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The current characteristics of the under 16 year-old U.S. population injured in motor vehicle crashes was determined for motor vehicle occupants, pedestrians and bicyclists. Age, gender, restraint usage, type and severity of injury, length of stay, levels of impairment, charges for treatment, and source of payments were considered. Although injuries and fatalities experienced by this age group are under-represented relative to population, the group is overrepresented in police reported bicycle injuries and fatalities and pedestrian injuries.

Highway safety for older persons is an issue whose importance is increasing as America's population ages. Recognizing this, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) developed a plan for a comprehensive program for improving the safety of older persons. This paper presents an overview of the plan, which envisions a balanced program covering both behavioral and vehicle countermeasures, with projects having the potential for both near term and longer term impacts on the issue. It presumes that the agency will work closely with the States and other groups concerned with the safety of older persons to gain their cooperation and support. The plan includes projects in problem identification, occupant protection, driver licensing, pedestrian safety, consumer information, and vehicle safety.

A study was made of the incidence of traffic related injuries, the related disability and impairment, and the resulting economic consequences. Crash data covering the incidence of injuries and their distribution by injury type and severity show that nearly three and a half million persons per year are injured in traffic crashes, with roughly half of them experiencing at least one day of disability. Brain and spinal cord injuries, both believed to have long term consequences, were examined in greater detail. Epidemiological data covering these injuries indicate about 60,000 persons suffer disabling brain injuries and about 4,000 persons suffer disabling spinal cord injuries each year. These are significantly larger incidence values for these two injury types than shown by the crash data. There is little quantatative data on the disability and impairment resulting from traffic crashes, nor is there agreement on how to report such data.