Factors contributing to high frequency of vulnerable road user injury in Dar Es Salaam

Abstract

Paper presented at the 30th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 11-14 July 2011 "Africa on the Move", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

A Road traffic injury involving vulnerable road users (VRUs) is a serious problem in Dar es Salaam. VRUs fatalities due to road trafflc crashes reported in the year 2007 and 2008 were 79 percent of the 799 fatalities for all road user groups. Police records over the years consistently cite inappropriate road user actions as contributing factor to the occurrence of more than three quarters of the reported traffic crashes. The purpose of the study was to uncover the attitudes, road safety knowledge and beliefs of the road users so as to identify what causes their unsafe behaviour in traffic from the users' perspective. In-depth interviews involving a wide spectrum of road users selected using a purposeful sampling strategy were conducted. Analysis of themes followed a qualitative approach where the Information collected was subjected to content analysis where key themes and concepts were identlfled. Emerging themes and patterns were documented. Factors contributing to the high VRU injuries as indentified by the participants included lack of safety knowledge for all users, use of sub-standard helmets, poor condition of the road infrastructure, blatant violation of traffic regulations due to serious weaknesses in the enforcement system, ineffective motorcycle rider training system, the belief among drivers that the road space belongs to them and not for pedestrians and inadequate assistance to pedestrians crossing at main roads. The medical services in government hospitals are not always accessible immediately to the crash victims especially if they are motorcycle riders. The information obtained may be used as a basis for development of road safety campaign materials and for quantitative studies to determine the relative importance of each factor.