Kinematics and injury analysis of front and rear child pillion passenger in motorcycle crash

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to study the kinematics and injury of child pillion passenger from motorcycle-to-car crash tests. Two crash tests for rear and front child pillions were set up. The kinematics of dummies were analysed from accelerometer data and high speed camera pictures. The kinematics and injury mechanisms of the child passenger from both tests are significantly different. For the rear child pillion test, the rider impacted the car before the child passenger. Both rider and child were ejected upward. The child's head motion was curvilinear towards the car structure. This results in severe head injury due to high HIC. The child sitting at front translated in the longitudinal axis of the motorcycle and impacted the car before the rider. The child's torso strongly hit to the handlebar first then head hit the car. This results in low value of HIC. The child's upper-body including neck were compressed between the car and the rider's torso leading to high risk of severe thorax and neck injuries. The results reveal that the child sitting behind the rider has higher risk of severe head injury while the child sitting before the rider has higher risk of thorax and neck injuries.