• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.50-56
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• 2014

Purpose: Rollover motor vehicle crashes have a higher injury severity and fatality than other motor vehicle crash types. From a left-quarter turn rollover accident of 25-passenger bus, we intend to assess the injury of the occupant and the injury severities according to the occupants' position. Methods: We carried out the 3 steps investigation of occupants' interview, visiting the repair shop and using the police report. We analyzed injuries sustained by occupants, and compared injury severities considering column, row in occupant's position and passenger interaction Results: The rollover involved 14 passengers in the bus who were all old women except a man driver. The most common injury was in the upper extremity, with six occurrences being a left clavicle fracture. Major injuries including hemothorax and pneumothorax were diagnosed at left side of the occupant. In the comparison of injury severity among driver's column (left side), mid column and passengercolumn, ISS of passenger column was the highest ($9.9{\pm}7.4$, $8.8{\pm}5.5$, and $10.3{\pm}4.0$, respectively, p>0.05). The injury severity of multiple occupants by row was higher than that of single occupant (10.8 vs. 3, p<0.05). Conclusion: An occupant must fasten their seat belt to prevent an injury by passenger interaction in the left-quarter turn rollover accident of a bus.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.43-47
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• 2019

Developed countries are operating an in-depth database in motor vehicle crashes nationwide. They do not rely solely on the police investigation reports that are responsible for motor vehicle crashes in each country but are developing into a useful database by expanding the categories of data through more indicators addition. In Korea, after implementing comprehensive measures to reduce traffic accident deaths in 2013, the medical centers participated in establishing the actual accident investigation system, which was called as the Korean In-Depth Accident Study (hereinafter KIDAS). This KIDAS database included more in-depth indicators as the types of accidents, types of vehicles, the injury severity, adequacy of safety devices, seating position of passengers. Although there are difficulties in establishing an actual accident investigation system including data collection due to various restrictions, if the system can cooperate with each other such as medical centers, insurance companies, police, fire and rescue services, towing companies, and car repair shops in the future, It would be expected to contribute to the development of safer vehicle, treatment system and traffic safety policy that lower the injury severity of occupant in the event of a motor vehicle crashes.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.84-88
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• 2014

The severity of blunt hepatic injury correlates with internal organ damage. We experienced a patient, who had an extensive crushed liver injury. The patient was a 28-year-old man, who was involved in a traffic accident in which a wheel ran over his right upper abdomen. A grade V severe hepatic laceration was diagnosed with computed tomography. His vital signs were stable, so we could wait for times with conservative management. Bile leakage led to biloma and bile spillage into the peritoneal space. Selective percutaneous drainage was needed to control the several biloma. After four months of conservative management, could the patient was discharged in good condition.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.173-180
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• 2016

OBJECTIVES : Fixed roadside objects are a threat to drivers when their vehicles deviate from the road. Therefore, such roadside objects need to be suitably dealt with to decrease accidents. This study determines the factors affecting the severity of accidents because of fixed roadside objects. METHODS : This study analyzed the crash severity impact of fixed roadside objects by using ordered probit regression as the analysis methodology. In this research, data from 896 traffic accidents reported in the last three years were used. These accidents consisted of sole-car accidents, fixed roadside object accidents, and lane-departure accidents on the national highway of Korea. The accident severity was classified as light injury, severe injury, and death. The factors relating to the road and the driver were collected as independent variables. RESULTS : The result of the analysis showed that the variables of the crash severity impact are the collision location (left side), gender of the driver (female), alcohol use, collision facility (roadside trees, traffic signals, telephone poles), and type of road (rural segments). Additionally, the collision location (left side), gender of the driver (female), alcohol use, collision facility (street trees, traffic signals, telephone poles), and type of road (rural segments), in order of influence, were found to be the factors affecting the crash severity in accidents due to fixed roadside objects. CONCLUSIONS : An alternative solution is urgently required to reduce the crash severity in accidents due to fixed roadside objects. Such a solution can consider the appropriate places to install breakaway devices and energy-absorbing systems.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.66-75
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• 2004

Objectives: This study was intended to see the relationship between psychiatric consequences and injury severity following traffic accidents. Methods: We surveyed the 134 patients who were hospitalized from 1994 to 2003 at Chosun University Hospital for psychiatic disability evaluation following traffic accident. We reevaluate demographic factors from admission note. Psychiatric symptoms from mental status exam in medical records. Psychological tests(MMPI, BAI, BDI, K-WAIS) were done. Then we calculate the injury severity score and McBride's rate of disability due to diagnosis from emergency care hospital records. Their relationships were evaluated by statistical methods which were t-test and Pearson correlation analysis using SPSS-10. Results: When physical injury was not severe, suicidal attempt was more frequent and depression, hysteria, psychasthenia, psychopathic deviation subscales were high in MMPI. But when physical injury was severe, they have diffficulty in concentration, impaired orientation, and changed in IQ score. There was no relationship between physical injury severity and faking bad scales(F, Ds-r). Conclusion: We must not assume when physical injury was not severe, the severe sympomts are just faking for their benefit.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2018

Over the past five years (2010-2014), the total number of traffic accidents has decreased from 226,878 to 223,552 with decrease of 0.37 percent each year. The death toll has also decreased from 5,505 to 4,762. However, the number of rental car accidents and fatalities has been steadily increased. Despite of its growth, no previous study has been conducted on rental car accident severity. This study analyzed data of 18,050 rental car accidents in South Korea collected from 2010 to 2014 and then processed in order to identify which factors could affect the accident severity. Seventeen factors related to rental car accident severity were grouped into four categories: driver, vehicle, roadways and environment. As a result of the ordered probit model analysis, fourteen variables excluding age, intersection, and day of week were found to affect the severity of rental car accidents. The results of the study summarized as follows. First of all, violation of traffic regulations such as speeding increase the severity of rental car accidents. Secondly, rental accident severity is higher at curved sections of complicated roadway, which the driver's field of view is impaired. The results of this study can be used to reduce the severity of rental car accidents in transportation safety.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.270-274
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• 2018

Background: Nasal bone fractures occur frequently because the nasal bone is located at the forefront of the face. The goal of this study was to examine the cause, change in severity, change in incidence, and demographics of nasal bone fracture according to today's lifestyle. Methods: A total of 2,092 patients diagnosed as having nasal bone fractures at our department between 2002 and 2017 were included in this study. We retrospectively examined patients' medical records to extract information regarding age, sex, cause of injury, combined facial bone fractures, and related injuries such as skull base fracture, spinal cord injury, brain hemorrhage, and other bone fractures. Fracture severity was classified by nasal bone fracture type. Results: No statistically significant difference was found in annual number of patients treated for nasal bone fracture. The proportion of patients who underwent closed reduction was significantly decreased over time for those with nasal bone fractures caused by traffic accidents. However, it was not significantly changed for those with nasal bone fractures due to other causes. The number of patients with combined facial bone fractures increased over time. Incidences of severe nasal bone fracture also increased over time. Conclusion: The study suggested that there is a decrease in the frequency and increase in the severity of nasal bone fracture due to traffic accident. Many protective devices prevent nasal bone fractures caused by a small amount of external force; however, these devices are not effective against higher amounts of external force. This study highlights the importance of preoperative thorough evaluation to manage patients with nasal bone fractures due to traffic accident.

• Journal of Cadastre & Land InformatiX
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.233-254
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the main factors influencing the severity of traffic accidents and to visualize spatiotemporal characteristics of traffic accidents in Seoul. To do this, we collected the traffic accident data that occurred in Seoul for four years from 2012 to 2015, and classified as slight, serious, and death traffic accidents according to the severity of traffic accidents. The analysis of spatiotemporal characteristics of traffic accidents was performed by kernel density analysis, hotspot analysis, space time cube analysis, and Emerging HotSpot Analysis. The factors affecting the severity of traffic accidents were analyzed using decision tree model. The results show that traffic accidents in Seoul are more frequent in suburbs than in central areas. Especially, traffic accidents concentrated in some commercial and entertainment areas in Seocho and Gangnam, and the traffic accidents were more and more intense over time. In the case of death traffic accidents, there were statistically significant hotspot areas in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Guro-gu, Jongno-gu, Jung-gu and Seongbuk. However, hotspots of death traffic accidents by time zone resulted in different patterns. In terms of traffic accident severity, the type of accident is the most important factor. The type of the road, the type of the vehicle, the time of the traffic accident, and the type of the violation of the regulations were ranked in order of importance. Regarding decision rules that cause serious traffic accidents, in case of van or truck, there is a high probability that a serious traffic accident will occur at a place where the width of the road is wide and the vehicle speed is high. In case of bicycle, car, motorcycle or the others there is a high probability that a serious traffic accident will occur under the same circumstances in the dawn time.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.146-150
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• 2016

Purpose: Traumatic aortic injuries are rare, but life threatening condition. They usually occur after high velocity impact on the chest or abdomen such as traffic accident or fall. We report the experiences of the traumatic aortic injuries at a single center. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of nine patients with aortic injury resulting from the blunt trauma from Jan. 2010 to May. 2016. Results: The mean age was $51.1{\pm}20.8$ years old, and ten (90.9%) were men. The mechanisms of injury were traffic accidents in seven patients (motorcycle accidents; 3, car accidents; 4), and four in fall injury. Most common injured sites were thoracic aorta (9, 81.8%). Aortic injuries were repaired by endovascular approach in four patients, and by open graft surgery in four. Two patients were managed conservatively. Nine patients survived without any complications. Conclusion: We had experienced different approaches for management of aortic injuries after blunt trauma according to locations and severity of lesions.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2009

Purpose: Injuries are the most important cause of morbidity and mortality in the childhood population worldwide. Thus, this study was down to investigate the type and the severity of injuries according to the age group in childhood. Methods: A survey of injury information and a chart review were done on 378 children (257 boys, 121 girls) who visited the Emergency Departments of Asan Medical Center from March 1, 2009, to March 31, 2009. To determine differences in injury mechanism, accident place, injury site, New Injury Severity Score (NISS) and Pediatric Trauma Score (PTS), we divided the 378 patients into 4 group: under 1 year, 1 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years, and 10 to 15 years. Results: The mean (${\pm}SD$) age of the study group was 5.1 (${\pm}4.4$) years. Two year olds formed the largest group of injured children, with 77 cases (20.4% of the total). The most common cause of injury in childhood was being hit by an object (26.2%). Falls were frequent in the under-1-year group (22.2%) and slip downs (30.1%) were more frequent in 1-to-4-year group. More than half (53.4%) of the injuries occurred in the home, and the most common places of home-related injuries were the living room (41.1%) and the bedroom (31.2%). The mean (${\pm}SD$) NISS was 1.5 (${\pm}1.8$), and traffic accidents had the highest NISS ($2.8{\pm}5.1$). Injuries occurred most frequently during the evening. The peak period was 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM (33.7%). Conclusion: Patterns of childhood injury by age group were considerably different, and less severe and nonhospitalized injuries were common. Thus, need to improve surveillance of a variety of injuries, promote intersectional collaboration, build institutional capacities and mobilize community support and policy as an investment in prevention.