Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes Research Articles

Emergency Department Visits for Pedestrians Injured in Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes - United States, January 2021-December 2023.

Traffic-related pedestrian deaths in the United States reached a 40-year high in 2021. Each year, pedestrians also suffer nonfatal traffic-related injuries requiring medical treatment. Near real-time emergency department visit data from CDC's National Syndromic Surveillance Program during January 2021-December 2023 indicated that among approximately 301 million visits identified, 137,325 involved a pedestrian injury (overall visit proportion=45.62 per 100,000 visits). The proportions of visits for pedestrian injury were 1.53-2.47 times as high among six racial and ethnic minority groups as that among non-Hispanic White persons. Compared with persons aged ≥65 years, proportions among those aged 15-24 and 25-34 years were 2.83 and 2.61 times as high, respectively. The visit proportion was 1.93 times as high among males as among females, and 1.21 times as high during September-November as during June-August. Timely pedestrian injury data can help collaborating federal, state, and local partners rapidly monitor trends, identify disparities, and implement strategies supporting the Safe System approach, a framework for preventing traffic injuries among all road users.

Preventable Premature Deaths from the Five Leading Causes of Death in Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Counties, United States, 2010-2022.

A 2019 report quantified the higher percentage of potentially excess (preventable) deaths in U.S. nonmetropolitan areas compared with metropolitan areas during 2010-2017. In that report, CDC compared national, regional, and state estimates of preventable premature deaths from the five leading causes of death in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan counties during 2010-2017. This report provides estimates of preventable premature deaths for additional years (2010-2022). 2010-2022. Mortality data for U.S. residents from the National Vital Statistics System were used to calculate preventable premature deaths from the five leading causes of death among persons aged <80 years. CDC's National Center for Health Statistics urban-rural classification scheme for counties was used to categorize the deaths according to the urban-rural county classification level of the decedent's county of residence (1: large central metropolitan [most urban], 2: large fringe metropolitan, 3: medium metropolitan, 4: small metropolitan, 5: micropolitan, and 6: noncore [most rural]). Preventable premature deaths were defined as deaths among persons aged <80 years that exceeded the number expected if the death rates for each cause in all states were equivalent to those in the benchmark states (i.e., the three states with the lowest rates). Preventable premature deaths were calculated separately for the six urban-rural county categories nationally, the 10 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services public health regions, and the 50 states and the District of Columbia. During 2010-2022, the percentage of preventable premature deaths among persons aged <80 years in the United States increased for unintentional injury (e.g., unintentional poisoning including drug overdose, unintentional motor vehicle traffic crash, unintentional drowning, and unintentional fall) and stroke, decreased for cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease (CLRD), and remained stable for heart disease. The percentages of preventable premature deaths from the five leading causes of death were higher in rural counties in all years during 2010-2022. When assessed by the six urban-rural county classifications, percentages of preventable premature deaths in the most rural counties (noncore) were consistently higher than in the most urban counties (large central metropolitan and fringe metropolitan) for the five leading causes of death during the study period.During 2010-2022, preventable premature deaths from heart disease increased most in noncore (+9.5%) and micropolitan counties (+9.1%) and decreased most in large central metropolitan counties (-10.2%). Preventable premature deaths from cancer decreased in all county categories, with the largest decreases in large central metropolitan and large fringe metropolitan counties (-100.0%; benchmark achieved in both county categories in 2019). In all county categories, preventable premature deaths from unintentional injury increased, with the largest increases occurring in large central metropolitan (+147.5%) and large fringe metropolitan (+97.5%) counties. Preventable premature deaths from CLRD decreased most in large central metropolitan counties where the benchmark was achieved in 2019 and increased slightly in noncore counties (+0.8%). In all county categories, preventable premature deaths from stroke decreased from 2010 to 2013, remained constant from 2013 to 2019, and then increased in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Percentages of preventable premature deaths varied across states by urban-rural county classification during 2010-2022. During 2010-2022, nonmetropolitan counties had higher percentages of preventable premature deaths from the five leading causes of death than did metropolitan counties nationwide, across public health regions, and in most states. The gap between the most rural and most urban counties for preventable premature deaths increased during 2010-2022 for four causes of death (cancer, heart disease, CLRD, and stroke) and decreased for unintentional injury. Urban and suburban counties (large central metropolitan, large fringe metropolitan, medium metropolitan, and small metropolitan) experienced increases in preventable premature deaths from unintentional injury during 2010-2022, leading to a narrower gap between the already high (approximately 69% in 2022) percentage of preventable premature deaths in noncore and micropolitan counties. Sharp increases in preventable premature deaths from unintentional injury, heart disease, and stroke were observed in 2020, whereas preventable premature deaths from CLRD and cancer continued to decline. CLRD deaths decreased during 2017-2020 but increased in 2022. An increase in the percentage of preventable premature deaths for multiple leading causes of death was observed in 2020 and was likely associated with COVID-19-related conditions that contributed to increased mortality from heart disease and stroke. Routine tracking of preventable premature deaths based on urban-rural county classification might enable public health departments to identify and monitor geographic disparities in health outcomes. These disparities might be related to different levels of access to health care, social determinants of health, and other risk factors. Identifying areas with a high prevalence of potentially preventable mortality might be informative for interventions.

Trends and disparities in deaths among young persons in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeTo examine changes in death rates by demographic group and by the leading causes of death in U.S. persons 1 to 24 years of age during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsA retrospective cross-sectional study using mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System from April 2017 to March 2023. Pre-pandemic death rates were compared with death rates during the pandemic overall, by race/ethnicity, age, sex, and cause group. ResultsAge-adjusted death rates in young persons 1–24 years of age increased by 14.3% during the pandemic. Injury-related causes accounted for 78.2% of the increase, driven mainly by increases in homicides and unintentional injuries related to drug overdose, firearms, and motor-vehicle traffic crashes. Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic teens and young adults experienced the largest increases in deaths overall and across the leading causes of death. ConclusionsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, injury-related causes accounted for the majority of the increases in deaths in children and young adults, driven mainly by firearms, drug overdoses, and motor vehicle traffic crashes. Findings highlight the importance of understanding the drivers of these marked increases in injury-related mortality and the need for injury prevention efforts among children even in the context of an infectious disease pandemic.

Spatial Analysis of Relationships Between Intersection Safety, the Urban Built Environment, and Average Income Level: A Case Study of Des Moines

This study makes a methodological contribution by exploring the relationship between motor vehicle traffic crashes at intersections and the built environment. The study focuses on specific neighborhoods within the city of Des Moines, Iowa, with contrasting socio-economic characteristics to examine variation between the neighborhoods. Exploratory spatial data analysis was used to locate crash clusters at intersections using seven-year crash data (2013–2019) obtained from the Iowa Department of Transportation. Google Street View was used to survey the built environment variables. Regression modeling was then utilized to establish a relationship between intersection crash clusters and the built environment. The results show that commercial/institutional land uses, bus stops, and signalized intersections are statistically significant and have a positive impact on intersection crash incidence. Additionally, crash incidences were higher in neighborhoods with below-average income percentages. These findings potentially can enlighten policymakers to focus on appropriate safety treatments such as traffic-calming measures and identify areas where traffic safety policies need to be prioritized. Policy re-evaluation for bus stop locations and design ideas for the urban form could be established to reduce motor vehicle intersection crashes.

Database selection matters: A case study in child restraint use and injury patterns using North Carolina motor vehicle traffic crash report and trauma registry data

Objective While proper restraint use is protective against motor traffic vehicle crash (MVTC)-associated morbidity and mortality, it is inconsistently measured across health and MVTC data sources. This project addresses this gap by assessing differences in child restraint measures between two North Carolina (NC) datasets and comparing the utility of these sources to evaluate patterns of child restraint use and associated health outcomes. Methods We analyzed 2018 NC MVTC and NC Trauma Registry (NCTR) data for children ≤15 years old, both separately and as linked MVTC-NCTR records. We calculated mean and standard deviation for continuous variables and frequency and proportion for categorical variables. Among linked records, we compared reported restraint use and performed age-adjusted logistic regression to estimate associations between restraint use and severe injury. Results A lower proportion of pediatric MVTC victims were reported as unrestrained in the MVTC (14.7%) versus NCTR (25.8%) data. Among linked MVTC-NCTR records, only 41.3% featured perfect concordance of restraint information between datasets. Among linked records, child restraint was reported for 31.3% of children, while the NCTR data allowed more granular coding of child restraint (30.3% overall), including child booster seat (13.5%), child car seat (8.7%), infant car seat (4.8%), and unrestrained in child car seat (3.4%). Age-adjusted regression analyses of the linked data revealed that lap/shoulder seatbelt use was significantly associated with lower likelihood of severe injury compared to being unrestrained whether informed by MVTC (OR = 0.39; 95% CI: 0.16, 0.93) or NCTR (OR = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.15, 0.96) data. While the association between reported use of a child car seat and severe injury was not statistically significant in the MVTC data (OR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.19, 1.32), child car seat use reported in the NCTR data revealed a significant association (OR = 0.16; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.93). Conclusions Linked crash and trauma center data allow for identifying important patterns of restraint use among pediatric passengers in MVTCs. Dataset-dependent differences in measuring restraint use have critical public health implications and illustrate the importance of careful dataset selection prior to analysis, as the use of different data sources may impact overall study conclusions.

How Data Mining Can Improve Road Safety in Cities

Traffic collisions pose a serious problem for cities due to the annually increasing number of vehicles. Information about incidents that occur on roads is important for the corresponding monitoring bodies, authorities, and emergency services. To ensure traffic safety, the data have to be visible, clean, and transparently displayed. This research was, therefore, aimed at developing a methodology for monitoring motor vehicle collision data and applying visualization techniques to evidence from New York City. The method showed that the largest number of motor vehicle traffic crashes occurred in Lower Manhattan due to its high population and traffic density. With these data, the road agencies of the city can put potentially dangerous road sections under control and make them safer for both drivers and pedestrians. Further development of the system may be associated with data analytics and visualization, resulting in new layers of heatmaps that not only provide details on car collision hotspots, which serve as the main target indicator for traffic safety authorities, but also break them down into social facilities, such as schools. This feature will enable assessment of how safe it is around a school and the evaluation of the impact of an underpass or a traffic enforcement camera on the number of collisions. The motor vehicle traffic crash (MVTC) monitoring system will help in comparing city districts and regions in terms of safety, seeing trends, realizing what exactly is happening at interchanges, and understanding the reasons behind. The methodology, in addition, can be supplemented with an analysis of risk factors for MVTCs, the efficiency of adopted measures and road renovations that are carried out, and many other functions.

Association of health insurance coverage and probability of dying in an emergency department or hospital from a motor vehicle traffic injury.

ObjectiveDescribe the association of health insurance coverage with the odds of mortality in an emergency department (ED) or hospital for adult victims of a motor vehicle crash.MethodsThis cross‐sectional study pooled and averaged 6 years of data, 2009–2014, from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS). Our analysis was restricted to patients 20–85 years old that were treated in an ED for an injury sustained from a motor vehicle traffic crash (N = 2,203,407 average annual hospital discharges). The outcome variables were whether the motor vehicle crash victim died in the ED or hospital. The predictor variable was health insurance status that was measured as uninsured, Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and other health insurance.ResultsMost patients that died had some form of health insurance with less than a quarter classified as uninsured (23%). Nearly half of the patients that died had private insurance (48%) followed by Medicare (13%), Medicaid (9%), and other insurance (8%). Compared to the uninsured, the multivariate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for death were significantly (P < 0.001) lower for Medicare (OR = 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.76–0.92), Medicaid (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.69–0.84), private insurance (OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.58–0.68), and other insurance (OR = O.61, 95% CI = 0.54–0.70).ConclusionAfter accounting for hospital and patient characteristics, lack of health insurance was associated with a higher likelihood of death for patients admitted to an ED or hospital for injuries sustained from a motor vehicle crash.

An analysis of pedestrian crash trends and contributing factors in Texas

Introduction & research objectivesPedestrian crash rates and deaths have risen across the United States over the past decade, in contrast to motor vehicle traffic crash counts and rates. Analysis of pedestrian crash rates per vehicle-mile traveled and walk-mile traveled (VMT and WMT) illuminates the impacts of homelessness, land development densities, income, weather, and many other variables across the State of Texas, helping to propel more effective safety policies. MethodsThis study examines key factors for and countermeasures against pedestrian crashes, while predicting pedestrian crash rates per VMT and WMT, as sourced from the Texas DOT (TxDOT) and the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) add-on sample. Crash data from TxDOT's Crash Records Information System (CRIS) database were analyzed using an ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression by controlling for a variety of socioeconomic, climate, and roadway design variables, including homelessness, which has emerged as a serious issue along freeway rights-of-way in many U.S. urban areas. ResultsAt the county level in Texas, there is a moderately positive relationship between job density and pedestrian crash rates, but a practically significant and negative relationship with population density. Median income and homelessness have very practically significant, positive impacts on pedestrian crash and fatality rates. For example, a 1 standard deviation increase in homelessness per 1000 residents is associated with a +14.4% of 1 standard deviation rise in the total pedestrian crash rate per WMT at the county level, all else constant. Similarly, pedestrian crashes per WMT rise in a notable way with the share of children under age 17 and rates of homelessness. ConclusionsThese results suggest significant positive relationships between pedestrian crash rates per VMT and per WMT with respect to household incomes and homelessness, at the county level. Pedestrian crashes and pedestrian deaths per WMT also reveal practically significant contributions by larger youth populations and poverty rates. A weaker but still practically significant relationship exists between crash rates per VMT and population growth rate, warranting further investigation on the relationship between exurban land use patterns and pedestrian crashes.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the utilization of emergency department services for the treatment of injuries.

ContextThe global COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the utilization of healthcare services; however, the impact on population-level emergency department (ED) utilization patterns for the treatment of acute injuries has not been fully characterized.ObjectiveThis study examined the frequency of North Carolina (NC) EDs visits for selected injury mechanisms during the first eleven months of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsData were obtained from the NC Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT), NC's legislatively mandated statewide syndromic surveillance system for the years 2019 and 2020. Frequencies of January – November 2020 NC ED visits were compared to frequencies of 2019 visits for selected injury mechanisms, classified according to International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) injury diagnosis and mechanism codes.ResultsIn 2020, the total number of injury-related visits declined by 19.5% (N = 651,158) as compared to 2019 (N = 809,095). Visits related to motor vehicle traffic crashes declined by a greater percentage (29%) and falls (19%) declined by a comparable percentage to total injury-related visits. Visits related to assault (15%) and self-harm (10%) declined by smaller percentages. Medication/drug overdose visits increased (10%), the only injury mechanism studied to increase during this period.ConclusionBoth ED avoidance and decreased exposures may have contributed to these declines, creating implications for injury morbidity and mortality. Injury outcomes exacerbated by the pandemic should be addressed by timely public health responses.

Access to specialist hospital care and injury survivability: identifying opportunities through an observational study of prehospital trauma fatalities

BackgroundOf the five million injury deaths that occur globally each year, an estimated 70% occur before the injured person reaches hospital. Although reducing the time from injury to definitive care has been shown to achieve better outcomes for patients, the relationship between injury incident location and access to specialist care has been largely unexplored. ObjectiveTo determine the number and distribution of prehospital (on-scene/en route) trauma deaths without timely access to a hospital with surgical and intensive care capabilities, overall and by estimated injury survivability. MethodsNew Zealand's Mortality Collection and Hospital Discharge dataset were used to select prehospital injury deaths in 2009-2012. These records were linked to files held by Australasia's National Coronial Information Service (NCIS) to estimate, for the trauma subset, injury survivability. Using geographical locations of injury for the prehospital trauma fatalities, time from Emergency Medical System call-out to arrival at the closest specialist hospital was estimated. ResultsOf 1,752 prehospital trauma fatalities, 14.7% (95%CI 13.0, 16.4) had potentially survivable injuries that occurred in locations without timely access (prehospital phase >60 minutes). More than half (132 of 257) of the potentially survivable prehospital trauma fatalities without timely access died as a result of a motor vehicle traffic crash. Only 10% (95%CI 5.7, 16.0) of prehospital trauma fatalities from falls were estimated to be potentially survivable and without timely access compared to 24.6% (95%CI 18.5, 31.5) of prehospital firearm fatalities. Through using geospatial techniques, “hot spot” locations of potentially survivable injuries without timely access to specialist major trauma hospitals were apparent. ConclusionApproximately 15% of prehospital trauma fatalities in New Zealand that are potentially survivable occur in locations without timely access to advanced level hospital care. Continued emphasis is required on both improving timely access to advanced trauma care, and on primary prevention of serious injuries. Decisions regarding trauma service delivery, a modifiable system-level factor, should consider the geographic distribution of locations of these injury events alongside the resident population distribution.

Injury hospitalizations in Canada 2018/19.

National injury hospitalization statistics are essential for understanding the burden and pattern of injuries. This paper used the Discharge Abstract Database to analyse injury hospitalizations in Canada (excluding Quebec) for fiscal year 2018/19. The results show that unintentional injuries were the eighth leading cause of hospitalization compared to all other diseases and conditions. For unintentional injury-related hospitalizations, in rank order, the leading causes were falls, suffocation, motor vehicle traffic crashes, poisonings, struck by/against, and fire/hot object/smoke. However, the rankings were different across age groups.

Red light camera interventions for reducing traffic violations and traffic crashes: A systematic review.

Red light camera interventions for reducing traffic violations and traffic crashes: A systematic review.

Factors Affecting the Severity of Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes in Tunisia

Factors Affecting the Severity of Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes in Tunisia

Use of mixed methods to investigate case definitions to improve the identification of serious injury cases from hospital episode data

IntroductionIt has been commonplace internationally, when using hospital data, to use the principal diagnosis to identify injury cases and the first external cause of injury code (E-code) to identify the...

Patient Characteristics and Causes of Facial Fractures in the State of California

Each year, more than 400,000 emergency department (ED) visits in the United States are due to facial fractures. To inform targeted interventions to prevent facial fractures, the purpose of this study was to identify patient characteristics associated with causes of facial fractures in California. The 2005 to 2011 California State Emergency Department Database was used for this cross-sectional study. The study population was composed of all ED visits for facial fractures. The primary outcome was cause of injury: fall, firearm injury, motor vehicle traffic accident, pedal cycle accident, pedestrian accident, transport accident, and assault. Predictor variables included patient characteristics, such as age, gender, insurance type, and race and ethnicity. Multivariable logistic regression models were used. There were 198,870 ED visits for facial fractures from 2005 to 2011. The patients' average age was 35.7years. Most ED visits were by male patients (71%), privately insured patients (35%), and white patients (52%). Approximately 65% of visits were on weekdays and 93% were routinely discharged. Closed fractures of nasal bones, other facial bones, orbital floor, malar and maxillary bones, and mandible were the most prevalent (91%) facial fractures. Assaults (44%), falls (24%), and motor vehicle traffic crashes (6%) were the top 3 causes of facial fractures. Elderly patients (odds ratio [OR]=6.17), female patients (OR=2.25), and Medicare enrollees (OR=1.51) were statistically more likely to have fall-related fractures than patients 45 to 64years old, male patients, and privately insured patients. Blacks (OR=0.46) and micropolitan residents (OR=0.76) were statistically less likely to have fall-related fractures than whites and metropolitan residents. Violence among youth and falls among the elderly are predominant causes of facial fractures. The uninsured contribute to more than one fourth of ED visits for facial fractures. Interventions targeted at these population groups can curb the prevalence of these fractures.

Characteristics and injury severity score of childhood injuries at Emergency Department of Suez Canal University Hospital

Injury is a leading cause of death and disability among children worldwide, Injury surveillance provides an understanding of the incidence, trends, and magnitude of injuries, identifies specific populations that have a higher incidence of injuries. To describe characteristics of childhood injuries and injury severity score of different types of childhood injuries at emergency department of Suez Canal University Hospital. A cross-sectional analytic study at emergency department in Suez Canal University Hospital targeted children aged ≤ 18 years presented with an injury from June 2013 to April 2014. The tool in the study was Global Childhood Injury Surveillance Instrument to interview the parents or guardians arriving with injured children. Of the total of 402 injured children, about 68.6% of motor car accidents (MCA) were males, (47.2%) occurred in children aged 12-18 years. MCA had the highest Injury severity score (ISS) which was 29.2±2.6. Most of falls (66.1%) occurred in children aged less than 6 years. 26.2% of burn had permanent disability and ISS of burn was 14.5±1.3. Most of accidental poisoning (78.8%) occurred in children aged less than 6 years with female predominance (63.6%). About 85% of poisoning had no significant disability. Childhood intentional injury represented 5.7% of all injuries and had ISS of 8.5±7.7. Falls are the leading cause of injury-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits among children in Suez Canal University Hospital (29.4%), while motor vehicle traffic crashes are the leading cause of death (57%).

Demographic Factors Associated With Leading Causes of Injury Mortality in Ningbo, China: 2004-2013.

Injuries have emerged as a crucial public health concern in China. Data were obtained from the death registry system in Ningbo during 2004-2013. Mortality rates resulting from all injuries and the 6 most common types of injuries were analyzed to identify time trends using linear regression models on both the absolute scale and log scale. A decreased male to female ratio and increasing age were observed among the total injury deaths. The annual all-injury mortality rates declined considerably during the observation period. Injury mortality rates for motor vehicle traffic crashes, drowning, and suicide all showed a deceasing trend; however, only mortality from falls showed an increasing trend. There was a sharp increasing trend among females, with a disproportionate number of falls. The injury patterns in Ningbo are mostly comparable to those in high-income countries. Appropriate preventive strategies should be urgently tailored to control this aggressive evolution in older individuals and females.

Mortality from Unspecified Unintentional Injury among Individuals Aged 65 Years and Older by U.S. State, 1999-2013.

Introduction: Recent changes in unspecified unintentional injury mortality for the elderly by U.S. state remain unreported. This study aims to examine U.S. state variations in mortality from unspecified unintentional injury among Americans aged 65+, 1999–2013; Methods: Using mortality rates from the U.S. CDC’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS™), we examined unspecified unintentional injury mortality for older adults aged 65+ from 1999 to 2013 by state. Specifically, the proportion of unintentional injury deaths with unspecified external cause in the data was considered. Linear regression examined the statistical significance of changes in proportion of unspecified unintentional injury from 1999 to 2013; Results: Of the 36 U.S. states with stable mortality rates, over 8-fold differences were observed for both the mortality rates and the proportions of unspecified unintentional injury for Americans aged 65+ during 1999–2013. Twenty-nine of the 36 states showed reductions in the proportion of unspecified unintentional injury cause, with Oklahoma (−89%), Massachusetts (−86%) and Oregon (−81%) displaying the largest changes. As unspecified unintentional injury mortality decreased, mortality from falls in 28 states and poisoning in 3 states increased significantly. Mortality from suffocation in 15 states, motor vehicle traffic crashes in 12 states, and fire/burn in 8 states also decreased; Conclusions: The proportion of unintentional injuries among older adults with unspecified cause decreased significantly for many states in the United States from 1999 to 2013. The reduced proportion of unspecified injury has implications for research and practice. It should be considered in state-level trend analysis during 1999–2013. It also suggests comparisons between states for specific injury mortality should be conducted with caution, as large differences in unspecified injury mortality across states and over time could create bias for specified injury mortality comparisons.

Work-related fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes: Matching of 2010 data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System

Motor vehicle traffic crashes (MVTCs) remain the leading cause of work-related fatal injuries in the United States, with crashes on public roadways accounting for 25% of all work-related deaths in 2012. In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) provides accurate counts of fatal work injuries based on confirmation of work relationship from multiple sources, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) provides detailed data on fatal MVTCs based on police reports. Characterization of fatal work-related MVTCs is currently limited by data sources that lack either data on potential risk factors (CFOI) or work-relatedness confirmation and employment characteristics (FARS).BLS and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) collaborated to analyze a merged data file created by BLS using CFOI and FARS data. A matching algorithm was created to link 2010 data from CFOI and FARS using date of incident and other case characteristics, allowing for flexibility in variables to address coding discrepancies. Using the matching algorithm, 953 of the 1044 CFOI “Highway” cases (91%) for 2010 were successfully linked to FARS. Further analysis revealed systematic differences between cases identified as work-related by both systems and by CFOI alone. Among cases identified as work-related by CFOI alone, the fatally-injured worker was considerably more likely to have been employed outside the transportation and warehousing industry or transportation-related occupations, and to have been the occupant of a vehicle other than a heavy truck.This study is the first step of a collaboration between BLS, NHTSA, and NIOSH to improve the completeness and quality of data on fatal work-related MVTCs. It has demonstrated the feasibility and value of matching data on fatal work-related traffic crashes from CFOI and FARS. The results will lead to improvements in CFOI and FARS case capture, while also providing researchers with a better description of fatal work-related MVTCs than would be available from the two data sources separately.

Major Causes of Injury Death and the Life Expectancy Gap Between the United States and Other High-Income Countries

The United States experiences lower life expectancy at birth than many other high-income countries. Although research has focused on mortality of the population older than 50 years, much of this life expectancy gap reflects mortality at younger ages,1 when mortality is dominated by injury deaths, and many decades of expected life are lost. This study estimated the contribution of 3 causes of injury death to the gap in life expectancy at birth between the United States and 12 comparable countries in 2012. We focused on motor vehicle traffic (MVT) crashes, firearm-related injuries, and drug poisonings, the 3 largest causes of US injury death responsible for more than 100000 deaths per year.2