Injuries destroy the health, lives, and livelihoods of millions of people, yet they receive scant attention, compared with diseases and other hazards. Each year, more than 140,000 Americans die from injuries, and one person in three suffers a non-fatal injury. Injury is the last major plague of the young. Injuries are the leading cause of death and disability in children and young adults, killing more Americans aged 1 to 34 than all diseases combined, and are the leading cause of death up to the age of 44. Injuries cause the loss of more working years of life than all forms of cancer and heart disease combined. One out of eight hospital beds is occupied by an injury victim.

Many approaches to control this modern epidemic have been employed, but none as efficient or effective as legislation and regulation. In the traffic safety field, for example, countless lives have been saved by laws mandating the safer design of cars and highways, wearing of seat belts, and swift and certain punishment of drunk drivers. Though a number of injury problems have been approached at the federal level, most lend themselves to legislative and/or regulatory action at the state level.

In Political Approaches to Injury Control at the State Level, a diverse group of experts from the fields of law, medicine, insurance, and state government discuss (1) defining the most significant (in terms of mortality and morbidity) injury problems amenable to approach through legislation, regulation, and/or legal means at the state level; and (2) developing practical implementation strategies and useful data that could be employed at the state level. Among the legislative issues explored are: drunk driving, compulsory motorcycle helmets, alcohol taxes and advertising, burn prevention, drowning, and handgun control.