Road traffic fatalities in Delhi: causes, injury patterns, and incidence of preventable deaths.

India reported nearly 50,000 traffic accident deaths in 1989. Yet, literature addressing the causes, timing, and preventability of these deaths is sparse. We undertook an autopsy study of road traffic fatalities in South Delhi to determine the injury patterns and incidence of deaths that could be prevented by optimal utilization of available medical resources. Among the 177 autopsies reviewed, neurological injury caused death in 60% of patients and hemorrhagic shock in 25%. Twenty-three percent of the deaths were felt to be preventable, 41% possibly preventable, and the rest not preventable. The majority of preventable deaths resulted from a failure to diagnose or treat a treatable injury. Adherence to establish principles in the hospital management of intracavitory hemorrhage could have salvaged 70% of preventable deaths.