Characteristics of Emerging Road and Trail Users and Their Safety

NEISS Data

NEISS was felt to be by far the most useful data source available for studying the safety of the identified emerging road and trail users. NEISS is an injury surveillance data collection system that is operated by the U.S. CPSC. It is currently based on a statistically valid sample of 100 hospital EDs nationwide. NEISS has been operational for 30 years, and recently (in 2000) expanded its scope to collect data on all injuries, rather than just those related to consumer products. Reported cases (generally between 200,000 and 300,000 a year before the recent expansion) are weighted to provide overall national estimates of injuries serious enough to require ED treatment.

Data are collected electronically at participating hospitals and immediately forwarded to CPSC. The data collection protocol includes information on the injury victim's age, gender, race, injury diagnosis, ED disposition (treated and released, or admitted to the hospital), and the locale of the accident (home, farm/ranch, street or highway, school, place of recreation or sports, etc.). While the latter does not specifically include off-road trails, communication with CPSC revealed that this information might be captured in the 144-character narrative descriptions accompanying the reports.

What makes the NEISS data especially valuable is the level of detail captured with regard to involved products. Currently, more than 900 different products can be identified. From the coding manual, it is not clear how some of the newer assistive vehicle types such as powered scooters, hand cycles, and powered wheelchairs would be identified, or how bicycle trailers are coded. Also, jogging strollers are not differentiated from conventional strollers. As in the case of location information, further detail may be available in the report narratives. Bicycle trailers have been studied retrospectively using NEISS data.⁽²⁰⁾ Additionally, if a subject was not using a device, but rather was injured by someone else using the device, that information might not be coded in the database; a review of narratives would be required to obtain this data.

NEISS data are publicly available, and CPSC has a long history of cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and other Government agencies in using the data for research purposes other than identifying potential product hazards. In addition to reports taken from the computerized database, the CPSC regularly conducts special "follow-back" studies in which it contacts the victim, the victim's parent, or a witness (usually by telephone, but sometimes involving on-site investigations) for more detailed information. Generally, these contacts can be made within a few weeks of the occurrence of the injury. This approach was used for an in-depth study of bicycle-related injuries occurring in 1991.⁽²¹⁾

In reviewing the literature on the safety of the various emerging road and trail users being examined in the current study, NEISS data were frequently cited.^(10,22,23)

Wheelchair-related injuries and deaths may also be reported in greater detail to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as required under its Medical Device Reporting program (data available at http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/mdrfile.html), or as part of its voluntary MedWatch program. For example, FDA data served as the basis for a study on wheelchair safety.⁽²³⁾ Devices examined in this study included manual wheelchairs, powered wheelchairs, and assistive scooters.

In summary, the NEISS data appear to be an especially rich source of information on the safety of many emerging vehicle types targeted in this study. Because its basis is in hospital EDs, it incorporates data on injury events occurring on and off public roadways, and regardless of whether or not a motor vehicle was involved. The data constitute a statistically valid national sample, and CPSC has a long tradition of working cooperatively with researchers and other Government agencies interested in accessing the data. In addition, opportunities exist for further expanding the available data by incorporating follow-back telephone interviews into the data collection process.

^10.  Rutherford, Jr. G. W. and R. Ingle. Unpowered Scooter-Related Injuries-United States, 1998-2000. CDC MMWR Weekly, Vol. 49, No. 49, December 15, 2000, pp. 1108-1110. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4949a2.htm. Accessed August 10, 2001.

^20.  Powell E.C. and R.R. Stanz. Tykes and bikes: injuries associated with bicycle-towed child trailers and bicycle-mounted child seats. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Vol. 155, No. 4, 2001, p. 525.

^21.  Rodgers, G.E. Bicycle Use and Hazard Patterns in the United States, and Options for Injury Reduction. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC, 1993.

^22.  Schieber, R.A. and C.M. Branche-Dorsey. In-line skating injuries: epidemiology and recommendations for prevention. Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol. 19, No. 6, 1995, pp. 427-432.

^23.  Kirby, R.L. and S.A. Ackroyd-Stolarz. Wheelchair safety-adverse reports to the United States Food and Drug Administration. American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 74, No. 4, 1995, pp. 308-312.