The time period between an urban road accident and death due to it, is investigated. Age and sex of injured persons were found to have no significant effect on time till death. The analysis distinguishes between a set of data that includes persons killed on site and a data set from which they are excluded. The probability density function (pdf) of the length of these time periods, when expressed in hours, was found to be satisfactorily described by a Weibull distribution for both cases. When these lengths are expressed in days the Gamma distribution gave the best fit. Linear relationships between the cumulative percentage of injured persons dead by time t and log(t) are also established with very high correlation coefficients, but are proposed only for time period lengths less than 30 days. Ways in which the results of this analysis can be used towards unification of road accident death recording in the various countries, so that valid international accident statistics comparison are possible, are indicated.
(EN)
