Background Traffic crashes (MVC) injure many people and affects victims’ everyday lives and productivity. Traumatic experiences are common, but only a minority of survivors develops chronic emotional problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The objective of this cross sectional study is to determine the quality of life (QoL) and PTSD among traffic crash survivors.

Methods A total of 108 traffic crash survivors from the Orthopaedic Clinic of two leading public hospitals in Selangor, Malaysia (Serdang Hospital and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital) participated. Each respondent was interviewed face to face using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire to measure QoL and Impact Event Scale (IES) to measure the level of PTSD.

Results The results found that 82.4% of the respondents developed PTSD and 56.5% of the respondents had poor QoL. There is significant difference exists in social relationship domain with the level of PTSD (p < 0.05). There is also a significant difference between overall QoL score and the level of PTSD among the respondents (p < 0.05). The result also showed a significant difference between age (p = 0.044), race (p = 0.013) and educational level (p = 0.002) with the mean score of QoL. However, there was no significant association between age, gender, marital status and educational level with the level of PTSD. QoL score was found to be significantly correlated with PTSD (p = 0.030).

Conclusions In conclusion, traffic crash involvement is a leading cause to PTSD. Decrements in QoL have been associated with both chronic pain and also PTSD. Hence, greater attentions need to be given for those traffic crash survivors who developed PTSD symptoms.