Abstract

GARCIA-GARCIA, Héctor Iván; VERA-GIRALDO, Claudia Yaneth  and  ZULUAGA-RAMIREZ, Lina María. Characteristics of traffic accidents with injured persons treated at a third level hospital in Medellin, 1999-2008. Rev. Gerenc. Polit. Salud [online]. 2011, vol.10, n.21, pp.101-111. ISSN 1657-7027.

Traffic accidents (TA) are a problem for global public health and may cause serious consequences on people and generate high economic costs. Causes include excessive speed, inexperience and driver distraction and lack of distance between vehicles. In Medellin, there are few studies on TA. The objective was to describe characteristics of time, place and vehicle of the 25,635 TA occurred in Medellín (1999-2008) that caused injuries that were treated at a third level hospital. It is a retrospective study of29,676 secondary data attentions. The TA occurred more frequently in the evenings, weekends, resulting in motorcycles and in the center of the city. Overall mortality was 1.5%. Knowledge of the variables involved in the TA can facilitate the formulation of specific policies to reduce the increasing road accidents in the city.

Keywords : accident; Medellin; causes of traffic accidents; Traffic accident - Medellin (Colombia); Traffic accident-responsibility - Medellin (Colombia); Traffic accident-investigation -- Medellin (Colombia).

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