Results
From the WFU CIREN cases, 37% occurred in frontal impacts. About 70% of occupants were belted at the time of the crash. With Brenner Children’s Hospital, in conjunction with the School of Medicine, the WFU CIREN center has also been able to gather information on many pediatric motor vehicle crash occupants, with more than 30 occupants under 19 years of age.
Some of the most commonly injured body regions for all ages include the head, thorax, and lower extremities. The VT-WFU CIREN center also has particular research focus areas including pulmonary contusion, pregnant occupants, liver and spleen injury, and brain injury. This injury information is used to research vehicle safety enhancements that can be incorporated in future vehicles to prevent or mitigate serious injury.
CIREN data is also used to examine occupant outcome after serious injury, as well as trends in crashes, such as the emergence of large numbers of vehicle size mismatch crashes resulting in serious injury due to override/underride of vehicles.