The Causes and Preventive Mechanisms of Road Traffic Accident in Gondar City Administration

Abstract

Although road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a major global public health problem, most of it occurs in low-and middle-income countries including Ethiopia. Pedestrians, drivers and passengers of vehicles are the most vulnerable in Ethiopia; whereas, in high-income countries, crashes involve primarily privately owned vehicles with the driver being the main car occupant injured or killed. One of the solutions to reduce the problem of traffic accident is finding the causes through research, and data mining is one research tool in finding the causes of traffic accidents. The objective of this study is to assess the cause and prevention methods of Road Traffic Accident. A mixed research approach was used. Samples of the study were 403 of which 388 filled the questionnaires and 15 participated in focus group discussion. Data were collected using questionnaires and focus group discussions and analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative data were analyzed using crosstabs, percentage, mean, standard deviation, correlation and regression. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The grand mean value of 3.49 generally indicated the prevalence of road traffic accidents. Moreover, the result shows the grand mean value of 3.44 generally showed causes of road traffic accidents in Gondar city were traced to the drivers, the pedestrians and the existing status of roads. The qualitative results also showed drivers’ lack of due attention while driving and disrespecting traffic rules, pedestrians lack of awareness of the road traffic rules and narrow nature of roads and old aged roads were all causes of road traffic accidents. Generally, it is concluded in the study that there is a need to give due consideration so as to improve the causes and reduce the problem