Comparison of the landing kinematics of pedestrians and cyclists during ground impact determined from vehicle collision video records

Journal article, 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the landing kinematics (LK) of pedestrians and cyclists and to provide an analysis of the influencing factors. A total of 112 pedestrian cases and 51 cyclist cases with video information were analysed. The results showed that the pedestrians' and cyclists' landing kinematics depends on the vehicle front-end shape and impact velocity. In this LK1, the pedestrian/cyclist body had a clear rotation speed during ground contact. In this case, 71% of the cyclists and 39% of the pedestrians were found head firstly contact to the ground. In the most frequent LK2, the pedestrian/cyclist was thrown upward-forward and then landed without rotational speed (46% of all pedestrian and 49% of all cyclist cases). Research on the relation between the vehicle front shape and the LK of pedestrians/ cyclists can guide the safety design of a motor vehicle for reducing head injury risk