Citation

Zhou JH, Zhao XC, Wang ZG, Zhu PF, Jian HG, Liu DW, Zhou JL, Liu L. Chin. J. Traumatol. 2003; 6(6): 355-358.

Affiliation

The Institute for Traffic Medicine, Research Institute of Surgery, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400042, China. jhzhou@mail.tmmu.com.cn

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Chinese Medical Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

14642056

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study the epidemiological

characteristics and preventive methods of road traffic crashes in a mountain

city in western China through sampling investigation of traffic crashes in

different regions of Chongqing city in recent years. METHODS: Two police teams

of traffic management in downtown, two teams in suburb, one team in county and

one freeway team were randomly selected, and road traffic crashes between 1988

and 1997 were investigated and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 13121 road traffic

crashes with 6201 crashes with casualties were analyzed. The incidence of

crashes was higher in May, June and July, and on Friday and Wednesday and at

8:00-12:00 and 14:00-18:00 within a day. Casualties were 44.0% in pedestrians

and 42.5% in passengers of total casualties. The deaths and severe injuries in

pedestrians were 59.1% of total deaths and 56.4% of total severe injuries. The

age of drivers and passengers were mainly at 18-30 years, followed by 31-40

years. People over 60 years old accounted for 24.1% of total pedestrian

casualty. Head injury was the most common reason for deaths. The main reasons

for these crashes were improper driving and violating traffic laws. Violating

traffic laws by pedestrian was one of the main reasons for pedestrian casualty.

CONCLUSIONS: The crashes are related to the characteristics of geography,

climate, society activity of people, and the sense of traffic safety, the basic

traffic construction and management in Chongqing. The traffic casualty of

pedestrian is a big problem in Chongqing. To prevent and decrease road traffic

injuries effective methods should be worked out and propaganda on traffic safety

and traffic management should be strengthened according to different

characteristics of different regions. To strengthen the first aid and treatment

of cranium-brain injury and chest-back injury is also helpful in decreasing

traffic deaths.