Victims of Road Traffic Accidents in Dakar: A New Group of Occupants Identified

Background: Road traffic accidents remain an unresolved public health problem. They conventionally affect three categories of victims: drivers, passengers and pedestrians. In Senegal, “a fourth group” has been identified, occupants of the public highway. Our general objective is to study the latter under clinical and epidemiological approaches. Methods: This is a descriptive analytical study of 153 patients taken from a population of 1450 ACR victims over a period of 06 months (January 2018-June 2018) carried out at the Idrissa Pouye General Hospital. Results: The most represented age groups were adolescents and young adults at 65.36%. The sex ratio was 1.43. All socio-economic classes were found but the primacy went to pupils and students 34.64%. More than half of the accidents took place in urban areas. We noted that 71.24% of the victims were on the sidewalk or the roadway. The most noted mechanism was 94.77% vehicle skidding. Eighty-six-point thirty-seven percent suffered direct shock trauma resulting in a significant number of bruises. Most lesions were located in the lower limbs at 83.7%. Conclusion: Our work shows that this group of victims exists because of 1 in 10 patients. This study deserves to be carried out in all hospitals. These too many otherwise preventable victims can be considered the fourth victim of road traffic accidents.