INJURIES RELATED TO CAR CRIME - THE JOY RIDING EPIDEMIC

'Joy-riding' is the term used, somewhat inappropriately, for the offen ce of taking a vehicle without the owner's consent. In certain areas, mainly deprived inner-city estates, there has been an increase in this crime. The aim of this study was to investigate ifs impact on the wor kload of an inner-city teaching hospital's busy accident and orthopaed ic departments. In this prospective study, all patients admitted to ho spital as a result of road-traffic accidents (RTAs) were identified du ring a 9 month period. A total of 1576 patients were admitted to the t rauma unit. One hundred and fifty-two admissions were as a result of R TA and 20 (13 per cent) of these patients had injuries as a result of car crime. Of this group, eight were severely injured (ISS > 16) and s ix of these were innocent bystanders. Three patients (one joy-rider an d two innocent bystanders) died as a result of car crime. The average length of hospital stay was IZ days (1-62 days) and the hospital in-pa tient costs were estimated to be at least pound 5200 per patient. Inju ries related to car crime results in a significant amount of work and financial cost to the National Health Service.