OBJECTIVES: Despite risk of mortality, traffic-related injuries place a significant financial burden on the health sector, especially due to costs like intensive care unit (ICU) admission and prolonged hospital stays. The aim of the study is to investigate risk factors of admission to the ICU among injured-patients admitted to a large urban trauma center in Saudi Arabia.  METHODS: This analysis was performed using a dataset from King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 7,859 patients met the inclusion criteria during the study period (injured due to falls or traffic crashes and admitted to the hospital between years 2001-2010). Backward-stepwise logistic regression, with admission to the ICU as the outcome, was performed. Variables with p-values<0.1 were included in the final model. Model discrimination was evaluated using the Area Under the Curve (AUC).  RESULTS: A total of 1833 injured individuals (23.3%) were admitted into the ICU during the study period. They had longer hospital stay and were more likely to be males, sustain head injuries, and to undergo surgery. Multivariate analysis identified injury severity score, Glasgow coma scale, injury mechanism, head injury, and direct transfer to surgery as significant predictors of admission to the ICU. The results indicate that compared to falls, all traffic-related injuries were significantly more likely lead to ICU admission (occupants OR=2.5, [95% CI: 2.0-3.0]; pedestrians OR=2.7, [95% CI: 2.1-3.4]; motorcycle OR=1.7, [95% CI: 1.1-2.7]) adjusting for other covariates. The model showed excellent discrimination ability as shown by [AUC=0.90]. CONCLUSIONS: This model can facilitates the triage process of injured patients by assisting in identify those at higher risk of ICU admission. Unlike the U.S, emergency health care services are free in Saudi Arabia and costs are mostly absorbed by the admitting hospital. Therefore, public health interventions are needed to alleviate the burden traffic injuries place on health care settings and improve population health.