Greater than 2,200 persons are injured in toboggan accidents in Austria yearly. On common, yearly two accidents are deadly. Within the 2019/20 toboggan season, as many as 5 individuals died. Collisions with stationary obstacles resembling bushes are among the many most frequent causes of dying. Researchers from the KFV (Austrian Street Security Board) and the Car Security Institute at Graz College of Know-how have now carried out pc simulations utilizing digital human fashions to analyze which measures can scale back the chance of harm when tobogganing.

“Tobogganing is common, 12 months after 12 months, many critical accidents happen. Detailed investigations, e.g. which speeds trigger which accidents, are important for prevention work. The outcomes of our crash-simulations are alarming. As a result of the security of a easy toboggan jaunt is misleading, a minimum of in the event you hit an virtually inflexible impediment like a tree with out carrying a helmet,” says KFV spokeswoman Dr. Johanna Trauner-Karner.

Security issue helmet

The simulations clearly present that kids tobogganing with out helmets are at appreciable danger of great head harm from round 10 km/h. From a pace of about 20km/h, the chance of rib and femur fractures will increase along with head accidents. “The analysis reveals {that a} helmet considerably reduces the chance of head harm, regardless whether or not the particular person hits an impediment head-on or sideways,” says Stefan Smit, a researcher on the Car Security Institute.

Two on the toboggan: The most secure place for kids is BEHIND the grownup

The diploma of harm in kids can be influenced by their sitting place when they’re tobogganing along with adults. If the little one sits within the entrance of the grownup, there’s a important danger of harm to the kid’s thorax and thighs along with the chance of head harm, based on KFV and TU Graz: “In all of our simulation situations, the kid was actually ‘pushed’ into the tree by the grownup sitting behind. Whereas impacting the tree is essential for the top, the thorax and thigh are subjected to excessive extra hundreds as a result of weight of the grownup and interplay with the sled.” The kid is trapped between the tree and the grownup. If, alternatively, the kid sits within the again, the top has kind of extra influence safety from the grownup’s again, particularly for the reason that again is of course softer than a tree or a elevate column.

Extra particulars on the simulation technique

The researchers used digital fashions (finite aspect fashions) of the human physique for his or her investigations. These had been positioned on a toboggan mannequin in a typical tobogganing posture. The chosen accident situation was hitting a tree, probably the most widespread causes of great and deadly harm in tobogganing accidents. This accident state of affairs was simulated with completely different influence speeds and completely different influence angles. To judge the protecting impact of a helmet, simulations of a kid driving alone had been carried out with and with no helmet. Within the simulations during which the kid used the toboggan along with an grownup, the kid sat as soon as within the entrance and as soon as within the again. Harm danger was assessed primarily based on established harm standards.

Professional conclusion: Solely go tobogganing with a helmet! Youngsters sit within the again!

Carrying a helmet is very necessary when tobogganing. The right seating place—kids behind the grownup—enormously reduces the chance of harm when tobogganing.