Only Male Dummies Are Used For Crash Tests. It Is Probably The Reason Why Women Die Disproportionately More Often In Car Accidents

Women are more likely to be seriously injured in car accidents because crash test dummies are modelled based on the "average man", whose body proportions differ from that of the "average woman," warns British author Caroline Criado Perez in her book Invisible Women. Her work attracted the attention of Emergency Medicine Consultant at University Hospitals Plymouth, Tim Nutbeam, who undertook the first large-scale study in the UK comparing gender differences in injury patterns and the likelihood of getting stuck in a vehicle after an impact.

The data show that women are almost twice as likely as men to be trapped in a motor vehicle after an accident and that the type of their injuries vary. The results of a study published in the journal BMJ Open could help vehicle manufacturers improve the design and safety features of cars to reduce injury rates for both sexes. It also draws attention to the need to include more biologically accurate dummies for crash tests.

The researchers examined 70,027 patients admitted to major trauma centers in the UK between January 2012 and December 2019. Although men were more likely to be involved in serious accidents and hospitalized, 16% of women were stranded in a wreck, compared with only 9% of men. Women also suffered more hip and spine injuries, while men suffered more head, face, chest and limb injuries.

"Getting stuck in a car is not the same for a woman as it is for a man," said anesthesiologist Lauren Weekes, who also participated in the study, for The Guardian.

Crash test dummies are more like a pre-adolescent girl

Different ways of driving men and women can also play a role, as men are more likely to sit in the driver's seat than women, and are therefore more likely to be injured by a steering wheel or airbag. If women drive, they also tend to have their seat closer to the steering wheel. However, differences in body proportions are also likely to play their part.

"Even after adjusting the ratio for height and weight, a woman's pelvis is much wider than a man's, so the dummies used in crash tests to simulate accidents are more like a 12-year-old girl before puberty, that like an adult woman. Crash tests are standardised, and therefore the data from them should be able to protect both men and women,“ added Weekes.

Criado Perez hopes the study will put pressure on regulators to take this issue seriously. "The EU is currently introducing new legislation that stipulates for the first time that women in the car must be protected in the same way men are," she told The Guardian.