Motor Vehicle Deaths in Hong Kong: Opportunities for Improvement

Abstract

Objective: This study was undertaken to describe the epidemiology of motor vehicle mortality in Hong Kong, and to assess its impact on trauma service delivery. Setting: Hong Kong has an area of 1,072 km2 and a population of 6,800,000. There were 500,000 registered vehicles in 2001. Methods: All motor vehicle deaths must be reported to the coroner in Hong Kong. A manual retrospective review of all coroner case notes involving motor vehicles for 2001 was performed. Results: The review identified 165 cases involving 111 male and 54 female patients. Elderly cases were predominant, with 37% of the cases involving individuals older than 60 years. Most of the cases involved pedestrians (59%), and half of these pedestrians had experienced collisions with public light buses and trucks. Alcohol was not commonly involved, and when it was, it was isolated to the group 20 to 40 years of age. Most individuals died of major head injury alone or multiple injuries. There were very few major vessel injuries, and these included 13 aortic transections. Discussion: Hong Kong has a very low motor vehicle death rate relative to its population (2.4 per 100,000), but the rate is less impressive when it is related to motor vehicle registrations (33 per 100,000 vehicles). The low incidence of motor vehicle trauma has implications for trauma service delivery in terms of trauma expertise and specialization. Despite the low incidence of trauma, there still are opportunities for prevention, especially in relation to elderly pedestrians and public light buses.