Medical interventions to reduce motor vehicle collisions

Trauma attributable to motor vehicle collisions is a widespread cause of morbidity and death. Most Canadian patients will be in a serious collision at least once in their lifetime. Practising phys - icians might help prevent some death and morbidity using effective resuscitation in the aftermath of a crash, advocating general coun - termeasures toward road safety and issuing medical warnings to potentially unfit drivers, in addition to using unproven indirect strategies (see illustrative case in Box 3). The past half-century has shown an improvement of about 30%-50% in total traffic fatalities through a combination of interventions that each had modest effectiveness. The role for physicians in preventing collisions may expand given the shift in age demographics and ongoing advances in convenient and reliable motor vehicles. © 2014 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors.