Evaluation of Passenger Vehicle Occupants’ Injury Severity in Frontal Impact Collisions

Abstract

In 2018, 12,348 road crashes resulting in casualties were recorded in Malaysia, with head-on collisions accounting for the highest number of crashes (20.9%). Passenger vehicles (PV) accounted for the second highest proportion of vehicles involved in road crashes (13.5%) as well as the total number of casualties (18.6%) after motorcycles. This raised the alarm that a thorough investigation should be conducted on the injury severity of occupants in PV crashes involving frontal impact collisions. The objective of this study is to evaluate injury severity outcome based on the selected crash parameters for the front seat occupants involved in frontal impact collision. The data for this study was sourced from the MIROS crash investigation database (MICARS) from 2007 until 2019, during which MIROS had investigated a total of 975 cases in both East and West Malaysia. After filtering through the cases, a total of 129 frontal impact crashes (PV versus PV) involving 206 PV and 349 front seat occupants were selected for the purpose of data analysis. From the total number of selected cases, 82 cases were involved in head-on collisions while 47 cases were involved in side impact collisions. As a result, crash configuration, crush extent, airbag availability, and seatbelt wearing are strongly related to the level of injury severity of frontal seat occupants involved in a frontal impact collision. Meanwhile, collision types and occupant seating position do not appear to be significantly related to the severity of the occupants' injuries.