Dr ibrahim Abdi Hassan

1. EPIDEMIOLOGY OF
ROAD TRAFFIC
ACCIDENTS

2. ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS
 Every year the lives of approximately 1.3 million people are cut short as a
result of a road traffic crash.
 Between 20 and 50 million more people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many
incurring a disability as a result of their injury.
 Road traffic injuries cause considerable economic losses to individuals, their
families, and to nations as a whole.
 These losses arise from the cost of treatment as well as lost productivity for
those killed or disabled by their injuries, and for family members who need
to take time off work or school to care for the injured.
 Road traffic crashes cost most countries 3% of their gross domestic product.

3. What is an Accident
 An unexpected, unplanned occurrence that may
involve injury.
 Unpremeditated event resulting in recognizable
damage (WHO Advisory Group)
 Occurrence in a sequence of events, which usually
produces unintended injury, death or property
damage.

4. Classification of Accidents
1. Road Traffic Accidents
2. Domestic Accidents-
 Drowning, Burns, Falls, Poisoning, Injuries from sharp, Bites and other
injuries from animals
3. Industrial Accidents
4. Railway Accidents
5. Aircraft crash
6. Maritime accidents
7. Violence

5. Measurement of Problems
 Mortality
 Proportional mortality rate
 Number of deaths per million population
 Death rate per 1000 registered vehicles per year.
 Number of accidents or fatalities as a ratio of number of
vehicles per km or passengers per km.
 Deaths of vehicles occupants per thousand vehicles per
year.

6. Measurement of Problems
 Morbidity
 Based on Abbreviated injury scale
 Serious injuries
 Slight injuries
 Disability- temporary or permanent, partial/total
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
(ICF) by WHO

7. Epidemiology of road traffic accidents
 Approximately 1.3 million people die each year as a result of
road traffic crashes.
 The United Nations General Assembly has set an ambitious
target of halving the global number of deaths and injuries from
road traffic crashes by 2030 (A/RES/74/299)
 Road traffic crashes cost most countries 3% of their gross
domestic product.

8. Epidemiology of road traffic accidents
 More than half of all road traffic deaths are among vulnerable
road users: pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.
 93% of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low- and
middle-income countries, even though these countries have
approximately 60% of the world's vehicles.
 Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children
and young adults aged 5-29 years.

9. Who is at risk?
 Socioeconomic status
 Road traffic injury death rates are highest in the African region.
 Even within high-income countries, people from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds are more likely to be involved in road traffic crashes.
 Age
 Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and
young adults aged 5-29 years.
 Sex
 From a young age, males are more likely to be involved in road traffic
crashes than females.
 About three quarters (73%) of all road traffic deaths occur among
young males under the age of 25 years who are almost 3 times as likely
to be killed in a road traffic crash as young females.

10. Risk Factors
 Speed:
 Pedestrians has 90% chance of surviving a car crash at
30Km/h or below.
 Reducing respiratory problems associated with car
emissions
 Drink – Driving:
 Blood Alcohol Concentration(BAC) of 0.05g/dl or below
reducing the alcohol related crashes.
 Enforcing Sobriety Check points & Random breath testing
can reduce 20%of alcohol related crashes.

11. Risk Factors
 Motor cycle Helmets:
 Reduce the risk of death by 40% and risk of
severe injury by 70%
 Strict Laws should be enforced
 Seat –Belts and Child Restriants:
 Reduces risk of fatality among Front seat
passengers by 40-50%
 Rear –seat passengers by 25-75%
 Mobile Phone usage –
 4 times the risk of crash increases

12. Risk Factors
 Factors influencing exposure to risk:
 Rapid motorization
 Demographic factors
 Transport,
 land use and road network planning
 Increased need for travel
 Choice of less safe forms of travel
 Risk factors influencing crash involvement:
 Speed Pedestrians and cyclists
 Young drivers and riders
 Alcohol Medicinal and recreational drugs
 Driver fatigue
 Hand-held mobile telephones

13. Risk Factors
 Risk factors influencing injury severity: –
 Lack of in-vehicle crash protection
 Non-use of crash helmets by two-wheeled vehicle users
 Non-use of seat-belts and child restraints in motor vehicles
 Roadside objects
 Risk factors influencing post-crash injury outcome:
 Pre-hospital factors
 Hospital care factors

14. Reasons for more Accidents in Developing
countries
 Large numbers of pedestrians and animals share the common
roadway
 Large number of old , poorly maintained vehicles
 Large numbers of buses often overloaded
 Large number of motor cycles, scooters and mopeds
 Low driving standards
 Widespread disregard of traffic rules
 Defective roads, poor street lighting, defective layout of cross
roads and speed breakers
 Unusual behaviour of men and animals

16. Asthma
- Safety belt
Factors increasing traffic accidents

19.  Data collection
 Safety education
 Promotion of safety measures
 Alcohol and other drugs
 Primary care
 Elimination of causative factors
 Law enforcement
 Rehabilitation
 Accident research
Prevention

20. Prevention
 Data collection
 Basic reporting of all cases
 Supplementation by national surveys
 Eliciting the data about conditions and environmental factors
leading to accidents
 Making Police investigation of an accident mandatory

21. Prevention
 Safety education
 If Accident is a disease, Education is its vaccine’
 Initiated at the school level
 Educate regarding risk factors, traffic rules, safety precautions
and first aid.

22. Prevention
 Promotion of safety measures
 Seat belts
 Safety helmets
 Safety measures for children
 Others like door locks, proper vehicle design ,air bags and so
on

23. Prevention
 Alcohol and other drugs
 Abstinence from alcohol and depressant drugs before and
during driving
 Barbiturates , amphetemines and Cannabis –impairs driving
ability
 Education
 Law enforcement

24. Prevention
 Primary care
 Planning, organization and management of trauma
and emergency care services improved
 At accident site –Transportation- Hospital
 Skill of the Health Care Provider
 Accident Services Organization and one fully
equipped specialised trauma care hospital in all
major cities

25. Prevention
 Elimination of Causative factors
 Improve roads
 Impose speed limits
 Mixed Traffic
 Bad weather
 Mark danger zones
 Improve the Vehicle Conditions
 Drunk and drive
 Lack of body protection

26. Prevention
 Enforcement of laws
 Driving tests
 Medical fitness to drive
 Speed limits
 Compulsory wearing of seat belts
 Compulsory wearing of helmets
 Checking for blood alcohol concentration
 Road side breath analyzer,
 Regular and periodic inspection of vehicles,
 Periodic examination of drivers above the age of 55 yrs.

27. Prevention
 Rehabilitation services
 Medical rehabilitation
 Social rehabilitation
 Occupational rehabilitation
 Accident research
 New field called Accidentology
 Gathering information about Type, extent & characteristics of
accident
 Corelating accidents with personal and environmental factors
 Devising measures to
 alter human behaviour
 make environment safe
 accident control measures

28. Government Initiatives
 Multi-pronged road safety programmes and
initiatives
 Mass awareness/ education programmes,
 Engineering measures (both road and vehicle),
 Enforcement of safety laws
 Emergency care to road accident victims.