Characteristics of multiple impact crashes in ANCIS

ANCIS (The Australian National Crash In Depth Study) has been collecting in-depth realworld crash cases for four years, with more than 350 cases collected to date in Victoria and NSW. In this retrospective study, participants have been hospitalised as a result of injuries sustained in a motor vehicle crash, where the vehicle in which they were travelling was manufactured since 1989. Where possible, participants are administered a structured interview, their medical records examined, the vehicle inspected and photographed and the site of the crash inspected in detail. A best evidence synthesis approach is utilised to determine the crash circumstances (without apportioning blame) and occupant injury causation.

Multiple impact crashes made up 32% of the dataset, showing a trend toward higher severity outcomes. In one-third of the multiple impacts a rollover was present, with the first impact being the most severe in the majority of cases, whether or not it happened to be the rollover event. While not yet a significant trend, there appeared to be a tendency toward higher injury severity (as measured by ISS) if the most severe impact occurred later in the crash sequence. Finally, head and spinal injuries of AIS3+ were significantly more likely to occur in multiple impacts compared with single impact crashes.

ANCIS is unique in that study sponsors from a wide variety of backgrounds are successfully collaborating to fund this valuable resource of in-depth data that will increasingly assist with a systems approach to solving the problem of road crashes, with in-depth information available on the occupant, vehicle and road environment aspects of a crash.