Seriously injured casualties in traffic collisions are frequently extricated from their vehicles by fire rescue services. This is achieved by employing space creation techniques to create apertures to provide access to casualties for the administration of medical assistance and to facilitate extrication of the casualty.

Data relating to a sample of 235 passenger car crashes was analyzed to identify the characteristics of such crashes. The data were selected on the basis of a geographical area for which a sample of the occupant extrication data from the Fire Service in that area was also available.

Analysis showed that there was a significant likelihood of rescue service involvement in crashes with an occupant with MAIS ≥ 3 injury severity.

Rescue service intervention was significantly more likely to occur when the occupants had received an injury of AIS ≥ 2 severity to the head, face or upper/lower limb body regions. Steering wheel intrusion, pedal disruption and front passenger compartment intrusion were also seen to significantly influence the need for rescue service intervention. In side impacts, only compartment side intrusion was found to be significantly present when rescue service intervention took place.

Fire service data are being analyzed to identify time intervals for extrication of casualties. It is perceived that these will increase due to the influence of modern vehicle design features such cable routing, pyrotechnic device location and non deployment of Secondary Safety features. The study also discusses the influence of such features on the likelihood of increased injury risk to the casualty and rescue personnel.