Safe Transportation Research & Education Center

In 2016, there were 34,439 fatal crashes and countless more injury crashes in the United States. Increased coordination between first responders, hospitals, and other traffic safety stakeholders, along with better-quality Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data collection, would enhance planning efforts to improve first responder time to collisions. In emergency medicine, practitioners have a “golden hour,” sometimes less, following traumatic injury wherein prompt medical attention offers the highest chance to prevent death. Thus, improved timeliness and technologies, proximity to care, and roadway access increase a victim’s chance of survival.