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The National Crash Severity Study
Technical Paper
766048
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
The Office of Statistics and Analysis (OSA), National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has embarked on a 2-year
National Crash Severity Study (NCSS). NCSS is the bridge between
the Restraint Systems Evaluation Project, conducted by OSA during
1974-75, and the National Accident Sampling System, scheduled for
full implementation in 1980.
The primary objective of NCSS is to provide a nationally
representative data base to determine statistical relationships
between crash conditions and injury severity and to estimate the
distribution of crash conditions among the nation's automobile
towaway accidents. Special attention will be devoted to estimating
the distribution of delta-V (ΔV, velocity change during impact)
and the extent to which ΔV can be used to predict injury
severity. NCSS will also describe, for each injury with an
Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) rating equal to or greater than 2
(AIS≥ 2 includes moderate or more severe injuries), the details
of the specific injury, the contact point causing it, the medical
treatment required, and the days of disability and workdays lost.
These data will be used to support major new analyses on injury
causation and injury costs and consequences.
The NCSS data are "nationally representative" in the
sense that they are collected in a purposive sample of eight areas.
The NCSS areas have almost the same distribution of central city,
suburban, small-town, and rural population as the nation, and there
is at least one NCSS area in each of the nation's four
demographic regions. Within each NCSS area, accidents are chosen
for investigation by strict adherence to a stratified probability
sampling scheme. The NCSS sample will eventually contain 25,000
occupants, including approximately 600 fatalities and 1,500 severe
(AIS-3,4,5) injuries. This sample will be representative of
approximately 100,000 occupants of automobiles towed from accidents
in the eight areas.
The NCSS data are collected by seven multidisciplinary accident
investigation teams. In each accident, they will obtain only those
data elements needed for NCSS analyses. These include measurements
of damage and post-crash trajectory required for calculation of
ΔV by computer reconstruction of the accident.
A quality control contractor will be responsible for checking
that all teams interpret data elements in a consistent manner, that
teams adhere strictly to the sampling protocol, and that data
completeness and accuracy are maximized