Complete traumatic hemipelvectomy resulting from roadside guardrail penetration of a motor vehicle

Abstract

In 2002, there were 106,000 motor vehicle crashes involving roadside guardrails in the United States. These represented 1.7% of the total number of crashes, and resulted in 35,000 injuries and over 1000 fatalities. Guardrails are designed to protect vehicle occupants from injury in the event of a crash, and when crashes involve guardrail impact, they tend to result in low rates of vehicle occupant injury and fatality. These barriers do have the potential to cause injury, however, and roadside guardrails are erected in locations where the danger of a motor vehicle collision with the guardrail itself is deemed to be outweighed by the risk of striking the guarded object, or area. Though, there is an acknowledged potential for vehicle occupant injury caused by impact with a guardrail, the phenomenon is uncommon and pertinent data are not collected by federal or state transportation authorities. We present a case of complete traumatic hemipelvectomy resulting from guardrail penetration of a motor vehicle during a high-speed crash. Despite their benefits, roadside guardrails can, as evidenced by this case, be the primary mechanism of severe, even life-threatening, injuries in motor vehicle crashes. To this end, roadside guardrail design is undergoing continued examination and improvement. Language: en