External cause – place of occurrence – racecourse versus road

Created Jun 2013
Reviewed Dec 2019

Query

1. We come across a lot of cases where the place of occurrence is on a course/track across privately owned land (farm), national park, or public reserves.  In these cases should we assign the place of occurrence code for farm, national park, or public reserve?
    
2. We also have the Burt Munro motorcycle event where the beach and street are closed off.  Currently we are coding these events to Y92.33 Place of occurrence, racetrack and racecourse as the primary use at the time is a racecourse.  Is this correct?
    
3. In other instances there are sporting events such as the cycling Tour of Southland which occurs on an open road where the road is not barricaded off and cars can still travel on it.  Should this be coded to Y92.49 Place of occurrence, unspecified public highway, street or road?

Response

The definition of race track is ‘a purpose built facility or building’ and race course is ‘a term for non-permanent (temporary) tracks for sports.

In the ICD-10-AM Tabular List the definition of a public highway is:

(b) A public highway [trafficway] or street is the entire width between property lines (or other boundary lines)  of land open to the public as a matter of right or custom for purposes of moving persons or property from one place to another. A roadway is that part of the public highway designed, improved and customarily used for vehicular traffic.

From an injury prevention perspective it is important to describe the situation at the time of the incident rather than the usual situation at the location e.g. incident occurred while rallying on a blocked off road.  The patch of ground at the time of rallying is used as a race course (Y92.33), however the day before or day after will be used as a public road (Y92.49).  Based on the information received it is important to determine where the incident occurred, if it is on an open or closed road, also if it is part of an organised event or not.

1. Yes.  Where the incident has occurred on a course/track on privately owned land (farm), national park, or public reserve and is not part of an organised event, assign the specific place of occurrence code for the farm (Y92.7 Place of occurrence, farm) , national park (Y92.84 Place of occurrence, forest) or public reserve (Y92.88 Other specified place of occurrence).
   In the cases where the incident has occurred on a course/track on privately owned land (farm), national park, or public reserve and is part of an organised event the place of occurrence code assigned should be Y92.33 Place of occurrence, racetrack and racecourse. 
    
2. Yes.  Where the road is closed off for the purpose of creating a temporary racecourse as part of an organised event, assign the place of occurrence code Y92.33 Place of occurrence, racetrack and racecourse.
    
3. Yes.  As the road is still open for public use the code assigned should be Y92.49 Place of occurrence, unspecified public highway, street or road.

Note: Free text should be used to specify the actual place and/or event.

Correspondence from: Injury Prevention Research Unit and Professor James Harrison