Causes of road traffic accident and impacts on labor welfare in Gurage Zone, Ethiopia

Master's Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject Transportation Science & Technology, grade: 3.5, Wolkite University, language: English, abstract: This study examined factors that are affecting road traffic accident and impact on labor welfare. The experimental research design was employed in which qualitative approach was used to supplement the quantitative approach. Primary data was collected from Gurage zone for both control (e.g., people in the labor force and did not faced the road traffic accident) and the treatment group (e.g., people in the labor force and faced the accident). To trace treatment group 2018/19 Ethiopian fiscal year police office report was used. The probit model result showed that drunk-driving, violating traffic rule, over loading were important causes of traffic accident. According to the propensity score matching result, facing road traffic accident significantly reduced average monthly income and average monthly working hour and increased health expenditure of a labor. To reduce the accident the traffic management department and road authority need to regulate the misbehavior of drivers including drunk-driving, violating road traffic regulations and overloading using technologies such as speed cameras and alcohol consumption detecting machine. Moreover, traffic management or road authority can reduce the accident by building traffic signs such as traffic light, zebra cross (pedestrian cross) and other community geographic related signs. Awareness creation through mass mobilization and volunteer traffic services by local community during peak hours.

Road traffic accident leads to global economic and health problems. Despite the prevalence of the challenge, studies on the labor welfare impacts of road traffic accident and causes of the accident are in adequate.