Motor vehicle rollovers and spinal cord injury Online publication date: Tue, 27-May-2014
by E.C. Wigglesworth
International Journal of Vehicle Design (IJVD), Vol. 12, No. 5/6, 1991
Abstract: Accident reports for 67 patients admitted to three Spinal Cord Injury Units in Australia in 1987 as a result of vehicle accidents were examined. Two-thirds of the accidents occurred during the Friday-Saturday-Sunday leisure period and about 60% occurred during the November-February Australian summer holiday season. This fits the general Australian pattern of road trauma which is predominantly a consequence of leisure travel. The likelihood of a road traffic injury resulting in damage to the spinal cord was highest for motorcyclists whose average age was 22.7 years, an age lower than that for vehicle drivers (33.7) and vehicle passengers (38.1). However, the most important finding is that most car occupants received their injuries when a vehicle overturned. As vehicle rollovers are relatively rare in the total spectrum of traffic crashes, this distribution is thought not to have been previously reported. Some possible mechanisms of spinal cord injury are reviewed and engineering solutions to prevent future injuries are recommended. The paper also emphasizes the massive financial costs of spinal cord injury to Australia.
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