The effect of advanced life support and sophisticated hospital systems on motor vehicle mortality.

A mileage population death index (MPDI) was devised to compare the death rate from motor vehicle trauma in Florida counties. The MPDI was defined as the average death rate per one hundred million miles driven divided by the population of the particular county X 10(5). The resultant MPDI was correlated with the presence in a county of basic life support only and advanced life support. In addition, counties with large metropolitan hospitals which might possibly classify as Level I institutions were compared with other counties. A low MPDI was found to be highly correlated with the presence of an ALS system (p = 0.001). Counties with hospitals which might qualify as Level I also had a significantly lower MPDI (p = 0.04). We conclude that the presence of advanced life support and a sophisticated hospital is correlated with a significantly lower motor vehicle mortality.