Road Traffic Accidents Along the Kiluvya-Bwawani and Chalinze-Segera Highways in Coast Region: An Epidemiological Appraisal

Objective: To ascertain the trends in main indicators and road users.
Methods: A descriptive analysis of road traffic accidents (RTA) was done using outline accident records from the Coast Region Traffic Office and Tumbi Special Hospital, Tanzania. Data of time series from 1995 - 1996 were analyzed.
Results: A total of 3,098 road traffic accidents occurred along the Kiluvya - Bwawani and Chalinze - Segera Highways with an average of 516 accidents per year. This corresponds to 1.4 accidents per day. Ordinary accidents had the highest toll in the area, whereas injury accidents increased from 28.6% in 1995 to 37.9%, 41.7% and 43% in 1996, 1997 and 1998, respectively. An important observation on the trend of accidents in this study was the significant decrease in number of accidents in 2000 but with an appreciable increase in fatal accidents. There were a total of 768 deaths due to road traffic accidents from the study area between 1995 and 2000. A total of 665 males and 103 females died due to the accidents in the same period. More males died in road traffic accidents than females. The average annual deaths of males were 111 and 17 for females. The male to female death ratio was 6.5:1 from 1996 to 1999, annual case fatality rate (CFR) in passengers was higher than other groups. The overall CFR from 1995 to 2000 for passengers was 42.1%, 37.8% in pedestrians, 13% for cyclists and 9% for drivers. In the year 2000, vehicle - pedestrian collisions were most severe and had the highest CFR of 52.9%.
Conclusion: The trends of RTA in this study illustrate a rapidly growing problem in the country. The high pedestrian and passenger deaths imply the need to investigate the underlying risk factors, operational and policy issues involved in the transportation system, and to develop and implement appropriate responsive road safety interventions. A well planned scientific approach to study the characteristics of injury- producing accidents including trends, distribution patterns, type of vehicles involved, and road-users injured or killed has to be made.