Authorities in Ireland need to focus more on engineering, education and enforcement in terms of road safety, a top Swedish trauma expert said last night.
Dr Per Ortemwell (pictured above second right with Stefan Olsen of Saab, Dr Patricia Houlihan from Beaumont, and Padraic Deane of the Irish Motoring Writers Association)was speaking at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, during a safety information seminar organised by the IMWA in association with Semperit.
Dr Ortemwell is a trauma expert working at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg.
Noting that the three 'performance indicators' in road crashes that can impact on the seriousness of the crash and its outcome are level of driver expertise, roadside and car design, and the quality of EMS and trauma centres, he emphasised that the problems of road safety really require a 'multi-layered approach' in order to have any hope of success.
Saab Vehicle Safety engineer Stefan Olsen said there were many complexities in reproducing simulations of real-life collisions by computer, but by studying the outcome of thousands of real accidents in Sweden, Saab had been able to develop crumple zones and active head restraint systems to make its cars safer.
From the front line perspective in Ireland, Dr Patricia Houlihan, trauma consultant at Beaumont, said that even with the huge advances in car safety and technology, mortality rates 'haven't improved'. "Nearly 27 percent of all patients admitted to Beaumont are the result of car accidents," she added. "A quarter of these need surgery of some kind, and a third need the care of neurosurgeons."
Padraic Deane, chairman of the IMWA, said that while fatalities on Ireland's roads are often highlighted, the 10,000-plus individuals who suffer serious injury as a result of crashes often go unpublicised.
"We're pleased to be able to contribute towards highlighting their plight, and the efforts of Irish medical personnel and the automotive industry to tackle this ongoing tragedy."Paddy Murphy of Semperit (left) said the inaugural seminar is an example of the automotive industry and the medical sector coming together 'on a huge issue of mutual concern'.
Trish Whelan.
