Clinical causes of death in different categories of road user

Grattan, E.; Clegg, Nancy G.

Affiliations

Abstract

The clinical causes of death in 289 victims of road accidents are discussed in this paper. The leading cause of death amongst the vehicle occupants in the sample was injury to the chest and amongst pedestrians and pedalcyclists injury to the head; amongst the small number of motor-cyclists (or scooter-riders) seen, injury to the head or to the chest were equally common.

Asphyxia was the primary cause of death in 9 percent of the fatalities. In only two out of the 289 deaths was it thought that a fatal outcome might have been averted by early and comparatively simple resuscitative measures.

Amongst vehicle occupants in the sample the principle sources of fatal injury to the chest were the steering wheel and column assembly and the facia panel in frontal impacts, the A and B posts and the doors in side impacts; and for the head, the roof and header rail, in frontal impacts.

Cited By (3)

Year	Entry
1976	Grattan E, Hobbs JA, Keigan ME. Anatomical sites and severities of injury in unprotected road users. In: Proceedings of the 1976 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 7-8, 1976; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.182-199.
1976	Whitaker J. Motorcycle safety: accident survey & rider injuries. In: Proceedings of the 1976 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 7-8, 1976; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.341-350.
1981	Langwieder K, Hummel T, Sagerer F. Characteristics of neck injuries of car occupants. In: Proceedings of the 1981 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 8-10, 1981; Salon de Provence, France.78-97.