Users, not roads generally cause of vehicle mishaps

Hyderabad: A year-long study of accident victims brought to Osmania Medical College shows the dangers of drunk driving and ignoring safety norms, while poor roads were blamed for many accidents. The study showed that 62 per cent of accident victims were drunk while driving whereas 89 per cent of victims did not use safety measures like wearing the seat belt in a car or a helmet on a two wheeler.

The study was conducted by faculty members from Osmania Medical College and Kakatiya Medical College, Dr B Baburao and Dr G. Sudha Rani, and covered victims from 1,158 road accidents brought to the casualty ward.
In most cases, the victims were interviewed about circumstances leading to the accident while in others data was taken from their attendants. The researchers were told by a majority of victims that poor roads led to accidents. It was also found that more than half the accidents were caused by driving on the wrong side of the road.

An interesting finding of the study is that 241 victims, that is 20.8 per cent, were injured because they “fell off” from their vehicle. Of all the accident cases, 1,026 victims (88.6 per cent) were men. Among them, 601 (51.8 per cent) were aged between 16 and 30 years, followed by 291 (25.1 per cent) in the 31-45 years age group. The study reported that 130 (11.2 per cent) victims said they were injured because their vehicle hit a stationary object, usually a parked vehicle.

The study noted that the time taken to reach the victim to the hospital played a crucial role in survivability. The death rate was significantly lower, 7 per cent, among those who reached within 30 minutes of the accident, compared to those who took more time. It was found that 73.4 per cent of the accidents occurred between 6 pm and midnight.