Legal medicine says how many people have died in road accidents – Research – Justice

A high-end blue car participated in the show an accident on Friday near the Bucaramanga Transport Terminal. A Jaguar FGS230 dashboard crashed into a divider and then hit two motorcycles. The balance was a dead man and three wounds.

The fact adds to the already long list of road accidents which take lives and which have been registered in Colombia this year in which an increase is observed cases compared to 2021

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And this is that, according to data from the Institute of Forensic Medicine, between January and August of this year, they died in transport incidents 5247 people, of which 4300 men and 947 women. Last year, during the same period, 4,806 people died.

According to the institute’s statistics, in 2022 there were 441 more deaths more than last year, and an average of 21 people died every day in road accidents. The most deaths this year were between the ages of 20 and 24 (781), followed by those aged 29 and 34 (669) and between 25 and 28 (563).

The institute’s data also show other features of the deaths: 1821 have secondary education or on average, 1,393 only completed primary school; 2,148 were single, 1,397 were cohabiting and 650 were married.

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Likewise, 5,042 of them are of Colombian nationality, 172 Venezuelans, 3 from the United States, 2 from Spain and 2 from Ecuador. For the conditions that led to people’s deaths, Legal Medicine has information on only 3660as the institute is not responsible for establishing the causes of the incident.

Thus, in 685 cases data were found for non-observance of traffic signals, 598 for excessive speed, 110 for drunkenness, 72 for possible mechanical damage and 55 for bad road conditions.

The report states that 3,138 of those killed were motor vehicle drivers, 1,155 pedestrians and 925 passengers. It should also be noted that 3,058 of the victims were traveling on motorcycles, 286 traveled by bicycle11 in agricultural and industrial machinery, 1 in golf cart, 9 in motorcycle taxi, 3 in ATV, 1 in electric scooter, 1 in animal-drawn vehicle and 18 in watercraft.

Of the cases, 3,334 were registered in municipal centers, 1,621 in rural areas and 247 in populated areas (includes coregimento, police inspection and villages).

the deadliest month

The month of July left the most people dead with 754, followed by January with 701, March with 692 and April with 671. As for days, on Sunday with 1,291 victimss has the highest road death toll, followed by Saturday with 1,035 and Monday with 702.

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In addition, it was found that 3136 of the victims had polytrauma, 1567 pelvic trauma and 254 chest trauma. In these incidents, there are also injured people. According to the Legal Medicine report, in the first eight months of this year, 17,408 people were injured in transport accidents, of which 10,472 were men and 6,665 were women.

Of the victims this year, 1,477 are minors. In Bogotá alone, 3,547 were reported injured, of which 2,140 were men and 1,407 were women.

winter alarm

Authorities have been warning for weeks about the rise of rains in the country in the rest of the year, which can be a factor affecting even traffic accident problems.

According to the National Road Safety Agency (ANSV), with IDEAM studies “it is expected, for the third consecutive year, that the rainy season will be affected by The La Niña phenomenon and a 30 percent increase in precipitation compared to previous years is expected.

ANSV warned that in rainy conditions, visibility changes and tire grip is affected. “Driving on surfaces with water, dust and sometimes grease can cause the driver to lost control of the vehicle when performing untimely accelerations and stops, as well as sudden turns, “said the agency.

In this sense, the Minister of Transport, Guillermo Francisco Reyes González, has already called on drivers to take protective measures, as well as to inform themselves about the conditions of the roads before a tour and listen to the instructions of the personnel who are in corridors and road networks.

“Given the government’s climate forecast report that predicts an increase in rainfall until November in some regions of the country, the transport sector has activated Contingency planthrough eight national-level inter-sectoral articulation tables (MAIs) for monitoring and servicing road accidents,” the official said.

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For his part, the director of the National Road Safety Agency, Luis Lhota, said that “it is very important when driving to have good visibility to see the road, but also other road users, especially the most vulnerable: pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists and keep in mind that rain can also affect other conditions, such as vehicle braking and handling.

Likewise, the manager expressed that “we want to remind you that your life, that of your passengers, as well as that of other people you cross on the road, are protected by increasing the safe distance between vehicles, as well as avoiding parking near vehicles. or streams, keeping lights on, even during the day and making sensible decisions, if the rain is very heavy and you can stop and wait, do it, we all want to get home safe and sound”.

Finally, ANSV reminded pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists of this use reflective elementstravel with caution on the lines, patterns and horizontal demarcation elements that are on the road.

The weekends, the most critical on the tracks

Luis Felipe Lotta, director of the National Road Safety Agency (ANSV), answered EL TIEMPO with five questions on the subject.

What factors increase the number of road accidents in the country?

Last year was particularly high, this year we have an increase of 13 percent more than in 2021. However, it is worth noting that there is a decrease in rural roads, which is a little unusual. This higher accident rate moved into the cities, into urban areas, where the accident rate jumped 50 percent.

And in these areas, where are these accidents concentrated?

Motorcyclists are the ones who have the most accidents, these accidents have increased by 59 percent and the main mode is hitting stationary elements, poles, trees, platforms, which is related to brakes, excessive speed and lack of skills of pilots to react. to an obstacle.

Another modality is rollovers. The two combined are nearly all of the motorcycle crash deaths in the country this year, or one in three crash deaths, just because in many areas of the country, not wearing a helmet is the common denominator.

But there are also many pedestrians killed in these accidents, also a ratio of one to three compared to motorcyclists when they are hit by these vehicles in larger cities.

What are the most critical points on the country’s roads?

There are some departments that have very complex problems with mortality, but this is due to the number of vehicles moving, such as Antioquia, Valle del Cauca and Cundinamarca. Although Antioquia has a high accident rate, it has been reduced by 15 percent.

What are the most critical days and times?

Weekends across the country are most critical, especially in the afternoon hours, not dawn. The death rate is between 6 and 9 at night. On Saturday, at this time, it’s the most critical thing we’ve seen.

With this winter wave, what recommendations are there to avoid these incidents?
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The first thing is that after the containment of the pandemic, we cannot drive crazy. Our biggest concern is speeding.
You need to slow down, obey the traffic rules (traffic lights, braking), keep the vehicle in excellent condition: tires, brakes and full safety features.

On Twitter: @JusticiaET
justice@eltiempo.com

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