The 1970s-standardized 171-pound, 5-foot-9 “50th percentile male” is the basis for most car safety policies and research. Although more men than women die in automobile crashes each year, women are more likely to be killed and 73% more likely to be badly injured in frontal car crashes.
New research in Frontiers in Public Health suggests that gender bias in car design and safety may affect the type and severity of car collision injuries for men and women.
Men and women have different automobile crash injury patterns and severity. We also reveal that women arrive in the trauma bay with shock more commonly than men, regardless of injury severity,” said first author Susan Cronn, RN, a researcher and lead advanced surgical practice provider at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee’s press release.
Christopher J. Wolff, MD, a member of Cleveland Clinic Akron General’s acute care surgery, trauma, and critical care team, says these findings add to a growing body of evidence indicating biological sex inequalities in motor vehicle crash outcomes.
“I think this paper raises a simple question: Are we protecting and caring for everyone equally?” Dr. Wolff, a non-study participant, says.
Women suffer more pelvic and liver injuries in car crashes.
Researchers wanted to know if hospital records of male and female vehicle crash injuries and deaths might be used to compare them.
Researchers used clinical injury data to see accident outcomes rather than risk estimates, offering them a unique perspective to assess whether seat belts and airbags work equally effectively for men and women.
The majority of automobile crash victims were male, although women experienced greater pelvis and liver injuries, according to data from over 56,000 victims.
New Finding: Male and Female ‘Normal’ Vital Signs May Be Different
Researchers showed that women exceeded a shock index more than 1.0 more often than males, which could have major repercussions. Even women with less total or serious injuries than men experienced this. The authors say an increased shock index can indicate hemorrhagic shock, produced by massive blood loss, and mortality.
Wolff says shock index is a rapid vital sign measurement that estimates sickness severity. He says it helps develop better ways to diagnose severe disease caused by critical injuries quickly and precisely, enabling for early and appropriate interventions to save lives.
The data may indicate that physiological changes reduce women’s function. Cronn suggested that some injuries affect women more or that women absorb blood loss differently.
“It could also be that we have been assuming that normal vital signs are the same for everyone regardless of sex, and that we need to redefine normal,” she said.
The researchers concluded that a sex-differentiated shock index may revolutionize how first aid responders and clinicians treat patients if further research confirms that these findings improve patient care and outcomes.
Wolff argues that while the shock index has its benefits, this study may show that biological females respond differently to trauma and injury or that the definition of normal and abnormal outcomes in biological females may be unclear. He concludes, “More clinical research efforts are needed to better answer this question.”
Should We Be Appalled That Crash Test Dummy Research Does Not Have an Average-Size Female Test?
Wolff says the data on biological sex-related injuries add to the evidence of motor vehicle crash inequities. While many variables remain unstudied, he suggests preventative health modifications to decrease them.
Should we be alarmed that crash test dummy research does not include an average-sized female? asks Wolff.
Female Crash Test Dummies Are Outdated
The authors think their findings will change things. “We hope to delineate the impact of sex on crash injury further, so that vehicle safety engineering can consider important male and female body differences in their design and that they provide insight for legislation and regulations as needed for equity in car safety design,” said Cronn.
The NHTSA’s authorized dummies use decades-old percentile data. The male dummy is 5’9″ and weighs 170 pounds, while the female dummies are 4’11” and weigh 97–108 pounds.
This female dummy reflects only the smallest 5% of women (by mid-1970s standards) and doesn’t account for biological variations; it’s essentially a scaled-down male dummy.
Even though women make up approximately 50% of US drivers, the 5th percentile female either rides shotgun or doesn’t participate in NHTSA and IIHS frontal crash tests.
Experts believe the antiquated dummies don’t represent older or heavier people.
Despite being designed, a new female crash test dummy has not been tested. Last year’s budget deliberations indicated a paucity of cash to place the female dummy in the driver’s seat.
