Keith Vodden Dr. Douglas Smith - Transports Canada

Analysis and Estimation of the Social Cost of Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario
adjustments made in the raw data to better reflect the impacts on those involved in the
collisions.
a) Additional deaths reported by Coroner’s Office
ORSAR lists 799 fatalities related to motor vehicle collisions in Ontario in 2004.
These data are based on Motor Vehicle Accident Reports (MVAR) filed by police
officers. On occasion, a MVAR may not be submitted by police or may be amended but
too late for inclusion in the ORSAR. Also the cause of death may be determined only
later to be a motor vehicle collision by the Coroner but this information may not be
provided to ORSAR or may be provided too late to include in ORSAR.
For 2004, the Coroner reports approximately 900 fatalities due to transportation
related crashes, including HTA-reportable and non-reportable collisions, train and
subway related incidents using a one-year cut-off instead of the 30-day limit imposed by
ORSAR. Of the extra 36 motor vehicle collision fatalities reported by the Coroner, 21
occurred within 30 days and of them 14, could be determined to be HTA reportable based
on the weight of evidence. (The status of one case could not be determined.)
As a result, 813 fatalities, or 1.02 times the number identified in ORSAR, are used
in the model for 2004. The same factor will be used for subsequent years to reflect
fatalities not reported to ORSAR. A later section discusses how these extra fatalities are
allocated in the model.
b) Additional injuries reported by hospitals and in a re-analysis of Chipman
Data in ORSAR on the number of injuries and their severity are derived from
police reports filled out at the scene of the collision or shortly after the collision.
Attending police officers will have information on those who are transported directly to
hospital (major and minor injuries) and may have information although potentially not
complete on those admitted to hospital (major injuries). They will have information on
others who report injuries not requiring transport to hospital (minimal injuries) at the
collision scene. Police will follow-up with hospitals to find out the extent of injuries and
will amend reports as necessary. However, police will not have information and reports
will not record those individuals who subsequently develop symptoms of injury. These
injuries may include minimal injuries, requiring no or limited medical intervention, minor
injuries, requiring an emergency room visit, or major injuries, involving hospital stays.
Since police reports are the basis of ORSAR data, which in turn form the raw data used in
our model, these counts of injuries are unlikely to reflect the full extent of injuries
resulting from motor vehicle collisions.
To account for under-reporting of injuries we rely on two sources of information.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOH&LTC) captures use of medical
facilities such as emergency room visits and the characteristics of hospital stays (hospital
separations and duration) against codes identifying the reason for the injury. A number of
116 TNS Canadian Facts, Social and Policy Research