TRAFFIC-RELATED INJURIES TO CHILDREN: LESSONS FROM REAL WORLD CRASHES

Motor vehicle trauma is the leading cause of death for US children aged 6–14 years. Standard sources of data on crashes involving children include police “accident” reports, hospital discharge records, statewide databases linking police reports and clinical data, and national crash injury databases. More recently trauma center based crash reconstruction methodology has been applied to pediatric populations. “Real world” crash data can be used to assess the magnitude of traffic injuries in children, to assess vehicle and restraint performance in crash situations, to identify design changes to mitigate injury, and to provide proxy data on pediatric injury tolerance.