3.4 CRASH CLASSIFICATION BY INJURY SEVERITY

3.4 Crash Classification by Injury Severity

3.4.1 introduction: The purpose of this classification is to describe the severity of a road vehicle traffic crash in terms of injuries received. The crash is classified according to the most serious injury to any person involved.

3.4.2 categories: There are five mutually exclusive categories of injury severity for classification of road vehicle crashes. (See 2.3.1-2.3.6.1; 3.4.2.1) These may be reduced to three mutually exclusive categories by combining the nonfatal injury categories. (See 3.4.2.2)

3.4.2.1 five category set: Road vehicle crash categories, in order of precedence, are:

• Fatal injury crash (K)

• Suspected serious injury crash (A)

• Suspected minor injury crash (B)

• Possible injury crash (C)

• No apparent injury crash (O)

3.4.2.2 three category set: Road vehicle crash categories, in order of precedence, are:

• Fatal injury crash

• Nonfatal injury crash

• No apparent injury crash (also referred to as property damage only crash) (See 2.4.30)

3.4.3 general: The “no-apparent-injury crash” classification applies only to road vehicle crashes which result in damage but not injury.