[The forensic medical evaluation of the injuries to the cervical spine in the driver and the front-seat passenger of a modern motor vehicle after the frontal crash].

The objective of the present study was to elucidate the specific features of the lesions of the cervical spine in the driver and the front-seat passenger of a modern car after the frontal crash. We made use of the archival materials of forensic medical expertises concerning the traffic accidents carried out in the city of Moscow during the period from 2005 to 2012. The study was focused on the analysis of the character of the fractures of cervical vertebrae in the drivers (n = 55) and the front-seat passengers (n = 85) of a modern motor vehicle involved in a traffic accident. It was shown that the drivers most frequently suffer bending-extension fractures of the cervical vertebrae, with the II-IV vertebrae being especially frequently subject to multiple fractures resulting in the damage to the anterior support column, sometimes to both the anterior and posterior columns, and much rarer to the posterior column. The front-seat passengers also suffer bending-extension fractures. The IV-VI vertebrae are most frequently affected in them with isolated damages to either the anterior or the posterior support column of the neck vertebrae.