[3].
The severity of road traffic crashes is also likely to be
much greater in Africa than anywhere else, because
many vulnerable road users are involved, poor transport
conditions such as lack of seat belts, overcrowding, and
hazardous vehicle environments. The poor reporting
system has also masked the magnitude of the problem
in Africa. The lack of pre-hospital and hospital emergency
care after accidents makes the outcome of car
accidents in Africa the worst [4].
According to federal police commission report the
death rate due to car accident is significantly increasing
among pedestrians and passengers from time to time in
Ethiopia [5]. A total of 25,110 accidents and 3,415 fatalities
were recorded in Addis Ababa during 2000-2009.
The majority of fatalities were pedestrian, 2970(87%) followed
by passengers 297(9%) and drivers 148(4%) [6]. A
report from traffic Police office of Mekelle town (the
study area) indicated that in 2008, there were a total
313 RTAs and in 2009 the total number RTAs increased
to 353. On the other hand, the report showed that 96%
of the causes were related to human risk behavior
whereas 4% was due to vehicle problem [7].
Evidences noted that human behavior is the most
common factor accounting for more than 85% of all
traffic accidents [2]. Among the risky human behaviors
is driving over the recommended speed. Studies has
indicated that an increase of 1 km/h in mean traffic
speed results in a 3% increase in the incidence of accident
crashes and a 4-5% increase in fatal crashes [8-10].
Another risky behavior identified for road traffic accident
is taking alcohol and driving [11,12]. Not using
seat belt while driving is additional risky behavior identified
[13,14]. Mobile phoning while driving is becoming
one of the riskier behaviors as well [15-17]. Knowledge,
belief, attitude on risky driving behaviors and driving
experience were also important aspects of risky behaviors
identified with evidences [18-21]. Since evidences
are directing us the most important factor for road traffic
accident is human behavior, we have investigated the
most important human factors of risky driving behavior
for road traffic accident in Mekele city, northern part of
Ethiopia.