An epidemiological study of road traffic accident cases attending a tertiary care hospital, Tirupati

Introduction: Globalization has resulted in motorization pacing up the number of road traffic accidents, thereby affecting the families, community and nations as a whole. In 2010, the WHO member countries declared 2011–2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, to stabilize and reduce the increasing trend in road traffic fatalities. Objectives: To know the socio-demographic profile of RTA cases attending SVRRGGH, Tirupati. To study the frequency of occurrence of RTA by month, day & time and to identify the type of road users and their mode of RTA. Methodology: A hospital based, cross sectional study with victims of road traffic accidents as study subjects was conducted for a period of one year from June 2013 to May 2014 at S.V.R.R. Government General Hospital, Tirupati, India. 820 cases of road traffic accidents were interviewed after taking prior consent using a predesigned questionnaire. Results: 63.8% cases were less than 40 years of age and 85.0% of the subjects were males. 44.1% and 77.7% of the respondents belong to upper lower socioeconomic status and rural areas respectively. Approximately half of the RTAs happened on weekends and most (35.3%) of the RTAs occurred between 6PM and 10PM. Motorcyclists (54.3%) were the leading road users among victims. Majority of cases were stuck by a light motor vehicle (20.9%) followed by self-fall (20.3%).