This Research Note provides updated information on fatalities and injuries among the overall population as well as among children 14 and younger who were involved in “motor vehicle non-crash incidents” (herein referred to as non-crash incidents). The data on such incidents are obtained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) through its Not-in-Traffic Surveillance system. These updates reflect non-crash fatality data from 2005 to 2007 and injury estimates in 2011 and 2012. During 2005 through 2007, on average each year 506 persons were killed in non-crash vehicle incidents. The three most frequent reasons for these fatalities were carbon monoxide poisoning from motor vehicle exhaust gas (25%), crushed by a vehicle (25%), and fell from the vehicle (17%). Among children 14 and younger, on average annually, 37 children were killed in non-crash incidents. About 51 percent of them died due to vehicle-related heat stroke or hyperthermia from extreme heat. During 2011 and 2012, an estimated 647,000 persons were injured annually in non-crash incidents involving motor vehicles. The three most frequent injury mechanisms were from being struck by a vehicle part such as vehicle door, trunk lid, etc., or by striking a vehicle (32%), fall while entering or exiting a vehicle (23%), and overexertion such as while unloading cargo from a trunk or the bed of a pickup truck (11%). These injury mechanisms accounted for about 59 percent of the injuries in non-crash incidents that occurred at home. Overall, about 94 percent of the patients who were injured in non-crash incidents were treated and released. During 2011 and 2012, an estimated 95,000 injuries occurred annually to children 14 and younger. The three most frequent injury mechanisms for children were closing doors (48%), falls while entering or exiting vehicles (11%), and falls from exteriors of vehicles (8%). (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting