A cross-sectional study of epidemiological factors related to road traffic accidents in a metropolitan city

BACKGROUND: Traffic injuries are one of the major causes of morbidity in India. It involves human sufferings in terms of physical, emotional, and financial losses to the individual, family, and the country. A better insight into the epidemiological determinants will help prevent such injuries. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the proportion of fatal and nonfatal accidents and to determine the epidemiological factors related to nonfatal accidents. METHODS: It was a cross-sectional study carried out in a tertiary care hospital over a period of 6 months. A simple random sampling technique was used for the selection of sample size of 476. Nonfatal accident victims were interviewed. RESULTS: The proportion of nonfatal to fatal accidents was found to be 1.8:1. Around 72.9% of drivers did not use any safety measure while driving. Two-wheelers (39%) and light motor vehicles (28.3%) were mostly involved, 45% of drivers had speed more than 60 km/h. Obstacles in the road (41%), defective roads (36.5%), and poor street lighting (11.4%) were reported as contributing factors of the accident. Lower extremities and head neck and face were involved in 47.2% and 27.1% of cases, respectively. Around 40.4% of cases had a single-site fracture. CONCLUSION: Traffic injuries result from the interaction between agent, host, and environmental factors. Preventing these interactions is very well possible with little extra care given towards road safety and traffic behavior of individuals.