Linking hospital admissions and Police motorcycle crash reports in New Zealand: can we improve our Midland Region evidence base?
Keywords: Data Linkage, Crash Data Analysis, Motorcyclists
ACRS
Submission Date: 2019
Abstract
Motorcyclists are vulnerable road users and are over represented in trauma statistics. This study linked Police crash data (held by the NZ Transport Agency) and hospital trauma admissions (held by the Midland Trauma System). We investigated possible under-reporting by Police, as well as analysing the demography of those casualties requiring hospital admission but not recorded by Police. Linkage rates and reporting biases are of interest from a policy perspective as information on motorcyclists admitted to hospital, but not recorded by Police, do not contribute to the policy evidence base.