The Vehicle Safety Research Centre (VSRC) lies within Loughborough University, UK. The VSRC was established in 1983 and currently has a staff of 30 experts in the field of real world accident investigation. It is an independent research and consultancy centre producing information and recommendations to the government, the EC and industry. An objective data-driven approach, based on in-depth investigations of numerous real life crashes, provides fundamental information for legislators and road-user safety strategy engineers. Specifically, the VSRC has undertaken multidisciplinary research over the past 20 years on behalf of the UK Government and a consortium of motor manufacturers. One study, the Co-operative Crash Injury Study, has involved the examination of some 20,000 car crashes involving approximately 25,000 vehicles and their occupants. Several other in-depth studies are being conducted for both Government and industry. The VSRC has used in-depth data to support research and legislation concerning frontal impact, side impact, leg injury mechanisms, dummy development, crash test procedures and was instrumental in the Fourth Framework STAIRS project. The VSRC also initiated a major new UK project into active safety, accident causation and road infrastructure design using “On the Spot” methods. Research at the centre also makes extensive use of accident and risk-exposure data at the so called macro-data level to better understand trends and patterns on a national and international level. The VSRC also has considerable experience of research activities on EC 5th Framework Projects including PENDANT (as project coordinators), CHILD (as work-package leaders), PRISM (as work package leaders) RISER (as task-leaders) ECBOS and ROLLOVER. The VSRC are IP Co-ordinator and a work-package leader for SafetyNet in the EC 6th Framework Programme.

Julian Hill is the VSRC representative. At VSRC, he is a Senior Research Fellow responsible for collection and analysis of field data on road traffic accidents. Julian has over eighteen years experience in his field, and has developed a detailed knowledge of crash investigation techniques. Julian gained experience in the fields of vehicle safety, crashworthiness, injury mechanisms and injury severity assessment while at the Accident Research Centre at The University of Birmingham. In 2000, Julian established one of two On the Spot (OTS) Accident Data Collection teams operating in the UK with funding from the UK Department for Transport and Highways Agency. Julian manages the OTS team at VSRC who work alongside Nottinghamshire Police. The OTS team attend crash scenes within minutes of the crash occurring in order to make in depth investigations including highway, human and vehicle factors. Julian has contributed to lecture programmes for students of engineering, human sciences and medicine concerned with vehicle safety design and real-world accident issues. He has contributed to publications and in-depth reports concerned with the biomechanics of injury, vehicle design and vehicle collision performance. He is currently responsible for a range of multidisciplinary research projects at the VSRC for both the UK Government and the European Commission, including task leadership within the EC 5th Framework project called Road Side Infrastructure for Safety for European Roads (RISER). Julian is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine and The UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.