Abstract:
Currently, it is obvious that road traffic accidents reach at the worst stage and ranked ninth
globally among the leading causes of burden of death. The rank is foreseen to rise in the future
and it is expected to rank in third position up to 2030. Road traffic accidents kill about 1.3
million people worldwide every year and causes for an estimated of up to 50 million non-fatal
severity injuries. In Ethiopia, in the second half of GTP period it increased by 97.98% of
property cost loss, 40% of fatal and 36% non-fatal injuries from the first GTP period.
This study has been assessed place and time condition of road traffic accident related issues of
Mekele city from 2007-2010 E.C (2014/15-2017/2018). It quantified and described the general
characteristics of RTA temporal variations. It also identified major types and causes of the
accidents, RTA spots was plotted, examined the trend of RTA and also it has been analyzed the
direct socio-economic impacts of RTA and lastly, appropriate intervention which can help to
reduce traffic accidents have been recommended.
The necessary secondary data were collected from the daily traffic accident records of the city.
Additional information was also collected through interviewing traffic police officers and
inspectors.
Most accidents occur along dry, good asphalt, two-way lane undivided, straight and plain roads.
In addition to this, most of the accidents occurred at roads with no junctions and +-type (crossshaped) junctions. The accidents are spatially varied in different land uses types, such as
residential areas, government offices, commercial areas, around schools and factory areas.
In the city, 1296 RTAs were recorded in 479 RTA spots found in different places of the city. The
accidents on the city are causing for almost more than 12.65%, 38.50%, 7.02% and 41.82%
deaths, serious, slight injuries and property damages respectively out of the total RTAs and it
was estimated that the economic loss of 26,464,635.20 ETB which means there was 6,616,158.80
ETB average economic loss every year. Finally, awareness about consequence of RTA should be
provided for all road users like as meetings or short-term trainings
