TO EVALUATE THE VARIOUS RISK FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN PUNJAB – A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Authors

  • VINEET BAL Department of Community Medicine, GMC, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
  • JASWANT KAUR Department of Biochemistry, NC Medical College and Hospital, Panipat, Haryana, India.
  • TEJINDER SINGH Department of Biochemistry, GMC, Amritsar, Punjab, India.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2023.v16i6.47387

Keywords:

Risk factors, Road accidents, Tertiary hospital

Abstract

Objective: Evidence from research suggests that human factors and the road environment are among the most frequent contributors to the occurrence of road traffic accidents (RTAs). Hence, traffic rule and various policies, alike have strengthened their efforts to cope with this public health burden. Yet, still little is known about the factors contributing to the high number of RTAs. In this study, we tried to find out the various risk factors responsible for road accidents in the Punjab region.

Methods: The present study was conducted in Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar, involving 1425 patients who were admitted to the Emergency Department from January 1st, 2012, to December 31st, 2012, due to injuries in RTAs.

Results: In our study, it seems that most of the cases were in the age group of 15–44 years. In all the age groups, males were the predominant victims with male-to-female ratio of 5.72:1. Majority of cases belonged to an upper–lower socioeconomic group, according to the Kuppuswamy scale and the major proportion of accidents occurred during the morning and evening busy hours of the day hours. Out of a total of 893 drivers, 858 (96.08%) had no knowledge about the speed limit prescribed for the road or speed.

Conclusion: There appears to be a large number of behavioral issues and a lack of knowledge that contributes significantly to the road accident rates in the Indian states. Hence, there is a need for policy intervention. Most effective measures used to reduce the number of accidents, in descending order of magnitude, are how strictly the traffic police enforce the law, more levels of penalties, and more traffic police, including more speed measuring devices.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Park K. Epidemiology of chronic noncommunicable diseases and conditions. In: Park’s Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine. 21st ed. Bhopal: Banarsidas Bhanot; 2011. p. 335-79.

Hyder AA, Waters H, Phillips T, Rehwinkel J. Exploring the economics of motorcycle helmet laws - implications for low and middle-income countries. Asia Pac J Public Health 2007;19:16-22.

Lal S, Adarsh, Pankaj. Epidemiology of chronic noncommunicable diseases and National Programmes. In: Textbook of community Medicine. 3rd ed. New York: CBS; 2011. p. 563-625.

Dash DP, Sethi N, Dash AK. Identifying the causes of road traffic accidents in India: An empirical investigation. J Public Affairs 2020;20:e2038. doi: 10.1002/pa.2038

Gururaj G. Road traffic deaths, injuries and disabilities in India: Current scenario. Natl Med J India 2008;21:14-20. PMID 18472698

Jha N, Srinivasa DK, Roy G, Jagdish S. Epidemiological study of road traffic accident Cases: A study from South India. Indian J Community Med 2004;29:20-4.

US Department of Transportation. Traffic Safety Facts 2011 Data: Speeding. Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; 2013. Available from: http://www.nhtsa.gov

Singh A, Bhardwaj A, Pathak R, Ahluwalia SK. An epidemiological study of road traffic accident Cases ATA tertiary Care Hospital in rural Haryana. Indian J Community Health 2011;23:53-5.

Sanjeev K, Chopra H, Garg SK, Jain S. An appraisal of road traffic accidents in Meerut. J Dent Med Sci 2013;4:4-6.

Jha S, Yadav BN, Karn A, Aggrawal A, Gautam A. Epidemiological study of fatal head injury in road traffic accident cases: A study from BPIKHS, Dharan. Health Renaiss 2010;8:97-101. doi: 10.3126/hren.v8i2.4420

Shibata A, Fukuda K. Risk factors of fatality in motor vehicle traffic accidents. Accid Anal Prev 1994;26:391-7. doi: 10.1016/0001-4575(94)90013-2, PMID 8011052

Published

07-06-2023

How to Cite

BAL, V., J. KAUR, and T. SINGH. “TO EVALUATE THE VARIOUS RISK FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN PUNJAB – A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY”. Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research, vol. 16, no. 6, June 2023, pp. 60-62, doi:10.22159/ajpcr.2023.v16i6.47387.

Issue

Section

Original Article(s)