Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are a significant cause of
head injuries today, but efforts to manage and prevent these
injuries extend as far back as the beginning of modern neurosurgery itself.
Head trauma in MVCs occurred as far back as 1899, and the surgical literature of the time mentions several cases of children being struck by passing automobiles. By the 1930s, Dr. Claire L. Straith, a Detroit
plastic surgeon, recommended changes to automobile design after seeing
facial injuries and
depressed skull fractures that resulted from automobile accidents. During World War II, Sir Hugh Cairns, a British neurosurgeon, demonstrated the efficacy of motorcycle helmets in preventing serious
head injury. In the 1950s, Dr. Frank H. Mayfield, a Cincinnati neurosurgeon on the
trauma committee of the American College of Surgeons, made several recommendations, such as adding padded dashboards and seatbelts, to make automobiles safer. Ford implemented the recommendations from Dr. Mayfield and others into a safety package for the 1956 models. Significant work has also been done to prevent
head injury in motorsports. Efforts by surgeons, especially neurosurgeons, to prevent
head injury in MVCs have saved countless lives, although it is a less frequently celebrated achievement.