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Despite efforts by industry to reduce the problem of injury in rear impacts, there continues to be a large number of such claims. This is true even in low speed impacts which result in little or no damage to the vehicles involved. Recent studies of such incidents have been described in the literature. These studies have concentrated primarily on simple bumper to bumper impacts where the front bumper of the striking vehicle contacts the rear bumper of the struck vehicle. Perhaps a more common type of rear impact is one in which the bumper of the striking vehicle rides over or under the rear bumper of the struck vehicle. The heavy truck to car rear impact is an example of an overriding impact. This paper describes several staged impacts of this type in which vehicle and occupant responses were measured using fully instrumented Hybrid III dummies or human volunteers.

The discernment of whether a tire mark on a roadway is the result of a skidding tire or is the result of the rotation of the vehicle with unlocked wheels is important in vehicular accident reconstruction analysis. Resolution of the tire marks left by a vehicle after skidding and/or yawing on dry asphalt were experimentally studied for their similarities and differences under controlled test conditions. This paper analyses the results of this study and shows pictorially the differences for use by the accident reconstructionist. Analytical discussion are also presented that illustrate speed determination as estimated from yaw markings on the roadway.