Modeling Frequency of Injuries per Vehicle Crash in Gurage Zone, Southern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Traffic accident is the most serious problem in developing countries like Ethiopia, which is among the leading cause of death with the highest increasing rate from year to year in Ethiopia. This research aimed to identify the associated factors on the frequency of injuries per vehicle crash in Gurage zone. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted to identify the contributing factors of a number of injuries per accident. The data were collected from all traffic control and investigation office of 13 Woredas (Districts) for the past five consecutive years from 2013 to 2017. Negative Binomial Regression model was employed to identify the associated factors that affect the number of injuries per accident. RESULTS: A total of 334 accidents recorded in the last five years from 2013 to 2017 in Gurage zone. Two hundred eight three (84.73%) of the accidents were caused 610 number of injuries. The significantly associated factors of frequency of injuries per road traffic accidents were Drivers' Age (IR: 0.9813; CI: 0.9664 - 0.9962), Drivers' Sex: Female (IR : 1.6386; CI : 1.2176 - 2.0596), Drivers' vehicles ownership: Hired (IR: 1.4216; CI: 1.1697 - 1.6735) and non-drivers' related variables, like weather condition: Rainy (IR: 1.6041; CI: 1.2552 - 1.9529), road shape: street-square (IR: 1.7421 ; CI: 1.1908 - 2.2934) and vehicle type: Isuzu (load)(IR: 1.6845; CI : 1.2592 - 2.1098) Minibus (IR: 2.7253; CI 2.3129 - 3.1377). CONCLUSIONS: This study found that, Driver's related factors: Driver's Age, Sex, Drivers' vehicle ownership, and non-drivers' related variables: Weather condition, Road shape, and Vehicle type were identified as significantly associated factors on the frequency of injuries per vehicle crash in Gurage Zone.