TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2019//
TI  - Profile of mortalities due to alcohol and drug consumption in road and rail traffic accidents in Mangaluru, a coastal city of Karnataka, India
JO  - Medico-legal update
A1  - Sarthak, Subham
A1  - Shetty, B. Suresh Kumar
A1  - Rao, PP Jagadish
A1  - Shetty, H. Pavanchand
A1  - D'Souza, Haniel
A1  - Shetty, Adithi S.
A1  - Kotian, M. S.
SP  - 113
EP  - 117
VL  - 19
IS  - 1
N2  - OBJECTIVE    Several studies have demonstrated that driving under influence of alcohol and psychoactive drugs increases the risk of fatal accidents & hence increased mortality rates. This paper presents a retrospective study of Road & Rail traffic accidents in Mangaluru.     Method    Over a six-year period (2010-2015), a total of 5226 autopsies were conducted at Govt. Wenlock Hospital, Mangaluru out of which 1261 were Vehicular accidents (1117-Road, 144-Rail). Various parameters were looked in these cases such as age groups, gender, type of Vehicle involved, Victim status, time of day, day of the week (weekdays/weekend), Season, type of intoxication, accident site etc.     Results    15.85% (n = 177) of all the Road Traffic Deaths & 9.72% (n=14) of all Rail deaths occurred as a consequence of either alcohol (16.83%, n=188/191) or drug overdose (n=3). 42.93% of victims belonged to 56 and above age group. Most commonly the e the vehicle which were involved in accident were motorcycles (around 51.83% cases).     Conclusions    The results of this study reveals a strong positive association between the presence of alcohol and psychoactive drugs in road & rail traffic accident victims. The matter of grave concern is increasing trend of drunken driving leading to fatal accidents among adolescent age-groups especially in motorcycle vehicles.       Keyword: Cannabis impaired driving<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0971-720X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5958/0974-1283.2019.00023.9
ID  - ref1
ER  -