Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Child restraint systems in automobiles'

The research of this thesis was performed to understand the vibrational dynamics of stage 0&1 child safety seats and of the children who occupy them. Since no previous vibration data for small children or child seats was found, the investigation took the form of experiments designed to shed light on the behaviour of the system consisting of child, child seat, vehicle safety belt and vehicle seat. To provide a background for interpreting the results a literature review was performed of child seat characteristics, of human whole-body response and of primate whole-body response. An industrial test procedure for measuring the vibration isolation properties of vehicular seats is also presented as an illustration of the concepts involved. A whole-body vibration bench for testing children in the vertical direction was built and apparent mass and absorbed power functions were measured for 8 children of age less than 24 months and mass less than 13 kg. An algorithm was developed for identifying the parameter values of a single degree of freedom mass-spring-damper model of the seated body using Differential Evolution optimisation. The parameter values were determined for each child and compared to those of adults and primates. This thesis also presents the results of modal testing of 2 child seat units and of operational deflection shape testing of 1 unit in an automobile under 3 loading conditions (empty, sandbag or child). In-vehicle transmissibility measurements were also performed in the vertical direction for 10 children and child seats using 9 automobiles. The floor-to-human transmissibilities were determined for each child and driver when passing over a reference road surface at both 20 and 40 km/h. Except for the damping ratio, all child mechanical response parameters were found to differ with respect to those of adults or primates, with the differences being greater with respect to adults. The first resonance frequency of children was found to be located at 8.5 Hz as opposed to 4.0 Hz for adults, raising questions regarding the applicability of standards such as ISO 2631 towards the evaluation of child vibrational comfort. The child seats were found to have higher transmissibilities on average than the vehicular seats occupied by adults. A characteristic low frequency rigid body rocking motion was noted at 1.8 Hz as were multiple flexible body resonances starting from frequencies as low as 15 Hz. Areas of possible improvement and topics for further research have been identified.

Orientadores: Antonio Celso Fonseca de Arruda, Paulo Roberto Gardel Kurka
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica
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Resumo: Um dispositivo de retenção infantil, a ser certificado pela norma NBR14400, tem como um dos principais requisitos atingir determinados níveis de performance em ensaios de impacto. Durante seu desenvolvimento, o dispositivo deve ser submetido a esse teste várias vezes, até ser aprovado, o que envolve altos custos. Este estudo propõe um teste de impacto simplificado, não para substituir o teste de certificação, mas na condição de teste de desenvolvimento preliminar e eliminatório. O principal equipamento envolvido, neste estudo, é o boneco de testes, que possui simplificações tanto na parte biomecânica quanto na parte de instrumentação. Como vantagem, quando comparado ao boneco instrumentado completo, seu custo é significativamente menor. Neste trabalho são apresentadas as condições de contorno envolvidas no projeto, na construção e no uso desse boneco. Adicionalmente, são reportados os resultados comparativos dos ensaios de impacto entre o boneco construído e o instrumentado completo Hybrid III. Tais resultados validam a proposta do projeto
Abstract: A child restraint system, to be certified to NBR 14400 standard, has as one of its main requirements, to reach specific performance levels under impact tests. During its development, the device has to undergo several times such tests, which are expensive, until approval. This study proposes a simplified impact test, not to replace the certification test, but as a preliminary and eliminatory test. The main equipment involved in this study is the test dummy, which has simplifications both on biomechanical and instrumentation aspects. As an advantage, when compared to a complete instrumented dummy, it has a considerably lower cost. In this work, the guiding conditions involved in the project, construction and use of that dummy are presented. Also, the results of comparative impact testes between the projected dummy and the complete instrumented dummy Hybrid III are reported. Such results validate the proposal of the project
Mestrado
Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Orientador: Antonio Celso Fonseca de Arruda
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica
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Resumo: Projeto, construção e avaliação de desempenho de simulador de testes de impacto de dispositivos de retenção infantis. A solução construtiva objetivou simular uma colisão automobilística e utiliza manequins representativos de crianças para fins de efeito demonstrativo e de convencimento sobre a necessidade de se reter crianças em veículos automotores. Trata-se de um trenó, guiado, que se desloca sobre trilhos sendo tracionado por cabo de aço e, capaz de, sem dano permanente, colidir contra uma barreira de impacto deformável. O equipamento foi concebido para fácil instalação em locais públicos e utiliza motor de indução para tracionar o cabo de aço e sistemas de automatização de aferição da velocidade, de aceleração e parada do motor. A instrumentação eletrônica utilizada na montagem do simulador permite avaliação do desempenho do equipamento para velocidades de até 20 Km/h
Abstract: Design, construction and evaluation of impact tests simulator performance of child restraint systems. The constructive solution aimed to simulate an automobile collision and uses dummies representing children for the purposes of demonstration effect and conviction about the need to retain children in motor vehicles. This is a sled, guided, moving on rails being pulled by steel cable and capable of, without permanent damage, crash into a deformable barrier impact. The equipment is designed for easy installation in public places and induction motor uses to pull the cable and speed measurement automation systems, acceleration and engine stop. The electronic instrumentation used in the simulator assembly allows assessment of equipment performance for speeds up to 20 km / h
Mestrado
Materiais e Processos de Fabricação
Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Mass transportation systems and specifically bus systems are a key element of the national transportation network. Buses are one of the safest forms of transportation. Nonetheless, bus crashes resulting in occupant injuries and fatalities do occur. Each year, more than 5,800 children die, nearly 120,000 are permanently disabled, and more than 14 million are hurt seriously enough to require emergency medical care due to unintentional injury. Therefore, effort is needed to improve the performance of bus interior and structure. Child Safety is a continuing effort to improve the safety of children in mass transit buses. This project provides an overview of the implementation of two types of attachment systems Child Restraint Systems (CRS) in a mass transit buses. A series of sled tests were conducted in order to evaluate the performance of the Child Restraint Systems for typical frontal, side and rear crash scenarios. The results of the test indicate that the implementation of ISOFIX or LATCH attachments in transit bus seats mitigates the risk of severe injuries to the 12 month-old, and 3 year-old occupants; while not increasing the risk of severe injuries due to CRS interactions to other unrestraint adult passengers. In the next phase of this research, results from these sled tests were validated using the multibody analysis tool MADYMO to evaluate the performance of child safety in mass transit buses using the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS 208) injury criteria. The Kinematics of sled tests are closely matching with that of simulations. Injury values for sled tests and simulations are well below injury criteria. The results from this study show the 20 % variation in injury signals. This study concludes that interior for mass transit bus with child seats and restraint can be utilized in mass transit buses to improve the safety performance of children.
Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Includes bibliographic references (leaves 83-86)

Every year 9000 children are estimated to die in traffic accidents in China. Fast motorization of the country in combination with low usage of child restraint system’s (CRS’s), are the two contributing factors to this alarming number. The vision of this thesis is to increase the usage of CRS’s in China, by understanding why the users are using the CRS and why the non-users are not using. The behavioural methodology Switch was used to investigate what positive behaviours could be copied and implemented in a larger scale to increase the usage. Interviews were performed with 30 users and 30 non-users in tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 cities on the east coast of China. The main findings from the interviews showed that the reasons for not using was that the parents found the CRS complicated to install and to use, that it took too much space, that they did not know the benefits with a CRS and found it unnecessary and that they could not convince their children to sit in the CRS. Surprisingly most non-users already owned a CRS, but stopped using it. The users were using because they had experienced the CRS from abroad or got knowledge from other sources such as media or friends. Some parents were using because of a practicality issues such as the trouble to hold a heavy 3-year old child during a long trip. The behaviours chosen to represent the users for further work were learning from others, selection support, how to install, how to persist, and how to pay the knowledge of the CRS forward. The behaviour of the users was copied and implemented in a strategy consisting of the five parts above. The strategy is an interactive webpage with a close linkage to social networks to encourage sharing, and with a supporting poster- and bumper sticker campaign for spreading. The final product of the thesis work is a campaign including a fully working prototype of the webpage, which will be handed over to Volvo Cars for verification internally to make sure that the concept supports the different parts in a suitable and correct way before a public implementation. Material for poster and bumper stickers is also a part of the final delivery.

Car collisions are, unfortunately, not uncommon and cause 1.35 million deaths each year worldwide. Children are often occupants in cars and to ensure their safety, child restraint systems (CRSs) have been developed. However, CRSs need to be used correctly to be efficient. Several studies, such as field investigations and Q-dummy tests, have shown that a misuse of a CRS can increase the risk of injuries. Typical misuses for a forward-facing CRS and a booster seat, with two real accident parameters, were constructed and simulated using the PIPER child human body model. The kinematics of each case were compared with injury parameters of the head, neck and abdomen. Comparing the parameters to existing injury criteria showed that most of the cases end in AIS3+ head injury, even cases with no misuse. When comparing the results of misuses to the cases where the CRS was correctly used, the dominant result was that misuse resulted in being less effective to protect the child. Moreover, results of chosen misuses compared to Q-dummy tests correlated with their results. Results from this thesis illustrate how important it is for parents to restrain children and route the belt correctly.

Legislation in Europe requires children younger than 12 or shorter than 150cm to use a child restraint system (CRS) when travelling in motor vehicles. These have decreased the number of children fatalities in car accidents, yet certain body regions such as the abdomen are still prone to severe trauma. One of the mechanisms by which injuries to this body region occur is called "submarining". It involves the seat-belt slipping over the pelvis onto the abdomen during rapid deceleration, therefore afflicting the abdomen with injurious loads. The motion characterising submarining with CRS is as of yet poorly defined, and although CRS are assessed for protection level, there is currently no established identification criteria for submarining. As part of the Enabling Protection for Older Children project (EPOCh), standard frontal impact sled tests of 10 CRS (6 high back booster seats; 4 booster cushions) with 10 year old anthropomorphic testing devices (ATDs) were analysed qualitatively, transversally and longitudinally for submarining detection. The methods used included video analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics, principal component analysis, time series analysis, as well as multiple linear regression and logistic regression, applied on both ATD trajectories and ATD instrumentation recordings (dynamic data). From the videos, trajectories and dynamic data, submarining motion is shown to embody an exaggerated slouching movement regardless of the CRS type. The observations and quantitative results confirm that exaggerated forward knee displacement is characteristic of submarining, as well as a very strong criterion for the latter's detection. No other individual trajectory or dynamic variable distinguish clear submarining behaviour, however the regression analyses on dynamic variables establish the association of the pelvis, lumbar and chest as representative of the knee displacement, and demonstrate the combination's capacity to distinguish submarining cases. These findings establish the complexity of the movement involved in submarining and the potential of using current ATD instrumentation for its assessment with CRS. This opens a path for an integral approach to ATD movement in CRS appraisal and suggests considering pelvis, lumbar and chest motion control for submarining prevention.

Traffic accidents are the second leading cause of child fatality among children younger than 15 years of age. In the course of 10 years, the implementation of child restraint systems has decreased child fatality in traffic accidents with 50%, for children younger than 15 years. To gain an understanding of the kinematics and injury mechanisms of children in cars, finite element based human body models, representing higher biofidelity compared to crash test dummies, are developed. An FP7 European project, PIPER, developed a child HBM with an associated framework for scaling, morphing and positioning. The PIPER child HBM is scalable between the ages of 1.5-6YO, with scalable anthropometrics. This makes the PIPER child HBM, a powerful tool for analyzing children in vehicles.  There are insufficient analyses conducted with the PIPER child HBM, due to its recent release. The purpose is thus to study the robustness of the HBM and its sensitivity to variation of lap belts by conducting a parametric study. Injury analysis and its sensitivity to lap belt variations were in addition studied in terms of kinematics by the study of submarining, the pelvic interaction with the lap belt, and the study of injuries related to the skull, brain, kidneys and liver. A full frontal crash simulation of a 6YO PIPER child HBM, with anthropometrics, covering the 50th percentile, have been investigated. The 6YO PIPER child HBM was seated with no booster, Volvo booster cushion and Volvo highback booster, with variations of the lap belt. The hip interactions and the submarining response of the 6YO PIPER child HBM were studied, by the study of the lap belt interactions with the pelvis and abdominal organs. The abdominal organs were related to the liver and kidneys, and compared to published threshold values.  This study showed that the overall robustness of the model was questionable. With respect to kinematics, the model indicated higher robustness, however, when conducted the crash simulations with the 6YO PIPER child HBM, it was concluded that the robustness was low due to repeated premature terminations. The 6YO PIPER child HBM revealed repeated errors such as, mesh distortions, negative volume and shooting nodes. When studying the sensitivity of the 6YO PIPER child HBM, when varying the lap belt angles, as well as changing the type of boosters in addition to vehicle anchorage positions, it could be seen that the 6YO PIPER child HBM was able to capture variations with respect to lap belt positioning. Hence, the model seems to be capable of providing relevant information regarding sensitivity for lap belt variations from the kinematic perspective, in terms of being able to capture kinematic o↵set, submarining and pelvis interaction with the lap belt. However, with respect to predicted abdominal injuries and head injuries, the sensitivity was not as distinct. Some limitations were observed in which the 6YO PIPER child HBM indicated unrealistic predicted injuries related to the head, which was associated with excessive movement of the 6YO PIPER child HBM.
Trafikolyckor är den näst vanligaste orsaken till barndödlighet i världen bland barn yngre än 15 år. Inom loppet av 10 år har användning av bilbarnstolar i fordon minskat barndödligheten med 50% hos barn under 15 år. För att få en ökad förståelse om barn i bilar framtogs finita element humanmodeller som har en detaljerad anatomi samt responser liknande till människan. Ett FP7 finansierat europeiskt projekt, PIPER, skapade en barnhumanmodell med en tillhörande programvara som används för skalning, förvandling, och positionering av barnhumanmodellen. Humanmodellen är skalbar för åldrarna 1.5 år upp till 6 år, med olika antropometriska värden. Detta gör att PIPER barnhumanmodellen är ett kraftfullt verktyg att använda sig av för att studera barn i bilar. Då PIPER barnhumanmodell lanserades nyligen, finns det i dagsläget bristfällig information om humanmodellen och programmet. Syftet var därmed att undersöka hur robust modellen var samt hur dess känslighet var mot variationer av höftbältet genom en parameterstudie. Skadors känslighet studerades dessutom mot variationer av höftbältet genom att studera kinematiken i form av underglidning och höftens interaktion med höftbältet. Dessutom studerades känsligheten på skador relaterade till skallen, levern och njurarna. I denna studie har en frontalkrock med en 6 årig PIPER barnhumanmodell med antropometriska värden, som innefattar 50:e percentilen, undersökts. Den 6åriga PIPER barnhumanmodellen var placerad utan bilbarnstol, på en Volvo bälteskudde och på en Volvo bältesstol, där höftbältet sedan varierades. Höftens interaktion och PIPER barnhumanmodellens respons för variationer i höftbälte studerades. Interaktionerna med höften och bukorganen var relaterade till skador på levern och njurarna genom att jämföra med publicerad data. Denna studie påvisade att den generella robustheten av modellen kunde ifrågasättas. Modellen hade ändock högre robusthet med hänsyn på kinematiken, men på grund av de upprepande felen vid simuleringarna, kunde man konstatera att robustheten på den 6åriga PIPER barnhumanmodellen var låg. När höftbältet varierades, både när bilbarnstol varierades såväl som vinkel på höftbälte, kunde man konstatera att den 6åriga PIPER barnhumanmodellen kunde fånga skillnaderna med hänsyn på höftbältets vinkel. Modellen var dessutom kapabel till att fånga känsligheten från det kinematiska perspektivet i form av kinematisk förskjutning, underglidningen samt höftens interaktion med höftbältet. Modellen påvisade däremot ingen distinkt känslighet med hänsyn på skador relaterade till bukorganen samt huvudet. Några begränsningar observerades där den 6åriga PIPER barnhumanmodellen indikerade orealistiska skador på huvudet, som var relaterade till modellens överrörlighet.
FFI, Assessment of Passenger Safety in Future Cars

La sécurité automobile est l’une des principales considérations lors de l’achat d’un véhicule. Avant d’ être commercialisée, une voiture doit répondre aux normes de sécurité du pays, ce qui conduit au développement de systèmes de retenue tels que les airbags et ceintures de sécurité. De plus, des ratings comme EURO NCAP et US NCAP permettent d’évaluer de manière indépendante la sécurité de la voiture. Des essais catapultes sont entre autres effectués pour confirmer le niveau de protection du véhicule et les résultats sont généralement basés sur des valeurs de référence des dommages corporels dérivés de paramètres physiques mesurés dans les mannequins.Cette thèse doctorale présente une approche pour le traitement des données d’entrée (c’est-à-dire des paramètres des systèmes de retenue définis par des experts) suivie d’une classification des essais catapultes frontaux selon ces mêmes paramètres. L’étude est uniquement basée sur les données du passager, les données collectées pour le conducteur n’ étant pas assez complètes pour produire des résultats satisfaisants. L’objectif principal est de créer un modèle qui définit l’influence des paramètres d’entrées sur la sévérité des dommages et qui aide les ingénieurs à avoir un ordre de grandeur des résultats des essais catapultes selon la législation ou le rating choisi. Les valeurs biomécaniques du mannequin (outputs du modèle) ont été regroupées en clusters dans le but de définir des niveaux de dommages corporels. Le modèle ainsi que les différents algorithmes ont été implémentés dans un programme pour une meilleur utilisation quotidienne
Safety is one of the most important considerations when buying a new car. The car has to achievecrash tests defined by the legislation before being selling in a country, what drives to the developmentof safety systems such as airbags and seat belts. Additionally, ratings like EURO NCAP and US NCAPenable to provide an independent evaluation of the car safety. Frontal sled tests are thus carried outto confirm the protection level of the vehicle and the results are mainly based on injury assessmentreference values derived from physical parameters measured in dummies.This doctoral thesis presents an approach for the treatment of the input data (i.e. parameters ofthe restraint systems defined by experts) followed by a classification of frontal sled tests accordingto those parameters. The study is only based on data from the passenger side, the collected datafor the driver were not enough completed to produce satisfying results. The main objective is tocreate a model that evaluates the input parameters’ influence on the injury severity and helps theengineers having a prediction of the sled tests results according to the chosen legislation or rating.The dummy biomechanical values (outputs of the model) have been regrouped into clusters in orderto define injuries groups. The model and various algorithms have been implemented in a GraphicalUser Interface for a better practical daily use

Plus d'un million de personnes meurent dans des accidents sur les routes du monde et beaucoup de millions sont gravement blessés chaque année. Selon les études, ‘Run-Off-Road accidents (ROR)’, c'est-à-dire que le véhicule a au moins une collision avec des équipements routiers, représentent environ 10% des accidents routières, mais 45% de tous les accidents mortels sont des ROR. Les dispositifs de retenue des véhicules (DDR) sont les infrastructures installées sur la route pour fournir un niveau de confinement du véhicule ‘hors de contrôle’. La barrière de sécurité routière est un DDR continu installé à côté ou sur la réserve centrale d'une route pour empêcher les véhicules errants de s'écraser sur les obstacles routiers et de les conserver en toute sécurité. Les résultats statistique montrent que l'existence des barrières peut réduire les morts jusqu'à un facteur de 4 par rapport aux collisions contre d'autres obstacles routiers. Les performances de sauvetage d'un DDR dépendent de la conception de l'appareil. Des normes telles que EN1317 ont normalisé les conditions des essais de chocs sous lesquelles une conception de DDR doit être testée et ont défini les critères pour l'évaluation des performances d'une conception. En fait, un DDR ne puisse pas vraiment être optimisé: il existe des critères multiples pour l'évaluation de la performance d'un DDR et tous les critères ne peuvent pas être optimisés en même temps; les conditions de travail d’un DDR, c'est-à-dire les conditions d'impact d’un DDR avec un véhicule errant, sont nombreuses; les facteurs incertains du DDR peuvent dégrader les performances d'une conception. La thèse vise à définir une approche qui peut servir : l'analyse de sensibilité (AS) et la conception robuste du DDR ; enrichissement des normes existantes dans la conception du DDR. Le cas d'une barrière de sécurité routière est spécifié dans l'étude : une barrière a été testée expérimentalement, le programme Ls-Dyna est utilisé pour la simulation de choc de l'appareil ; en tenant compte des propriétés du modèle de choc, les efficacités de différentes méthodes de l’AS ont été étudiées ; les influences des facteurs critiques dont les incertitudes contribuent le plus à l'instabilité de la barrière ont été quantifiées avec les approches d’AS sélectionnées ; compte tenu des incertitudes des facteurs critiques, l’optimisation robuste de multi-objectif de la barrière est réalisée ; des simulations d'impact de la barrière optimisée ont été effectuées sous des conditions d'impact différentes pour évaluer ses performances dans les véritables accidents. Les approches présentées dans l'article peuvent être utiles pour la conception d'autres DDR ou plus largement d'autres systèmes d'ingénierie complexes. On peut espérer que l'analyse de robustesse et l'analyse de la généralisation (c'est-à-dire l'évaluation de la performance du DDR sous différentes conditions d'impact) du DDR pourraient enrichir les normes de la conception des DDR
More than 1 million people die in crashes on the world’s roads and many millions are seriously injured each year. According to the studies: Run-Off-Road accidents (ROR), i.e. the vehicle run-off the road into the roadside and has at least one collision with either roadside equipment or the roadside itself, “represent about 10% of the total road accidents, while 45% of all fatal accidents are ROR”. Vehicle Restraint Systems (VRS) are the infrastructures installed on the road to provide a level of containment for an errant vehicle. Safety barrier is “continuous VRS installed alongside, or on the central reserve, of a road to prevent errant vehicles from crashing on roadside obstacles, and to retain them safely”. Statistic results show that “the existence of protective barriers on road can reduce fatalities up to a factor of 4 when compared to collisions against other road obstacles.” The life-saving performances of a VRS depend on the design of the device. Standards such as EN1317 normalized the impact conditions under which a design of VRS must be tested by crash tests, and defined the criteria for performance evaluation of a design. While a VRS cannot really be optimized: Multi-criteria exist for performance evaluation of a VRS and all the criteria cannot be optimized in the same time; the impact conditions of the VRS with the errant vehicle are numerous; uncertain factors of the VRS may degrade the performances of a design. The thesis aims to define an approach that can serve: sensitivity analysis (SA) and robust design of the VRS; Enrichment for the existing standards in the design of VRS. The case of a safety barrier is specified in the study: a safety barrier has been test experimentally, the program Ls-Dyna was used for crash simulation of the device; considering properties of the crash model, efficiencies of different SA methods were studied and influences of the critical factors whose uncertainties contribute the most to the instability of the barrier were quantified with the selected SA approaches; considering the uncertainties of the critical factors, Multi-Objective robust optimization of the tested barrier were realized; under different impact conditions, crash simulations of the optimized barrier were carried out to evaluate its performances in the real crash accidents. The approaches presented in the article can be useful for the design of other VRS or more broadly, other complex engineering systems. Hopefully, the robustness analysis and generalization analysis (i.e. performance evaluation of the VRS under different impact conditions) of the safety barrier could enrich the standards for the design of VRS

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Kinesiology and Health Science.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-67). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR31992

The primary intervention for injury in children traveling in cars in Australia has involved the mandatory use of a restraint while traveling in a vehicle. This intervention has been successful as evidenced by high restraint usage rates by Australian children and substantial casualty reductions since the 1970’s. However casualty rates have been relatively stagnant over the last couple of decades. Currently more than 3,000 child occupants are seriously injured in Australia every year. There is a need to examine the scope for further preventing injury among restrained child occupants. This thesis presents four interrelated studies examining the factors and mechanisms involved when Australian children are seriously injured while using some form of restraint in a crash. Methods used include retrospective medical record review, in-depth crash investigation and analysis of mass in-depth crash data. Both descriptive and nonparametric statistical analysis techniques, including those that allow for the control of potential confounders, were used. Observations and results indicate there is substantial scope for further reducing serious injury in children traveling in cars in Australia. To realize this reduction there is a need to address the quality of restraint use by children through the development of strategies that not only encourage restraint use, but encourage the correct use of the most appropriate forms of restraint. There is also a need to address the protection provided by restraint systems and vehicles to child occupants in high severity crashes, and in crashes that involve impacts with fixed roadside objects such as trees and poles.

Trabalho Final do Mestrado Integrado em Medicina apresentado à Faculdade de Medicina
Em Portugal, os acidentes rodoviários são a principal causa de morte acidental em crianças de todos os grupos etários, sendo ainda a segunda causa de internamento por acidente (26%) até aos 18 anos. Com este trabalho pretendemos, perceber quais as principais lesões resultantes de acidente rodoviário na criança, e de que forma a utilização correta de dispositivos de segurança pode modificar a sua ocorrência.Para tal, procedemos à análise dos casos das vítimas de acidentes de viação, com idades compreendidas entre os 0 e os 17 anos, sujeitos a perícias de avaliação do dano corporal pós-traumático em Direito Civil, na Delegação do Centro do Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal e Ciências Forenses e nos Gabinetes Médico-legais e Forenses a ela adstritos, no período compreendido entre 2010 e 2018, tendo sido incluídos 126 casos. 83 dos examinados apresentavam múltiplas lesões, enquanto em 40 casos apenas um segmento corporal foi atingido. Nas crianças transportadas em veículo ligeiro, o crânio e a face foram os segmentos mais atingidos, utilizando, a maioria dos acidentados, dispositivos de segurança no momento da colisão. Relativamente aos menores que circulavam em motociclos, o membro inferior foi o segmento mais lesado, uma vez que o capacete de proteção parece ser bastante eficaz na diminuição de leões do crânio e face. Quanto aos peões e condutores de velocípedes, sofreram sobretudo lesões nos membros inferiores e crânio. Na maioria dos acidentes em que a vítima circulava de bicicleta não foi possível apurar se usariam capacete de proteção, sendo que nos 3 casos em que esta informação se encontrava registada, as vítimas afirmavam não o usar.Nos nossos resultados não foi possível observar uma diferença significativa entre a utilização/ não utilização ou utilização incorreta de sistemas de retenção para crianças no grau de incapacidade resultante, contudo, a evidência existente aponta para uma elevada eficácia dos sistemas de retenção infantil quer na redução da mortalidade (pelo menos 60% das mortes), quer na ocorrência de lesões, sobretudo nas crianças mais novas, com idade inferior a 4 anos.Ainda que com algumas limitações, consideramos que, conseguimos cumprir o objetivo do trabalho, já que nos foi possível perceber quais as lesões mais frequentes nos acidentes rodoviários em menores, e as suas repercussões. Também relativamente do uso dos dispositivos de segurança foi possível observar diferenças na adesão à sua utilização, face ao meio de circulação envolvido. Consideramos por fim que neste trabalho há uma grande margem de progressão, podendo, por exemplo, ser alargado o período temporal em estudo, por forma a aumentar a amostra e obter resultados mais significativos .
In Portugal, road traffic injuries are the main cause of accidental death in children of all age groups and the second cause of hospitalization due to accidents (26%) in children up to 18 years of age. The main goal of this study was to understand the main injuries arising from road traffic accidents in children and how the correct use of safety devices can modify their occurrence.We proceeded to analyze the cases of road traffic victims, between 0 and 17 years of age, subjected to clinical forensic evaluation of post-traumatic bodily harm in Civil Law, in the Central Delegation of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences and the Medico-legal and Forensic Offices attached to it, between 2010 and 2018, having included 126 cases.83 of those examined had multiple lesions, while in 40 cases only one body segment was injured. In children transported in cars, the skull and face were the most affected segments with, most of the injured using safety devices at the time of the collision. Regarding the minors who were riding motorcycles, the lower limb was the most injured segment, since the protective helmet seems to be quite efficient in reducing injuries to the skull and face. As for pedestrians and cyclists, they mainly suffered injuries to the lower limbs and skull. In most of the accidents in which the victim was riding a bicycle, it was not possible to determine if a protective helmet was in use or not. However, in the 3 cases in which this information was recorded, they claimed not to have used it.In our results, it was not possible to observe a significant difference between the use / non-use or incorrect use of child restraint systems in the resulting degree of disability. However, the existing evidence points to a high effectiveness of child restraint systems in reducing mortality (at least 60% of deaths), or in the occurrence of injuries, especially in children under the age of 4.Despite some limitations, we managed to fulfill the objective of this study, given that it was possible for us to recognize the most frequent injuries in road traffic accidents involving children, and their repercussions. In what concerns the use of safety devices, it was possible to observe differences in the commitment to their use, regarding the means of circulation involved. Finally, we consider that there is a large margin of progression for this work, as the period under study may be extended in order to increase our sample and, hence, obtain more significant results .

Trabalho Final do Mestrado Integrado em Medicina apresentado à Faculdade de Medicina
Em Portugal, os acidentes rodoviários são a principal causa de morte acidental em crianças de todos os grupos etários, sendo ainda a segunda causa de internamento por acidente (26%) até aos 18 anos. Com este trabalho pretendemos, perceber quais as principais lesões resultantes de acidente rodoviário na criança, e de que forma a utilização correta de dispositivos de segurança pode modificar a sua ocorrência.Para tal, procedemos à análise dos casos das vítimas de acidentes de viação, com idades compreendidas entre os 0 e os 17 anos, sujeitos a perícias de avaliação do dano corporal pós-traumático em Direito Civil, na Delegação do Centro do Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal e Ciências Forenses e nos Gabinetes Médico-legais e Forenses a ela adstritos, no período compreendido entre 2010 e 2018, tendo sido incluídos 126 casos. 83 dos examinados apresentavam múltiplas lesões, enquanto em 40 casos apenas um segmento corporal foi atingido. Nas crianças transportadas em veículo ligeiro, o crânio e a face foram os segmentos mais atingidos, utilizando, a maioria dos acidentados, dispositivos de segurança no momento da colisão. Relativamente aos menores que circulavam em motociclos, o membro inferior foi o segmento mais lesado, uma vez que o capacete de proteção parece ser bastante eficaz na diminuição de leões do crânio e face. Quanto aos peões e condutores de velocípedes, sofreram sobretudo lesões nos membros inferiores e crânio. Na maioria dos acidentes em que a vítima circulava de bicicleta não foi possível apurar se usariam capacete de proteção, sendo que nos 3 casos em que esta informação se encontrava registada, as vítimas afirmavam não o usar.Nos nossos resultados não foi possível observar uma diferença significativa entre a utilização/ não utilização ou utilização incorreta de sistemas de retenção para crianças no grau de incapacidade resultante, contudo, a evidência existente aponta para uma elevada eficácia dos sistemas de retenção infantil quer na redução da mortalidade (pelo menos 60% das mortes), quer na ocorrência de lesões, sobretudo nas crianças mais novas, com idade inferior a 4 anos.Ainda que com algumas limitações, consideramos que, conseguimos cumprir o objetivo do trabalho, já que nos foi possível perceber quais as lesões mais frequentes nos acidentes rodoviários em menores, e as suas repercussões. Também relativamente do uso dos dispositivos de segurança foi possível observar diferenças na adesão à sua utilização, face ao meio de circulação envolvido. Consideramos por fim que neste trabalho há uma grande margem de progressão, podendo, por exemplo, ser alargado o período temporal em estudo, por forma a aumentar a amostra e obter resultados mais significativos .
In Portugal, road traffic injuries are the main cause of accidental death in children of all age groups and the second cause of hospitalization due to accidents (26%) in children up to 18 years of age. The main goal of this study was to understand the main injuries arising from road traffic accidents in children and how the correct use of safety devices can modify their occurrence.We proceeded to analyze the cases of road traffic victims, between 0 and 17 years of age, subjected to clinical forensic evaluation of post-traumatic bodily harm in Civil Law, in the Central Delegation of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences and the Medico-legal and Forensic Offices attached to it, between 2010 and 2018, having included 126 cases.83 of those examined had multiple lesions, while in 40 cases only one body segment was injured. In children transported in cars, the skull and face were the most affected segments with, most of the injured using safety devices at the time of the collision. Regarding the minors who were riding motorcycles, the lower limb was the most injured segment, since the protective helmet seems to be quite efficient in reducing injuries to the skull and face. As for pedestrians and cyclists, they mainly suffered injuries to the lower limbs and skull. In most of the accidents in which the victim was riding a bicycle, it was not possible to determine if a protective helmet was in use or not. However, in the 3 cases in which this information was recorded, they claimed not to have used it.In our results, it was not possible to observe a significant difference between the use / non-use or incorrect use of child restraint systems in the resulting degree of disability. However, the existing evidence points to a high effectiveness of child restraint systems in reducing mortality (at least 60% of deaths), or in the occurrence of injuries, especially in children under the age of 4.Despite some limitations, we managed to fulfill the objective of this study, given that it was possible for us to recognize the most frequent injuries in road traffic accidents involving children, and their repercussions. In what concerns the use of safety devices, it was possible to observe differences in the commitment to their use, regarding the means of circulation involved. Finally, we consider that there is a large margin of progression for this work, as the period under study may be extended in order to increase our sample and, hence, obtain more significant results .