Impact conditions in side-impact collisions with fixed roadside objects
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Updated: Oct 24, 2026

A Test Bed to Examine Helmet Fit and Retention and Biomechanical Measures of Head and Neck Injury in Simulated Impact
Published on: September 21, 2017
1The University of Iowa, Center for Computer Aided Design, Iowa City 52242, USA. mhray@ccad.uiowa.edu
Abstract:
Designing vehicles and roadside structures that are safer in side-impact collisions is an emerging area of concern in roadside safety research. Selecting impact conditions that are relevant to the way side-impact collisions occur in real world collisions is an important part of developing effective full-scale crash test procedures and evaluation criteria. If test impact conditions are unrealistically severe, improving the performance of roadside hardware for side-impacts may appear unfeasible. If test impact conditions are not demanding enough, good performance in full-scale crash tests may not be indicative of good performance in real-world crashes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the best available accident data to determine what the reasonable worst case test impact conditions are for side-impacts with roadside objects.
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