Descriptive Study of Road Traffic Accidents in Kashmir

Accidents, tragically, are not often due to ignorance, butare due to carelessness, thoughtlessness and over
confidence. Human, vehicle and environmental factors play roles before, during and after a trauma event.
Accidents, therefore, can be studied in terms of agent, host and environmental factors and
epidemiologically classified into time, place and person distribution.
This study was done to understand the epidemiological characteristics of road traffic accident victims, the
various types and sites of the injuries and to emphasize the importance of behavioral change in population
regarding road safety rules rather than just improving the road conditions and to know the commonest
injury so that the proper personal protective measures can be applied.
A prospective study was conducted from 1st October 2014 to 30th September in Accident and Emergency
Department of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, largest hospital of Kashmir. A total
of 886 cases were studied. Male: Female ratio was about 4:1. 21-30 year age-group was the commonest
age-group affected (34.09%). Most of the victims (54.74%) presented during summer season. Two wheelers
(43.45%) were most common vehicle involved and majority of the victims had head injury (35.4%). Only
9.71% of the victims presented to the hospital within 1 hour of the accident.