Environmental Factors Influencing the Distribution of Pedestrian Traffic Accidents in Iran

Authors

1 Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Occupational Health and Safety Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

3 Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

4 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Health Development, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to determine the environmental factors affecting the frequency of accidents leading to injury and death related to pedestrians in 31 provinces of Iran. Methods: Data necessary for the study were extracted from databases of traffic police, statistics center, ministry of roads and urban development, and Iran meteorological organization. Hot spots analysis was used based on Getis‑Ord G statistics in geographically weighted regression models. Goodness of fit of models was evaluated using the Bayesian information criterion, Akaike’s information criterion and Deviance statistics. Results: In this study, 49,409 incidents were investigated. Of these, 48,382 (98%) cases were injuries and 1027 (2%) cases were fatal accidents. The incidence of fatal accidents does not follow a specific pattern; however, the incidence of accidents leading to injuries is higher in the central and the northeastern provinces of the country and lower in the southern and southeast provinces of the country. The final models showed that the relationship between different variables, including demographic characteristics, road network, and distance from the capital, traffic volume, and rainfall with dependent variables (number of accidents in geographic units), was statistically significant. Conclusion: In order to better design preventive plans for traffic accidents and promote the safety of passageways for pedestrians inside and outside the cities, these factors need to be considered more carefully, and practical solutions should be developed and implemented for their correction.

Keywords


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