To determine the reliability of police accident report (PAR) data for crashes involving serious injury, the direction of initial force derived from the PAR were compared with that reported by an experienced crash investigation team (CIT) that conducted on- scene inspection of seventy- three vehicles with a discernible primary impact. The relative concordance of the two data sources allows for the study of injury patterns and biomechanics by the linkage of readily available trauma registries and police accident report data.
Abstract