Chief Scientist

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    DAVID HYND

    PhD BEng (Hons) CEng FIMechE

     

    David is Chief Scientist for Safety and Investigations at TRL, leading multi-disciplinary teams which specialise in the study of road collisions, vehicle roadworthiness, crashworthiness, biomechanics, active safety and advanced driver assistance technologies, automated vehicles, tertiary safety measures and vehicle development, testing and research.

    Prior to this Dr Hynd was the Head of Biomechanics in the Injury Prevention group at TRL. Since joining in 1999, David has led numerous projects on the mechanisms of injury, human injury tolerance, the development of human surrogates such as crash test dummies, and the development of crash test procedures and rating schemes. His clients include UK & overseas Governments, the FIA Institute, helmet and other manufacturers. He has also provided consultancy on, and been responsible for, the technical quality of work in the legal sector.

    David gained a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Surrey in 1992 and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the same University in 1998. He has been the UK National Representative on EEVC (European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee) Working Group 12 (Biomechanics) from January 2002 to 2016, and he was Chair of EEVC WG20 (Rear Impact Test Procedures) from 2005 to 2009. The EEVC develops test tools, injury criteria and test procedures for use in European and United Nations road safety regulations.

    David was recently responsible for the UK contribution to a European project to develop improved head injury prediction methods through the combination of physical testing and finite element modelling. He led the development of the assessment procedure for the SHARP motorcycle helmet rating scheme that was launched by the UK Department of Transport in 2008, and has successfully supervised a PhD on head injury mechanisms.

    In 2015 he received the US Department of Transportation Award for Safety Engineering Excellence. The award, which recognises outstanding contribution to vehicle and road safety, was presented to Dr Hynd for his significant contributions to biomechanics research and improving vehicle safety.

    Notable publications:

    2021 General Safety Regulation – Technical Study to assess & develop performance requirements & test protocols for various measures implementing the new General Safety Regulation, for accident avoidance and vehicle occupant, pedestrian and cyclist protection in case of collisions. Final report at: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/499942

    2016 Evaluation of the effectiveness of an exemplar equestrian air jacket against crush injuries  IRCOBI Conference, Malaga, Spain

    2015 SHARP: A study of its effect on the UK motorcycle helmet market TRL PPR747

    2013 Development of the Q10 10 Year-Old Child Crash Test Dummy Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, Seoul

    2012 Restraint system safety diversity in frontal impact accidents Proceedings of the International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury (IRCOBI) Annual Conference, Dublin

    2007 Dummy requirements and injury criteria for a low-speed rear impact whiplash dummy European Enhanced Vehicle Safety Committee

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