Technical Paper
Biomechanics of the Patient Compartment of Ambulance Vehicles under Crash Conditions: Testing Countermeasures to Mitigate Injury
2001-03-05
2001-01-1173
There has been very limited research on the biomechanics of occupant safety in the ambulance environment. Occupant protection or crash testing safety standards for these unique vehicles are lacking in the United States. Recent studies have identified ambulances as high risk passenger transport vehicles. This study was conducted to identify some of the occupant safety hazards in the ambulance environment and to determine the efficacy of some countermeasures to mitigate ambulance occupant injury. Accelerator sled testing of the ambulance rear patient compartment (ambulance box or rear cabin) with Anthropomorphic Test Devices was conducted under frontal impact conditions with a target sled pulse was 26 G and 30 mph. The ambulance box was configured with instrumented and uninstrumented Anthropomorphic Test Devices positioned as in the real world environment.