GM, CDC Partner for Faster Accident Response

In the near future, vehicles may be able to alert emergency crews to how severe the injuries are in a car crash and victims should be taken for the best care. That scenario could result in a decrease of 25 percent in traffic fatalities and a decrease in disabilities resulting from crash injuries. The GM Foundation announced in March a partnership with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation to provide real-time information through OnStar that will allow emergency medical responders to determine the level of care that crash victims will need before emergency crews arrive at the scene.

Real-Time Teamwork
Dr. Richard Hunt director of CDC's Injury Center's Division of Injury Response said "CDC-supported research has shown that care at a trauma center lowers the risk of death by 25 percent for severely injured patients compared with treatment received at a hospital without trauma care services." Under the partnership, CDC will convene a panel of more than 20 emergency medical physicians, trauma surgeons, and public safety and vehicle safety experts to review real-time crash data from OnStar's Advanced Automatic Crash Notification (AACN) vehicle telematic system and similar systems from other companies to help improve emergency transport and treatment of crash victims. The panel meetings will be funded by a $250,000 grant from OnStar and the GM Foundation to the CDC Foundation.


According to Dr. Hunt the partnership is "groundbreaking in the field of emergency services." It will utilize real-time information to get severely injured patients to the right medical facility in a critical amount of time. This real-time crash data will also result in a decrease in injury severity and a decrease in long-term disability. "This really matters," Hunt added.


The CDC Foundation is chartered by Congress to seek out innovative relationships between the private sector and the CDC with a focus on national health problems. "I believe this will, in reality, change the face of emergency medical care and save thousands of lives," said Charles Stokes, president of the CDC Foundation.


Using a collection of sensors, vehicle telemetry systems like OnStar send crash data to an advisor if the vehicle is involved in a moderate or severe front, rear or side-impact crash. Depending on the type of system, the data includes crash severity information, along with data on the direction of impact, airbag deployment, multiple impacts and a rollover (if equipped with appropriate sensors). Advisors can relay this information to emergency dispatchers helping them to quickly determine the appropriate combination of emergency personnel, equipment and medical facilities needed.