Pedestrians

Although improvements in pedestrian protection are expected to derive from the recent directive in Europe, there are still several areas where further research is needed.

• Detailed accident studies are required to monitor the introduction of the EC Directive and to develop an understanding of pre-crash and crash events.
• There is still the need to understand the interaction between vulnerable road users and the front structures of vehicles with regard to secondary road impacts. More knowledge is required on the effect of modern front-end shape and on the biomechanics of the event so as to support developments in methods to control the impact with the road.
• Biomechanics of pedestrian impacts with trucks and buses needs much greater attention. This work should aim at developing bus/truck-pedestrian impact standards by 2010
• There is a need for an improved understanding of the relation between bumper height and knee-joint injuries. The implications for injuries in one body region, when loads are applied to another region, need to be assessed, particularly in relation to subsystem tests. Improved finite element dummy models will enable new research to be conducted that may address these issues.
• There is still the need to improve knowledge on the biomechanics of pedestrian protection. Issues concerning long-term head injury sequelae (chronic headaches, behavioural effects) from impacts at <1,000 HIC need to be addressed.