cchips@email.chop.edu
Roberts Center for Pediatric Research 2716 South Street, 13th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19146
RESEARCH PORTFOLIO
Principal Investigator: Rachel Myers, PhD
The goal of this study is to create a unique source of epidemiologic crash data that enables novel description of use and installation patterns of child restraints among crash-involved children and— following linkage with hospital discharge and death certificate data—novel description of child occupant injury outcomes based on restraint use and installation (rear- vs. forward-facing).
2014-2015
- Evaluation of Side Impacts with a Frontal Component for Children in Child Restraint Systems (Multiple Year Project)
Principal Investigator: Kristy Arbogast, PhD
This project quantifies kinematics and injury metrics for 3 year old anthropomorphic test device (ATD) in oblique side impacts with a focus on assessing the potential for head injury, thus fueling understanding of head injury mechanisms for rear, center-seated occupants. This project, with its focus on an understudied area, will assess the need to prioritize future research and development efforts for car restraint system (CRS) manufacturers in the…- Pediatric Advanced Automatic Crash Notification (Multiple Year Project)
Principal Investigator: Ashley Weaver, PhD
This project’s goal is to create scoring systems to better classify motor vehicle crash-related injuries in children. A second goal is to use these scoring systems to develop a refined advanced automatic crash notification (AACN) algorithm and to evaluate its benefit to society. This algorithm is intended to serve as a part of a comprehensive trauma system to deliver children to appropriate treatment facilities. Year 4 of the project will further refine…- Pediatric Advanced Automatic Crash Notification (Multiple Year Project)
Principal Investigator: Joel Stitzel, PhD
This project’s goal is to create scoring systems to better classify motor vehicle crash-related injuries in children. A second goal is to use these scoring systems to develop a refined advanced automatic crash notification (AACN) algorithm and to evaluate its benefit to society. This algorithm is intended to serve as a part of a comprehensive trauma system to deliver children to appropriate treatment facilities. Year 4 of the project will further refine…- Pediatric Brain Injury Assessment in Real World Crashes (Multiple Year Project)
Principal Investigator: Matthew R. Maltese, PhD
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the leading pediatric injury in motor vehicle crashes, and an ever-expanding array of safety systems are being developed that have the potential to mitigate TBI. Human body computer models are under development and have the potential to guide the development of such safety systems, but pediatric human body models are limited. In this project, investigators are developing a family of pediatric finite element (FE) brain…- Understanding and Predicting Human Driving Behaviors via Machine Learning Models (Multiple Year Project)
Principal Investigator: Yi-Ching Lee, PhD
Poor speed management is a key factor in teen driver crashes. In order to inform new training and technology to reduce teen crash risk due to poor speed management, a more complete understanding of this complex driving behavior is needed. Early results from our current CChIPS work indicate that machine learning techniques can be used to model drivers’ speed management behaviors. These techniques have the potential to become part of in-vehicle monitoring…- Quantifying CRS Fit in the Vehicle Seat Environment – Digitization Approach (Multiple Year Project)
Principal Investigator: Aditya Belwadi, PhD
Automotive interior design optimization must balance the design of the vehicle seat and occupant space for safety, comfort and aesthetics with the accommodation of add-on restraint products such as child restraint systems (CRS). Important to this balance is understanding the breadth of CRS dimensions, especially as CRS design is constantly changing. Year 2 efforts will build on previous work by creating virtual surrogates of additional CRS types. The…- Association Between NCAP Ratings and Real-world Rear Seat Occupant Risk of Injury
Principal Investigator: Allison Curry, PhD
Currently, little is known about the relationship between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) US New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) 5-star ratings and the real-world risk of injury to restrained rear seat occupants of all ages. The objective of this research is to investigate how NCAP’s current rating system predicts risk of serious and fatal injury to rear seat occupants. The long-term goal is to identify priority areas to target…- The Promise of Digital Communication Technology to Advance Car Seat Installation
- Misuse of child restraint systems (CRS) through improper installation or inappropriate restraint use continues to be a major contributor to child fatalities in motor vehicle collisions. This formative CChIPS research project aimed to gain insights into parents’ and caretakers’ appropriate installation of car seats using both manufacturer’s user manuals and online information; to understand perceptions about the use of smartphone applications to improve installations; and to lay a foundation for the development of a mobile tool prototype specifically geared to support parents and caretakers in…
- Dynamic Strength of Top Tether Anchorages in Various Anchor Locations(Multiple Year Project)
Principal Investigator: Yun Seok Kang, PhD
Principal Investigator: Yun Seok Kang, PhD,Ohio State University
- Effectiveness of Top Tether on Angular Kinematics of CRS and ATD in Side Impacts
Principal Investigator: Yun Seok Kang, PhD
Efforts have been made by child restraint system (CRS) manufacturers to improve the effectiveness of CRS in side impacts, and various methods of attaching the CRS to the vehicle structure have been developed and validated. The Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system standardizes the method to attach CRS to vehicles without using a seat belt in the US, yet its effectiveness on the angular kinematics of the CRS and occupant has not been well…- Quantifying Children’s Posture in the Rear Seat: A Naturalistic Study (Multiple Year Project)
Principal Investigator: Kristy Arbogast, PhD
The long-term goal of this research is to improve test conditions and optimize restraint systems to mitigate injury to actual child occupants in real world crash scenarios. The objective is to quantify the positions and postures that rear seat child occupants assume while riding in vehicles in order to provide data for development of both technological and educational interventions to mitigate injuries due to sub-optimal positioning. The specific aim…- Exploration of the Effect of Positive Reinforcement on Teen Driving Behavior
Principal Investigator: Yi-Ching Lee, PhD
New technologies such as in-vehicle monitoring systems offer the potential to improve safety by generating alerts and positive feedback when certain driving practices are detected. With the combination of positive feedback and motivational incentives, behaviors from risk-taking-prone teen and young drivers may be changed to be more positive and less risky. This study aims to understand the effect of positive reinforcement on the shaping of teen and youth…- Advanced Automatic Crash Notification for Children Yr2
Principal Investigator: Joel Stitzel, PhD
Principal Investigator: Joel Stitzel, PhD, and Andrea Doud, MD, Wake Forest University Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma
- Dynamic Comparison of Large Omni-directional Child ATD to Pediatric Volunteers
Principal Investigator: Thomas Seacrist, MBE
Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injury for children worldwide. Mitigation of these injuries requires the use of biofidelic anthropomorphic test devices (ATD) to properly design and evaluate motor vehicle safety systems. Traditionally, pediatric ATDs have been benchmarked against response corridors that have been scaled from adult biomechanical data, and often these scaling efforts were hindered by a lack of appropriate…- Advanced Automatic Crash Notification for Children Yr2
Principal Investigator: Andrea Doud, MD
Principal Investigator: Joel Stitzel, PhD, and Andrea Doud, MD, Wake Forest University Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma
- Side Air Bag Interaction with Children Seated in the Vehicle Environment (Multiple Year Project)
- The long-term objective of this research is to assess whether side air bags (curtain and/or torso) provide a protective benefit for pediatric occupants in the rear seat environment in automobile crashes. The research should provide insight into the injury risk and causation of common injuries sustained by children involved in side impacts with a deploying side air bag.
- Optimization of Recline Angle in Rear-facing Child Restraint Systems
Principal Investigator: John H. Bolte IV, PhD
Rear-facing child restraint systems (RF CRS) are designed to absorb and distribute crash forces throughout the child’s back and into the CRS. The majority of RF CRS are meant to be installed with a recline angle around 30° to 45° from vertical. However, the origins of this guideline are not clear, nor are the consequences of straying from it. The long term research goal of this study is to optimize the recline angle of RF CRS to provide optimal crash…