A comparison of injury risk and pattern of injury for male and female occupants of moden European passenger cars

Accident injury data from the UK Cooperative Crash Injury Study (CCIS) was examined for differences between men and women in accident circumstances and injury outcomes. The CCIS database from 1992 to 2000 contains "in-depth" information on almost 14000 car occupants from real road accidents. Although females constitute only around 40% of the sample, they outnumber males in the passenger seats. This shows that women should not be neglected in the design of vehicle safety systems. Soft tissue neck injury (whiplash) is more common among women in all accident types, and there are other differences in the vulnerability to injury and the body region most likely to be injured in frontal, side and rear impacts. The tuning of advanced restraint systems and vehicle crumple zones may offer further potential benefits to women. Today’s vehicle safety community has inherited an emphasis on male characteristics in its knowledge base, research and testing programs, and regulations. Funding bodies should be aware of this and encourage a balanced consideration of female characteristics.