Pattern of Injuries in Fatal Road Traffic Accident Cases in a Peripheral Medical College & Hospital of West Bengal: An Autopsy-based Study

With the advancement in the automotive industry throughout the world, presently road traffic injuries have become one of the relevant factors to cause considerable losses to individuals, their families and to nations as a whole in many aspects. A retrospective observational study was conducted at Raiganj Govt. Medical College & Hospital, a tertiary care center of Uttar Dinajpur, a peripheral district of West Bengal, between January 2022 and December 2023, to analyze the injury pattern in a total of 288 autopsy cases with a history of road traffic accident (RTA), and to draw public attention and awareness to encounter it. The study shows that deaths are more in the age group of 21–30 years (19.44%), Males (73.61%) are more affected than females (26.39%), and two-wheeler riders are the most frequent victims (38.89%). Coexistence of multiple blunt injuries, that is, abrasion, bruise or contusion, laceration, along with fracture of bones commonly noted during the postmortem examination of RTA victims (64.93%). Head injury is the main or associated factor of causing death in 82.64% cases.