PATTERN OF INJURIES IN FATAL TWO WHEELER ACCIDENTS- AN AUTOPSY STUDY

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PATTERN OF INJURIES IN FATAL TWO WHEELER ACCIDENTS- AN AUTOPSY STUDY

Journal Title: Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences - Year 2017, Vol 6, Issue 92

Abstract

BACKGROUND Everyday around the world, more than 3000 people die from road traffic accidents. 1 It is estimated that by 2020, 8.4 million people will die every year of injuries from road traffic accidents. Over 90% of fatalities occur in low and middle income group countries. The majority of such deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists and motor cyclists. 1 The infrastructure has not kept pace with the number of vehicles and traffic resulting in the sharing of roads by vast number of vehicles and pedestrians. As a result, countries like India register higher fatality rate than western countries. The objectives of this study are1. To study the pattern of injuries in drivers and pillion riders in fatal two wheeler accidents. 2. To compare the injuries of drivers and pillion riders with and without helmets. MATERIALS AND METHODS Baseline data was collected from the police requisition report and history was noted from the investigating officer and relatives. Post-mortem examination is conducted by the modified Rokitansky method. All the findings were noted in the proforma. The data collected is entered in MS Excel and analysed by the SPSS version 22. RESULTS In this study 34% of victims have died on the spot or died within 1 hour of accident, 27% survived for less than 24 hours, 26% survived for a week and 13% survived for more than 1 week. Out of the 100 cases skull fracture was detected in 68 cases, of which ‘fissured type’ of skull fracture was seen in 39 cases, ‘comminuted fractures’ in 20 cases and ‘depressed comminuted fractures’ in 9 cases. Subdural haemorrhage was the most frequent type (88%) followed by subarachnoid haemorrhage (86%). CONCLUSION A total of 100 cases of fatal two wheeler accident victims were autopsied in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Kottayam from February 2012 to July 2013. The following conclusions were derived- Sex: There were 95 males and 5 females (all the females were pillion riders). Age: Maximum victims were in the age group of 20 - 29 years and the minimum age was 16 years and maximum age was 79 years. Month of occurrence: Maximum accidents occurred in the month of April (15%) and least accidents occurred in the month of January, March and August. Day of occurrence: Maximum accidents occurred on Sundays and Fridays (18 %) and least accidents occurred on Saturdays (6 cases). Time of Occurrence: Maximum accidents occurred at night time between 6 pm and 9 pm (23%) followed by day time 12 pm to 3 pm (17%) and 3 pm to 6 pm (17%) and least occurrence was between 3 am to 6 am (2%). Types of Vehicles involved: Two wheeler colliding with four wheeler accounted for the majority of accidents (40%), and least accidents happened between two wheeler and three wheeler (5%). Helmet among riders and pillion riders: Majority of victims (88%) were not wearing helmet at the time of accident and only 12% of victims were wearing helmets. All of them were riders. Period of Survival- Maximum victims (34%) had either died on the spot or died within one hour of occurrence and 27% survived for less than 24 hours.

Authors and Affiliations

Ajith Kumar S, Rajeev V. M, Ravi Kumar K

Keywords

Two Wheeler Pillion Rider Fatal Injuries.

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EP ID EP279322
DOI 10.14260/jemds/2017/1439
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