US lorry-crash probe stresses importance of safety belts

12th May 1967, Page 73

12th May 1967

Page 73

Page 73, 12th May 1967 — US lorry-crash probe stresses importance of safety belts

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AMONG arguments advanced against the use of safety belts in heavy goods vehicles have been the possibility of the load coming through the back of the cab under severe deceleration, and the drivers' fear of being trapped. Now an American investigation, reported upon for COMMERCIAL MOTOR by a special correspondent, makes a very strong case for the use of belts, CORNELL Aeronautical Laboratory's transportation research department in New York State, has completed pilot studies on an "Automotive Crash Injury Research" (ACIR) project, under the leadership of Arthur Stern, its project analyst, to find out what the chances are of the driver of a large truck being injured in a highway accident.

The study was conducted in cooperation with the American Trucking Association and 34 member fleets, along with 12 districts of the Interstate Commerce Commission throughout the United States, and was financially sponsored by the US Public Health Service and Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Principal finding of the far-reaching

inquiry: the chance of injury to a truck driver being serious or resulting in death is nearly twice as great as that of a car driver.

The pilot study covered 243 large trucks involved in accidents in which a truck occupant was injured. No truck had more than two occupants and all occupants were males.

The investigation showed a distinct association between truck doors opening in accidents, the dangerous ejection of drivers from their cabs, and increased injury severity, all in association with the general lack of seat belts or other restraining systems.

The percentage of driver ejection from the vehicle is much higher among truck drivers than car drivers. The investigation underlined the importance of seat-belt installation and other countermeasures.

In the truck study, 46 per cent of the vehicles had, at least, one door opened during the accident, or double the rate for late-model cars. Most of the trucks covered in the study were not equipped with safety door latches.

In the injury-producing truck accidents studied, 19.6 per cent of the drivers were thrown clear of their vehicles. In a separate, but also recent. ACIR study only 10.7 per cent of the drivers of late-model cars were ejected.

The lethal nature of ejection was shown in the study of truck accidents in which four times as many ejected truck drivers as non-ejected truck drivers were seriously injured or killed.

Only seven of the 243 trucks involved in the injury-producing accidents were equipped with seat belts, which prevent ejection, and only four drivers were using them at the time of the accident. The four truck drivers wearing seat belts were not seriously injured, although one was in an extremely severe accident.

The grimness of an unused seat belt was underscored in one instance in which an unbelted truck driver was thrown from his truck and killed when it rolled over on him.

Concern over load shift and fire in truck accidents may be factors influencing the general lack of seat belts in commercial vehicles.

Fire was reported in only 12 cases, or 5 per cent of the truck accidents studied, but this is 10 times greater than the one half of 1 per cent observed in car accidents. Part of the higher frequency of fire in truck accidents was caused by ignition of volatile cargo. Vulnerability of the fuel tank in trucks also may be a factor.

Load shift occurred in 46 instances (27 per cent), but in no case was it reported as the cause of the accident.

Although the number of cases involving fire and load shift was small, the use of seat belts to keep the driver inside his cab appears to offer protection irrespective of fire or load shift.

Injured drivers suffered 32 per cent more injuries on the average than car drivers. One reason listed for a greater number of abdominal injuries to truck drivers was the position of the steering wheel.

Of the trucks involved in accidents, twothirds were manufactured in 1960 or later. They had a median length (half more and half less) of slightly more than 50 ft. The median weight for those unladen was 10.5 tons and for those laden, 27 tons.