Mission
To reduce death and serious injury resulting from vehicle rollover crashes by providing a forum and repository for innovations and progress in rollover crashworthiness research, design, and testing through impartial, objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal information exchange.
History
One in every three lives lost in a vehicle crash in the US is the result of a vehicle rollover. Rollovers accounted for an average of around 10,000 deaths per annum over the past five years. In Australia it is 1 in every 4 vehicle crash fatalities where the vehicle rolls over whereas in Europe it is much less. Rollover crashes are also the largest contributor to spinal injuries in Australia. In Asia the fatalities resulting from rollover in non-developed countries are much higher than in Australia.
In recent years, frontal and side impact dynamic crash test protocols, using ATD’s tuned to measure injury risk in these crash modes, were introduced into compliance and consumer testing. The development of these test protocols were based on sound evidence and research that proved increased occupant protection would occur if such compliance and consumer testing was introduced. As a result, fatalities in frontal and side crashes have declined subsequent to the regulatory changes. The same effort now needs to focus on increasing occupant protection in rollover crashes.
Crashworthiness has become a central function of motor vehicles with respect to fleet purchase (occupational health and safety) policy, consumer purchase requirements and government road safety strategies. Innovation in vehicle crashworthiness has led to significant reductions in road crash fatalities and serious injuries and associated benefits to the motor vehicle industry, occupational safety and public health. Innovation has been driven by a combination of national and international design rules or standards, and consumer tests. No mandatory regulation or consumer rating tests exist to date to rate a vehicle’s rollover crashworthiness using a dynamic rollover crash test similar to that used for side impact or frontal crash testing. Regulators, industry and consumer bodies have been reluctant to introduce any such regulation or consumer test because dynamic rollover crash tests are very difficult to control in a repeatable manner. Rollover crashworthiness has also become a heavily politicised issue due, in part, to litigation that involves deaths and incapacitating injuries that occurred in rollover crashes.
The Rollover Crashworthiness Sub-committee (RCS) brings together crashworthiness researchers from around the world on a regular basis who present and discuss their research results on various aspects of rollover crashes including testing, biomechanics, computer simulation and proposed injury mitigation strategies as they perceive it. The intention is to provide a forum and repository for any innovations and progress in rollover crashworthiness through research and information exchange, conducted within a politically neutral setting, is objective, interdisciplinary, and can be multimodal (e.g. cars, SUV’s. Transit Vans, Buses and even Trucks, including biomechanical considerations for any of these modes if required). The RCS will also identify gaps in the research.
The RCS is co-Chaired by three people representing three continental region’s interests and contributions: Prof. Raphael Grzebieta (IRMRC, UNSW, Sydney) representing Australasia; Prof. Ken Digges (NCAC, GWU, Washington) representing US and the Americas; and Prof. Clive Chirwa (Bolton Institue, UK) representing Europe. Meetings will be held biannually in conjunction with (either before or after) the TRB ANB045 Winter and Summer meetings as well as at other opportune times such as the ICRASH and ESV international conferences and until such time that the sub-committee feels it’s members have sufficiently addressed all research gaps concerning rollover crash fatalities and injuries.
The ANB45(1) Rollover Subcommittee is sponsored by the ANB45 Occupant Protection Committee
Kindly supported by:
