Each day 3400 people die in the world in a Traffic Accident (TA) and tens of thousands suffer injuries or acquire a disability every year. Ninety percent of the deaths associated with TA occur in developing countries, even though they only have 54% of the vehicles in the world. In Colombia, in 2016, 45,256 non-fatal injuries and 7280 fatal injured were recorded by a TA. With a rate of 92.84 injured and 14.93 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. Children, pedestrians, cyclists and older adults are the most vulnerable public roads users and represent almost half of the deaths on the roads of the world. The aim of the study was to describe the conditions of the persons with moderate or serious injuries happened in traffic accidents in Medellin, Colombia and his metropolitan area in 2015–2016.

Descriptive study according to the severity of the injury, the sociodemographic characteristics, the characteristics of the TA, pain, disability (WHO-DASII) and quality of life (SF-36) of the people injured, in the first month after accident.

247 patients were included, 93.1% with moderate injuries. 94.1% of the serious injuries happened when a pedestrian was knocked down. 73.6% of the injuries happened for trampling, 71.2% were pedestrians and in the 60.7% of the cases a motorcycle was involved. The most affected corporal regions were the extremities, the most affected domains of the WHO-DASII were the domestic activities, the activities out of the house and the mobility. The physical function, physical performance and change in health were the most affected domains of the SF-36.

The majority of patients suffered moderate and severe injuries when being run over as pedestrians, in most cases by a motorcyclist. There is a significant decrease of in the quality of life and functioning.