Introduction

This is a term the average person will likely not encounter in daily life."Thrown from the vehicle accidents" are ones in which the driver or a passenger is partially or completely flung out of the vehicle by the impact of the accident. In 2003, eight percent of traffic fatalities involved people being thrown from the vehicles in which they were riding.   Statistics for 2003 also revealed that passenger fatalities accounted for 0.4 percent of traffic accident casualties (injury or death). However, the number of fatalities from "thrown from the vehicle accidents" came to a very high 29 percent. This figure indicates that people thrown from vehicle suffer very serious injuries.

Summary   The "thrown out of vehicle" type accident is one with a very high fatality rate for casualties, making it important to further reduce the level of casualties resulting from accidents.   The following facts were established through analyzing the Comprehensive Database on Traffic Accidents (macro statistics) and the on-site investigations of traffic accidents (micro surveys) data. (1) Instances of passengers being thrown out of vehicles all occur in the form of accidents. These mainly include crossing collision accidents (vehicle to vehicle), collision with guardrail accidents (vehicle alone) and running off the road accidents (vehicle alone). (2) Instances of passengers being thrown out of vehicles can occur at relatively low speeds. (3) While passengers sitting in the rear seat positions account for 10 percent of passenger fatalities in all accidents, they make up a very high 24 percent of fatalities in thrown out of the vehicle accidents. (4) Children account for 34 percent of fatalities of passengers in the rear seating position in thrown out of vehicle accidents. (5) Most casualties from thrown out of vehicle accidents suffering serious or greater physical injury were not wearing seatbelts.   From on-site investigations of traffic accidents (micro surveys) data, we estimate that 120 (approximately 50%) of the fatalities from thrown out of the vehicle accidents during 2003 could have been saved if they were wearing seatbelts.   Despite the ongoing warnings to make sure to wear seatbelts, there are still a large number of people who fail to use them. In addition to steps to increase awareness of the need for passengers to wear their seatbelts, it will be necessary to make seatbelts more comfortable and easier to use in order to raise the level of seatbelt use.   Furthermore, in order to raise the use of seatbelts in the rear seating positions, where their use is very low, mandatory use of seatbelts should be contemplated. UP Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA)