Pothole accidents cause deaths, but more victims end up disabled

The city may have seen more pothole-related deaths in the last few years, but cases of disability and injuries are much higher.

Potholes and bad roads commonly cause head, facial and spine injuries among bike riders, said Dr Ajith Benedict Rayan, vice-president of Hosmat Hospitals. “A sudden bump in a pothole can cause acute spinal injuries like slipped disc and vertebral fractures,” he said, adding that head and facial injuries could be reduced by wearing good-quality helmets.

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Limb fractures are also quite common in heavy falls, he said. “When people fall, they tend to stick their hand out. This can cause fractures of the wrist, fingers and upper limb bone. Fractures of leg and feet bones are also very common.”

Hosmat gets 10-15 injury cases caused by bad roads every week, said Dr Rayan. He added that elderly people with osteoporosis are at higher risk of injury.

The scale of injury depends on factors like pothole size, riders’ speed and how they were thrown off the bike.”If the person falls off the vehicle and is not wearing a helmet, head and upper body injuries are highly likely. But if they fall along with the vehicle, spinal cord and lower body injuries are more likely,” said Dr Gautham M S of WHO Collaborating Centre for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, Department of Epidemiology, Nimhans.

“Most commonly, people slip and fall by themselves. But they could also collide with pedestrians or with other vehicles on the road, which can be more dangerous,” he added.

Although no statistics on injuries caused by bad roads per se is available, government record shows around three per cent of road accident deaths in India (5,000-6,000 cases) are due to poor quality roads.

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“Our research has shown that for every death, there would be 30 seriously injured people requiring hospitalisation and another 70 with mild injuries,” said Dr Gautham. Based on this, the number of grievously injured due to bad road conditions would be over 1.5 lakh per year across India, and those with mild injuries would be over 3.5 lakh.

“While those with mild injuries recover quickly, grievous injuries could lead to disability for some, said Dr Gautham. “In case of all road traffic accidents, 70% of grievous injuries are from head injuries. And about one-third of them would require long-term rehabilitation and care.”

Currently, Victoria Hospital and Nimhans are the only government facilities equipped to handle serious head injuries in Bengaluru, which leads to delay in treatment for many victims who can’t afford private hospitals, said Dr Gautham.

Dr Sharan Patil, chairman of SPARSH Hospital, said they are seeing a 25% increase in pothole accidents in the last couple of months due to the rains. “Pothole accidents cause low-velocity injuries, unlike other traffic collisions. But the injuries could be significant.” Just travelling on these roads in the long term could cause back ache and vertebral fractures as well, he said.