Abstract
Keywords: Urban accident, injury, accident analyse, accident research
Nowadays accident research is one of the main tools to improve automotive safety systems, trying to avoid the accident and, in case it happens, trying to avoid or reduce its consequences.
The main target of this research project is analysing in depth accidents happened in Barcelona city by a mix group of engineers of the Càtedra Applus+ in Automotive Safety and doctors of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. The methodology followed during the testing time has been going to the place where the accident happened in an ambulance of the Servei d'Emergències Mèdiques (Emergency Medical Service) to get data about three main factors in the accident: via, vehicle and victim, complemented with general information.
This testing time has been developed for a year, taking information about 150 accidents happened in Barcelona city, following the methodology described above. With this training advantages of this new and innovative methodology have been evaluated. The main project has been thought to be 2 years. Then, there will be enough information to determinate an injury pattern in some of the types of accidents happened. The two injury pattern will be studied are pedestrian accidents and two wheels vehicle accidents, which represent more than the 88,2% of the data analysed in the testing time.
Inside this database of 150 accidents get until now, the 71.4% are two wheeled vehicles and the 16.8% are pedestrian accidents. Of all injured people taken to all hospitals of the city, 26 injured of two wheeled vehicles and 12 pedestrians have been sent to the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, which have been the main data about victim injuries to get test results.
102 accidents of two wheeled vehicles have been analyzed until now, and four types of accident have been done, depending on the type of impact, if it has been frontal, side, rear or only a side fall without impact with another vehicle. Injuries detected are mainly in the lower extremities, appearing in the 75% of the database, followed by thorax and upper extremities with 47% of accidents and finally head injuries represent only a 15%. In pedestrian accidents there has been a 75% of accidents where appear injuries in the lower extremities and pelvis and a 29% where appear head injuries in the pedestrian, representing the nowadays impactor used in EuroNCAP protocols.
The institutions which support the BIA project are the Barcelona City Town Council, the Barcelona City Police, the Wealth Human Barcelona Organization, the Emergency Medical Service, Applus+ Idiada, Barcelona Engineering School of the Catalonian Polytechnic University, the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and the Càtedra Applus+ in Automotive Safety.