Summary

This report investigates the positive and negative aspects of bull bars with regard to road trauma in Australia through assessment of the current literature and analysis of fatal road crash data. Quantification of risk is limited by a number of factors, including restricting the analysis to fatal crashes, incompleteness of data on the bull bar status of vehicles involved in crashes, lack of data on animal strikes and the difficulty of isolating effects of bull bars from other factors associated with injury outcomes, such as vehicle size and speed.

Summary

In 1997 McLean et al. (1997) demonstrated that energy absorbing headwear for car occupants might be effective in reducing the numbers of head injuries sustained by car occupants. The estimated benefits were greater than the estimated benefits of padding of the upper interior of vehicles to the requirements of the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 201. This report investigates the suitability of selected materials for head protection, in the form of a headband that could be worn by car occupants.

Summary

In this report, bicycle helmet efficacy is quantified using a formal meta-analytic approach based on peer-reviewed studies. Though several reviews have already been published advocating the use of helmets, this approach provides summary estimates of efficacy in terms of head injury, brain injury and facial injury based on studies of cyclists involved in crashes in which injury and helmet information is available for each individual. It also provides evidence concerning neck injury and fatal injury.

Summary

Used Car Safety ratings for passenger vehicles built 1982-2005.

In a crash, how much is your car likely to protect you?

You"ve got your sights set on that car. It's the right price, looks good, and it's the prefect size for what you need. But there are two important factors you may not have thought about. Are your car's safety and design features likely to protect you in a crash? And, is your car likely to harm other road users?

Summary

Fatal Heavy Vehicle Crashes Australia is a quarterly bulletin presenting recent data on fatal road crashes involving heavy vehicles as well as historical comparisons. It is produced using data supplied by the eight states and territories.

Summary

Previous research demonstrated that vertical whole-body vibration can induce feelings reminiscent of fatigue and lassitude. These studies used 4 Hz as the driving frequency as this has been shown to be prominent in road-induced vibration in heavy vehicles. A series of tests of cognition, brain function, heart rate and questionnaires concerning subjective effects were previously validated using 10 minutes of vibration at 4 Hz.

Summary

This months key figures:

• There were a total of 117 road deaths in September 2007.
  • this is a 15.8% decrease from the September 2006 figure.

Summary

Road Deaths Australia is a monthly bulletin presenting the latest fatal road crash data as well as recent historical comparisons. It is produced using monthly data supplied by the eight states and territories.