Preventability of vehicle-related fatalities.

Several different methods have been used to evaluate the survivability of traffic injuries. Previously published methods were reviewed to develop a specific method for vehicle-related fatalities. All fatally injured victims (n = 474) of vehicle-related crashes in the four northern-most counties of Sweden during a 5-year period were studied. Almost half (48%) of the victims had non-survivable injuries. The remaining cases were classified into different injury groups according to the Injury Severity Score (ISS) including 56 (12%) with an ISS < 25, 150 (32%) with ISS 25-49 and 42 (9%) with ISS 50-74. The median distance from the scene to the nearest hospital was 49 km. In the cases with ISS < 50 the medical care was further analyzed. In close to half of these cases, the victim did not receive optimal care in time with transportation time being of major importance. The absence of first aid was judged to have contributed to the death in 4% of the cases.