Car Crash Survival Rates
Increase with Being Younger, Male and Driving a Big Vehicle
Science Codex, November 18, 2014
Motor vehicle crashes are the most
common cause of unintentional life lost around the world, with about
30,000 deaths occurring annually in the U.S.
A study by a doctoral student in epidemiology at the Indiana University
Richard M.
Fairbanks School
Uzay Kirbiyik conducted a study of risk factors
associated with drivers' survival in head-on vehicle collisions by examining
Fatality Analysis Reporting System database records in
1,108 crashes.
The results showed that the driver's chance of survival was increased by
driving a vehicle with a higher mass, driving a newer vehicle, being younger,
being a male, using a seatbelt and having the airbag deployed in the crash.
Kirbiyik said his study found that more women die in head-on collisions,
but deferred to medical trauma experts to explain why.
The study concludes that vehicle inequity, which includes differences like
height and rigidity as well as weight, was a major cause of drivers'
fatalities. According to Kirbiyik, if you are in an automobile, given that
other variables are equal, you are 17 times more likely to die compared to a
driver of a light truck. This ratio is about nine times for a collision with an
SUV.
According to the study, there were more young people between the ages of 15
and 24 involved in head-on collisions than any other age group. That age group
accounts for 21 percent of the collisions, and the rate of death among that age
group is 39 percent, the lowest among all age groups.
"An intervention that reduces the involvement of younger drivers will
likely help reduce the death rate of other age groups," Kirbiyik said.
"This shouldn't be a surprise, but it is not an easy task to do."
Kirbiyik presented his study, "Factors affecting survival in head-on
vehicle collisions" on Nov. 17, at the annual meeting of the American
Public Health Association in New Orleans
Source: Indiana
University
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