• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.83-92
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• 2007

In 2004, the number of traffic crashes and deaths in Korea are 220,755 and 6,563, respectively. Korea Road Traffic Safety Authority reported that the number of traffic accidents occupies over 25% out of total accidents, and found that traffic crash probability is extremely high at intersections since intersections have various traffic conflict points. A Safety study using Traffic Conflict Technique is much more useful than a study using reported traffic accident data. Existing traffic conflict research hardly considered conflict severity occurring at intersections. So, the study developed new criteria considering conflict severity. Analytic methods precisely detecting crashing points using field surveying data, and applied an application of our new criteria. Opposing left-turn conflict criteria was devided by three groups(high severe conflict, middle severe conflict, and less severe conflict) based on conflict boundary by means of a standard vehicle length. After analyzing field surveying data(3hours), we found totally 41 opposing left-turn conflicts. 3 cases are high severe conflict, and another 10 cases are middle severe conflicts, and the other cases are less severe. Studies related in conflict severity are considerably important to evaluate intersection's detailed safety index, and existing studies(purely conflict counting does not consider severity) have a limitation to clearly determine the level of safety of intersections for an application.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.53-73
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• 2023

Although it is mandatory to wear a seat belt that can minimize human injury when traffic accident occurs, the number of traffic accident casualties not wearing seat belts still accounts for a significant proportion.The seat belt wearing detection system for all seats is a system that identifies whether all seat passengers wear a seat belt and encourages their usage, also it can be a useful technical countermeasure. Firstly, this study established the viability of system implementation by assessing the factors influencing the severity of injuries in traffic accidents through the development of an ordered probit model. Analysis results showed that the use of seat belts has statistically significant effects on the severity of traffic accidents, reducing the probability of death or serious injury by 0.054 times in the event of a traffic accident. Secondly, a meta-analysis was conducted based on prior research related to seat belts and injuries in traffic accidents to estimate the expected reduction in accident severity upon the implementation of the system.The analysis of the effect of accident severity reduction revealed that wearing seat belts would lead to a 63.3% decrease in fatal accidents, with the front seats showing a reduction of 75.7% and the rear seats showing a reduction of 58.1% in fatal accidents. Lastly, Using the results of the meta-analysis and traffic accident statistics, the expected decrease in the number of traffic accident casualties with the implementation of the system was derived to analyze the traffic safety effects of the proposed detection system. The analysis demonstrated that with an increase in the adoption rate of the system, the number of casualties in accidents where seat belts were not worn decreased. Specifically, at a system adoption rate of 60%, it is anticipated that the number of fatalities would decrease by more than three times compared to the current scenario. Based on the analysis results, operational strategies for the system were proposed to increase seat belt usage rates and reduce accident severity.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.145-155
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• 2012

PURPOSES: This study proposes a novel method based on microscopic simulation models to evaluate bicycle passing ways in mixed traffic flow conditions at signalized intersections. METHODS: Both operational efficiency and safety are taken into consideration in the evaluation. A widely used performance measure, delay, is used for evaluating the operational efficiency. Regarding the safety evaluation, surrogate safety measures (SSM) to represent traffic conflicts and the level of crash severity, DeltaS and Max.DeltaV, are applied in the proposed method. RESULTS: Extensive simulations and statistical tests show that an integrated bike-box way is identified as the best in terms of operational efficiency and safety. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method and outcomes of this study will be valuable for bicycle traffic operations and facility design.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.491-499
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• 2005

There are different types of vehicle impacts recorded every year, resulting in many injuries and fatalities. The severity of these impacts depends on the aggressivety and incompatibility of vehicle-to-roadside hardware impacts. The aim of this paper is to investigate and to enhance crashworthiness in the case of full barrier impact using a new idea of crash improvement. Two different types of smart structures have been proposed to support the function of the existing vehicle. The work carried out in this paper includes developing and analyzing mathematical models of vehicle-to-barrier impact for the two types of smart structures. It is proven from analytical analysis that the mathematical models can be used in an effective way to give a quick insight of real life crashes. Moreover, it is shown that these models are valid and flexible, and can be useful in optimization studies.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.65-77
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• 2013

Recent advanced sensors and communication technologies have been widely applied to advanced safety vehicle (ASV) for reducing traffic accident and injury severity. To apply the advanced safety vehicle technologies, it is important to quantify the safety benefits, which is a fundamental for justifying application. This study proposed a methodology for quantifying the effectiveness of the advanced driver assistant system (ADAS), and applied the methodology to lane departure warning system (LDWS) and automatic emergency braking system (AEBS) which are typical advanced driver assistant systems. When the proposed methodology is applied to 2008-2010 gyeonggi-province crash data, LDWS would reduce about 10~14% of relevant crashes such as head-on, run-off-the road, rollover and fixed-object collisions on the road. In addition, AEBS could potentially prevent about 50% of total rear-end crashes. The outcomes of this study support decision making for developing not only vehicular technology but also relevant safety policies.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.149-158
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• 2014

PURPOSES : The bridge section of the expressway has a worse driving environment than the general section. However, traffic safety countermeasures are focused only on the bridge section. Traffic safety countermeasures on the section before entry to the bridge and the section after exit from the bridge are applied only when the bridge has a long-span section. Accordingly, this study will verify the necessity of extending the application of traffic safety countermeasures to areas that are affected by the bridge. METHODS : This study determines the areas that are affected by the bridge as well as the areas that are affected by locations with frequent traffic accidents and suggests the risk factors by affected areas through canonical discriminant analysis. For the analysis, traffic accident data for 3 years, which occurred on bridge sections in six major expressway lines, were used. RESULTS : The numbers of traffic accidents were 469 before the bridge, 281 on the bridge, and 468 after the bridge. The variables that have impact on the seriousness of accidents are as follows: speeding, excess manipulation of the steering wheel, and failure to secure safety distance for accidents that occurred before the bridge section; speeding, excess manipulation of the steering wheel, and dozing off for accidents that occurred on the bridge; and speeding and failure to secure safety distance for accidents that occurred after the bridge section. CONCLUSIONS : Areas affected by the bridge show higher accident rates than the bridge section; therefore, imposing traffic safety countermeasures on the integrated section of the bridge and the affected areas is required. It is believed that the results suggested in this study could be effectively used in the prevention of traffic accidents by imposing custom-made safety countermeasures for each section.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.432-438
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• 2016

Whiplash injuries in low-speed rear-end collisions are the most common injuries and has been a social issue in insurance industry, such as excessive medical claim costs along with exaggerated injuries of victims and treatments from hospitals. According to the Korea Insurance Development Institute reports, the number of claims by rear-end collision was approximately 703,000, which accounts for 53.6 % of the total car-to-car collisions in 2014. Part of the neck injury claims in the Korea car insurance was approximately 28.3 %. Furthermore, approximately 98.4% of the injured persons in rear-end collisions sustained minor injuries under AIS2. In order to improve this situation as well as find out the severity of neck injuries from rear-end collision, the Korea Automobile Insurance Repair Research and Training Center conducted car-to-car rear-end crash tests that striking vehicles(SUV) collided into different sizes of struck-vehicles(small, middle, and large sedan) at the impact speeds of 8 km/h ~ 16 km/h. In order to analyze the whiplash injury, the BioRID-II was seated in each struck-vehicles, and the neck injury criteria(NIC), head contact time, maximum vehicle accelerations, and mean vehicle accelerations were calculated from values from the accelerations of the dummy and the struck-vehicles.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.10-15
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the injury mechanism of facial injury related to an air-bag's deployment in occupant motor vehicle accident (MVA) by using Hospital Information System (HIS) and reconstruction program, based on the materials related to motor vehicle accidents. Among patients who visited the emergency department of Wonju Severance Christian Hospital due to motor vehicle accidents from August 2012 to February 2014, we collected data on patients with agreement for taking the damaged vehicle's photos. After obtaining the verbal consent from the patient, we asked about the cause of the accident, information on vehicle involved in the accident, and the location of car repair shop. The photos of the damaged vehicle were taken on the basis of front, rear, left side and right side. Damage to the vehicle was presented using the CDC code by analytical study of photo-images of the damaged vehicle, and a trauma score was used for medical examination of the severity of the patient's injury. Among the 309 patients with agreement for an investigation, thirty five (11.3 %) were the severe who had ISS over 15. And also, sixteen (5.2%) derived from the reconstructed data (maximum collision energy, maximum acceleration, delta V) by PC-Crash. As a result, ISS including the facial injuries was affected by the condition. It was high when the number of crash extent, the safety belt was not fastened, and the seating position of occupant and the direction of collision is same. For accurate analysis of the relationship between occupant injury and vehicle damage in MVAs, build-up of an in-depth database through carrying out various policies for motor vehicle accidents is necessary for sure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.33-44
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• 2005

Railroad crossing crashes are fewer than road crashes, but with regard to crash severity, they can be serious injury crashes. There should be, therefore, enormous efforts to increase the safety of railroad crossings. The objective of this paper is to identify and understand factors associated with railroad crossing crashes. Statistical models are used to examine the relationships between crossing accidents and geometric elements of crossings. The results show the Poisson model is the most appropriate method for the crossing accidents, because overdispersion was not observed. This study identifies seven significant factors associated with railroad crossing crashes through the main and variant models. With regard to explanatory factors on crossing safety, the total traffic volume, daily train volume, presence of commercial area around crossings, distance of train detector from crossings, time duration between the activation of warning signals and gates, crossing types, and speed hump were found to affect the safety of railroad crossings.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.42
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• pp.22.1-22.6
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• 2020

Introduction: Facial fractures (FFs) occur after high- and low-energy trauma; differences in associated injuries and outcomes have not been well articulated. Objective: To compare the epidemiology, management, and outcomes of patients suffering FFs from high-energy and low-energy mechanisms. Methods: We conducted a 6-year retrospective local trauma registry analysis of adults aged 18-55 years old that suffered a FF treated at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Fracture patterns, concomitant injuries, procedures, and outcomes were compared between patients that suffered a high-energy mechanism (HEM: motor vehicle crash, bicycle crash, auto versus pedestrian, falls from height > 20 feet) and those that suffered a low-energy mechanism (LEM: assault, ground-level falls) of injury. Results: FFs occurred in 123 patients, 25 from an HEM and 98 from an LEM. Rates of Le Fort (HEM 12% vs. LEM 3%, P = 0.10), mandible (HEM 20% vs. LEM 38%, P = 0.11), midface (HEM 84% vs. LEM 67%, P = 0.14), and upper face (HEM 24% vs. LEM 13%, P = 0.217) fractures did not significantly differ between the HEM and LEM groups, nor did facial operative rates (HEM 28% vs. LEM 40%, P = 0.36). FFs after an HEM event were associated with increased Injury Severity Scores (HEM 16.8 vs. LEM 7.5, P <0.001), ICU admittance (HEM 60% vs. LEM 13.3%, P <0.001), intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) (HEM 52% vs. LEM 15%, P <0.001), cervical spine fractures (HEM 12% vs. LEM 0%, P = 0.008), truncal/lower extremity injuries (HEM 60% vs. LEM 6%, P <0.001), neurosurgical procedures for the management of ICH (HEM 54% vs. LEM 36%, P = 0.003), and decreased Glasgow Coma Score on arrival (HEM 11.7 vs. LEM 14.2, P <0.001). Conclusion: FFs after HEM events were associated with severe and multifocal injuries. FFs after LEM events were associated with ICH, concussions, and cervical spine fractures. Mechanism-based screening strategies will allow for the appropriate detection and management of injuries that occur concomitant to FFs. Type of study: Retrospective cohort study. Level of evidence: Level III.