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People who sustain unintentional injuries are major consumers of health care. As a result, unintentional injury is a major component of health care costs. Because traffic crashes are a statewide issue, preventing crashes to employees on and off the job makes good business sense. Traffic crashes are a critical problem with common-sense solutions. A universal standard seat belt law is the single most efficient and effective way to reduce traffic deaths and injuries AND make a major impact on health care cost containment.
People who sustain unintentional injuries are major consumers of health care.
- Unintentional injury is a key cause of people entering the health care treatment system. Nationally, one in four people is injured seriously enough from unintentional causes (accidents) that they seek medical assistance (hospitalized, emergency room, outpatient assistance, their physician). Minnesota statistics are similar.
- Unintentional injuries rob Americans of more years of life before they reach age 65 than any other cause of death, including cancer, heart disease, homicide and AIDS.
- Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death to Minnesotans to about age 34, and a significant cause of death in all other age groups. National Safety Council estimates that for every death, there are 100 disabling injuries, some of them disabling for life.
- Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for people who were previously healthy and the leading cause of acquired disability including brain trauma.
- Head trauma is linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer's and seizure disorders (epilepsy).
Unintentional injury is a major component of health care costs.
- According to the Minnesota Department of Health, Dr. Robert Conn, former pediatric surgeon and president of SMARTRISK, a Canadian injury prevention association, says that Canada's and the United States' injury prevention data are similar. He calls injury prevention "a major step toward resolving the continuing crisis in health-care funding".
- The economic cost to the nation of motor vehicle crashes exceeded $242 billion in 2002 including wage and productivity losses, administrative expense, and property damage.
- 11% of total motor vehicle crash costs are for medical treatment. 24% of that cost is borne by the public.
- More than 90% of every health insurance dollar goes directly to pay for medical care.
- The failure of crash victims to wear seat belts leads to an estimated 9,200 unnecessary deaths, 143,000 needless injuries and $26 billion in health care costs each year. Wearing bike helmets would prevent about 500 fatalities and 151,000 nonfatal head injuries, resulting in saving of more than $3 billion in health care costs
Traffic crashes are a statewide issue.
- About a third of motor vehicle crashes occur in rural areas, but 2/3 of the deaths attributed to them occur on rural roads.
- Rural two-lane state-aid highways are the deadliest roadways in Minnesota.
- Rural residents are nearly twice as likely to die from motor vehicle crashes. Higher speeds, lower seat belt use and reduced access to emergency medical services are factors.
Traffic crashes should be an employer issue. Preventing traffic crashes to employees on and off the job makes good business sense.
- Employers pay the cost of unintentional injuries. When they happen on the job, the expense is through Workers Compensation costs. When they happen to workers and family members away from work, the expense is through health care insurance provided by employers.
- When employees or family members are injured off the job, company medical expenses, insurance premiums, absenteeism goes up and productivity goes down.
- 60% of the injuries that keep employees off the job occur away from work.
- Traffic crashes, both on and off the job, cost employers in this country more than $40 billion every year.
- The annual cost to Minnesota employers of motor vehicle crash injuries on and off the job is $204 million in health fringe benefit costs (Workers Comp medical and disability insurance, health insurance, sick leave, life insurance, insurance administration, Social Security disability insurance, etc.) and $301 million in non-fringe costs (property damage, litigation, lost productivity, retraining or recruiting, etc.)
- The most dangerous part of an employee's workday is the time spent in their vehicles including travel to and from work.
- Nationwide Insurance and AAA found that almost 40% of lost work hours were due to motor vehicle crashes. This is time employees spent tending to their own injuries or those of family members, as well as dealing with property damage issues.
- Traffic crashes are the number one cause of workplace fatality - 22% of workplace deaths are caused by motor vehicle crashes. By contrast, homicide kills 13% of U.S. workers each year.
- Motor vehicle crashes are the most costly workers' compensation claims by cause of injury.
- Most of a company's costs from motor vehicle crashes stem from crashes involving employees or their family members outside of work.
- U. S. companies pay an average or $29,000 for a vehicle crash, but that figure is nearly doubled when there is an injury.
- Workplace crashes are largely preventable; they are not a necessary part of doing business.
- The National Safety Council estimates that driver behavior contributes to 90% of all motor vehicle crashes.
What are some possible solutions?
- According to Richard Carmona, the U. S. Surgeon General, there is no greater imperative in American health care than switching from a treatment-oriented society to a prevention-oriented society. The real payback in health care cost containment will occur when we invest more in prevention.
- Stop thinking of traffic crashes as "normal" and traffic fatalities and severe injuries as "acceptable losses."
- Encourage employers to adopt traffic safety policies including a seat belt use policy.
- Help create a climate where traffic laws are respected and obeyed.
- Repeal the Dimler Amendment.
- Pass a universal standard seat belt law.
- Support adequate resources to perform traffic enforcement.
- Auto insurance rates rise for those who won't drive responsibly. Life insurance is more expensive or unattainable for those who have high-risk behaviors. One expert suggests that health insurance costs should carry same escalators as other kinds of insurance.
A universal standard seat belt law is the single most efficient and effective way to reduce traffic deaths and injuries AND make a major impact on health care cost containment.
- The economic loss to the nation is $20 billion annually for people who insist on not wearing their seat belts.
- 58% of fatalities in 2003 were unbelted, according to NHTSA.
- Seat belt use is proven to reduce the risk of serious injury or death in a crash by 40-60%.
- Nationally, when crash victims are unbuckled, their medical treatment costs are on average 50% higher than those who are securely buckled.
- Focus group studies with adults indicate that most of those who do not buckle up now will only buckle up if there is a chance they will be stopped.
- Bonus - when drivers buckle up, children in their vehicles are buckled up 87% of the time, but when drivers don't wear their seat belts, kids in the vehicle are restrained only 25% of the time
Contact the Minnesota Seat Belt Coalition by calling 651-228-7304 or 1-800-444-9150 x 304 or by e-mail at
msc@minnesotasafetycouncil.org.
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