Studying Motor Vehicles and Other Types of Injuries

Reducing injuries from motor vehicle crashes and other types of accidents is the primary goal of the William Lehman Injury Research Center at the Ryder Trauma Center. Currently, researchers are studying the relationship between the types of injuries suffered by drivers and passengers in motor vehicle crashes and how cars and truck are built and driven.

Founded in 1991 and named for a retired U.S. congressman who was dedicated to improving highway safety, the Lehman Center is supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the automobile industry and private companies.

The center's team is building a database using its own computer software to try to determine the linkages between injuries, the type of crash and the type of vehicle. For example, the research team examined CT scans of injured drivers and found that drivers who were strapped in by a shoulder belt but neglected to use lap belts were more vulnerable to liver injuries in a crash. Because a damaged liver can lead to fatal internal bleeding, that finding was rapidly conveyed to other trauma centers, and lives have been saved as a result.

Eventually, the data being collected at the Lehman Center may lead to better guidelines for what first providers and emergency room doctors nationwide should do when they examine a crash victim.

Airbags have been another focus of research. Airbags have been credited with reducing deaths in head-on collisions by 30 percent. But the bags, which deploy from the dashboard at 200 mph, have been blamed for the deaths of children and shorter adults in slow speed, otherwise survivable, crashes. The team's research played a key role in prompting the National Transportation Safety Board to issue safety recommendations regarding children and airbags - and for automobile manufacturers to begin using "de-powered" airbags that reduce the risks for small children.

The success of the Lehman Center has been based on the unique approach of using a multidisciplinary team to examine in unprecedented detail each automobile crash. Physicians, nurses, engineers, police emergency service personnel, crash reconstructionists and computer experts discuss multiple aspects of each crash.