Citation

Austin JA, Wagner FR. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1974; 18: 89-103.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1974, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

Of the three major facets of an automobile collision, i.e., accident causation, injury causation, and post-crash phenomena, the latter has received significantly less attention than the first two facets and is one for which there is presently a large public outcry. A post-crash phenomena is an event which occurs after and is not related to the cause of the collision or impact induced injuries, but which can result in an increase in the severity of the injuries incurred or the possibility of additional injury. It includes such events as post-crash fires, extrication difficulties, submergence, emergency medical care, and fuel leakage (the threat of a post-crash fire).

As a part of its DOT-sponsored, multidisciplinary accident investigation project, the University of Utah undertook a one-year study of the role of fuel-leakage, post crash fire, submergence, and extrication difficulties in automobile collisions. This was a five county study in which the assistance of local law enforcement agencies was secured to provide data on all automobile accidents in the study area and then a more detailed follow-up investigation conducted on a sampling of those accidents which included a post-crash phenomena of interest. A comparison of the accidents in the study population with State and National accident statistics showed that the sample was a good representation of automobile accidents in general.

Data from the special study has been combined with data from the indepth studies of the multidisciplinary study to produce (1) incidence rates, (2) occurrence mechanisms, and (3) ultimate consequences of the various post-crash phenomena.