Profile of Death due to Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) in Urban Region of Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Road Traffic Accident (RTA) is one of the leading causes of morbidity & mortality in modern world, especially in the developing countries like India. In India alone, over 1, 37, 572 persons died in road traffic crashes and 4, 94, 893 injured in about 4, 86, 476 registered RTA in 2013. This is an autopsy based study in Agra region to study the profile of fatal road traffic accident and to identify preventable causes. During study period of one year (February 2012 to January 2013); 450 cases with unambiguous cause of death due to RTA were studied in detail. The study shows that most of the victims of RTA were male (86.7%) and in the age group 21–30 years (26.9%). Most accidents occurred on highways (58.7%) and in the month of June (10.4%). Most accidents happened during morning and evening rush hours. Our study found the pedestrians to be the majority of victims (28.7%) and heavy motor vehicles as the leading offending vehicles (39.8%). Fatal head injuries were seen in 50.4% of death. 45.3% victims couldn`t avail any kind of medical aid, timely. This study emphasizes that interventions in RTA should include combined efforts from the community, private sector, governmental and non-governmental organizations.