1. Home
  2. TRID
  3. View Record
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

Development of a Comprehensive Approach for Serious Traffic Crash Injury Measurement and Reporting Systems

The goal of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 17-57 is to develop a comprehensive roadmap for states to measure serious injuries in crashes. This goal has been motivated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), which requires a set of performance metrics to include assessment of serious injuries in crashes. The first task of the NCHRP 17-57 project was to recommend a definition of serious injury for use in these performance metrics. The authors recommend using a Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale score of 3 or greater (MAIS 3+) to define serious injury (Flannagan et al., 2012). The key element of this recommendation is to use a diagnosis-based definition of serious injury. However, using a diagnosis-based definition of serious injury for highway performance metrics requires data linkage between crash and medical outcome. The second task of the project was to recommend near-term solutions for measuring serious injuries in crashes. The authors recommend two approaches that allow for states to measure serious injuries using a medical-diagnosis-based definition such as MAIS 3+. The first is to use state trauma or hospital discharge databases to count serious injuries in crashes. A majority of states have reasonably comprehensive trauma databases in place and can use them for this purpose while more comprehensive linkage is being put in place. The second near-term approach is to use sampling of hospital records for a subset of crashes. Efficient, stratified sampling can allow states to estimate the number of serious injuries and their association to certain roadway, crash, vehicle, behavioral and occupant characteristics. A third near-term approach discussed was to use regression to “correct” KABCO-based measures. The authors do not recommend this as a near-term approach except in limited circumstances where other options are not available or older, legacy datasets are being used. A survey of states indicated that data linkage is a priority for a majority of states. Those that are currently linking are generally doing so using probabilistic linkage methods, typically developed through an existing Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) program. Probabilistic linkage is a method of estimating which cases in a pair of datasets refer to the same person, even when the datasets do not contain a unique identifier for those individuals. Probabilistic linkage was the focus of the CODES program and allows states to link datasets after the fact. A variety of alternatives to probabilistic linkage are being considered and tried in a number of states. However, at this time, no state has successfully implemented a non-probabilistic approach to statewide linkage. This report presents a roadmap for states to develop comprehensive crash-related data linkage systems, with special attention to measuring serious injuries in crashes.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Edition: Final Report
  • Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 80p
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01779270
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 9780309093453
  • Report/Paper Numbers: NCHRP Project 17-57
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Aug 22 2021 7:27PM