According to WHO data, deaths from road traffic injuries account for around 25% of all deaths from injury [1].Traffic accidents are important causes of accidents worldwide. The important causes of ‘Traffic Accidents’ are Road Accidents, Railway Accidents and Railway Crossing Accidents.  These traffic accidents resulted in injuries to 3,68,828 persons and 1,46,354 deaths during 2020 in India. These traffic accidents comprise of 3,54,796 road accidents, 13,018 railway accidents and 1,014 railway crossing accidents and caused 1,33,201, 11,968 and 1,185 deaths respectively during 2020. Percentage Share of ‘Traffic Accidental Deaths’ was 39.9 % in total Accidental Deaths [2]. Thus road traffic accident is a very important cause of fatal as well as non-fatal accident causes.

Regional injuries are produced in various parts of the body, either as a result of trauma or violence. Among the regional injuries, the commonly occurring condition is head injury. However injuries to other body parts like injury to the chest including rib fractures, heart and lung injuries, damage to the abdominal visceral organs, pelvic injury, injury to the spinal cord and injuries to the extremities are not uncommon [3].

Head injury is the leading cause of death in road traffic accidents. It may also be caused in other accidents like fall from height and hit by blunt force as in homicidal attack [4].

Head Injury is defined by the National Advisory Neurological Diseases and Stroke Council (NANDSC) as a morbid state, resulting from gross or subtle structural changes in the scalp, skull and/or the contents of the skull, produced by mechanical forces. Majority of fatalities in trauma cases occurs due to head injury [5].

In the present study the important facets of fatal cases of road traffic accidents are studied retrospectively.

The present study was conducted retrospectively. The duration of study was a period of one year from November 2011 to October 2012 with cases in the department of forensic medicine at a tertiary care centre. All the cases were the cases where autopsy was conducted by the author in the said above period. During this period of one year a total of 66 autopsy cases where the death was due to road traffic accident examination were examined retrospectively.

The inclusion criteria for the present study were as follows:-

• Cases of fatal road traffic accident whose autopsy was conducted by the author in the institute.
• All cases were of accidental manner.

The exclusion criteria for the present study were as follows:-

• Cases where death was not due to road traffic accident.
• Unknown bodies.
• Bodies which were brought in decomposed state.

After the above mentioned inclusion and exclusion criteria a total 66 cases of fatal road traffic accident were included in the present study.

Consent is not required for conducting medicolegal autopsies in our country and hence consent to participate was not required.

The cases were studied in relation to age of the deceased, gender and cause of death retrospectively.

Out of total 66 victims of road traffic accidents; 58 cases were males while 8 cases were females. In the age group 0-9 years; 1 case was male and 1 case was of female gender. In the age group 10-19 years; 2 cases were male while there was no case of female gender. In the age group 20-29 years; 14 cases were male and 1 case was of female gender. In the age group 30-39 years; 12 cases were male and 2 cases were of female gender. In the age group 40-49 years; 6 cases were male and 1 case was of female gender. In the age group 50-59 years; 9 cases were male and 2 cases were of female gender. In the age group 60-69 years; 8 cases were male and 1 case was of female gender. In the age group 70-79 years; 6 cases were male while there was no case of female gender (Table 1).

Table 1: Age group wise and Gender wise distribution of the victims of road traffic accidents.

Table 2: Cause of Death of the Victims of Road Traffic Accidents.

Out of total 66 victims of road traffic accidents; 37 (56.1%) cases died due to Head injury, 7 (10.6%) cases died due to Cervical spine injury, 6 (9.1%) cases died due to Blunt trauma to abdomen, 5 (7.6%) cases died due to Head injury and Cervical spine injury, 4 (6.1%) cases died due to Blunt trauma to chest, 3 (4.5%) cases died due to Injury to vital organs, 2 (3%) cases died due to Blunt trauma to chest & abdomen, 1 (1.5%) cases died due to Blunt trauma to pelvis and 1 (1.5%) cases died due to Injury to lower limb.

Age Group Wise and Gender Wise Distribution of the Victims of Road Traffic Accidents

In our study majority of the cases were in the age group 20-39 years and 50-69 years [6]. Found Peak injury incidence at the age group of 21-40 years (51.2%). Similar findings are also reported by [7]. The age group 20-39 years is actively involved in studies and job and hence they are outside the home for such purposes. This increases their susceptibility for road traffic accidents.

As age increases a person becomes more susceptible to die even if trivial trauma is sustained. Aging results in a progressive decline in cellular function which leads to a loose of their capacity to respond to injury. Some medications commonly used in this population can mask or blunt the response to injury [8]. Hence this could be the reasons for high cases of death due to road traffic accidents in age group 50-69 years.

In our study of 66 cases; 58 (87.8 %) cases were males and 8 (12.2 %) cases were females. [6,9,10] Also found male involvement in higher proportions.

In developing countries, males still are the main earning members of the family and hence they are outside the home for such purposes.  Males have to go from one place to other for livelihood purposes. They have to use vehicles for the transportation. During office going and returning hours the numbers of vehicles increases significantly and majority of vehicle occupants are males. This increases their susceptibility for road traffic accidents.

As per World Health Organization; from a young age, males are more likely to be involved in road traffic crashes than females. About three quarters (73%) of all road traffic deaths occur among young males under the age of 25 years who are almost 3 times as likely to be killed in a road traffic crash as young females [11].

In our study in 37 (56.1%) cases the cause of death was Head injury. Head injury was the cause of death in more than half of the cases. Other causes of death were Cervical spine injury, Blunt trauma to abdomen, Head injury and Cervical spine injury, Blunt trauma to chest, Injury to vital organs, Blunt trauma to chest & abdomen, Blunt trauma to pelvis and Injury to lower limb [12]. Also found acute head injury as the cause of death in majority of road traffic accidents [13]. Found Head injury in 156 (43.33 %) cases.

Majority of the cases were males. Majority of the cases were in the age group 20-39 years and 50-69 years. Head injury was the cause of death in more than half of the cases. The study may be helpful to understand the gender & age group primarily involved in road traffic accidents and also the body area primarily causing death. This may help in formulating and implementing necessary measures to reduce the fatalities in cases of road traffic accidents.

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