Cause of Death

A death resulting from a motor vehicle incident may be rapid or delayed. The most common traumatic insults leading to rapid death at the scene include severe head injury with diffuse axonal injury, fracture dislocation of the upper cervical spine, and transection of the thoracic aorta. Victims of trauma who survive the initial collision and subsequently die before active treatment by medical and paramedical personnel can be instituted usually succumb to blood loss. Delayed deaths in hospital result from various combinations of irreversible brain injury, organ failure, and sepsis.