While reporting bias may exist, nevertheless these results show that occupant restraint use confers substantial life-saving protection to HMMWV occupants in rollover accidents. Therefore, commanders, safety officers, and peers should continue to promote and enforce restraint use consistently during all Army ground operations and training involving HMMWVs. Doing so will save Soldiers' lives in rollover accidents during the remaining years of the HMMWV program.
The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, This study analyzed reported occupant restraint use among U.S. Army Soldiers who were injured in High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) rollover accidents reported to the U.S. Army Combat Readiness / Safety Center. During the time period studied (1989 through 2007), Soldiers who reportedly had not worn occupant restraints were three times more likely to die than Soldiers who reportedly had worn occupant restraints during a HMMWV rollover accident. Wearing occupant restraints could have saved 69 percent of Soldiers' lives lost from being unrestrained in HMMWV rollover accidents and 41 percent of all Soldiers' lives lost in HMMWV rollover accidents during the time period studied, reducing total fatality costs by 59 percent ($3.8 to $12.7 million). These findings support the use of occupant restraints as a life-saving, injury-mitigating and cost-saving countermeasure in HMMWV rollover accidents. More command and peer-to-peer enforcement of mandatory restraint use in HMMWVs and other tactical vehicles used in Army operations is necessary.
PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER
SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S)
SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S)High mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, HMMWV rollover accidents, HMMWV rollover accident prevention, HMMWV rollover injuries, HMMWV rollover injury prevention
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