Not-in-Traffic Surveillance--non-crash injuries.

This issue of Crash•Stats focuses on updated information in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Not-in-Traffic Surveillance (NiTS) system regarding injuries involving passenger vehicles that occur in non-crash incidents. As part of the NiTS system, NHTSA has joined with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to collect information on non-crash injuries involving passenger vehicles that are reported to emergency departments. From 2008 to 2010, there was an estimated annual average of 607,000 non-crash injuries involving passenger vehicles seen in emergency departments. The three most common injury patterns were injuries from closing vehicle doors such as doors closed on fingers or hands (22% of all injuries), falls while entering or exiting vehicles (13%), and overexertion such as when unloading cargo from trunks or the backs of pickups (10%). An estimated 95 percent of the patients were treated and released, and an estimated 57 percent of all injuries occurred at home. An estimated 92,000 non-crash injuries involving passenger vehicles, or about 15 percent of the total, affected children 14 and younger. The three most common injury patterns for children were injuries from closing doors (53%), falls while entering or exiting vehicles (9%), and falls from the exteriors of vehicles (8%). An estimated 69 percent of the injuries involving children occurred at home.