Motor vehicle occupants

• Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples cases
• Key risks
• Overview of non-Aboriginal cases
• Comparative patterns of injury

Definition of motor vehicle occupants

Motor vehicle occupants are assigned ICD9 External Causes codes in the range E810-E825 /.0,.1. These codes include motor vehicle (other than motorcycle) crashes on public and non-public roads where the injured person was a passenger or driver.

Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples cases

While Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children of ages 0-14 years were more often injured as passengers than as drivers in motor vehicles, it is of concern that approximately eight percent of the motor vehicle occupant cases in this age group were drivers. In adults, more passengers than drivers are hospitalised from injuries sustained in motor vehicles (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Percentage of driver and passenger motor vehicle crash injury hospitalisations in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, Australia (except NT), 1991/92.

Key risks

• Passenger hospitalisations outnumber driver hospitalisations by a factor of two.
• Amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, those aged 15 to 29 have the highest rates of hospitalisation. This age group accounts for 44 per cent of motor vehicle occupant injury-related hospitalisations.

Overview of non-Aboriginal cases

Amongst non-Aboriginal children aged 0-14 years there were relatively few cases of hospitalisation of drivers of motor vehicles (four percent of motor vehicle occupant cases in this age group). Drivers predominated over passengers amongst adult hospitalisations (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Percentage of driver and passenger motor vehicle crash injury hospitalisations in non-Aboriginal populations, Australia (except NT), 1991/92.

Comparative patterns of injury

• Age-adjusted rates of injury-related hospitalisation (hospitalisations per 100,000 population) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander motor vehicle drivers (40) were less than those in the non-Aboriginal populations (53).
• For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander passengers, the rate of hospitalisation is higher than the rate for non-Aboriginal passengers across all age groups.
• Age-adjusted rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander motor vehicle passengers (77) were about twice those of the non-Aboriginal population (40).
• For both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and non-Aboriginals, the highest rates of motor vehicle occupant hospitalisations occur at ages 15 to 29.
• In the case of passengers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' rates are about three times those of non-Aboriginals over the ages from 25 to 39.
• Role of the injured person: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were more likely than non-Aboriginals to be injured as passengers (). The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples injured as passengers in motor vehicle crashes was about double that for non-Aboriginals from the age of 20 years and above. This may be due to exposure factors such as higher passenger loading in vehicles transporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly for those living in rural and remote areas.

Figure 5: Motor vehicle occupant hospitalisations in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Aboriginal populations, Australia (except NT), 1991/92