A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ON THE DEMOGRAPHIC, GEOGRAPHIC PROFILE AND TREND ANALYSIS OF FATAL & NONFATAL ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT IN TRICHY CITY, TAMIL NADU.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Dr. Karthikeyan Kulothungan,
P. 58, First Street Extension,
Mangalapuram, Medical College Road,
Thanjavur-613007,
E-mail: karthikspm@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Introduction: Each year nearly 1.3 million people die as a result of a road traffic collision with more than 3000 deaths each day and more than half of these people are not travelling in a car. More than half the people killed in traffic crashes are young adults aged between 15 and 44 years. AIM: To analyse the profile of road traffic accidents that happened in Trichy city during the year 2011. OBJECTIVES: 1. To analyse the burden of road traffic accident cases reported in Trichy city over a period of one year 2. To determine the age and gender profile of fatal and non-fatal accidents. 3. To study the distribution of road traffic accidents by time and season of occurrence. MATERIALS & METHODS: STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. STUDY AREA: Trichy city. The traffic police department of Trichy traffic police headquarters was approached. The investigator and guide approached the office of the chief of Trichy city traffic police. After clearly explaining the purpose of this study to the chief stating that the data collected is only for the research purpose and will not be used for any other purpose, the data was collected. All the collected data were then entered in SPSS 17 and analyzed using the same software. Considering that the data were of categorical nature, descriptive statistics was used to describe the data. RESULTS & CONCLUSION: The fatal and non-fatal accidents follow a pattern in their incidence according to the week days and months in a year. However further in depth analysis is needed to analyse these pattern and to validate these findings. Overall the findings of this study will be useful for planning accident prevention programs in the future.

KEYWORDS: Road traffic accidents, Helmet use, Helmet safety, Driving rules.