Women are More Seriously Injured in Car Crashes, Study Shows

Despite the latest advances in vehicle design, technology and safety, women continue to suffer more serious injuries than men when they get into a frontal car crash, even when wearing a seat belt.

According to researchers at the University of Virginia’s Center for Applied Biomechanics, belted female occupants have 73 percent greater odds of several kinds of serious injuries, particularly to their lower extremities (after controlling for collision severity, occupant age, stature, body mass index and vehicle model year).

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These findings come from U.S. police-reported crash and injury data for 1998-2015 and focused on 31,000 female and male occupants aged 13 and older who wore seat belts in 23,000 frontal collisions.

“Until we understand the fundamental biomechanical factors that contribute to increased risk for females, we’ll be limited in our ability to close the risk gap,” says Jason Forman, principal scientist with the Center for Applied Biomechanics. “This will take substantial effort, and in my view the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not have the resources needed to address this issue.”

The study also highlights how vehicle occupants age 66 and older continue to be particularly susceptible to thoracic injury, likely resulting from increased fragility of the ribcage with advanced age.

The good news is that newer automobiles have tended to exhibit a decreased risk of skull fractures and injuries to the cervical spine, ankles, knees, hips, thighs and the abdominal region. However, the risk of sternum fractures and serious rib fractures has not been significantly reduced.