Are There Any Significant Differences in Terms of Age and Sex in Pedestrian and Cyclist Accidents?

Christoph Leo,Astrid Linder,Corina Klug,Ernst Tomasch,Niels M Bos,Maria C Rizzi,Ragnhild J Davidse

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2021.677952

Abstract

This study has analyzed sex-specific differences in pedestrian and cyclist accidents involving passenger cars. The most frequently injured body regions, types of injuries, which show sex-specific differences and the general accident parameters of females and males were compared. Accident data from three different European countries (Austria, Netherlands, Sweden) were analyzed. The current analysis shows that for both, females and males, pedestrian and cyclist injuries are sustained mainly to the body regions head, thorax, upper extremities and lower extremities. The results show that the odds for sustaining skeletal injuries to the lower extremities (incl. pelvis) in females are significantly higher. It was observed in all datasets, that the odds of females being involved in a rural accident or an accident at night are lower than for males. Elderly pedestrian and cyclist (≥60YO) tend to sustain more severe injuries (AIS2+ and AIS3+) than younger pedestrian and cyclists (<60YO) in some of the datasets. The findings of this study highlight the differences in males and females in both, accident scenarios and sustained injuries. Further investigations are needed to distinguish between gender- and sex-specific differences causing the different injury patterns.

Highlights

Worldwide, more than 50% of the 1.35 M road users killed annually, are vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists (World Health Organization, 2018)
Studies have shown that this leads to unequal treatment in terms of vehicle safety based on sex and, as a result to significant differences in the injuries sustained by males and females (Bose et al, 2011; Starnes et al, 2011; Forman et al, 2019; Leo et al, 2019b; Linder and Svedberg, 2019; Mitchell and Cameron, 2020)
In contrast to other studies focused on vehicle occupants (Pipkorn et al, 2020), the current study focuses on pedestrians and cyclists in collisions involving passenger cars

Summary

Introduction

More than 50% of the 1.35 M road users killed annually, are vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists (World Health Organization, 2018). Awareness of sex and age specific differences in injury risks for vehicle occupants has only been identified in recent years (Kullgren and Krafft, 2010; Forman et al, 2019; Mitchell and Cameron, 2020). Studies have shown that this leads to unequal treatment in terms of vehicle safety based on sex and, as a result to significant differences in the injuries sustained by males and females (Bose et al, 2011; Starnes et al, 2011; Forman et al, 2019; Leo et al, 2019b; Linder and Svedberg, 2019; Mitchell and Cameron, 2020). Starnes et al found for example in their study that younger males (15–55 years) were significantly more likely to suffer tibia fractures than females

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