Hospitalised injuries from road crashes

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Annual hospitalisations

2017 to 2022

Over the past 6 years, there has been no significant change in the number of hospitalisations due to traffic injuries. On average, there were 3,189 hospitalisations each month with significant variability from month to month. 

Age group

People aged between 40 and 64 years of age represented the age group with the highest number of hospitalisations in 2022 (33.2% of cases). This age group also had the highest hospitalisation rate (147.8 cases per 100,000 population).

The number of males hospitalised is higher than the number of females hospitalised across all age groups, particularly for cohorts between 17 years and 64 years of age. This trend could be influenced by differences in driving behaviours and higher rates of work-related hospitalisation in industries dominated by male employment. While people aged 65 and over account for lower numbers of hospitalisations, they represent the highest number of bed days per case. This could reflect age-related complications when treating injuries. 

Road users 

In crashes involving a hospitalised injury, the person suffering trauma is categorised into a road-user group, such as drivers, passengers or pedestrians. Among broad road-user categories: 

• Drivers had the highest number of hospitalisations (12,601) but the lowest number of bed days per case (4.9 days per case)
• Motorcyclists had higher bed days per hospitalisation compared to other identified road-user groups (5.6 days per case)
• Pedestrians and cyclists account for a significant number of hospitalisations (8,657).

While vehicle occupants represent the highest number of hospitalisations, they also account for the largest number of total road users. Therefore, caution should be used when making comparisons between different road user categories.

Remoteness area

Most people hospitalised in 2022 usually lived in Major City areas (23,708 hospitalisations or 67.0% of total hospitalisations). The rate of total hospitalisations from this remoteness area category aligns with the proportion of Australia’s total population that live in Major Cities (72.2% of total estimated resident population). 

Regional and Remote area residents accounted for fewer hospitalisations in 2022, but these cases had higher average bed days of 5.9 days and 5.3 days respectively. In comparison, Major Cities residents averaged 4.8 bed days per case. 
 

Across remoteness areas:

• Remote areas had the highest hospitalisation rate (201.8 per 100,000 people)
• Major Cities areas had the lowest hospitalisation rate (126.2 per 100,000 people) 

Regional differences in rates of hospitalisation and bed days per case may be influenced by:

• Disparities in healthcare access, such as limited medical facilities or long transport times
• Ambulance response times
• Road conditions and typical travel speeds
• Access to driver training and education
• Vehicle fleet age

Counterparties

Counterparty describes the other party or object involved in a hospitalised injury crash. This may include other vehicles, persons or infrastructure. In most hospitalised injury crashes, the counterparties were light vehicles, accounting for 15,539 of the 35,628 total hospitalisations (43.6% of cases). More than a third of cases had an unspecified or no counterparty involved (‘Other/Unknown’ counterparty) with 12,983 hospitalisations (36.4% of cases). For example, a single vehicle involved in a runoff road crash would have no counterparty recorded. 

Definitions

Hospitalisations

Injuries resulting in confirmed admission to hospital excluding in-hospital death from road traffic crashes. Traffic areas exclude off-road and unknown locations.

Bed days

The total number of patient days where admitted care has been provided.

Vulnerable Road User

Road users not in a car, bus or truck, generally including pedestrians, motorcyclists and pedal cyclists. Can also include children 7 years and under, the elderly and users of mobility devices.

Hospitalisation rate

The hospitalisation rate allows comparisons to be made between groups as it is not influenced by differences in changes in population. It is calculated by dividing the count of road deaths in the last 12 months by the estimated resident population at the midpoint of that period, multiplied by 100,000. Population estimates are sourced from ABS' national, state and territory population statistics. The midpoint population may be interpolated if necessary.

Remoteness Area

Remoteness areas are defined using the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). In the provided data, remoteness area refers to the location of the usual residence of the patient. The classes of remoteness have been aggregated to: 

· Major cities 

· Regional (including Inner Regional and Outer Regional areas)

· Remote (including Remote and Very Remote areas)

· Other or unknown refers to when a person’s residence was unrecorded or migratory/offshore

About the data

We have sourced and prepared hospitalisations data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 

Further information about the data can be found in the Hospitalised Injury Data Dictionary - September 2023. 
 

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Limitations

The data presented here is sourced from hospital admissions and separations. A 'separation' is a term used in Australian hospitals to refer to an episode of care for an admitted patient, which can be a total hospital stay (from admission to discharge, transfer or death), or a portion of a hospital stay beginning or ending in a change of type of care (for example, from acute to rehabilitation). Occasionally patients are transferred between wards and hospitals, and in these cases, protocols are in use to minimise double counting.

Location data refers to location of hospital, not location of crash. Similarly, 'year' refers to year of separation, not year of crash.