Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
CDC Report:
Please see CDC’s MMWR Report on Violent Deaths that under-counts vehicle deaths by thousands.
“Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 17 States, 2013”
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/ss/ss6510a1.htm?s_cid=ss6510a1_e#T1_down
CDC Response:
When I asked CDC for an explanation, I received the following response:
“Thank you for your question. Here’s information from Dr. Lyons:The reason that motor vehicle deaths look smaller than what you might expect is that in the NVDRS we look at motor vehicle deaths that are specifically associated with violent deaths. The system uses the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of a violent death: “a death resulting from the intentional use of physical force or power against oneself, another person, or against a group or community”. Therefore, motor vehicle deaths as a whole are not collected in NVDRS, only those related to suicides, homicides, deaths from legal intervention (a subtype of homicide where the victim is killed by law enforcement acting in the line of duty), deaths of undetermined intent, and unintentional firearm fatalities.”
Evaluation of CDC Response:
I then asked Ben Kelley, a long time leader in Public Health and Safety, for his views on the CDC response.
Mr. Kelley offered Dr. William Haddon’s landmark paper published in the Journal of Public Health (copy attached) and the following:
“Violence involves an energy exchange in which the human body is damaged by experiencing an energy onset at intolerable (harmful) levels. A look at Haddon’s “Escape of Tigers” (attached), which is a fundamental guide to public health thinking about injury, makes it clear that there is no distinction, from a public health standpoint, between “intended” and “unintended” violence. Nor is such a distinction useful. Assigning motives or lack of motive to such harm is a very slippery slope. Did the manufacturer of the injurious product “intend” or “want” to hurt someone? Did the errant driver? These are not useful exercises for creating a taxonomy of violence and its injurious consequences. Lenard’s description tells the story:
“Therefore, motor vehicle deaths as a whole are not collected in NVDRS, only those related to suicides, homicides, deaths from legal intervention (a subtype of homicide where the victim is killed by law enforcement acting in the line of duty), deaths of undetermined intent, and unintentional firearm fatalities.”
If motor vehicle crash death is not included, why are “unintentional firearm fatalities” and “deaths of undetermined intent”? It’s a nonsensical mishmash, skewed to favor powerful interests, intentionally or not. Violence and the harm it causes is a single “set” and should be treated as such.”
I forwarded Mr. Kelley’s thoughts to CDC and added that I continued to be concerned on behalf of crash victims (past, present, and future) that the CDC continues to minimize deaths and serious injuries from vehicle violence. I wrote:
“How should American taxpayers view this CDC work that: 1. relies on a WHO (paid in part by U.S. taxpayers) definition of violent death not an American definition?
2. creates a data system NVDRS that excludes the daily American tragedies of about 100 deaths, 400 serious injuries, losses estimated at $2 Billion due to vehicle violence here in the U.S.A. today?
3. continues the CDC travesty of minimizing vehicle violence notoriously exemplified by the CDC removal of “Rollover and Extrication” (one of the most violent vehicle crash modes) from the triage guidelines after CDC acceptance of $250,000 from GM. Seehttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/CFCV-MonthlyReport-March2014-2%20.pdf See also http://www.cdcfoundation.org/what/partners andhttp://www.cdcfoundation.org/
All this feeds into the growing narrative of government policies being politically rigged. See https://www.thetrace.org/2016/04/cdc-gun-violence-research-dickey-amendment/
Following Some of The CDC Money:
The work of CDC is often funded by corporate dollars – including GM – through the CDC Foundation. See the long list of corporate partners at http://www.cdcfoundation.org/what/partners#category-299
And the work of CDC today also is often funded by Foundations that in an age of Pay to Play also have to be considered. See long list of CDC Foundation Partners athttp://www.cdcfoundation.org/what/partners#category-363
And then there are the CDC Foundation’s Organization Partners. See http://www.cdcfoundation.org/what/partners#category-365
As the U.S.A. today is historically approaching its 4 millionth death due to vehicle violence, what would the families who have suffered losses think of CDC today?
Lou Lombardo
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