Motor Vehicle Traffic Injuries by County of Crash and County of Residence
Motor vehicle traffic injuries are a major public health problem. They are the leading cause of injury related death, second leading cause of injury related hospitalizations and third leading cause for injury related emergency department visits in New York State. On average, three New Yorkers die every day due to a traffic-related crash. The combined hospitalization and emergency department charges average $1.1 billion, annually.
Statistics: New York State Roadways and County of Crash
Based on the location of crash, this webpage contains data tables on motor vehicle traffic crash-related injuries among New York State residents.
The data in these tables comes from multiple sources. The main data source is the Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES). CODES is a database that matches individual records from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Accident Information System to the New York State Department of Health emergency medical services database (Pre-Hospital Care Reports), emergency department database, and the Hospital Discharge database. The CODES database provides medical and financial outcome information about injuries that occur as a result of motor vehicle crashes.
The linked databases create a full picture that describes what occurs before, during, and after a crash. For example, information is available on whether the individual wore a safety belt before the crash, time and location of the crash, medical problems and treatment at the crash scene, the length of time for the crash victim to be transported from the crash scene to the hospital, clinical diagnoses and medical procedures performed at the emergency department, length of hospitalization, and total charges. In addition to these fact sheets, CODES is used to conduct studies that examine the incidence, risk factors, and societal costs for traffic crashes and injuries.
Statistics: New York State Residents and County of Residence
Based on the location of residence, this webpage contains data tables on motor vehicle traffic crash-related injuries among New York State residents.
The data utilized for these tables are the hospital discharge and emergency department outpatient data sets (both from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System, SPARCS) and vital statistics death files.
SPARCS collects information on every inpatient hospitalization and outpatient emergency department visit in New York State and includes data on the reasons for hospitalization and patient demographics. Each year, the system generates discharge summaries for the approximately 2.5 million hospitalization records, 155,000 due to injury, and approximately 6.5 million emergency department visits, 1.5 million due to injury.
The vital statistics death files are the primary source of information used to describe injury-related mortality among New York State residents. Information from these files includes demographics on the deceased person, place of residence, place of death and cause of death. Annually, there are about 8,000 deaths due to injury recorded.
Governor's Traffic Safety Committee
The Governor's Traffic Safety Committee website provides crash data, information on traffic safety laws, and information on traffic safety topics.
Additional Resources
Additional resources can be found on the Injury Prevention website, within the Prevention Agenda, and the Community Health Indicator Reports.
Contact Information
New York State Department of HealthBureau of Occupational Health and Injury Prevention
Empire State Plaza-Corning Tower, Room 1336
Albany, New York 12237
