byAmerican College of Surgeons

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents are a common cause of injury in both children and adults, accounting forone death every 64 minutes and injuring thousands every year. Two recent analyses reveal that while both adults and children suffer serious injuries in collisions, adults tend to experience more severe outcomes than children. Additionally, mapping the locations of these injuries can pinpoint where accidents occur most frequently, offering valuable insights for targeting prevention efforts effectively.

The research was presented at the American College of Surgeons (ACS)Clinical Congress 2025, held in Chicago, October 4–7.

According to a national analysis led by a team of researchers at Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, New Jersey, pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions commonly lead to serious injuries in bothadultsand children; however, adults often face more serious outcomes than children.

Based on data from the ACS Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP), the researchers analyzed injury patterns using the Injury Severity Score (ISS), which measures the overall effect of injuries using a scale from 1 to 75. An ISS score above 25 indicates that multiple regions of the body were injured simultaneously, which may include broken bones and severe bleeding injuries affecting organs. The researchers analyzed the injury patterns of 760 children (ages 1 to 17) and 760 adults over 18 using 2022 TQIP data.

"That children did significantly better than adults was slightly surprising, as we would have expected there to potentially be worse outcomes forchildren, but it highlights the resiliency of pediatric patients and their bodies' natural ability to compensate for blood loss in certain contexts," said Eric J. Charles, MD, Ph.D., a trauma and acute care surgeon at Morristown Medical Center and co-author of the research.

However, no matter the age of the patient, the authors emphasized thatmotor vehicle accidentsinvolving pedestrians very often lead to serious injuries that can quickly become life-threatening.

"There is very seldom a pedestrian who gets struck by a motor vehicle and walks away with limited injuries. This patient population usually sustains significant injuries that are often life-altering," Dr. Charles said.

"The overarching take-home message is that anything and everything we can do from an injury prevention standpoint and as a community to decrease the likelihood of pedestrians being struck by motor vehicles will likely make a tremendous difference in the health and well-being of the community."

The location of the accidents and conditions that may have contributed to the collisions could not be analyzed using TQIP data, potentially limiting some of the study's broader implications, the authors said. Future research will evaluate ways to prevent accidents, including improved signage, lighting, and visibility at crosswalks.

To understand where motor vehicle-pedestrian accidents happened most frequently in Colorado, researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado, analyzed injury patterns using the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) database and a process called geocoding, which maps the location of injuries to understand injury patterns in clusters.

"Pediatric trauma is something we can prevent with dedicated efforts. If we can identify the causes of these injuries, we can work together to advocate for changes in our communities that can help decrease the chances that a child is struck by a car," said Shannon Acker, MD, FACS, senior author of the study and an associate professor of pediatric surgery and trauma medical director at Children's Hospital Colorado, in Aurora, Colorado.

Dr. Acker added that the unique position of Children's Hospital Colorado also inspired the research project, as the hospital, a Level I pediatric trauma center, treats patients across seven states in the region.

Reviewing data from 321 pediatric patients injured from 2016 to 2024, researchers compared the rate of motor vehicle-pedestrian injuries in areas with high socioeconomic deprivation to areas with low deprivation as defined by the Area Deprivation Index (ADI).

The ADI is a nationally ranked measure of neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage, calculated using the American Community Survey across income, education, employment, and housing conditions.

The researchers then mapped the location of these injuries alongside ADI data to visualize geographically, based on density patterns, where car crashes involving pedestrians occur most frequently.

Studying the pattern of hotspots over time can pinpoint which areas may benefit from traffic calming measures and where rates of injuries have improved or worsened, the authors noted.

"The patterns in this research may not reflect national patterns. However, the methodology used can be applied nationally to understand the unique context that is contributing to auto-pedestrian injury disparities in other cities and states," said Emily K. Myers, MD, lead author of the study and a pediatric surgery critical care fellow at Children's Hospital Colorado.

More information: Myers E, et al. Geocoding and Geospatial Analysis to Identify High Disparity Neighborhoods with a High Frequency of Auto-Pedestrian Injury and Develop Targeted Injury Prevention Programs, Scientific Forum, American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2025 Nemeth Z, et al. Clinical Outcomes of Pediatric Versus Adult Pedestrian Motor Vehicle Collisions, Scientific Forum, American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress 2025

Provided by American College of Surgeons