Profile of Road Traffic Accidents in Rural Area of South-West Madhya Pradesh

Road traffic accidents (RTA) are among the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and will be the second most common cause of disability-adjusted life years in developing countries by the year 2020. A five year retrospective study of road traffic injury cases was conducted at the newly established Index Medical College Hospital and Research Center Indore M.P. A total of 596 medicolegal cases were studied, accidents 484(81.20%) accounted as the major cause of all incidences and road traffic accidents 362(60.7%) alone constituted the majority. Out of the 362 cases of RTA, 282(79.9%) were male and 80(22.1%) female victims with male to female ratio of 3.5:1. Highest number of victims, 120(33.2%), belonged to 21–30 years age group. Month of April recorded the maximum cases 48(13.2%), the most common time interval of accident remained 1601–2000 hours and included 139 (38.4%) of cases. Ninety (24.9%) cases had hospital stay of under 24 hours, 243(67.1%) were discharged after satisfactory management. Two-wheelers use was the most common mode of injury 217(59.9%) and also the most common means of victim being hit 123(34%). Head and neck region with 140 (38.7%) cases, was the most common part of the body involved in road traffic injury; 47% of the males and 23.8% of females in the study suffered fracture and 53% of all fractures involved the lower-limb.