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Prevalence of Road Traffic Accidents, and Associated Factors among Taxi Drivers in Jigjiga Town, Ethiopian Somali Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia

Background: Globally injury and deaths due to road traffic accidents (RTA) are a major public health problem more so in developing countries; as lives and disability adjusted life years were lost from road traffic accidents. In Ethiopia numerous problems are related to road traffic accidents. Objective: To determine the prevalence of road traffic accidents and associated factors among taxi drivers in jigjiga town, Eastern Ethiopia. Methodology: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among randomly selected taxi drivers living in jigjiga town, using a simple random sampling technique to randomly select 378 taxi drivers. The data was collected using a pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire and entered using Epidata version 3.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 20 to identify associated factors of road traffic accidents. Results: The prevalence of road traffic accidents in past three years was found to be 32.8% (29.0, 34.8) among taxi drivers in the study area. Vehicle ownership (AOR=2.7, CI: 1.64, 4.4), chewing Khat while driving, (AOR= 5.0, CI: 1.1, 22.9), age of the taxi drivers (AOR=2.38, CI: 1.23, 4.59), having own residence (AOR=0.55, CI: 0.33, 0.92) and punishment by traffic police (AOR=0.23, CI: 0.087, 0.47), were significantly associated with road traffic accidents. Conclusion: the result of this, study show that taxi drivers in Jigjiga town inconstant placed themselves increase risk of road traffic accidents by violating traffic laws, especially related to vehicle ownership, chewing Khat while driving, and punishment by traffic police. There is a need for awareness campaigns on road safety rules.