Severity and medical costs associated with the road casualty problem in New Zealand.

This paper describes the severity of the hospitalised injuries from road traffic crashes in New Zealand and presents estimates of the cost of providing medical treatment for some of these injuries. The Abbreviated Injury Scale was used to score one year of national public hospital admissions, and annual national costs were estimated using financial data from one major hospital. If gains are to be made in reducing the medical costs of trauma on New Zealand roads, then attention must be given to reducing the incidence and severity of head injuries and fractures of the lower limb.