Pattern of injury in fatal road traffic accidents in a rural area of western Maharashtra, India

BackgroundFatal road traffic accidents (RTA) are a major cause of concern all over the world. The outcome of injuries sustained in an RTA depends on various factors including but not limited to: the location of the event, type of vehicle involved, nature of the roads, the time of accident, etc. AimsThis study aims to investigate and evaluate prospectively the socio-demographic profile and pattern of injuries in victims of  RTA in the rural area of district Ahmedanagar of Maharashtra state. MethodThis prospective study included all victims of road traffic accidents that presented to our emergency room from 1st June 2007 through 31st May 2009 and were either found dead on arrival or died during the treatment. All the included victims were autopsied at the post-mortem centre of Rural Medical College, Loni. ResultsNinety-eight victims of RTA were studied during the period. The most commonly affected age group was 20-39 years. Men died in RTA more than women. Fatal RTAs were more prevalent on the secondary road system (47.97 per cent) and especially involved pedestrian and two wheeler vehicle users. Large numbers (n=63, 64.28%) of victims either died on the scene or during transportation. Numbers of skeletal injuries (199) and internal organ injuries (202) exceeded the total number of victims (98) clearly indicating the multiplicity of injuries. The majority of RTA victims (n=46, 46.93%) died due to head injury. The study showed that most of the deaths in road traffic accidents, brought to a tertiary care rural hospital, took place either on the spot or within 24 hours of injury which is very alarming and highlights the need for taking urgent steps for establishing good pre-hospital care and provision of trauma services at site.ConclusionThere is an urgent nationwide need of computerized trauma registry to bring out the risk factors, circumstances, chain of events leading to the accidents and will be extremely helpful in policy making and health management at the national level in India