Estimated and underreported parameters in report based vehicle-bicycle accident reconstructions have a significant...

This study aimed to reconstruct four real life vehicle-bicycle collisions and evaluates the reconstruction parameters that affect the outcome of head injuries in report based accident reconstructions. A computational model of a car was developed in the multibody software MADYMO (MAthematical DYnamic MOdeling) and was used together with a validated bicycle model and the MADYMO 50 percentile pedestrian model. The accidents were reconstructed through an optimal fit method, based on kinematic and medical information. After the reconstruction, a parametric study on cyclists' movement and accident conditions was performed on the different cases. The velocity of the car and the angle of impact were found to significantly affect the accident outcome. This was demonstrated in terms of head injury criteria such as the Head Injury Criterion (HIC), the peak linear and peak angular velocity and acceleration. It was shown that the severity of the injury increases exponentially with increasing collision velocities. Additionally, the bicycle's parameters; crank rotation, handlebar angle and seat position revealed a large heterogeneity in the results. The maximum alteration between the lowest and highest HIC-value found for a complete crank rotation was a 416 % difference. For a handlebar rotation up to 100° or seat height alteration of maximum 34 cm, this value was respectively 169 % and 294 %. These high percentages of change indicate the need for cycling phase information for case-specific vehicle-bicycle accident reconstructions.