An Epidemiological Study of Road Traffic Accident Cases Admitted in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Andhra Pradesh

Accident is an event, occurring suddenly, unexpectedly and inadvertently under unforeseen circumstances. Death from road traffic injuries (RTI) and in particular Motor vehicle Traffic Accidents (MVTA) have been characterized worldwide as a hidden epidemic which affects all sectors of society .The present descriptive study was conducted to know the various epidemiological factors related to road traffic accident cases admitted in a tertiary care hospital in Andhra Pradesh from 1st July 2008 to 30 th June 2009 .Total 436 RTA victims were included in the study. There were 87.61% male and 12.39 % female accident victims. Labourers were the highest i.e.36.01% among the victims. The highest number of accidents took place in the month of January i.e.14.45% and on Sunday's i.e.19.26%. 31.36% pedestrians were injured by motorized two wheelers, 20.34% by truck. Among the drivers of different types of vehicles, Motorized two wheeler drivers were victims in 31.1% cases. Out of 134 drivers, 17.16 % were found to have consumed alcohol. Being knocked down was the common mode of accident.