Risk factors for road traffic accidents in Gulu municipality, Uganda

Background: Currently Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) are ranked tenth among the leading causes of death and ninth among all leading causes of disability worldwide. There has been no published study on RTA in Gulu municipality. There is a high frequency of RTA in Gulu municipality with poor road design and inadequate knowledge on road safety precaution among road users.Objectives: To establish the causes of Road Traffic Accidents (RTA), establish the safety measures in place to protect road users to avoid RTA and establish people mostly involved and the mechanism of RTA.Design: A cross-sectional studySettings:Four divisions of Gulu Municipality; Layibi, Laroo, Pece and Bardege.Subjects: Two hundred and forty two participants including pedestrians, drivers of different categories of vehicles, motorcyclists and bicyclists locally known as bodaboda and the police were interviewed.Results: Most respondents reported RTA as a problem in Gulu municipality (96%), causing death (48%), financial constraint due to medical treatment (41%) and disability (11%). The following causes of RTA were identified; reckless driving and riding (49%), poor road design (24%), drug abuse (15%) and over loading (12%). According to police records of January to September 2009 RTA involved pedestrians (36.34%), passengers (25.80%), motorcyclists (24.88%), pedal cyclists (11.52%) and drivers (3.68%).Conclusion: RTAs is a substantial burden in Gulu municipality in Northern Uganda with reckless driving or riding, poor road design, overloading, double parking, inadequate road safety signs and knowledge, were major risk factors. Efforts to reduce RTA in Gulu municipality should aim at addressing these problems