INVESTIGATION OF OCCUPANT FATALITIES AND INJURIES DURING THE IMPACT OF VEHICLE AND ROAD SAFETY BARRIER

The main purpose of any road restraint system is saving human life and minimizing injuries. The efficiency of road restraint system is its capability to hold vehicle on the road, to decrease occupant injuries and damage to the impacted objects. The road restraint systems currently used in Lithuania meet the European Standard EN 1317. Acceleration Severity Index (ASI) and Theoretical Head Impact Velocity (THIV) are derivative values used in this standard mainly to describe simulation of vehicle and safety barrier impact situations and to study vehicle crash dynamics. This paper presents simulation of different situations of vehicle and road restraint system crash. Computer impact simulation analysis was performed as well as comparable investigation of conventional injury criterions Head Impact Criteria ( HIC) and those used in the European Standard EN 1317.