Pattern of Injuries in Road Traffic Accidents at Chitradurga Karnataka: An Autopsy Based Study

During twenty month study period a total of 161 cases of medico-legal autopsies were conducted out of which 52 cases were of fatal road traffic accident at the mortuary of Basaveshwara Medical College and Research centre, Chitradurga, Karnataka. Among the age group 31 – 40 years, highest number (25%) of road traffic fatalities occurred. Males predominated over the female by seven and half times. Most of the accidents (75%) occurred on highways. The NH-4, NH-13 alone claimed 75% of all the mishaps. Motor cyclist occupants formed the largest group (28.84%) followed by the pedestrians (25%). Majority of the road users (98%) sustained fracture followed by laceration (94.23%), abrasion (82.69%) contusion (76.92%) respectively. The heavy vehicles were found to be responsible for causing a majority of injuries, especially the skeletal injuries.