To simplify analyses and presentations, the MICA records and those analyzed in the CODES reports are for drivers only.
The term "crash" is used in this MICA and in the CODES reports in place of the more commonly-used term "accident," because "accident" implies nothing could be done to prevent the crash. In fact, many crashes are preventable.
The term "county" as used in this MICA and in the CODES reports refers to the county where the crash occurred.
If a record for an injured driver linked to more than one health care record (for example, when a person requires more than one visit to the hospital) only the record for the first health care visit was retained in the CODES data.
Crash types are defined to be mutually exclusive. If a vehicle could be classified into more than one type of crash, as in head-on and rollover, the crash types were first assigned to Rollover, then Multivehicle Head-On, Single Vehicle Fixed Object, Si ngle Vehicle Other or Multivehicle Other.
Definitions for other terms used in the MICA can be found under "Definitions."
To simplify some analyses, selected groups of vehicles have been combined in addition to being presented separately in the "Vehicle Type" selection item. Thus, drivers of cars and pickups can be selected separately or as a combined group. The latter op tion allows one to examine their rates of alcohol use, safety belt use, etc., all at once rather than having to develop two separate tables. Similarly, because drivers of motorcycles, ATV’s and bicycles should all wear helmets, all three can be selected a s a combined group as well as separately. If no vehicle type selections are made when developing a table, the default selection is "Cars".
Users of this MICA are encouraged to obtain the Missouri Crash Outcome Data System (CODES) reports for 1993 and 1996. These reports contain a more complete explanation of the development of the files as well as data not contained in the M ICA. Due to the manner in which the MICA is developed, the tables you create in the MICA may not exactly match the tables in the CODES reports, as noted below.
Drivers who use only shoulder straps are shown as a separate category in the 1993 and 1996 CODES reports; in the MICA they are combined with drivers who were recorded as not using safety belts.
The "Motorcycle" category in the 1993 and 1996 CODES reports does not include moped drivers; in the MICA, the "Motorcycle" category under the "Vehicle Type" selection includes drivers of mopeds. There were 154 moped drivers involved in crashes in 1996 and 37 in 1993.
Drivers whose airbags deployed during a crash were omitted from the safety belt comparisons in the 1993 and 1996 CODES reports, so the effect of safety belts could be examined relatively uncontaminated by the effects of airbags. Due to the way in which the MICA was developed, records of drivers with deployed airbags have not been deleted from any of the MICA tables, thus the beneficial effect of safety belt use may be partly due to the deployment of airbags.
In the 1993 and 1996 CODES reports, drivers recorded as using drugs but not alcohol were presented separately from drivers cited for alcohol use. This could not be easily done in the MICA, so drivers recorded as using drugs but not alcohol have been pl aced in the "Unknown substance-use" category.
When combined, the six categories of "Car," "Pickup Truck," "Big Truck," "Motorcycle," "ATV" and "All Other" represent the totality of motorized vehicle types. It also represents the domain covered by the 1993 and 1996 CODES reports. The one group incl uded in this MICA but not included in the CODES reports is bicycle drivers. Bicycles are not considered motor vehicles and the design of the CODES report focuses on drivers of motor vehicles only.
Information regarding source of CODES data can be found under "Documentation."
Any questions about data contained in this MICA should be referred to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Bureau of Health Informatics at (573) 751-6272. Copies of the CODES reports can also be obtained by calling this phone number.