European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC LOSSES OF ROAD TRAFFIC FATALITIES: INDIA’S PICTURE

Prakash Babu Kodali*

ABSTRACT

Road Traffic Accidents are one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity among young adults and economically productive age groups. Their burden is markedly higher in the developing world within which India shoulders for a high burden. The current study using secondary data from NBRC attempts to quantify the potential years of life lost, and possible economic losses of because of Road traffic fatalities in India. A total of 169077 fatalities occurred in 2014 with 85.5% of them being among males and 14.5% among females. The Median number of fatalities per state is 2955, with a range of 0-20653 with lakshwadeep in lower extreme and Uttar Pradesh in higher extreme. The estimated potential years of life lost in 2014 because of road traffic fatalities stood at 4.3 million potential life years, whose economic burden amounted to over 6 billion USD. The study reflects the burden of potential losses the country had incurred in 2014, and calls for reiteration of focus on preventing road traffic accidents as one of the key issues among the larger public health policies within the country.

Keywords: Road Traffic Accidents, Potential Years of Life Lost, Ecological Studies, Economic Burden.