At a recent DC Bicycle Advisory Council Safety Committee meeting, Helaina Roisman, GWU Hospital’s Outreach Coordinator for Trauma Services and Injury Prevention informed the committee that all DC hospitals are required to collect trauma and injury data (Which I suppose is part of the Injury Surveillance and Trauma Registry). This data includes designations as to which injuries relate to bicycle crashes.
But, this information is not shared with the public, and doesn't even appear to be analyzed. Even the District government has had trouble getting access to it. In 2012, DC assembeled a team to do an assement of District Traffic Records, and that group reported that:
There are four trauma centers in the District; however, data are not compiled from each facility and no comprehensive trauma registry exists. Information related to hospital records, both emergency department and inpatient, was not available to the assessment team.
They listed the development of a District trauma registry that receives data from all four trauma centers as a top priority.
This information, assuming it can be released in compliance with HIPAA, etc..., should be made publicly available for study and analysis. Having reliable injury data would enable the city to set benchmarks and evaluate progress over time on injury prevention, and to build safety education programs that address the real risks in DC.
GWU, and other hospitals, reportedly have a legal obligation to try to prevent the injuries that they treat and it seems that making data of this sort available to researches - and even data nerds in the public - would be a great way to meet that obligation.
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