Young males who drive big cars likelier to survive head-on collisions

A new study has revealed that the driver's chance of survival was increased by driving a vehicle with a higher mass, driving a newer vehicle, being younger, being a male, using a seatbelt and having the airbag deployed in the crash.

According to the study by a doctoral student in epidemiology at the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, vehicle inequities have a significant impact on survivability in head-on collisions.

Uzay Kirbiyik, who conducted the study of risk factors associated with drivers' survival in head-on vehicle collisions by examining Fatality Analysis Reporting System database records in 1,108 crashes, found that more women die in head-on collisions, but deferred to medical trauma experts to explain why and vehicle inequity, which includes differences like height and rigidity as well as weight, was a major cause of drivers' fatalities.

According to Kirbiyik, if you are in an automobile, given that other variables are equal, you are 17 times more likely to die compared to a driver of a light truck. This ratio is about nine times for a collision with an SUV.