Call 911, 991, 112! Distracted Driving, Seatbelts, Airbags, and ER Care - Trauma and Injuries

"Drifting" was officially outlawed in Saudi Arabia in 2005 but still continues

Hello Everyone,

As we heard from Amber's lecture this week, trauma and injuries account for about 10% of all reported mortality in the world, with road traffic crashes being the leading cause of death for individuals between the ages of 15 and 29 years.   According to the CDC, every year about 1.3 million people in the world are killed in motor vehicle crashes and 20–50 million more are seriously injured.  By 2020, motor vehicle crashes are expected to become the third most serious threat to human health in the world. 

According to the WHO 2013 Global Road Safety Report, "92% of road traffic deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, yet these countries have only 53% of the world’s registered vehicles.  Only 28 countries, covering 7% of the world’s population, have comprehensive road safety laws on five key risk factors: drinking and driving, speeding, and failing to use motorcycle helmets, seat-belts, and child restraints."  In the U.S., thanks to consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who published "Unsafe At Any Speed" in 1965, which described the health hazards of automobiles, safety modifications such as seat belts, airbags, and other designs, are now standard in all cars and have proven to be highly effective in reducing occupant serious injuries and fatalities.  Although, it should be noted that the U.S. auto manufacturers for 10 years resisted installing these safety devices, when faced with a mandate from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), stating customers did not want them, they would be ineffective, and, most importantly, these features would be costly to the customer.  

Regarding drink driving, evidence-based research indicates that someone’s ability to drive is affected if they have any alcohol in their blood. Drivers with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of between 0.02 and 0.05 have at least a three times greater risk of dying in a vehicle crash. This risk increases to at least six times with a BAC between 0.05 and 0.08, and to 11 times with a BAC between 0.08 and 0.10, according to the Centre for Public Health Excellence. Further, enforcement of administrative penalties, such as license suspension, jail time, and vehicle confiscation, are effective deterrents to drink driving behavior and reduce alcohol-related road traffic injuries and fatalities.

The exponential increase in mobile communication devices has led to increased rates of distracted driving.  Americans ages 18­­–64 read or sent more texts or emails while driving than their European counterparts.   While emergency services in the U.S. are exceptional and an injured person can be treated within the golden hour, when life saving efforts are essential to survival, most people around the globe have little or no access to trauma care.  For example, although 111 countries have a universal national access emergency number, only 59 countries have ambulance services available to transport over 75% of injured patients to a hospital.  Thus, there is much to be done in making emergency services universally available.

We watched four film clips related to trauma and injuries after Amber's lecture:

• Trauma and physiotherapy care provided by Medicins Sans Frontières
• Mythbusters on "Cell Phones vs. Drunk Driving"
• How automobile airbags work, and
• New technologies on forward sensors in cars

And I've also included some interesting evidence-based research literature on this topic:

Driving in the Andes

• An NICHD funded study on distracted driving published in the NEJM 
• Driver cellphone and texting bans in the US: Evidence of Effectiveness 
• Road traffic injuries Peru 

Buckle up, wear a helmet if you cycle ("look Ma no hands!") and DON'T TEXT OR TALK ON YOUR CELL PHONE WHILE DRIVING!


Take care,

Jim