Car crashes are one of the top reasons people die around the world. This is often because of serious injuries from the crash. For example, injuries to the brain are very dangerous. They can happen when someone’s head hits something hard during the crash, causing swelling or bleeding in the brain.
Damage inside the body, like cuts to the liver or spleen, can quickly become deadly. Spinal cord injuries are also deadly, as they can stop someone from breathing or cause other serious problems. Losing a lot of blood from different injuries is another way car crashes can be fatal if help doesn’t arrive fast enough.
Crush injuries, where part of the body is trapped and squashed, can also kill someone right away or lead to death later. Knowing about these injuries helps make cars and roads safer and improves how we respond to crashes to save more lives.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Car crashes can often lead to serious head injuries, which can be deadly. These injuries are called traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, and they cause a lot of the deaths from car accidents. When a car hits something, the force can make the brain hit the inside of the skull, which can cause bruises, damage to the brain, and bleeding that might lead to death.
TBIs can be minor or severe, but even the less severe ones can get worse if you don’t get medical help quickly. Statistics show that TBIs are involved in about 30% of deaths from injuries. In the US, every day, 153 people die from injuries that include a TBI.
It’s really important to use seatbelts and airbags because they can help protect you from getting a TBI if you’re in a car crash.
Internal Organ Damage
Besides head injuries, damage to internal organs is also a leading cause of death in car crashes. When cars crash at high speeds, the force can cut or crush important organs like the liver, spleen, kidneys, and heart. Many people who die from car accidents have severe belly injuries that lead to dangerous bleeding. Sudden speeding up or slowing down during a crash can tear the blood vessels of these organs, making the bleeding worse and increasing the chance of death.
Getting medical help quickly is crucial for people with these injuries. If they receive care within the ‘golden hour’ after the accident, their chances of surviving are much better.
Spinal Cord Trauma
In car crashes, injuries to the spinal cord can be very serious and sometimes deadly. This is because the spinal cord is essential for controlling how we move and feel parts of our body. If it gets hurt, a person might not be able to move or feel things below where the injury happened. For example, if the injury is high up in the neck, it could even cause trouble with breathing.
Studies show that crashes with high speeds are more likely to cause worse damage to the spinal cord, which can be life-threatening. How well someone might recover depends on where the injury is and how bad it is. Injuries higher up on the spine are more dangerous.
Getting medical help fast is important to try to prevent more harm and to have the best chance of recovery.
Severe Blood Loss
Losing a lot of blood, especially in car crashes, is a major reason why people die from injuries. This blood loss can happen if deep cuts, broken bones, or injuries to organs cut big blood vessels. When someone loses blood quickly, they can go into shock because their organs aren’t getting enough blood or oxygen. If they don’t get medical help fast, their chances of living drop a lot.
When we look at crash reports, it’s clear that not stopping the bleeding right away can lead to more deaths. Studies show that quick help from emergency teams and using tools like tourniquets and special clotting agents can save more lives. But there’s still a critical time, often called the ‘golden hour,’ for saving someone’s life after a bad car accident with severe bleeding. If help is too late, after this time, it’s much harder for the person to survive.
Crush Injuries
In car crashes, many people die from crush injuries. These injuries happen when a person’s body is squeezed between things, like car parts, with a lot of force. This can cause serious damage to organs and internal bleeding. Crush injuries can lead to serious problems like compartment syndrome. This is when pressure builds up in the muscles and harms nerves and blood vessels, sometimes leading to the need to amputate a limb.
Because these injuries happen so fast, it’s often too late for doctors to help, which increases the chances of dying. Studies into how cars get damaged in crashes have shown that having a strong area for passengers and areas that crumple on purpose can make crush injuries less severe. This tells us that how a car is built can be really important for keeping people safe inside.
Conclusion
Most people who die in car crashes pass away because of a few serious injuries. These include head injuries that can cause brain damage, harm to internal organs, injury to the spinal cord, a lot of blood loss, and injuries from being crushed. Studies of car crash data show that these injuries often lead to death.
This is why it’s really important to have better safety in cars and to get medical help quickly after a crash to lower the chance of dying.