Comparison of police and physician judgements of injury severity and inebriation in motor vehicle crash victims

Hansen, A. R.; Popkin, C. L.; Campbell, B. J.; Burton, J. H.; Waller, P. F.

Affiliations

¹Departments of Emergency Medicine and Surgery, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC

²Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

³School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

⁴University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Ann Arbor, MI

Abstract

Police officers' injury ratings and inebriation judgements are key variables in studies based on traffic crash data. We undertook a retrospective analysis of 1281 cases which had both North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles crash reports and medical evaluations at a level-one Trauma Center to compare police officers' assessments of injury severity and inebriation to those of Emergency Department physicians'. In approximately 49% of the crash victims, there was complete agreement between the investigating officer and physician assessment of injury severity. Assessment agreed best in the most severe and least severe injury categories. Police officers' judgment of the victims' alcohol impairment demonstrated 80% agreement with objective blood alcohol measurements or with Emergency Department physicians' judgment in the inebriated victims and in 96% of the unimpaired patients. There was no systematic bias towards officer overrating of injury in the impaired patients. These findings support the use of police officer assessments of injury severity and ethanol intoxication in studies of motor vehicle crashes.

Cited Works (3)

Year	Entry
1986	Waller PF, Stewart JR, Hansen AR, Stutts JC, Popkin CL, Rodgman EA. The potentiating effects of alcohol on driver injury. JAMA. September 19, 1986;256(11):1461-1466.
1987	Campbell BJ. Safety belt injury reduction related to crash severity and front seated position. J Trauma. July 1987;27(7):733-739.
1989	Waller PF, Hansen AR, Stewart JR, Popkin CL, Rodgman EA. The potentiating effects of alcohol on injury: a clinical study. In: 33rd Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 2-4, 1989; Baltimore, MD.1-16.

Cited By (2)

Year	Entry
1993	Santana JR Jr, Martinez R. Accuracy of emergency physician data collection in automobile collisions. In: 37th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). November 4-6, 1993; San Antonio, TX.263-269.
1996	Grant RJ, Gregor MA, Maio RF, Huang SS. The accuracy of medical records and police reports in determining motor vehicle crash characteristics. In: 40th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 7-9, 1996; Vancouver, BC.463-476.