RESEARCH, POLICY MAKING AND INTERVENTION PROGRAMMING IN INJURY PREVENTION A Classic Case of Sub-Optimisation

In most post-industrial countries injury is a leading cause of death, particularly premature death. In Australia, for example, over two thirds of all deaths among persons aged 15 to 24 years are the result of injury. Transport, particularly road transport, is the single most frequent setting for fatal injury. Despite these facts injury research is under-funded and uncoordinated. There is only a fledgling science and little underpinning theory. There is a plethora of unlinked data sets, each reflecting the institutional responsibility of the collecting agency. Even within transport there is little cross modal contact. While the complexities of service delivery demand institutional segregation no such case exits for the segregation of research