Sunday, 29 June 2008 00:00
Richmond AFL footballer Graham Polak was struck and seriously injured by a tram on the night of 28 June 2008. This unfortunate incident once again reminds us how little is done [but could be done] with the design of the front of our trams and buses to reduce severe and fatal injury risk to pedestrians.
Trams, trains and even buses are unable to move around pedestrians or other vehicles. They also have stiff, hard front structures which can and do inflict serious head and other injuries even at low speeds.
We could easily add energy absorbing surfaces to both the front of trams and buses to makes these structures ‘crashworthy’ for pedestrians but for some unknown reason this is not happening. Such a recommendation was made in a Monash University Accident Research Centre Report for VicRoads in 1993. When will our public transport authorities actually implement known, practical safety solutions to reduce the horrible consequences of brain injury? It is about time.
Rechnitzer G. (1993) “Truck Involved Crash Study: Fatal and injury crashes of cars and other road users with the front and side of heavy vehicles”, Monash University Accident Research Centre, Melbourne, Report 35. [http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/reports/muarc035.html]
Thursday, 05 June 2008 10:54
One year on from the Kerang train disaster, Dr George Rechnitzer has been interviewed by the Herald sun on the state of train safety:
Crashworthiness expert and forensic engineer Dr George Rechnitzer, who provided a report to a NSW inquiry into a train crash that killed seven people, said the Victorian Government was failing train passengers.
"If they don't properly address the crashworthiness, if they only talk about meeting industry best practice . . . that's woefully inadequate," he said.
"The reviews have to ask, 'Are we trying to save lives?'
"If we'd just stuck with industry best practice when we were improving car safety, we would have got nowhere in reducing the road toll."
Dr Rechnitzer, a principal at safety company DVExperts, said the sides of the N-class train struck by a truck at Kerang were not crashworthy.
The full article may be found here.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008 14:27
On 14 April, Dr George Rechnitzer of Delta-V Experts, together with Dr Geoff Dell and Gary Lawson-Smith of the Safety Institute of Australia, presented to the Parliament of Victoria Road Safety Committee Inquiry into Improving Level Crossing Safety. This presentation was a follow up to the submissions made by SIA and Delta-V Experts on the topic. DVE's experience in level crossings has been borne through numerous accident investigations into these types of crashes, as well as its general safety consulting work and research.
The Road Safety Committee was highty appreciative of the thrust and scope of the presentation.
A PDF of the presentation may be downloaded here.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008 11:13
The UNSW School of Risk and Safety Sciences has finally announced its website for the Pedal and Motor Cycle Helmet Performance Study. The study is being supported and funded by the ATSB, ARC, TAC, NRMA, RTA and of course DVExperts International.
The study is examining the effectiveness of safetry helmets in real-life crashes. An in-depth study of pedal and motor cycle accident is being carried out, involving the collection of detailed information on crash circumstances, injury, and the helmet damage. The study aims to determine the relationship between helmet performance and injury, and to identify the limitations and effectiveness of current helmet designs in preventing head injury.
Please visit the site for more information.
Wednesday, 26 March 2008 20:40
Let’s get ‘fair dinkum’ on level crossing safety. It is very upsetting to see the continuing toll from level crossing crashes in Victoria, and the totally inadequate response from our Government which is trying hard to convince the public that its action are really effective, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
The $30m annual budget that the Government tells us is doing something, may sound like a lot, but in reality it should be at least 10 times this amount to be ‘fair dinkum’. It is a cruel irony that the public is expected to believe that $30 million is significant, whereas it is actually totally inadequate for addressing such a longstanding, and neglected area.
We are pleased to attach the following article by one of our esteemed and well known colleagues, as well as a recognised pioneer in the scientific method of injury research and prevention, Dr Eric Wigglesworth. From today’s [26th March 2008] Herald Sun article [Melbourne, Australia].
