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This paper presents a new data analysis approach to describe driver performance in situations that have the potential of leading to a rear-end crash. The approach provides at least two key benefits. It provides a unified means of analyzing data from different sources such as simulators, test tracks, and instrumented vehicles. It may also provide a means of addressing the huge diversity of driver performance in pre-crash situations.

The Statement of National Transportation Policy issued by President Bush and Secretary Skinner last year points out that “innovation and technological advances within the transportation field will be vital to ensure that the system can meet the Nation's transportation requirements for the 21st century.” TravTek, a major Intelligent Vehicle/Highway System (IVHS) advanced motorist information demonstration program in the United States, provides an example of just such innovation. The TravTek program focuses on the navigation and route-guidance needs of out-of-town visitors and utilizes a fleet of specially equipped rental cars as the test bed for the advanced technologies to be evaluated. One of the goals of the TravTek program is to evaluate the potential for, and identify needed enhancements for, increased safety of advanced route-guidance projects.

This paper describes the injury relations which result when car-to-car crashes are analyzed using a computerized accident reconstruction procedure. The results of the study are presented in the form of graphical relations between injury severity and crash severity. Effects of factors such as impact location, seating position and vehicle weights are discussed. THIS PAPER EXPLORES the use of a relatively new tool for accident reconstruction - Simulation Model of Automobile Collisions (SMAC). The capability of this program to simulate a wide variety of crashes is described in detail elsewhere (1,2,3)*. This study is limited to the reconstruction of side impact collisions in which two passenger vehicles are involved. The need for redesigning vehicles based on an understanding of this crash condition is amply demonstrated by the fact that 28 percent of passenger car occupant fatalities and 41 percent of passenger car occupant injuries are caused by side impacts (4).