ABSTRACT
Death from road traffic accidents (RTA) and in particular Motor vehicle Traffic Accidents have been characterized worldwide as a hidden epidemic which affects all sectors of society. It account for 2.1% of global mortality. A retrospective study of fatal cases of RTA was conducted at Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum, Karnataka, India between 1-1-2004 to 31-12-2009. The majority of victims belonged to the age group 31-40 years (145 cases; 28.7%). Female were less involved than men with ratio of 1: 3.3. In our present study total vehicular accident fatalities comprised 506 (48.7 %) out of total 1039 medico legal cases autopsied during five years (2005 to 2009). Our study shows the overwhelming majority of the deceased (76.9%) were males. This study shows that most of the deaths in road traffic accidents, take place either within 24 hours or on the spot of injury which is very alarming and highlights the need for taking urgent steps for establishing good pre-hospital care and provision of trauma services at site in India.