Background In recent years, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems, which provide crash scene services, transportation to the hospitals, and en-route life support, have vastly improved due to the technological advancement of transport vehicles and equipments. Numbers of trained and certified Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) have increased as well. Furthermore, due to the incredible advances in biomedical engineering, pharmacology, and medical research, physicians in trauma centers/hospitals are highly skilled and better equipped with the most advanced instruments and the most effective medicines. Injury survivability is believed to have increased over the years due to the quality of medical care.

Objectives Determine if occupants' survival rates have improved since 1979, given the same injury and controlling for occupant age/gender.

Proposed Approach Since 1979, NASS has collected detailed information on motor vehicle crash related injuries. Statistical analysis of NASS data will be performed to assess the relative outcome of various types of injuries. The injury data reported in the NASS database will be categorized as either 'fatal' or 'non-fatal'. Survivability rates will then be compared over a 28+ year period (1979-2006) to determine whether survival rates for various types of injuries have increased significantly. The evaluation, based on existing data, may take 1-2 years.