| Recently although the traffic fatalities were reported in trends of a reduction,the number of traffic fatalities each year is still high in total of 100 000 persons. It is very important to solve this problem with loss of social costs due to the traffic injuries and fatalities in China. Good understanding of traffic accidents and injuries is dependent on collection of reliable and detailed accident data and in-depth study on these data, which forms background knowledge to improve road users'safety. Nowadays, it is lack of the in-depth traffic accident investigation on the distribution, causation and mechanism of automobile traffic injuries in China. It is urgent to carry out in-depth investigations of traffic accidents and study of traffic injury epidemiology. Furthermore, the characteristics of the traffic accidents can be explored and the study will provide the valuable data for vehicle and traffic safety research in China.This study aims at development of an in-depth automobile traffic accident database, investigation of traffic accidents and injury epidemiology by using collected road traffic accident data during period of 2000~2006 in Changsha. The automobile traffic accidents were analyzed in terms of the accident distribution, characteristics of human, vehicle and environment, and traffic injury mechanism. Based on the analyses mentioned above, an in-depth analysis of vulnerable road user's accidents was conducted. The results of the analysis can be used to improve the automobile safety design and develop pedestrian injury protective system.An ad-hoc working team is organized in Hunan University in co-operation with traffic authority sectors and hospital in Changsha. Comprehensive, in-depth and systemic accident investigation was developed by the team in Changsha. Firstly sampling criterions was made according aims of the study. The accident data were collected from the traffic authority sectors and hospital in Changsha. According to the criteria, accident data included two parts: (1) traffic police data, (2) hospital clinic diagnostic data. Total of 19,687 accident cases were collected from traffic police traffic accident database of Changsha. 200 accident cases including pedestrians and bicyclists were collected from hospital database. A traffic accident database in Changsha was developed with Excel. 19 687 cases (police data) were categorized and used to make a general statistical analysis. The general statistical analysis contained district distribution, accident type, accident scene, accident occurring time, accident vehicle, environment information, victims'information, etc. In-depth vulnerable road users accidents and analyses of injuries were conducted with police data (4 761 cases) and hospital data (200 cases) based on the general statistical analyses. The in-depth analysis contained body parts and injury type, injury severity, AIS coding, ISS analysis, body region and injury severity, age and injury severity.A comparable analysis was conducted with 142 pedestrian accident cases of Changsha and 206 pedestrian accident cases of GIDAS in Hannover. The analysis contained:Age and gender distributions, injury body region, injury severity, AIS coding, ISS analysis, body region and injury severity, age and injury severity.The results from pedestrian accident analyses with all traffic police data in Changsha indicated the main characteristics of the accidents as follows: Pedestrian accidents accounted for 24.2% and bicyclist accidents for 9.4% in all automobile traffic accident. The pedestrian accidents occurred more frequently in urban than that in suburb. During 2001 to 2006, automobile traffic accident decreased in Changsha. The period of time from 14:00 to 15:00 and 20:00 to 21:00 are the rush hours of a day. Sedan and three-wheel motorcycle are the main types of accident vehicle. More than 80% drivers of accident car have a driving license less than five years. The male pedestrians are involved in accidents more often than female. Slight injury accounts for the largest portion. Age group 21~40 years old accounted for about 50% of casualties. The adults and old people have a much more fatality rate than other age group. The head and lower extremities are the body parts with high injury risks. The head was more frequently injured than lower extremities.The analyses of pedestrian traffic accidents and injuries in Changsha with both traffic police and hospital data indicated the main characteristics as follows: Small size passenger car was the most common type of accident vehicle, followed by the truck and three-wheel motorcycle. Pedestrian accidents were frequently occurred on the road with mixed traffic. Pedestrian accidents were much more frequently occurred at plan-crossing section than overcrossing. Adult and elderly pedestrian accidents were more often than children pedestrian accidents. Most victims are male in pedestrian accidents. Most children and young adults encountered slight injuries. The elderly pedestrians had a much more fatality rate than other age group. The head was more frequently injured than lower extremities. Most fatalities caused by head injuries. Lower extremity injuries lead to disability frequently.Based on the results of the analyses, a discussion of the results was made along with these issues: the methodology of in-depth automobile traffic accident investigation, the characteristics of automobile traffic accident in Changsha, analyses of pedestrian accidents and injuries data.According to this study some conclusions were drawn: 33.6% of all traffic accidents were vulnerable road user accidents in Changsha. Sedan was the main accident vehicle type. Less drive years meant higher risk. Pedestrian accidents more frequently occurred at plan-crossing section than overcrossing. The head and lower extremities were most frequently injuried in the traffic accidents. |
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