Evaluation of traffic accident cases admitted to Inonu University Faculty of Medicine Turgut Özal Medical Center between 2017-2020 in terms of forensic medicine

Aim: The aim of this study; to determine the degree of injuries, localizations of injuries, organ damage in traffic accidents, to examine the causes of death in cases of death, to determine the severity of the injury and the factors affecting death. Material and method: Traffic accident cases who admitted to Inonu University Faculty of Medicine Turgut Özal Medical Center between 01.01.2017 and 31.12.2020 within a 4-year period were included in the study. Persons involved in the accident; age, gender, injuries, injury areas, whether there is an injury within the borders of the face, time of the accident, day, season, cause of death, forms of discharge, hospitalization, whether the injury is light enough to be remedied with simple medical intervention, whether it is life-threatening, alcohol-positive were evaluated in terms of their way of being in traffic. The data were analyzed in SPSS 26.00 program. Results: Of the 3039 cases in our study, 68.08% (n=2069) were male and 31.92% (n=970) were female. Of the hospital admissions, 95.79% (n=2911) were discharged, 4.11% (n=125) died, and 0.1% (n=3) were referred. The mean age of the cases was 33.806 ± 19.447 years, the median age was 31. The age group most involved in the accident is 20-29 (22.34%), while the second age group is 30-39 (16.91%). The highest number of hospital admissions was between 16.00 and 23.59 (45.90%). The day with the highest number of applications to the hospital is Sunday (15.99%), the month with the highest number of applications is August (15.47%), and the season with the highest number of applications (40.57%) is summer. The most common type of accident is in-vehicle traffic accidents with 67.42%. In traffic accidents, with 22.18%, the chest-back area is the most injured area. Conclusion: Although it is not possible to reduce traffic accidents to zero, it is possible to minimize them with precautions. In order to reduce traffic accidents, traffic education should be given importance, practical exams should be made more difficult, practical exam times should be kept long and the driving ability of the person should be observed sufficiently. Keywords: Traffic accidents, injury, death