Thoracic injury characteristics of elderly drivers in real world car accidents

Recent research has indicated that elderly occupants are more vulnerable than other age groups in motor vehicle crashes while the elderly population has significantly grown worldwide. Based on the comprehensive claim data (2000-2008) from an automobile insurance company in South Korea, the survey showed that elderly drivers (65+) suffer thoracic injuries more compared to the other age groups. To show the significance of the age effect, this study investigates injuries among the different age groups involved in frontal, side and rear collisions based on real world crash data. Real world crash analysis was statistically performed to analyze the elderly driver's accident pattern, and injury types in a variety of impact crashes. The result shows the thoracic injury risk of the elderly group is 2.6 times higher than that of the middle age group (24-54) in frontal crashes, 2.7 times in side crashes, and 4.8 times in rear crashes. In-depth study was conducted to compare the degree of injuries in detail between elderly drivers and non-elderly drivers. The medical records showed that elderly drivers have higher possibility of the thoracic injury. Diagnosis shows that most of thoracic injuries were caused by rib fractures. It has been demonstrated elderly drivers are likely to suffer more injuries at a chest region compared to the middle-aged group. Finally, thoracic injury analysis of two cases was done using CT images of injured elderly drivers. Using the reconstruction software, three-dimensional (3D) model was built to analyze injury characteristics accurately. This model provided the detailed trace on rib fractures and showed the cause of injuries were safety devices such as seat belt and airbag. This research calls attention to the need for design improvement to make vehicles more protective for older drivers in car-to-car frontal crashes.