Citation

Methorst R, Schepers P, Christie N, Dijst M, Risser R, Sauter D, Van Wee B. J. Transp. Health 2017; 6: 10-12.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jth.2017.02.005

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Key to the development of public health policies and strategies is the accurate definition of teh problem(s) under review. Accurate problem definition fences off undesirable circumstances, highlighting some aspects and throwing other is the shadows. Widely accepted definitions of traffic crashes focus on vehicle crashes (sometimes further restricted to motor vehicle crashes) occurring on public roads. These definitions exclude pedestrians slipping, tripping, of colliding with objects resulting in falls in public spaces leading to injury pr death.

The current definition is understandable from a historic perspective, but it may no longer be accurate or justifiable. the exclusion of pedestrian falls by definition and, subsequently, in statistics is likely to lead to biased conclusions in transport and safety policies, which do not serve public health interests. THis paper focuses on the problem regarding definition only and nlot on reporting issues even though these are important as evidenced from frequently missing single-bicycle crashes.

The current definition of traffic crashes emerged in the early 20th century when notorisation led to increasing numbers of people losing their lives in motor vehicle crashes. As a consequence, traffic crashes were defined and measured as...

Language: en