Rating the aggressivity of Australian passenger vehicles towards other vehicle occupants and unprotected road users

Abstract

Two measures of aggressivity of Australian passenger vehicles have been developed. The first measures the aggressivity to occupants of other cars. This type of aggressivity rating is based on two-car crashes between passenger vehicles and measures the injury risk each make/model in the collisions poses to the drivers of the other vehicles. The second measures aggressivity to unprotected road users. The aggressivity ratings reflect the threat of severe injury to pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists by the make/model of vehicle colliding with them. This analysis was based on nearly 102,000 drivers involved in tow-away crashes with the makes/models which were the focus of the study and on nearly 22,000 injured pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. The results suggest that crashworthiness and aggressivity are two different aspects of a vehicle's safety performance, with good performance on one dimension not necessarily being associated with good performance on the other.