The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a new report that found women have an overall 26 percent higher risk of injury than men during vehicular crashes.
For the study, the research team examined 150 crash injury models, finding that some specific crash scenarios have a particularly high risk of injury for women compared to men. According to the research findings, women had a 46 percent higher risk in frontal crashes, 55 percent higher risk in rollover crashes, 62 percent higher risk for lower extremity injuries in frontal crashes, and 128 percent higher risk of injuries to the foot and ankle in frontal crashes.
Among both men and women, the researchers found that injury risk increases with a person’s age. When compared to the youngest age group (13 to 24 years old), each subsequent age group had higher moderate-to-severe and fatal injury risk in all but rollover crashes. Additionally, the study found that having a body mass index of 30 or higher was frequently associated with significantly higher injury risk, particularly in frontal crashes.
According to administrators from NHTSA, the findings support the importance of conducting crash simulations with the THOR-O5F, a new advanced female crash test dummy.
“This study reaffirms the importance of the THOR and will help the [U.S. Department of Transportation] further build on the progress it’s already made in lowering traffic fatalities,” said NHTSA administrator Jonathan Morrison.