1. Revisiting exposure: Fatal and non-fatal traffic injury risk across different populations of travelers in Wisconsin, 2001–2009
- Author
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Carolyn McAndrews, Kirsten M. M. Beyer, Peter M. Layde, and Clare E. Guse
- Subjects
Male ,Time Factors ,Databases, Factual ,Poison control ,Walking ,computer.software_genre ,Suicide prevention ,Occupational safety and health ,Injury Severity Score ,Risk Factors ,Ethnicity ,Medicine ,Child ,Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality ,Aged, 80 and over ,Travel ,Accidents, Traffic ,Age Factors ,Human factors and ergonomics ,Middle Aged ,Motor Vehicles ,Motorcycles ,Child, Preschool ,Female ,Safety ,Risk assessment ,Adult ,Adolescent ,Human Factors and Ergonomics ,Computer security ,Risk Assessment ,Young Adult ,Sex Factors ,Wisconsin ,Environmental health ,Injury prevention ,Humans ,Aged ,Models, Statistical ,business.industry ,Racial Groups ,Infant, Newborn ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Fatality Analysis Reporting System ,Infant ,Bicycling ,Wounds and Injuries ,business ,human activities ,computer - Abstract
Comparing the injury risk of different travel modes requires using a travel-based measure of exposure. In this study we quantify injury risk by travel mode, age, race/ethnicity, sex, and injury severity using three different travel-based exposure measures (person-trips, person-minutes of travel, and person-miles of travel) to learn how these metrics affect the characterization of risk across populations. We used a linked database of hospital and police records to identify non-fatal injuries (2001-2009), the Fatality Analysis Reporting System for fatalities (2001-2009), and the 2001 Wisconsin Add-On to the National Household Travel Survey for exposure measures. In Wisconsin, bicyclists and pedestrians have a moderately higher injury risk compared to motor vehicle occupants (adjusting for demographic factors), but the risk is much higher when exposure is measured in distance. Although the analysis did not control for socio-economic status (a likely confounder) it showed that American Indian and Black travelers in Wisconsin face higher transportation injury risk than White travelers (adjusting for sex and travel mode), across all three measures of exposure. Working with multiple metrics to form comprehensive injury risk profiles such as this one can inform decision making about how to prioritize investments in transportation injury prevention.
- Published
- 2013
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