<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Farm tractor accidents are a frequent cause of death for people in agricultural field of work. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of the fatal farm tractor accidents, as well as the most significant types of injuries and causes of death. Research is based on epidemiological criteria of subjects, traffic participation, cause of death, distribution of injury, outliving period and toxicological details. The study included 22 (4.2%) farm tractor related fatalities out of all 525 subjects who died from sustained injuries or complications of the injuries sustained in road traffic accidents. The highest number of deaths was reported in men in 95.5%. The highest percentage died of bleeding out (41%), while in 18% of cases, complications that occurred during the outliving period were the cause of death. Analyzing injuries through organ systems, it is observed that the highest number of farm tractor drivers had a chest injury (90%), and the most common chest injury was a rib fracture (82%). When determining the outliving period, the highest number of fatal farm tractor drivers died at the scene of accidents (68.2%). Of all of the subjects, 32% were under the influence of alcohol, while 23% had blood alcohol concentration level greater than 0.5 ‰. The high mortality of farm tractor drivers can be reduced by introducing a mandatory rollover protective structures system and the use of a seat belt in farm tractors with cabs, which would reduce the possibility of the driver falling out of the farm tractor seat and additional injuries due to rollover.</p>
</abstract>

Farm tractor accidents are a frequent cause of death for people in agricultural field of work. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of the fatal farm tractor accidents, as well as the most significant types of injuries and causes of death. Research is based on epidemiological criteria of subjects, traffic participation, cause of death, distribution of injury, outliving period and toxicological details. The study included 22 (4.2%) farm tractor related fatalities out of all 525 subjects who died from sustained injuries or complications of the injuries sustained in road traffic accidents. The highest number of deaths was reported in men in 95.5%. The highest percentage died of bleeding out (41%), while in 18% of cases, complications that occurred during the outliving period were the cause of death. Analyzing injuries through organ systems, it is observed that the highest number of farm tractor drivers had a chest injury (90%), and the most common chest injury was a rib fracture (82%). When determining the outliving period, the highest number of fatal farm tractor drivers died at the scene of accidents (68.2%). Of all of the subjects, 32% were under the influence of alcohol, while 23% had blood alcohol concentration level greater than 0.5 ‰. The high mortality of farm tractor drivers can be reduced by introducing a mandatory rollover protective structures system and the use of a seat belt in farm tractors with cabs, which would reduce the possibility of the driver falling out of the farm tractor seat and additional injuries due to rollover.

Analysis of Injuries and Cause of Death in Fatal Accidents with Farm Tractors

University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Medical Sciences

Experimental and Applied Biomedical Research (EABR)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Analysis of Injuries and Cause of Death in Fatal Accidents with Farm Tractors"}

Farm tractor accidents are a frequent cause of death for people in agricultural field of work. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of the...

Analysis of Injuries and Cause of Death in Fatal Accidents with Farm Tractors

Published Online: Sep 29, 2023

Page range: 243 - 248

Received: Oct 19, 2020

Accepted: Nov 23, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjecr-2020-0052

Keywords
Farm tractor, accidents, autopsy, cause of death

© 2023 Zivana Slovic et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Analysis of Injuries and Cause of Death in Fatal Accidents with Farm Tractors

Published Online: Sep 29, 2023

Page range: 243 - 248

Received: Oct 19, 2020

Accepted: Nov 23, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjecr-2020-0052

KeywordsFarm tractor, accidents, autopsy, cause of death

© 2023 Zivana Slovic et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Farm tractor, accidents, autopsy, cause of death