INVESTIGATION of MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENTS: A CASE STUDY of SIDAMA, WOLAITA and GEDEO

Abstract

Road traffic accidents have become an enormous global public health and development problem. Each year an estimated 1.25 million people are killed in road traffic accidents and up to 50 million people are injured worldwide. Based on key informants data from transport and traffic offices (July 2018 to June 2021), there were a total of one hundred eighty-three motorcycle accidents happened in Gedeo zone. Out of these 73 deaths, 104 serious accidents and 6 simple accidents and in Sidama and Wolaita, in one year, accident data from (July 2019 to June 2020), in Sidama, 64 deaths, 58 se rious accidents, 3 simple accidents and wolaita 24 death, 6 serious accident,1 simple accident and 3 property damage was happened. The main objective of this study is investigation of motorcycle accident in Wolaita, Sidama and Gedeo. Cross-sectional types of research design and qualitative research used to describe and inves tigate motorcycle accidents. Collected data were coded and cleaned for its completeness. Descrip tive statistics of percentages and frequency distribution were carried out to, analyzed using SPSS version 25. Moreover, the main factors that contribute to the occurrence of motorcycle accidents are the behaviors and abilities of the drivers 214 (56.3%), vehicular (motorcycle) factors 56 (14.8%), environmental factors 19 (5%), and geometric design and related factors 91 (23.9%) are involved in motorcycle accidents. A motorcycle accident has a socio-economic impact on the area, so the solu tion is to raise awareness among users and operators. In Wolaita Sodo City, around the transport office, the road needs maintenance and a speed breaker, and both users and operators should wear a safety helmet.