Health protection: Accident prevention and injury control.

More than 153,000 Americans die annually as a result of accidental injuries--nearly half of them from motor vehicle accidents, the rest from falls, burns, poisoning, and other causes. Injuries are the leading cause of death between ages 1 and 44, and account for approximately 55 percent of fatalities for those aged 15 to 24. Further, it is estimated that in 1979 70 million people suffered non-fatal accidental injuries requiring medical treatment. In 1980, the damage, injury, and lost productivity resulting from accidents cost the Nation an estimated +83.2 billion. Accident victims are not distributed evenly throughout the population. Teenagers and young adults have the highest motor vehicle death rate; fatal falls, which occur primarily in the home, disproportionately affect the population aged 75 and over; and children 10 years and younger are a high risk population for burns. Accident prevention programs should be based on epidemiological documentation of injury problem areas at the State and local levels. Prevention measures include public education, skill development, safety engineering, environmental modification, legislation, regulation, and enforcement.