The increasing importance of the biomechanics of impact trauma

The evolution of experimental biomechanics and crash injury research is summarized briefly to show that they both play a major role in mitigating traffic deaths and injuries. Historically, the subject has been based largely in western countries and thus focused on vehicle occupants, whereas some 80% of traffic casualties in the world are outside the vehicle as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. The subject is close to the regulatory process which controls vehicle design and is thus heavily influenced by government and industry, yet it is now in an expanding period because of new techniques to replicate the human frame's response to impact forces. New knowledge is likely to emerge from addressing population variations and combining real world accident investigations with experimental biomechanics. The application of impact biomechanics to the vulnerable road users is of particular importance.