Injury rating is an important issue in the field of traffic
safety. The injury pattern can be obtained either from the scene of
the accident, including all severity grades, or from the frequency
of those fatally injured. Less attention has been paid to the
long-term consequences of an injury. Furthermore, the existing
rating system is based on the medical status at the scene of the
accident or immediately after and judges only the risk of
death.
Nygren showed that for many body regions the AIS values did not
reflect the outcome of a trauma expressed in permanent medical
disability.
In this study, 339,675 accidents with private cars were analyzed
with respect to injuries to car occupants. In these accidents,
14,361 persons were injured. The risk of permanent disability due
to different injuries is derived and linked to AIS values to
different body regions.
A rating system for injuries based on the risk of death or
permanent disability is proposed. The rating system called RSC,
risk of serious consequences, used ISS and AIS for different body
regions. RSC was used to describe differences in injuries to belted
and unbelted car occupants.