 Many thousands of trauma patients are seen in Canadian emergency departments each year. On rare occasions, such patients have a broken neck cervical spine fracture but in 98 percent of cases the xrays ordered by the doctors are normal. The total cost of inexpensive but high volume tests such as neck x-rays adds considerably to rising health care costs. In addition, these patients are often immobilized with uncomfortable backboards and collars for many hours, tying up valuable space and time in our crowded emergency departments. 