Land-traffic crash leading to passenger vehicle submersion, drowning and other fatal injuries: A 44-year study based on records from the Finnish Crash Data Institute.
BACKGROUND
Land motor traffic crash (LMTC) -related drownings are an overlooked and preventable cause of injury death. The aim of this study was to analyze the profile of water-related LMTCs involving passenger cars and leading to drowning and fatal injuries in Finland, 1972 through 2015.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
The database of the Finnish Crash Data Institute (FCDI) that gathers detailed information on fatal traffic accidents provided records on all LMTCs leading to drowning during the study period and, from 2002 to 2015, on all water-related LMTCs, regardless of the cause of death. For each crash, we considered variables on circumstances, vehicle, and fatality profiles.


RESULTS
During the study period, the FCDI investigated 225 water-related LMTCs resulting in 285 fatalities. The majority of crashes involved passenger cars (124), and the cause of death was mostly drowning (167). Only 61 (36.5%) fatalities suffered some-generally mild-injuries. The crashes frequently occurred during fall or summer (63.7%), in a river or ditch (60.5%), and resulted in complete vehicle's submersion (53.7 %). Half of the crashes occurred in adverse weather conditions and in over 40% of the cases, the driver had exceeded the speed limit. Among drivers, 77 (68.8%) tested positive for alcohol (mean BAC 1.8%).


CONCLUSION
Multidisciplinary investigations of LMTCs have a much higher potential than do exclusive police and medico-legal investigations. The risk factors of water-related LMTCs are similar to those of other traffic crashes. However, generally the fatal event in water-related LMTC is not the crash itself, but drowning. The paucity of severe physical injuries suggests that victims' functional capacity is usually preserved during vehicle submersion. Practical Applications: In water-related LMTCs, expansion of safety measures is warranted from general traffic-injury prevention to prevention of drowning, including development of safety features for submerged vehicles and simple self-rescue protocols to escape from a sinking vehicle.
['Tikka|Julius|J|', 'Lunetta|Philippe|P|']
D000063:Accidents, Traffic D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D016208:Databases, Factual D004332:Drowning D005260:Female D005387:Finland D006801:Humans D007101:Immersion D007223:Infant D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D012307:Risk Factors D055815:Young Adult
Prevention Traffic accident Immersion Road safety Water