ANALYSIS OF THE RISK OF OCCUPANT INJURY IN SECOND COLLISIONS.

One of the most potentially injurious phases of a redirectional collision with a longitudinal barrier often occurs during the vehicle's post-impact trajectory. Though a longitudinal barrier system may be well designed and crash test experience shown to be good, data presented in this paper suggest that occupants often suffer severe injury in a second collision after their vehicle has been successfully redirected from a longitudinal barrier. In this paper current NCHRP Report 230 guidelines for the postimpact trajectory of test vehicles are briefly discussed, data from two states - North Carolina and New York - are examined to determine increased risk associated with second collisions, and the risk of suffering fatal or severe injury in various types of redirectional collisions is quantified.