Premium
Animal–vehicle collisions in Victoria, Australia: An under‐recognised cause of road traffic crashes
Author(s) -
Ang Jia Ying,
Gabbe Belinda,
Cameron Peter,
Beck Ben
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
emergency medicine australasia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.602
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1742-6723
pISSN - 1742-6731
DOI - 10.1111/1742-6723.13361
Subject(s) - medicine , road traffic , motor vehicle crash , road traffic accident , environmental health , aeronautics , transport engineering , poison control , injury prevention , engineering
Objective Non‐fatal injuries sustained from animal–vehicle collisions are a globally under‐recognised road safety issue, with limited data on these crash types. The present study aimed to quantify the number and causes of major trauma events resulting from animal–vehicle collisions. Methods The study was a retrospective analysis of major trauma cases occurring in Victoria, Australia, between 2007 and 2016, using data from the population‐based Victorian State Trauma Registry. To identify animal–vehicle collisions, Victorian State Trauma Registry injury codes were combined with text‐mining of the text description of the injury event. Results Over the 10 year period, there were 152 major trauma patients who were admitted to Victorian trauma‐receiving hospitals due to vehicle collisions with animals. The crude population‐based incidence rate for animal–vehicle collisions increased by 6.7% per year (incidence rate ratio 1.07; 95% confidence interval 1.01–1.13; P = 0.02). Conclusion Development of systematic recording methods of animal–vehicle collisions will improve reporting of these crash types to assist future studies in implementing effective countermeasures.