[Frequency of forensic autopsies after deaths in road traffic accidents].

Background: In 2007, 224 persons died in road traffic accidents in Norway. According to the instruction for prosecution, the police should request forensic autopsy in such deaths. The police's adherence to this instruction varies. The aim of this study was to document enforcement of the instruction for prosecution among police districts in two Norwegian counties (North and South Trøndelag).

Material And Method: Data from forensic autopsies of deaths in road traffic accidents performed at The Department of Pathology and Medical Genetics at St. Olavs Hospital were compared with data from similar deaths in the two counties registered in The Cause of Deaths Statistics in Statistics Norway for the time period 1996-2005.

Results: 249 persons died in road traffic accidents in the two counties in the time period assessed; forensic autopsies were performed on 157 (63 %) of them. The forensic autopsy rate decreased from 69 % in the first 5-year period to 57 % in the second period. The largest decrease was in North Trøndelag where the rate dropped from 62 % to 38 %. Drivers of motorized vehicles were to a larger extent autopsied than other road-users; victims of motorcycle accidents were autopsied to a lesser extent than those of car accidents and other types of road traffic accidents.

Interpretation: The reduced frequency of autopsy and differences in request practice between police districts may be explained by economical circumstances, different understanding of the importance of forensic autopsies and different interpretation of the instruction for prosecution. It is not known whether there were important differences between those who were autopsied and those who were not.