Road Safety as a Public Health Problem: Case of Ecuador in the Period 2000–2019 (original) (raw)

Injury patterns among road traffic accidents: a hospital-based study in Ecuador

Bionatura, 2021

Traffic accidents are serious public health problems, account for profound economic costs to individuals, families, and societies. The social impacts range from physiological to economic causes, which could be a serious negative effect, especially in undeveloped countries. To further elucidate this problem, the prevalence of injuries caused by traffic accidents in a Santa Ana Health Centre, Portoviejo, Ecuador, was studied. This registry-based retrospective study analyzed data on Santa Ana, from Enero 2016 to Diciembre 2019, and the medical records of patients who had been admitted were extracted and analyzed. Passengers cars, motorcycles, and bicycles involved in collisions were included, and the information collected was relating to sex, age, and type of injuries. In total, 75%±6.34 patients victims of road traffic injuries were males, and their mean age was 20 and 49 years. There was a cooperative agreement between total injury occurrence (%) and type of vehicle. Bus and car acci...

Factors Influencing Crash Frequency on Colombian Rural Roads

Promet - Traffic&Transportation

Traffic crashes in Colombia have become a public health problem causing about 7,000 deaths and 45,000 severe injuries per year. Around 40% of these events occur on rural roads, taking note that the vulnerable users (pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists) account for the largest percentage of the victims. The objective of this research is to identify the factors that influence the frequency of crashes, including the singular orography of the country. For this purpose, we estimated Negative Binomial (Poisson-gamma) regression, Zero-inflated model, and generalized the linear mixed model, thus developing a comparative analysis of results in the Colombian context. The data used in the study came from the official sources regarding records about crashes with consequences; that is, with the occurrence of fatalities or injuries on the Colombian roads. For collecting the highway characteristics, an in-field inventory was conducted, gathering information about both infrastructure and operation...

Road Safety Conditions and Estimated Economic Cost of Traffic Fatalities in Medium-Size Colombian Cities

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2014

The Colombia Ministry of Transport, by Resolution 001282 of March 30, 2012, adopted the National Road Safety Plan 2011–2016, which consists of five lines of action, including institutional aspects, strategies on human behavior, strategies on motor vehicles, strategies on road infrastructure, and the attention and rehabilitation system of victims of traffic accidents, for achieving national objectives. In late 2012, the national government (through the Ministry of Transport) subscribed agreements with 10 medium-size Colombian cities to advance their local road safety plans. These 10 cities are among the 25 cities with the highest crash fatality rates per 100,000 inhabitants. The paper presents an overview of the safety conditions in the study cities, which included valuable input provided by the Municipal Road Safety Committee, coupled with data collected in field inspections, spatial analysis, and a review of secondary data sources. This analysis shows that motorcyclists are the mos...

Explaining Chile's Traffic Fatality and Injury Reduction for 2000–2012

Objectives: The objective of the current study is to determine the contribution of Chile’s 2005 traffic law reform, police enforcement, and road investment infrastructure to the reduction of traffic fatalities and severe injuries from 2000 to 2012. Methods: Analyses based on structural equation models were carried out using a unique database merging aggregate administrative data from several Chilean public institutions. The sample was balanced (13 regions, over 13 years; N = 169). Dependent variables were rates of traffic fatality (total, drivers, passengers, and pedestrians), severe injuries, and total number of crashes per vehicle fleet. Independent variables were (1) traffic law reform, (2) police enforcement, and (3) road infrastructure investment. Oil prices, alcohol consumption, proportion of male population 15–24 years old, unemployment, years’ effects and regions’ effects, and lagged dependent variables were entered as control variables. Results: Empirical estimates from the structural equation models suggest that the enactment of the traffic law reform is significantly associated with a 7%reduction of pedestrian fatalities. This association is entirely mediated by the positive association the law had with increasing police enforcement and reducing alcohol consumption. In turn, police enforcement is significantly associated with a direct decrease in total fatalities, driver fatalities, passenger fatalities, and pedestrian fatalities by 17%, 18%, 8%, and 60%, respectively. Finally, road infrastructure investment is significantly associated with a direct reduction of 11% in pedestrian fatalities, and the number of total crashes significantly mediates the effect of road infrastructure investment on the reduction of severe injuries. Tests of sensitivity indicate these effects and their statistical significance did not vary substantively with alternative model specifications. Conclusions:Results suggest that traffic law reform, police enforcement, and road infrastructure investment have complex interwoven effects that can reduce both traffic fatalities and severe injuries. Though traffic reforms are ultimately designed to change road user behaviors at large, it is also important to acknowledge that legislative changes may require institutional changes—that is, intensification of police enforcement—and be supported by road infrastructure investment, in order to effectively decrease traffic fatalities and injuries. Furthermore, depending on how road safety measures are designed, coordinated, and implemented, their effects on different types of road users vary. The case of Chile illustrates how the diffusion of road safety practices globally promoted by the World Health Organization and World Bank, particularly in 2004, can be an important influence to enhance national road safety practices.

Trends in mortality due to road traffic accidents in the municipality of Goiânia, Brazil, 2006-2014

2018

OBJECTIVE to estimate mortality trends for Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) in Goiânia (2006-2014). METHODS this was an ecological study with Mortality Information System data and population data from DATASUS and Goiânia City Government. We analyzed the time series for mortality from standardized RTA. RESULTS 3,347 deaths were included. We found significant mortality trends: pedestrians (average percentage annual increment rate - %AIR: -4.7; 95%CI -8.2;-1.1) and automobiles (%AIR: 2.6; 95%CI0.2;5.1) in Goiânia as a whole, pedestrians (%AIR: -11.3; 95%CI-20.7;-0.8), motorcycles (%AIR -13.5; 95%CI -19.0;-7.7) and automobiles (%AIR: 12.9; 95%CI2.6;24.2) in the city's Southern District, pedestrians (%AIR: -7.8; 95%CI-14.0;-1.2) in the Western District and automobiles (%AIR: -7.4; 95% 95%CI -13.8;-0.5) in the Campinas-Center District. The other time series remained stationary. CONCLUSION The RTA mortality rate in Goiânia as a whole reduced for pedestrians and increased for automobiles. I...

Factors That Influence the Type of Road Traffic Accidents: A Case Study in a District of Portugal

Sustainability

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a problem with repercussions in several dimensions: social, economic, health, justice, and security. Data science plays an important role in its explanation and prediction. One of the main objectives of RTA data analysis is to identify the main factors associated with a RTA. The present study aims to contribute to the identification of the determinants for the type of RTA: collision, crash, or pedestrian running-over. These factors are essential for identifying specific countermeasures because there is a relevant relationship between the type of RTA and its severity. Daily RTA data from 2016 to 2019 in a district of Portugal were analyzed. A statistical multinomial logit model was fitted. The identified determinants for the type of RTA were geographical (municipality, location, and parking areas), meteorological (air temperature and weather), time of the day (hour, day of the week, and month), driver’s characteristics (gender and age), vehicle’s fea...

Urban road traffic deaths: data linkage and identification of high-risk population sub-groups

Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 2015

This study analyzes the profile of deaths from road traffic accidents in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, by linking two public databases, the Information System of the Urban Transportation and Transit Company (BH10) and the Mortality Information System (SIM). The linked database (n = 306) identified a 24% under-recording rate for deaths and differed in the age distribution from the BH10 database and in roadway user category when compared to the mortality database. The mortality rate for road traffic accidents within the city limits was 10.2 per 100,000 thousand, and was higher among men, young adults, and the elderly. Poisson multivariate regression showed a higher mean death rate for motorcycle occupants (rate ratio – RR: 1.81); pedestrians (RR: 1.32); males (RR: 1.24); single/divorced (RR: 1.27); young adults 18-29 years of age (RR: 1.75); elderly (RR: 1.59); and deaths at the crash site (RR: 1.39) when compared to the reference categories. The study unveils the city’s...

Mortality trend due to traffic accident in young in the south of Brazil

Cadernos Saúde Coletiva, 2018

Background Traffic accidents are a major global public health problem with an impact on morbidity and mortality. Objective The aim of this study was to analyze the mortality trend from road accidents among young adults. Method An ecological time-series study was performed of the deaths of young (15-24 years old) in traffic accidents in the state of Parana, Brazil from 1996 to 2013. Mortality data was obtained from the Mortality Information System. Mortality rates were calculated and the trend analysis was performed through polynomial regression models. A trend was considered significant when the estimated model obtained a p-value <0.05. Accidents involving tricycles were excluded from the analysis (58 cases). Results Of the 12,063 deaths from road accidents, 82.0% were male. There was a significant and growing trend of accident mortality rates involving motorcyclists and car and pick-up truck occupants, and a decreasing trend of fatal accidents involving pedestrians. The average ...