Risk factors of road traffic accidents in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) are one of the most prominent public health problems as it is a leading cause of death by injury and all deaths globally. This study therefore intended determine the risk factors associated with RTAs in Sri Lanka (2005 - 2019) based on data driven decision making (DDDM) which would be useful for decision makers. The results were obtained using analysis of 2 - way frequency tables, logistic regression and factor analysis. The percentage of fatal accidents have increased from 6.1% (2005 - 2008) to 7.2% (2013 - 2019), while damage have been dropped from 44.1% to 35.5% during the same period. The percentage of grievous accidents have an increasing trend by rising from 14.1% (2005 - 2008) to 21.8% (2013 - 2019), while minor accidents have been dropped from 35.7% to 35.5% during the same period. It was found that all the attributes of road characteristics, time & environmental characteristics, vehicle characteristics and among all the attributes of human & accident characteristics (except gender) have significant association on severity of accident. The gender of the driver does not significantly influence on the severity of accident. The seven variables of causes of RTAs identified by the Sri Lanka Police can be classified into two factors namely (i) negligence of pedestrians and other external reasons and (ii) lack of attention of the driver. This was confirmed by the confirmatory factor analysis. The odds of happening fatal accidents in wet road surface 1.109 times higher than that it occurs in dry road surface. The odds of happening fatal accidents during night with improper street lighting is 1.518 times higher than that it occurs during daylight. The inferences derived from this study would be very useful for policy makers in order to minimize RTAs in Sri Lanka.