Active transportation - including walking and riding bicycles - is promoted, not only for the obvious health benefits, but also as contributing to a more sustainable transportation system. However, pedestrians and cyclists who must interact with traffic often encounter unsafe conditions, sometimes with tragic outcomes. Studies have looked at the factors that contribute to bike/ped injuries and fatalities, but most consider accidents involving passenger vehicles. With the continued popularity of larger vehicles, including SUVs and light trucks, it is important to explore the impact of vehicle design and size on the type and severity of the injuries to vulnerable road users.
This guide includes the results of studies that look at such injuries by vehicle type. Links go to full-text papers or abstracts; some papers would need to be requested through interlibrary loans. Resources are listed by date of publication.
This platform is provided to transportation libraries through the National Transportation Library.
Pedestrian and Cyclist Impact
by
The aim of this book is to present pedestrian injuries from a biomechanical perspective. We aim to give a detailed treatment of the physics of pedestrian impact, as well as a review of the accident databases and the relevant injury criteria used to assess pedestrian injuries. A further focus will be the effects on injury outcome of (1) pedestrian/vehicle position and velocity at impact and (2) the influence of vehicle design on injury outcome. Most of the content of this book has been published by these and other authors in various journals, but this book will provide a comprehensive treatment of the biomechanics of pedestrian impacts for the first time. It will therefore be of value to new and established researchers alike.