Prevalence of road traffic accidents and associated factors among three and four wheels vehicle drivers of Ambo Town, Oromia region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Now adays road traffic accidents are the major public health problem.Globally; road traffic accidents are the eighth leading cause of death for all ages and account for 1.35 million deaths annually. In Africa, Ethiopia is the second-highest country with road traffic accidents next to the Central African Republic, having 195 traffic accidents per 10,000 vehicles. Objective: To assess prevalence of road traffic accidents and associated factors among three and four wheeles vehicle drivers in Ambo Town, Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021 Methods: A cross-sectional study design supported by a qualitative research was conducted. Data was collected from 340 three and four wheels vehicle drivers in Ambo town, using a pre-tested structured questionnaire through face-to-face interview technique. The study was conducted from September 01 to October 30/2021. Stratified random sampling techniques followed by simple random sampling techniques were employed. The data were entered into Epi Data Version 3.1 and exported to SPSS Version 21 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analysis were used to examine the association between road traffic accidents and associated factors. Variables with P-value <0.25 in the bivariable analysis were considered for multivariable analysis. Statistical significance was declared at a P value of 0.05. Multicollinearity was checked using the variance inflation factor at a cut-off value of 10 and the model fitness was tested by Hosmer and Lemeshow's goodness of fit test. Qualitative data were collected through three focus group discussions (FGD) among purposively selected drivers, pedestrians, and traffic policemen by the investigator. Each group consists of 7-10 members, guided by FGD guideline questions and analyzed using thematic analysis. Result: The data were collected from 340 drivers making a response rate of 97.98%. The mean age of the study participants was 26.65 (SD+/- 6.058). More than one-third (36.5% [95% CI: 31.3-41.6%]) of the drivers encountered an accident in the last year. Having additional job (AOR=2.75, 95% CI ([1.32,5.72]), Habit of chewing kchat (AOR=4, 95% CI ([1.78,9.3]), Feeling competitive while driving (AOR=2.5, 95% CI ([1.10,5.67]), Fail to check mirrors( AOR=3.4([1.7,6.8]) and Frequency of punishment by traffic policemen (AOR=0.27, 95% CI ([0.10,0.68]) were among factors significantly associated with road traffic accidents. Conclusion: The prevalence of road traffic accidents revealed in the study area is very high when compared with a study conducted nationally (22.8%). Having additional job, Khat chewing, feeling competitive while driving, punishment by traffic police, and experience‟s of fail to check side mirror were significantily associated with road traffic accidents. Therefore, it is better if the zonal and town transport office work on the road safety rules and continuously follow the driver‟s behaviors.