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                The Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) and Applications to Improve Traffic Safety Decision-Making
**Description:**
        The CODES program links state-specific crash records to injury outcome records.
1. Crash Records: Crash records are typically collected by police and contain information related to the crash. While crash records typically include detailed information about the scene of the crash and the persons/vehicles involved, crash data does not include reliable injury outcome information to evaluate effectiveness in terms of decreased mortality, morbidity, injury severity, and hospital costs.
2. Injury Outcome Records: Injury outcome records contain detailed injury data that are collected by first responders and emergency medical service (EMS) personnel on-scene, by hospital personnel at the emergency room or admission as inpatient, and as provided on the death certificate. They include medical details about the type and severity of the injury and the subsequent costs (billed charges) for all people treated for an injury, regardless of the cause of that injury. Injury outcome records, however, do not contain information about the crash that generated the injury.
CODES is designed to accommodate crash-outcome data linkage for highway safety applications at the State level, supporting State Highway Safety Offices, State Public Health and Injury Prevention Departments, State Emergency Medical Services Agencies, State transportation departments, and other such agencies. CODES is also designed to facilitate participation in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)-coordinated multistate studies using linked data at the Federal level.
CODES allows for linkages between databases that are otherwise mutually exclusive. For example, it is possible to estimate the outcomes and costs of crash events using linked data from injury outcome records. The use of injury outcome records helps to reduce potential biases in officer reporting and improves the overall reliably of the analysis.
Note that CODES only provides a link between various databases. CODES is administered by NHTSA, which provides access to software and training resources to make linkages feasible, but the State databases are owned and housed by traffic safety and public health agencies. States control access to CODES data due to privacy and data ownership issues, so there is no national CODES database.
    
          **Tool Type:**
        Informational Guide
    
    
    
          **Owner Source:**
        federal
    
          **Sponsor/Owner:**
        National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
    
        **Published:**
      2010
    
        **Availability:**
      This report is available free of charge at the following link: CODES Report
Additional documentation of CODES is available free of charge at the following link: Additional CODES Documentation.
    
          **Disclaimer:**
        This information is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained herein. This information does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturer's names appear in this information only because they are considered essential to the objective of this publication.
          Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations, and translations thereof, expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Highway Administration. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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