Women are more likely to die in car accidents due to female crash dummies size

& # 39; Female & # 39; Test Dummies Weighing Only 110 Pounds

A new study supports previous research that women are far more likely to be injured or killed in motor vehicle accidents. Although there have been many theories as to why this is happening, another emerges pointing to the size and weight of the crash test dummies used to simulate women.

The split was first calculated in a 2011 study at the University of Virginia, which found that for men and women who had seat belts, women were nearly 50 percent more likely to be severely injured or killed during a crash. This study pointed to safety belts, suggesting that women who were injured had "relatively short stature" and "preferred sitting position and a combination of factors that provide lower security protection from the standard devices." Initially, no safety belts were made with women in mind.

The new study looked at 31[ads1],000 people between 1998 and 2015 and found that not only previous research has held up to crash data since then, crash test dummies used to test vehicle safety are also faulty – Because these dummies are only five feet tall and weighing 110 pounds.

Wow:

Vehicular crash test dummies do not change the weight distribution to represent how it is in real women.

Dummy-type dummy, introduced in 2003, is only 5 meters high and 110 kg.

73% greater death / serious injuries than men. Https: //t.co/npPyj1zKWt

– Mudge (@dotMudge) July 19, 2019

The odds of serious injury or death for female car crash victims are 73 percent higher than for men, "City Lab says of the study. "Women continue to be in more vulnerable positions when involved in frontal collisions – even when they are wearing safety belts."

In fact, female test dummies were not widely used for 2003, and since then, the height and weight of these dummies have not changed to count on what an average woman weighs, affecting how car safety features are designed. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, an average American woman weighs 170.5 pounds and is nearly four inches higher than the dummies used.

"We obviously know many ways that men and women are different biomechanically," University of Virginia researcher Jason Forman said. "These differences [fat distribution, pelvis shape] … have the potential to change ways in which safety belts interact with the body and with our underlying skeletal structures."

Most crash test dummies are male and have an impact on how safe women are in vehicles, according to new research obtained exclusively by CBC News. https://t.co/wPDYSpR5KF pic.twitter.com/F2QTbSvVFi

– CBC News: The National (@CBCTheNational) July 3, 2019

"There is some logic Behind the use of these: it is necessary to evaluate and protect the outer ends of the population, continued Forman, which makes sense, but there is obviously also an inadequacy.

There was some good news coming out of this new research – Both men and women are now more than half as likely to be severely injured in cars produced after 2009 models, but the discrepancy for women remains.

Even with this new information, much more research seems to be needed for deciding how to bridge this gap. "If we leave things on the same course, we will be in the same position with autonomous vehicles as we are with regular cars now," said Becky Mueller, senior research institute at the Insurance Institute for Highway. Safety (IIHS). "We must end up with Building autonomous vehicles with women has a 73 percent greater risk of injury as well. "