This article reports statistics on car-surfing injuries. "Car surfing" is a term introduced in the mid-1980's to describe a thrill-seeking activity that involves riding on the exterior of a moving motor vehicle while it is being driven by another person. Because traditional public health datasets do not collect morbidity or mortality data on this practice, the article is based on a search conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of U.S. newspaper reports that is used to provide an initial characterization of car-surfing injuries on a national scale. The analysis identified 58 reports of car-surfing deaths and 41 reports of nonfatal injury from 1990 through August 2008. Most reports of car-surfing injuries came from newspapers in the Midwest and South (75%), and most of the injuries were among males (70%) and persons aged 15--19 years (69%). Injuries from car-surfing can come from falling off the moving vehicle, falling down onto the vehicle, jumping from the vehicle, or being hit by an object while on top of the moving vehicle. The authors note that the statistics could be underreported, as national injury surveillance systems, trauma registries, and death certificates lack sufficient detail to distinguish car-surfing victims from others who have fallen from a moving motor vehicle. Several behaviours were excluded that closely resemble car surfing but did not fit the case definition, including injuries resulting from a person leaning out of a window or the sunroof of a moving vehicle or being pulled alongside or behind a motor vehicle (typically while on a bike or skateboard). Vehicle speed was less than 30 mph in 11 of the 21 cases where speed was reported (52%), with fatalities occurring at speeds ranging from 5 mph to 80 mph. Alcohol or drugs were mentioned as contributing factors in 11 of 99 cases overall (11%) and six of 58 fatal cases (10%). The article includes three illustrative cases of deaths or serious injury from car-surfing injury. The authors conclude that parents and teens should be aware of the potentially lethal consequences of car surfing, which can occur even at low vehicle speeds, sometimes resulting from unanticipated movements of the vehicle, such as swerving or braking. An editorial comment appended tothe article stresses that raised awareness on the part of the public, parents, teens, health care providers and policymakers might lead to better reporting of these activities in traditional public health data sets and allow more accurate calculation of incidence and fatality rates, which might lead to improved prevention efforts.
Samenvatting