AUTHOR(S): Lawrence Nordhoff, Michael D. Freeman, Gunter Siegmund
For more than 50 years, crash studies involving human subjects have improved understanding of occupant and vehicle kinematics, helped explain injury mechanisms in lower speed collisions, and led to improved seat and vehicle design.
Human Subject Crash Testing: Innovations and Advances includes 42 of the most important historical and current studies which used living human subjects in frontal, side, and rear-end impacts. Covering more than 50 years of research (from 1955 through 2006), the book includes numerous landmark SAE papers, as well as papers from other conference proceedings. Papers were chosen based on criteria that included quality and rigor of methods, uniqueness, number of subjects, and long-term reference value.
This book also features a comprehensive bibliography, which contains brief summaries of other relevant human subject crash test studies that are not included in the book.
Lawrence S. Nordhoff, Jr. Dr. Nordhoff holds an undergraduate degree in kinesiology and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from California State University Hayward and Life Chiropractic College West in California, respectively. He is an accredited traffic accident reconstructionist and has authored the recent text, Motor Vehicle Collision Injuries: Biomechanics, Diagnosis, and Management, 2nd Edition (Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2005). Dr. Nordhoff has written on various topics, including crash speeds and injury risk, injury biomechanics, diagnosis, examination, soft tissue healing, management, prognosis, and factors influencing recovery relative to automobile collisions. He has participated in more than 70 low-speed impact tests that have used human volunteers in rear, frontal, and side vehicle-to-vehicle impacts. Dr. Nordhoff has been reconstructing motor vehicle collision and doing biomechanical impact analyses since 1997, and he does consulting work. He has more than 30 years of medical field experience, including hospital corpsman, ambulance driver, trauma nurse, investigating crashes at the scene, and treating injured occupants. Dr. Nordhoff has given a historical volunteer impact presentation at the 2006 International Trauma Congress in Portland, Oregon, and he taught courses on lows-peed impact biomechanics at the Texas A&M University System in Texas. Since 1996, he has provided numerous seminars on the topic of motor vehicle collision injuries for continuing education purposes for physicians. Dr. Nordhoff is a member of SAE International and AAAM. His office is located in Pleasanton, California.
Michael D. Freeman Dr. Freeman serves as Clinical Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, where he teaches forensic and trauma epidemiology. He holds a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Oregon State University (OSU), as well as a Masters in Public Health (MPH) degree in biostatistics and epidemiology, also from OSU, and a B.S. in general science from the University of Oregon. Dr. Freeman also is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Forensic Medicine and Epidemiology at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark. Dr. Freeman is a fully accredited crash reconstructionist with the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction (ACTAR #1 581), originally certified in basic and advanced crash reconstruction with Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and has reconstructed more than 1,000 motor vehicle crashes of all severity. He has served as a vehicular homicide investigator consultant to the Medical Examiner Division of the Oregon State Police and other law enforcement agencies since 1999. Dr. Freeman has participated in the design, execution, and analysis of more than 80 human volunteer and crash test dummy full-scale experimental crashes, focusing on minimal and no visible damage crashes. Dr. Freeman is the co-founder and former co-editor in chief of the Journal of Whiplash and Related Disorders, a peer-reviewed journal from Haworth Medical Press, and he is the scientific co-chair of the International Whiplash Trauma Congress, a scientific forum that emphasizes research on injuries that result from minimal and no damage collisions. Dr. Freeman is a member of SAE International, AAAM, Sigma Xi, and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, inter alia. He has published more than 70 scientific papers, abstracts, books, and book chapters primarily dealing with crash-related trauma.
Gunter P. Siegmund Dr. Siegmund obtained his undergraduate degree in applied science (mechanical engineering) and his doctoral degree in biomechanics from the University of British Columbia. He is a registered Professional Engineer, president of MEA Forensic Engineers & Scientists, and an adjunct professor in the School of Human Kinetic at the University of British Columbia. As a senior engineer in the MEA Injury Group, Dr. Siegmund has been reconstructing motor vehicle crashes and conducting injury biomechanics analyses since 1986. In addition to his consulting work, Dr. Siegmund has studied the mechanics of injury in automobile collisions using human subjects, crash test dummies, mathematical models, and cadaveric tissues. His research is focused on the biomechanics and neurophysiology of human subjects exposed to impacts, with a particular interest in neuromuscular responses to whiplash, startle, and slip and fall events. Dr. Siegmund has published more than 90 scientific articles, book chapters, and abstracts, and he performs peer reviews for various archival journals and granting agencies. He is a member of the Society for Neuroscience (SFN), International Society of Biomechanics (ISB), and the International Traffic Medicine Association (ITMA).
