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- Björnstig, Ulf, et al.
(författare)
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Injury events among bus and coach occupants - Non-crash injuries as important as crash injuries
- 2005
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Ingår i: International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences: Research. - 0386-1112. ; 29:1, s. 79-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A ten year complete data set from the health sector, comprising 284 injured bus and coach occupants from a well defined area, was analyzed. The annual injury incidence was 2 per 10,000 inhabitants, 3/4 were women. In non-crash incidents, 54% were injured; 2/3 while alighting from a bus or coach. In crashes, 46% were injured; 2/3 in collisions with other vehicles and 1/3 in single vehicle crashes. During October-March, 3/4 were injured. In two single vehicle mass casualty crashes in slippery road conditions, high built coaches were hit by so high cross wind forces that they were blown off the road. This crash mechanism has received little attention earlier. Of those injured in collisions with other vehicles, 78% were injured in collisions with other heavy vehicles. Slippery conditions contributed to half of the alighting injuries. The proportion of moderate or more serious injuries (MAIS 2+) was highest in single vehicle crashes (48%) and in alighting and boarding (43%) incidents, and was lowest (5%) in collisions. Every seventh injured was treated as an in-patient on average in five days. Non-crash victims consumed 57% of all in-patient days. Conclusions: The aerodynamic cross-wind factor merits more studies. Injury reducing measures against alighting injuries, addressing especially step height and slippery conditions, may have a great potential to reduce these injuries. Rear-end collisions by other heavy vehicles in urban areas, causing a high number of “whip-lash" injuries, also need to be further addressed. The newly introduced law on compulsory seat belt use in long distance coaches may have a potential to reduce single vehicle crash and some collision injuries.
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| 3. |
- Björnstig, Ulf, et al.
(författare)
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Injury events among bus and coah occupants
- 2005
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Ingår i: IATSS research : journal of International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences. - 0386-1112. ; 29
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 4. |
- Björnstig, Ulf, et al.
(författare)
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Passenger car collision fatalities - with special emphasis on collisions with heavy vehicles
- 2008
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Ingår i: Accident Analysis and Prevention. - : Elsevier. - 0001-4575 .- 1879-2057. ; 40:1, s. 158-166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Between 1995 and 2004, 293 passenger car occupants died in collisions with other vehicles in northern Sweden (annual incidence: 3.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, 6.9 per 100,000 cars, or 4.8 per 109 km driven); half of these deaths involved heavy vehicles. The annual number of passenger car occupant death per 100,000 cars in var-truck/bus collisions has remained unchanged since the 1980s, , but in car-car collisions it has decreased to one third of its former level. As crash objects, trucks and buses killed five times as many car occupants per truck/bus kilometer driven as did cars.The collisions were characterized by crashes in the oncoming vehicle´s lane, under icy, snowy, or wet conditions; crashes into heavy vehicles generally occurred in daylight, on workdays, in winter, and on 90 and 70 km/h two-lane roads. Head and chest injuries accouted for most of the fatal injuries. multiple fatal injuries and critical and deadly head injuries characterized the deaths in collisions with heavy vehicles.An indication of suicide was present in 4% of the deaths; for thos who crashed into trucks, this percentage was doubled. Among the driver victims, 4% had blood alcohol levels above the legal limit of 0.2 g/L.Frontal collision risks might be reduced by a mid-barrier, by building less injurious fronts on trucks and buses, by efficient skid prevention, and by use of flexible speed limits varying with road and light conditions.
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| 5. |
- Björnstig, Ulf, et al.
(författare)
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Violent deaths in small children in northern Sweden.
- 2006
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Ingår i: International journal of circumpolar health. - 1239-9736. ; 65:1, s. 28-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: To identify causes and trends of violent deaths among children younger than 4 years in a northern region. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of medico-legal autopsy and police data. METHODS: Data from all 72 deaths from "external causes" 1977-2004, in children < 4 years from the northern half of Sweden were analysed. RESULTS: The death rate was 7.1 per 100,000 children and year during the first half of the study period, and 5.2 during the second half. Vehicle- and drowning-related deaths were halved. Fifteen were struck by motor vehicles (in 8 cases by heavy vehicles), 14 car occupants were killed in car crashes, 12 were killed by intentional violence inflicted by an adult, and 9 each were killed by (i) carbon monoxide/smoke inhalation, (ii) asphyxiation, or (iii) drowning. The boy:girl ratio was 1:1 in all groups, except in the groups "drowning" and "run over by motor vehicle", where boys dominated. CONCLUSIONS: Medical professionals have a difficult but important task in identifying and taking action against child abuse and in promoting child safety especially in the traffic and home environments.
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| 6. |
- Ahlm, Kristin, et al.
(författare)
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Alcohol and drugs in fatally and non-fatally injured motor vehicle drivers in northern Sweden
- 2009
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Ingår i: Accident Analysis and Prevention. - : Elsevier. - 0001-4575 .- 1879-2057. ; 41:1, s. 129-136
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Alcohol and drugs are important risk factors for traffic injuries, a major health problem worldwide. This prospective study investigated the epidemiology and the presence of alcohol and drugs in fatally and hospitalized non-fatally injured drivers of motor vehicles in northern Sweden. During a 2-year study period, blood from fatally and hospitalized non-fatally injured drivers was tested for alcohol and drugs. The study subjects were recruited from well-defined geographical areas with known demographics. Autopsy reports, medical journals, police reports, and toxicological analyses were evaluated. Of the fatally injured, 38% tested positive for alcohol and of the non-fatally 21% tested positive; 7% and 13%, respectively, tested positive for pharmaceuticals with a warning for impaired driving; 9% and 4%, respectively, tested positive for illicit drugs. The most frequently detected pharmaceuticals were benzodiazepines, opiates, and antidepressants. Tetrahydrocannabinol was the most frequently detected illicit substance. No fatally injured women had illegal blood alcohol concentration. The relative proportion of positively tested drivers has increased and was higher than in a similar study 14 years earlier. This finding indicates that alcohol and drugs merit more attention in future traffic safety work.
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| 7. |
- Albertsson, Pontus, et al.
(författare)
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Case study: 128 injured in rollover coach crashes in Sweden - injury outcome, mechanisms and possible effects of seat belts.
- 2006
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Ingår i: Safety Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-7535 .- 1879-1042. ; 44:2, s. 87-109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The risk for injuries in rollover coach crashes are dependent on whether the occupants are belted or not. However, the influence of the different belt systems for reducing injuries has remained unclear. Since many injuries sustained are caused by impacts with the interior, passenger interactions or ejection through a window, the advantages by proper seat belt systems are evident. In this study, representing the most common serious crash scenario for serious injury, 128 injured in rollover cases were analysed with regard to the injury outcome, mechanisms and the possible injury reduction for occupants when using a safety belt. Furthermore, the different belt systems were compared to explain their contribution to increased safety. Based on medical reports and questioning of the passengers, the injuries sustained are recorded according to the AIS classification. The next step was the identification of the injury mechanisms, using the passenger statements as well as results from numerical occupant simulations. It is important to mention that this study was purely focused on detection of the injury mechanism to avoid the reported injuries. The possibility of additional injuries due to the wearing of a belt were not taken into account. However, the analysis of the 128 injured showed a considerable increase in safety for belted occupants through limiting interior contacts, minimising passenger interaction and reducing the possibility of ejection.
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| 8. |
- Albertsson, Pontus, 1958-
(författare)
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Occupant casualties in bus and coach traffic : injury and crash mechanisms
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: The relevance of conducting this thesis is evident by the fact that bus and coach casualties have been “stubbornly stable” in Europe recent years and a need for investigating if a similar trend could be found in Sweden is therefore obvious. It was also important to add new knowledge to the bus and coach research in Sweden, since many areas were scarcely addressed. Aims: To describe bus and coach occupants’ injuries, crash and injury mechanisms generated in a traffic environment based on data from the medical sector. Additional aims were to investigate the injury reducing effect of a 3-point belt, the effect of cross-winds, and crucial factors in the emergency- and rescue response. Material and methods: Injury data analyses were based on a complete ten-year medical data set from a catchment-area with about 130,000 inhabitants. A number of crash studies with the scope in different crash phases were conducted by applying and elaborating the Haddon matrix as a framework. An additional framework, Protocol for Major Incidents was used in order to investi-gate the emergency- and rescue response to a severe coach crash. Results: Between the first and second five-year period, the incidence of injured in non-crash in-cidents was increased by 24%. In non-crash incidents, 54% were injured; 2/3 while alighting from a bus or coach. The pre-crash factor cross-wind, in addition to vehicle design, vehicle speed and road friction, was investigated in ten crashes. It was confirmed that cross-wind, in relation to vehicle speed and slippery road conditions, needs more attention. The importance of goods load-ing and passengers’ position in the bus, was indicated by the fact that a displacement of the cen-tre of mass rearwards with 10% increased the necessary coefficient of friction with, on average 45%, which in many cases corresponded to dry road conditions. Three Swedish rollover crashes were analysed with regard to the injury outcome, mechanisms and the possible injury reduction for occupants using a safety belt. A considerable increase in safety for occupants belted with 3-point belts was shown through limiting interior contacts, occupant interaction and the possibility of ejection. Crucial post-crash factors in the emergency- and rescue response showed that ordi-nary ways of working and equipment are not always useful and proper equipment for lifting a coach body is essential in the case of a rollover. Finally, the communication between the hospitals is important, and the telephone systems may be overloaded by calls from worried relatives and media. Conclusions: In non-crash events: Non-crash events constitute a majority of all bus and coach casualties with a high proportion of elderly female occupants among the MAIS 2+ injury cases. Boarding and, especially alighting causes many injuries to the lower extremities. In the pre-crash phase: Cross-winds do affect the safety of buses and coaches and requires more at-tention. Seat belt usage among bus and coach occupants has to be increased. In the crash phase: Rollover and ejection are the major causes behind serious and fatal injuries to bus and coach occupants, consequently, retentive glazing, pillars or rails need more attention. An upgrade from 2-point seat belts to 3-point seat belts yields an increase in the estimated injury re-duction from approximately 50% up to 80% for the MAIS 2+ casualties in a rollover crash. In the post-crash phase: In order to be able to lift a coach body proper equipment originated from experience and development is essential in a rescue operation of a crashed bus or coach. Fur-thermore, to improve the emergency response inside crashed coaches proper methods originated from experience need to be developed. Euro NBAP: Based on the results and conclusions generated in this thesis, a European New Bus and Coach Assessment Programme is suggested, which would provide bus and coach occupants with a assessment programme similar to the Euro NCAP.
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