Citation

Al-Saleh MS, Khurship Alam M, Abdul Kareem AM, Owezi F, Wong S. J. Traffic Med. 1992; 20(4 Suppl): 180-185.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This retrospective study presents an analysis of pediatric patients (aged 12 or under) treated at Riyadh Central Hospital (R.C.H.) over a 5 year period following road traffic accidents. About 19 percent of all road traffic accident victims (11,224) were under 12 years of age, the majority being Saudis (67%) and males (68%). The majority of victims were pedestrians (41.5%) most (61%) of the victims were in the preschool age group (i.e. under 6 years of age). Twenty children (0.9%) were actually driving the car when they were involved in the accident. The majority of patients (51%) had head injuries. The next largest group suffered bone fractures, and twenty-one percent of the patients had multiple injury and needed multi-disciplinary care. Only 14 percent of the patients were admitted under the care of general surgeons. The overall mortality was 9 percent. The study highlights the need for public education about traffic laws, road usage and vigorous enforcement of traffic rules.

International Symposium "Road Traffic Accidents", February 9-12 1992 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Proceedings of the International Part (SIC)