Medicolegal Study of Deaths Due to Road Traffic Accidents : Autopsy based study from Yavatmal, Maharashtra

The term accident has been defined as an occurrence in the sequence of events which usually produce unintended injury, death or property damage.Road Traffic accidents are one of the major causes of disability and death all over world. Low and middle income countries have higher fatality rate as compared to high income countries. World Health Organization predicts that road traffic injuries will raise to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030, resulting in an estimated 2.4 million fatalities per year. In dubious distinction for India, World Health Organization has revealed in its first ever Global Status Report on Road Safety that more people die in road accidents in India than anywhere else in the world. At least 13 people die every hour in road traffic accidents in the country. Road traffic accidents are preventable events with complex phenomenon of multiple causation.The present study is a humble effort to measure incidence of road traffic accidents in relation to various medico-legal and epidemiological factors which may be useful to draw public attention and awareness towards road traffic accidents and to formulate road safety measures towards strategic planning.