Abstract: Objective To explore the pelvic injury mechanisms in road traffic fatalities(RTFs) according to Young-Burgess classification and its practical value in forensic medicine. Methods Retrospective study was performed on pelvic X-ray radiographs of adult RTFs outside the automobiles in 128 cases. Pelvic injury mechanisms were investigated according to Young -Burgess classification and then were analyzed statistically combined with the real circumstance. Results The accuracy of pelvic injury mechanism identi-fication using APC subtype(94.1%) and LC subtype(92.9%) were significantly higher than that without using subtypes(63.6% and 70.7%) (P<0.05). LC subtype was helpful to discriminate the direction of force, for example the rear lateral force, anterior lateral force or continuous anterior lateral force. Conclusion Young-Burgess classification discriminated by various methods of medical imaging may be helpful to study the pelvic injury mechanisms and provide reliable reference for road traffic accidents reconstruction.

Key words: forensic medicine, radiography, accidents, traffic, pelvis, fractures, bone, Young-Burgess classification