Road Traffic Accidents Fatality and Associated Factors in Southwest Shoa, Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Road traffic accident is one of many public health problems which cause over 1.24 million deaths and 50 million injuries every year globally. Ethiopia is one of the countries with the highest burden and alarmingly raising trends of road traffic accidents. However, there was little information in Ethiopia on the fatality and risk factors of road traffic accidents especially prior to healthcare facilities arrival. This study assessed road traffic accidents fatality and associated factors in Southwest Shoa in Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2046 registered road traffic accidents in seven police stations on the road connecting Alemgena and Woliso towns in central Ethiopia from January 01, 2010 to December 31, 2016. Data were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Science version 24 using descriptive statistics, bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses. P-value<0.05 at 95% confidence interval was used statistical significance. Results: In this study, the overall road traffic accidents fatality was 26.7% (95% CI: 24.7, 28.8). It killed 658 peoples (469 pedestrians, 152 passengers and 37 drivers). Rainy weather (AOR=1.77; 95% CI: 1.22, 2.56), lack of driving license (AOR=2.49; 95% CI: 1.20, 5.16), night (AOR=1.30; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.67), speeding (AOR=4.25; 95% CI: 1.96, 9.22), failure to give priority to pedestrians/ vehicles (AOR=2.96; 95% CI: 1.35, 6.48), pedestrians’ error (AOR=3.83, 95% CI: 1.80, 10.84) and vehicle’s technical problem (AOR=3.1; 95% CI: 1.22, 7.87) increased the odds of road traffic accidents fatality. Conclusion: More than a quarter of the road traffic accidents caused loss of life. Rainy weather, night-travel, driver without license, speeding, failure to give priorities to pedestrians/vehicles, pedestrian errors and vehicle’s technical problem were factors significantly associated with road traffic accidents fatality. Therefore, strengthening public awareness creation campaigns and applying more efforts on implementing currently existing road safety rules such as following speeding, licensing, giving priorities to pedestrians/vehicles and technical check-up of vehicles would be essential.

Keywords: Associated Factors; Fatality; Ethiopia; Road Traffic Accidents; Southwest Shoa