Birendra Kumar Mandal

Epidemiology of Fatal Road Traffic Accidents: a Medicolegal Perspective Birendra Kumar Mandal

With the discovery of wheel, years ago, ushered in an unending era of revolution in the field of transportation, that still goes on with men?s persistent hunt for better, faster and comfortable automobiles. A byproduct of this revolution is the road traffic accident. An accident is a result of defects laying either in the host (victim or road user), agent (vehicle) and environment (road conditions and social atmosphere) or a combination of the defects laying in all three factors. In 2002 nearly 1.2 million people worldwide died as a result of road traffic injuries resulting mortality rate 19.0 per 100 000 population. Low-income and middle-income countries had a rate slightly greater than the global average. On current trends, by 2020, road crash injury is likely to be the third leading cause of disability-adjusted life years lost. But road traffic deaths are to a great extent preventable. By obtaining epidemiological data and autopsy findings, it is possible to establish various causative factors, pattern and distribution of injuries, there by planning successful measures to minimize fatalities and disabilities and to initiate appropriate preventive measures.