Death cases related to tractor overturns

Abstract

Objective: Farm tractors are not only used as farm machineries but also as communication and transportation machineries in Turkey where agricultural production plays an important role. Tractor overturns end up with casualties especially if the structurally off-balanced tractor has no rollover protection structures (ROPS) or seatbelts. Serious manpower and economical losses also result from these kinds of accidents. Material and Methods: In this paper, all forensic death examination reports, autopsy reports and witness statement reports obtained in city center of Kastamonu between January 2004 and July 2009 were examined and evaluated statistically. Results: We observed 601 death cases during this period and found that 42 (6.98%) of them were related to tractor overturns, 92.86% of the cases were males and 7.14% of them were females. The range of age was between 17-80 years. 19.04% of the victims were passengers while the remaining were drivers. Most of the events (52.80%) have occurred on the roads. In a high percentage (54.76%) of the cases, cause of deaths was determined as chest trauma while abdomen, neck and head traumas were also observed in some cases. Conclusion: Although tractors are the most frequently used machineries in agricultural production of Turkey, casualties of tractor overturns do not attract much attention. These casualties are not negligible and necessary agricultural engineering strategies should be implemented immediately to prevent these unexpected accidents. © 2011 by Türkiye Klinikleri.