Comprehension: Road Traffic Accidents

          We are interested in the various kinds of injuries that can occur in road traffic accidents, how to prevent them and their first aid management. Most of us have probably witnessed one form of road traffic accident or another.

          The universal reaction of eyewitnesses is panic as they rush to the scene and stand there looking in dismay. Road traffic accidents are great crowd-pullers as everyone wants to stop and have a look. However, the three most useful things you can do if you are at the scene of a road traffic accident, are to assist in the rescue of the trapped victims; to render first aid treatment to victims, and to help in conveying injured people to the nearest hospital.

          Road traffic accidents have a great potential for causing injury to the human body. The high velocity at which the motor vehicle is travelling, the sudden deceleration on impact and the hard rigid nature of the motor-car body, all contribute to an increase in the potentials of injury. Probably, the most risk-laden road traffic accidents are those which involve motorcyclists as they do not have a solid motor-car body to protect them from the direct impact of an oncoming vehicle on the road. Road traffic accidents involving motorcyclists are the cause of high mortality as the human skull is often fractured on impact with the hard surface of the road.

         Road traffic accidents involving cars and their passengers can cause some serious problems as the wreckage of the car may trap some people inside. This may mean that the crumpled car’s body needs to be cut away before the victims can be saved. If the road accident results in a fire, then this can be disastrous as the fire will prevent rescuers from coming near, thus resulting in the quick demise of the victims from burns. This is why every car driver must possess a fire extinguisher in his vehicle. This little device may save lives in some situations.

(Source: WASSCE May/June 1999)