[Traffic accidents load on the Danish hospital system]

During 1984, the police registered 14,383 injured persons resulting from traffic accidents. A total of 7,093 of these could be found again in the National Patient Register. The National Patient Register had further information about 8,095 persons who had been injured in traffic accidents. The total number of persons injured in traffic accidents in 1984 increases thus by 56% when these two registers are combined. Traffic accidents in 1984 were responsible for at least 204,020 bed-days. This corresponds to occupation of 716 of the beds in Danish hospitals throughout the year by the victims of traffic accidents. One third of these beds are occupied by the drivers/passengers of private cars, vans etc. The average number of bed-days is 13.4. Pedestrians have the longest periods of hospitalization with 24.1 per accident and cyclists have the shortest periods of hospitalization with 8.3 days per accident.