Unenclosed transport crash with significant impact requires immediate transport when the impact exceeds what speed?

• A. >20 mph
• B. >10 mph
• C. >15 mph
• D. >25 mph

Answer: (A)

When a crash involves an unenclosed vehicle, the speed of the impact is a key indicator of how serious injuries could be. The principle here is that higher impact speeds increase the risk of life-threatening injuries, even if the patient looks stable at first. The protocol uses a threshold: if the impact exceeds twenty miles per hour, immediate transport to a trauma center is indicated because the likelihood of significant injuries is too high to wait. Speeds of ten or fifteen miles per hour don’t meet this high-risk criterion, so they don’t automatically require rapid transport. A speed well above the threshold, like twenty-five mph, does exceed it and would also warrant immediate transport, but the essential rule is that any impact over twenty mph triggers rapid transport.