Opportunities for crash and injury reduction: A multiharm approach for crash data analysis

ABSTRACTObjective: A multiharm approach for analyzing crash and injury data was developed for the ultimate purpose of getting a richer picture of motor vehicle crash outcomes for identifying research opportunities in crash safety.Methods: Methods were illustrated using a retrospective analysis of 69,597 occupant cases from NASS CDS from 2005 to 2015. Occupant cases were analyzed by frequency and severity of outcome: fatality, injury by Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), number of cases, attributable fatality, disability, and injury costs. Comparative analysis variables included precrash scenario, impact type, and injured body region.Results: Crash and injury prevention opportunities vary depending on the search parameters. For example, occupants in rear-end crash scenarios were more frequent than in any other precrash configuration, yet there were significantly more fatalities and serious injury cases in control loss, road departure, and opposite direction crashes. Fatality is most frequently associated with...