Crash Study
The Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) is multi-center data collection program led by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that aims to improve the prevention and treatment of clinically relevant injuries in motor-vehicle crashes. CIREN does this by collecting medical data from of a sample of patients who are injured in motor-vehicle crashes and performing an in-depth field investigation of the crashes that resulted in a patient. Both medical data and the results of field investigations of crashes are used in analyses aimed at characterizing the biomechanical factors that influenced the causation of a patient's injuries. These analysis results, along with the associated crash-investigation results and medical data on injury, treatment, and outcome are de-identified and uploaded to a national database managed by NHTSA. NHTSA and other researchers will perform analyses of this database to identify emerging trends in vehicle crashworthiness and occupant injury that will form the basis of future regulations and crash tests aimed at improving vehicle safety.
Pedestrian Pilot Study
The last major National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) funded pedestrian crash investigation study in the United States was conducted using methods that are now over 20 years old. The general intent of this pedestrian pilot study is to collaborate with the NHTSA to develop data collection protocols and collect data associated with pedestrians injured in traffic crashes. In addition to providing technical support to establish the scope and processes for pedestrian crash data collection, the project will identify and enroll eligible study participants, collect the required data elements, perform the required injury causation analysis, and enter the required data into an electronic database for injured pedestrians.
