[Comparative characteristics of injuries to individual body parts of the driver and passengers inside the passenger compartment of a moving vehicle in a traffic accident].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the general nature of injuries sustained in a moving passenger car during an accident. The study investigated the nature of injuries in drivers (99 cases) and passengers in the front seat (64), rear right seat (15), rear middle seat (29) and rear left seat (22) who died in an accident due to frontal collision with an obstacle. The general characteristics of the resulting damage were determined with regard to their type, quantity and localization. Drivers were found to have predominantly left-sided injuries to the head and chest, as well as right-sided abdominal and pelvic injuries, frequent neck injuries, smaller limb and permanent foot injuries. The injuries sustained by front seat passengers were characterized mainly by right-sided localization of head and neck injuries, maximum left-sided injury of the upper and lower limbs, and an absence of injuries to the feet. Passengers in the rear right seat were predominantly characterized by right-sided localization of injuries to the head, chest, stomach, pelvis and limbs, an absence of injuries to the feet and a relatively high frequency of damage to the internal organs of the thoracic and abdominal cavities. Passengers in the rear middle seat were characterized by uniform distribution of injuries on the left and right sides of the body, a relatively high frequency of injuries to the head, upper limbs, chest, abdomen and pelvis, a relatively low frequency lower limb injuries and an absence of injuries to the feet. Passengers in the left-hand rear seat were characterized by maximum left-sided localization of injuries to the head, chest and left extremities and minimum traumatization of the internal organs of the thoracic and abdominal cavities.