To the Editor: It is incorrect for Chong and colleagues to state that “during the financial year 2006–07, 32 777 people were admitted to hospital in Australia due to road crashes”. It is also wrong for them to claim “it is often not clear how many of these road crashes are traffic crashes, and how many are non-traffic crashes”.1 Henley and Harrison report that there were 52 066 people seriously (but not fatally) injured due to land transport injury in 2006–07, and 32 777 of these (63.0%) occurred in traffic (on-road) accidents.2 A further 13 639 (26.2%) land transport injury cases in that year were explicitly described as non-traffic (off-road) accidents.
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
- Research Centre for Injury Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA.
- 1. Chong S, Du W, Hatfield J. Trends in the incidence of hospitalisation for injuries resulting from non-traffic crashes in New South Wales, July 1998 to June 2007. Med J Aust 2010; 193: 223-226. <MJA full text>
- 2. Henley G, Harrison JE. Serious injury due to land transport accidents, Australia 2006–07. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2009. (AIHW Cat. No. INJCAT 129; Injury research and statistics series no. 53.) http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/inj/injcat-129-11033/injcat-129-11033.pdf (accessed Oct 2010).
- 3. Berry JG, Harrison JE. Serious injury due to land transport accidents, Australia, 2005–06. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008. (AIHW Cat. No. INJCAT 113; Injury research and statistics series no. 42). http://www.nisu.flinders. edu.au/pubs/reports/2008/injcat113.pdf (accessed Oct 2010).