Citation

Tunbridge RJ, Everest JT. Proc. IRCOBI 1988; 16: 101-109.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that many road accidents involving casualties are not reported to the police and are thereby seriously under-represented in the national road accident statistics. The aim of this work was to quantify the magnitude of this underreporting, for a sample of road users, in relation to the severity of injuries sustained. A hospital based study collected information on road accident casualties, presenting to a hospital for the whole of the county of oxfordshire, England for 1983 and 1984. Particular attention was given to establishing injury patterns, the level of police reporting, demographic characteristics of casualties and accident circumstances. The rate of reporting was determined for each road user type in relation to the involvement of another vehicle and the severity of injury sustained, as assessed by the abbreviated injury scale (AIS). A comparison was then made with casualty severity as recorded by the police, for reported accidents. The differences between these assessments is discussed and the implications of any underreporting in relation to total road accident costs is explored.