Epidemiological Study of Road Traffic Fatalities: 5 Years Retrospective Autopsied Cases Study in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

According to a study conducted by the National Transportatation Planning and Research center (NTPRC) of New Delhi Thirunathpuram, every four minutes, a person is killed or injured in road accident in India. The present retrospective study has been conducted for the period of 5 consecutive years i. e.2009 to 2013 based on autopsy record of the unnatural death cases (total 10185 cases) resulting from road traffic fatalities (3963). These cases were brought to the Department of Forensic Medicine, IMS, BHU, Varanasi and have been analyzed retrospectively. R. T. A. (road traffic accident) is the major cause of death among all medico-legal autopsy cases in Varanasi area. Number of males involved in R. T. A. is more than number of females. Majority of deaths were in 21 to 30 years of age group. Rural areas (90 %) are more common than urban areas (4 %). About all death on road traffic fatalities is accidental in manner (89 %). Hindu road traffic fatalities death are more common i. e.90 %. Analysis of data for retrospective study suggests that age, sex, habitat, marital status, religion and manner of death significantly affect community. In the present study road traffic fatalities were most common cause of death in Varanasi region.