STUDY OF FATAL ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS: BASED ON MEDICO-LEGAL AUTOPSIES

Background: every year almost 1.3 million people lose their lives as a result of road traffic accidents, contributing to above 3500 deaths per day world-wide. the aim of this study was to assess the frequency and distribution of rtas leading to fatality. material & methods: this was descriptive cross-sectional study of autopsies performed at the mortuary of dhq teaching hospital, d.i.khan, from january 2013 to december, 2013. data was collected on a proforma. the results were analyzed using statistical software package spss version 20. results: out of 160 autopsies, 39 cases were victims of rtas. of these rta victims, 79.4% autopsies were of those between the ages of 1 and 40 years. the gender distribution revealed a higher prevalence for males (84.6%) than females (15.4%). death was due to injury to the head in 66% cases. the majority of victims were front seat passengers (43.9%), drivers (35.7%), back seat passengers (15.3) and pedestrians (5.1%). conclusion: there was a higher preponderance for males, front seat passengers & younger age groups in road traffic accidents, with head injury being the mode of death