INTRODUCTION A WHO advisory group in 1956 defined accident as an "unpremeditated event resulting in recognizable damage." According to another definition, an accident is that "occurrence in sequence of events which usually produces unintended injury, death or property damage." Accident have their own natural history and follow same epidemiological pattern as any other diseasethat is, the agent, the host, and the environment interacting together to produce injury or damage. Some people are more prone to accidents than others and susceptibility is increased by the effect of alcohol and other drugs as well as physiological state such as fatigue. Majority of accidents are preventable. 1 Global status report on road safety 2013 by WHO shows that there has been no overall reduction in the number of ABSTRACT Background: Road traffic injuries remain an important public health problem at world, regional and national levels. Data on magnitude of problems and risk factors involved are essential to developing a systemic approach to road safety. Only by systematic and data-led management of the leading road injury problems will significant reductions in exposure to crash risk and in the severity of crashes be achieved. Hence in the background of high epidemiologic proportions of road traffic accidents and the fact that very few exploratory studies were reported from central India, the present study was undertaken to study sociodemographic profile associated with road traffic accident. The main objective was to study socio-demographic profile of road traffic accident cases admitted in tertiary care hospital. Methods: The present hospital based cross sectional study was carried out in tertiary care hospital of the city in central India. Road traffic accident cases admitted in tertiary care hospital in city during period of one year (20 th May 2014-22 nd May 2015) were included in the study with predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Socio-demographic characteristics of study subjects was recorded in the proforma. Results: It was observed that majority of accident cases (29.67%) were in the age group of 21-30 years. Male: female ratio was found to be 5.38: 1. Majority of accident cases (86%) were from upper lower and lower class. Out of total accident cases majority were drivers (42.33%), followed by passengers (30%) and pedestrians (27.66%). 35.43% drivers were alcohol consumers. It was also observed that 16.33% were under the influence of alcohol at time of accident. Conclusions: It was also observed that 16.33% were under the influence of alcohol at time of accident.

BACKGROUND In the background of high epidemiologic proportions of road traffic accidents and the fact that very few exploratory studies were reported from central India, the present study was undertaken to study distribution of non-fatal road traffic accident according to time, place and person. Aims and Objectives-To study distribution of non-fatal road traffic accident cases admitted in tertiary care hospital according to time, place and person. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Place-Tertiary care hospital from Central India. Study Type-Cross-sectional study. Study Period-One year (May 2014 to May 2015). Distribution of study subjects according to time, place and person was recorded in the proforma. Statistical analysis was carried out with the help of software Epi Info version 7.2. Results were presented in percentages. Chi-square test was used as test of significance. RESULTS In temporal distribution, it was seen that 44% road traffic accident cases occurred in the evening and maximum road traffic accident cases occurred on weekends, i.e. on Saturdays (16.72%) and on Sundays (17.39%). 40.67% of road traffic accident cases occurred in rainy season (June to September). In zone wise distribution of accidents which occurred inside city, 36.51% were seen in north zone. It was observed that in majority of accident cases, mode of transport was motorcycle (49.33%). Males were significantly higher than females among the motorcycle occupants as compared to other modes of transport (X 2 = 6.76, DF= 1, p<0.01). CONCLUSION The present study clearly demonstrated that several factors such as rainy season, evening hours, weekends i.e. Saturday and Sunday, north zone of city was found to be more common in road traffic accidents. In majority of accident cases, mode of transport was motorcycle.