Time to Get Serious About Mobile Phones Used by Vehicle Drivers - confiscate and destroy them!

The Journey from Traffic Offender to Severe Road Trauma Victim: Destiny or Preventive
Opportunity?

Kwok M. Ho*, Sudhakar Rao, Maxine Burrell, Tarun S. Weeramanthri

Road trauma is a leading cause of death and injury in young people. Traffic offences are
common, but their importance as a risk indicator for subsequent road trauma is unknown.
This cohort study assessed whether severe road trauma could be predicted by a history of
prior traffic offences.

Methodology and Principal Findings:

Clinical data of all adult road trauma patients admitted to the Western Australia (WA) State
Trauma Centre between 1998 and 2013 were linked to traffic offences records at the WA
Department of Transport. The primary outcomes were alcohol exposure prior to road trauma,
severe trauma (defined by Injury Severity Score >15), and intensive care admission
(ICU) or death, analyzed by logistic regression. Traffic offences directly leading to the road
trauma admissions were excluded.

Of the 10,330 patients included (median age 34 yearsold,
78% male), 1955 (18.9%) had alcohol-exposure before road trauma, 2415 (23.4%) had
severe trauma, 1360 (13.2%) required ICU admission, and 267 (2.6%) died. Prior traffic offences
were recorded in 6269 (60.7%) patients. The number of prior traffic offences was significantly
associated with alcohol-related road trauma (odds ratio [OR] per offence 1.03,
95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02–1.05), severe trauma (OR 1.13, 95%CI 1.14–1.15), and
ICU admission or death (OR 1.10, 95%CI 1.08–1.11).

Drink-drinking, seat-belt, and use of handheld electronic device offences were specific offences strongly associated with road trauma leading to ICU admission or death—all in a ‘dose-related’ fashion.

For those who recovered from road trauma after an ICU admission, there was a significant reduction in subsequent traffic offences (mean difference 1.8, 95%CI 1.5 to 2.0) and demerit points (mean difference 7.0, 95%CI 6.5 to 7.6) compared to before the trauma event.

 Bernie's comment: We've all known for a long time that alcohol and not wearing seat belts are key factors in serious injury and death in vehicle crashes but now we know that "the use of handheld electronic devices" are also deadly. I hope the Police are given the powers to confiscate and destroy mobile phones being used by drivers on the spot - no second chances!



*Dr Ho: Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Australia