Citation

Lai CH, Huang WS, Chang KK, Jeng MC, Doong JL. Accid. Anal. Prev. 2006; 38(4): 696-702.

Affiliation

Dept of Mechanical Engineering, National Central Univ, No. 300, Jungda Rd., Jhongli City, Taoyuan 320, Taiwan. (chlai@mail2000.com.tw - stanleyhuang@mail2000.com.tw - kaikuo@iot.gov.tw - eng@cc.ncu.edu.tw - jldo@mail2000.com.tw)

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2005.12.015

PMID

16430844

Abstract

Different countries have their own police reporting time standards for counting the number of fatalities in reported crashes. A rapid estimation method (such as adjustment factor) for the comparison is important. The data-linkage technique was used to combine police-reported crash data and vital registration data, in order to generate 30-day fatality adjustment factors for various reporting time standards, which could also shed light on the fatal injury trend over time. The major findings were as follows. Firstly, a conservative 30-day fatality adjustment factor for the first day (or 24h) would be 1.54 (or 1.35) in an area with a large motorcycle population, like Taiwan. This produced 20-40% higher 30-day fatalities than UK Transport Research Laboratory predicted, and 15-25% higher fatalities than those in Europe/Japan. Secondly, after excluding motorcycle impacts, the Taiwanese factors suggested 8-14% higher fatalities within 30 days than those in Europe/Japan. Third, motorcycle fatalities influenced the overall 30-day fatality trend within 3 days. In the future, both the police under-reporting problem and the motorcycle/overall fatal injury pattern within 3 days after crashing in developing countries like Taiwan merit further investigation.