The fatality and injury risk of light truck impacts with pedestrians in the United States

doi:10.1016/S0001-4575(03)00007-1

Accident Analysis & Prevention

Volume 36, Issue 2, March 2004, Pages 295-304

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-4575(03)00007-1 Get rights and content

Abstract

In the United States, passenger vehicles are shifting from a fleet populated primarily by cars to a fleet dominated by light trucks and vans (LTVs). Because light trucks are heavier, stiffer, and geometrically more blunt than passenger cars, they pose a dramatically different type of threat to pedestrians. This paper investigates the effect of striking vehicle type on pedestrian fatalities and injuries. The analysis incorporates three major sources of data, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the General Estimates System (GES), and the Pedestrian Crash Data Study (PCDS). The paper presents and compares pedestrian impact risk factors for sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks, vans, and cars as developed from analyses of US accident statistics. Pedestrians are found to have a two to three times greater likelihood of dying when struck by an LTV than when struck by a car. Examination of pedestrian injury distributions reveals that, given an impact speed, the probability of serious head and thoracic injury is substantially greater when the striking vehicle is an LTV rather than a car.

Introduction

In 2000, 4739 pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents in the United States (NHTSA, 2001). As the number of light trucks and vans (LTVs) on US highways continues to increase, a new area of concern regarding pedestrian safety has emerged. With dramatically different size, shape, and stiffness than passenger cars, LTVs may pose a more serious risk of injury and fatality for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians.

As shown in Fig. 1, sales of LTVs between 1980 and 1999 have grown from 20% to almost 50% of all light passenger vehicles sold (Automotive News, 1980-1999). With such a profound change in the fleet of United States vehicles, it is important to investigate the safety repercussions on motorists and pedestrians. Several studies have shown that LTVs are incompatible with cars in LTV-to-car collisions (Summers et al., 2001, Gabler and Hollowell, 1998, Gabler and Hollowell, 2000, Joksch, 2000, IIHS, 1998). In fatal LTV-to-car collisions, estimates are that 81% of the fatally injured occupants are in the car. Uninvestigated however is how the growing fleet of LTVs may affect the safety risk for pedestrians.

Section snippets

Objective

This study examines the effect of striking vehicle type on pedestrian fatalities and injuries in vehicle–pedestrian impacts. The study is based on an analysis of US traffic accident statistics from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) General Sampling System (GES), and the NASS Pedestrian Crash Data Study (PCDS). By combining these three databases, this paper compares and contrasts the impact risk factor for pedestrians struck by light

Approach

For the purposes of this study, only accidents involving single vehicle interaction with pedestrians were examined. Accidents in which multiple vehicles struck a pedestrian were excluded as in these cases it is unclear which vehicle to associate with the pedestrian’s injury. Similarly, cases of multiple vehicles striking multiple pedestrians were excluded. When a single vehicle struck multiple pedestrians, each pedestrian was counted as a separate case. As shown in Table 1, this approach did

Pedestrian fatality trends

To determine pedestrian fatality trends, FARS 1991–2000 data were analyzed. In 2000, 4739 pedestrians were fatally injured—an 18% decrease from 1991. Fig. 2 shows the overall trend in pedestrian fatalities from 1991 to 2000. When separated by vehicle type and restricted to single vehicle collisions, Fig. 3 shows the decrease in fatalities occurs mainly in the passenger car category. Although pedestrian fatalities resulting from car impacts decreased by 32% from 1991 to 2000, the number of

Conclusions

This paper has examined the effect of striking vehicle type on pedestrian fatalities and injuries in frontal impacts. The study was based on an analysis of US traffic accident statistics from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the General Sampling System (GES), and the NASS Pedestrian Crash Data Study (PCDS). Analysis of these three databases has clearly demonstrated that pedestrians have a substantially greater likelihood of dying when struck by an LTV than when struck by a car.

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