How is the real number of serious road injuries determined?

Answer

The real number of serious road injuries is determined by combining the police registration (BRON) with the hospital register (LBZ).

When is a casualty labelled a serious road injury?

Serious road injuries are persons who have sustained severe injury in a road crash. These injuries are partly described in the National Basic Register Hospital Care(LBZ -previously National Medical Register, LMR) that is managed by Dutch Hospital Data, commissioned by the hospitals. The definition of a 'serious road injury' is a casualty who has been admitted to and has received treatment in a hospital (in the Netherlands) ith injuries of an AIS value of 2 or higher AIS is short for Abbreviated Injury Scale. The value of an injury on this scale indicates the severity of the injury. The value of the most serious injury the casualty has sustained is indicated by the Maximum AIS (MAIS).

The real number of serious road injuries is determined by linking LBZ and BRON and correcting for casualties that have not been included.

What are the differences with the period before 2010?

Voorheen werden slachtoffers die opgenomen werden in het ziekenhuis als ernstig gewond beschouwd. Of iemand in het ziekenhuis opgenomen was, werd afgeleid uit het registratieformulier van de politie. Uit vergelijking van de politieregistratie (BRON) met de Landelijke Medische Registratie (LMR) is gebleken dat

Before 2010, casualties who were admitted to hospital were considered to be seriously injured. The police registration form was used to determine hospital admission. Comparison of the police registration (BRON) and National Medical Register (LMR, now LBZ) showed that

  • traffic casualties who are admitted to hospital are not necessarily (seriously) injured. Occasionally they are only admitted for observation.
  • the information on the police form is not always correct. Many traffic casualties who, according to BRON, have been admitted to hospital, cannot be retrieved in LMR/LBZ. Study has shown that these casualties were sent home after treatment in the A&E department. On the other hand, there are also casualties who according to the police only sustained minor injuries , but were actually admitted to hospital with serious injuries.

In 2010, these findings resulted in a new definition of seriously injured casualties: "serious road injuries". Since then this definition is also used by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment for monitoring and road safety policy.

More information?

More detailed information about determining the number of serious road injuries is available in the report Data sources; Comprehensive overview.

Part of fact sheet

Road map: road safety data

More detailed information about the individual data sources can be found in the report Data Sources; A co

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