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Epidemiology and patterns of road traffic fatalities in India pre- and post-motor vehicle (Amendment) act 2019: An autopsy-based study
Manas Ranjan Sahu1, Manoj Kumar Mohanty1, Prakash Kumar Sasmal2, Rakesh Vadakkethil Radhakrishnan3, Chitta Ranjan Mohanty4, Ijas Muhammed Shaji4, Alagarasan Naveen1, Madhusmita Parida5
1 Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Critical Care All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
2 Department of General Surgery, Critical Care All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
3 College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
4 Department of Trauma and Emergency, Critical Care All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
5 Department of Anaesthesiology, Critical Care All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Chitta Ranjan Mohanty
Department of Trauma and Emergency, All India Institute of Medical Science, Bhubaneswar - 751 019, Odisha
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijciis.ijciis_51_21
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Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a preventable cause of death. The government of India enacted the motor vehicle amendment (MVA) act on September 01, 2019, to curtail the alarming trend of RTAs and their associated fatality. The study objective was to compare the epidemiology and pattern of fatal RTAs before and after the MVA Act 2019 of India.
Methods: An autopsy-based cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (FMT) of a tertiary-care hospital from March 2019 to February 2020. The sample comprised 75 fatal RTA victims who underwent postmortem at FMT. Patients were studied in two groups: One pre-MVA group (n = 47) and one Post-MVA group (n = 28). The data were obtained from medical records and inquest reports with autopsy correlation. Data pertaining to sociodemographic profile, mechanism, injury profile including injury-severity-score (ISS) and survival-time was recorded.
Results: There was a 40.4% decline in mortality among RTA victims (P = 0.057) in the post-MVA group. The case fatality rate also declined during post-MVA implementation months compared to pre-MVA months (1.61 vs. 1.96). A significant correlation was noted between the ISS and survival-time of victims (P < 0.001, r = −0.522). The mean age of patients was 39.87 ± 17.44 years. Heavy motor vehicles along with motorized two-wheeler were the most common offending-vehicle. The median ISS of all victims was 41 (33–57). Head injury was the most common cause of death (60%).
Conclusion: Study results signal-toward early triumph of the new MVA act, probably due to enhanced adherence to safety gears and constructive behavioral change.
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