent crash data from the Fatal Accident Reporting System, the General Estimates System, and the Highway Safety Information System.