Older occupants have much higher injury and fatality risk in crashes than young adults. That has long been evident to crash investigators, data analysts, and medical personnel who treat the victims. As people age, they become more fragile: more susceptible to injury, given similar physical insults or impacts. Later on, they also become frailer: more likely to die, given the same injury. The analyses of this report will show that occupants fatality risk, given similar physical impacts, grows by 3 percent or slightly more for each year that they get older, starting at about 21. The analyses will also demonstrate that young-adult women up to age approximately 35 have 25 to 30-percent higher fatality risk, given similar physical insults, than men of the same age. Men's advantage, however, diminishes after age 35; by age 70, female and male drivers are about equally at risk. Evidently, young women are more fragile than young men, but eventually men's fragility catches up and/or men become frail sooner than women (as evidenced by mens lower life expectancy). The increased risk for older occupants and women may to a large extent be a consequence of intrinsic human anatomy and physiology. But a vehicles design and technology and the crash environment could also be influential. Specifically, safety technology that is even more effective for the elderly and women than it is for young males would shrink the relative risk increase for older occupants and women. However, another technology that is especially effective for young males would tend to augment the risk disparity even if it is also effective to some extent for the older or female occupants, but just not as effective as for young males.


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    Title :

    Injury Vulnerability and Effectiveness of Occupant Protection Technologies for Older Occupants and Women


    Publication date :

    2013


    Size :

    349 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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