Speeding and maxillofacial injuries: impact of the introduction of penalty points for speeding offences.

On 31 October 2002 the Irish Government introduced a point demerit scheme for road speeding offences. To evaluate the impact of the scheme, we made a comparative assessment of the number of maxillofacial operations necessitated by road crashes at two tertiary surgical centres in the year before and the year after the introduction of penalty points. There were no significant differences in the composition of the groups between the two study periods. There were 57 operations in the year before and 22 in the year after for injuries caused by collisions (a 61% reduction). No changes were seen in the distribution or severity of maxillofacial injuries or in the pattern or severity of other injuries. Severity was assessed using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and Maximum Abbreviated Injury Severity Scale (MAIS), and bodily injuries by the Injury Severity Scale (ISS). The number of patients requiring intensive care and the duration of admission to the unit were unchanged, as was the total duration of hospital admission. There were no differences in the requirement for other specialist management.