Child pedestrian anthropometry: evaluation of potential impact points during a crash

International audienceThis paper highlights potential impact points of a child pedestrian during a crash with a front end of a vehicle. Child anthropometry is defined for ages between 3 and 15 years. It is based on the measurement of 7 different segment body heights (knee, femur, pelvis, shoulder, neck, chin, vertex) performed on about 2000 French children. For each dimension, the 5th, 50th and 95th percentile values are reported and the corresponding linear regression lines are given. Then, these heights are confronted with three different vehicle shapes corresponding to a passenger car, a sport utility vehicle and a light truck in order to identify impact points. In particular, it is shown that the thigh is directly hit by the bumper for children above 12 years old whereas head impacts principally the hood. Influences of the child anthropometry on the pedestrian trajectory and comparison with tests procedure in regulation are also discussed. child, anthropometry, pedestrian, vehicle shape, acciden