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Assessment of Road Worthiness of Long Distance Commercial Vehicles in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

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Abstract

The prevalence of road traffic accidents is on the rise, thus contributing to morbidity and mortality. Vehicular factors are responsible for 13% of road traffic crashes, 33% of vehicles are not compliant to road worthiness standards. Defects in vehicles commonly occur in the braking systems, trafficators and lights, tires and wheels, steering systems and body. Vehicle road worthiness is important in ensuring that the vehicle is safe and is road worthy. This is a current global need as highlighted in the World decade for road safety action. It is important that commercial vehicles that transport passengers are road worthy, since these vehicles claim more deaths and disability after a road accident. This emphasizes the importance of routine vehicular checks in road safety. Also, the ever increasing in number of parks, transport operators, vehicles and passengers on the road has more than ever underscored the need for fitness to drive assessment and roadworthiness checks. This study aimed at road worthiness of long distance commercial vehicles in Benin City, Edo State. A descriptive crosssectional study design was used, and data was collected from 315 commercial long-distance drivers and their vehicles. Study was done from January to October, 2013. Respondents were recruited using systematic random sampling technique. Study instruments included structured interviewer administered questionnaires (including an observational checklist). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Of the 315 respondents, 273 (86.6%) had vehicles that were aged 1-4 years while 42 (13.4%) were aged 5-8 years. Over three quarters 245 (77.8%) of vehicles had a valid MOT road worthiness certificate in place. Two hundred and eighty-five (90.5%) vehicles of respondents were roadworthy, while 30 (9.5%) were not road worthy. The statistically significant predictors of roadworthiness were vehicle age (years), having a valid Ministry of Health (MOT) roadworthiness certification in place and fitness of the driver. Only a tenth of the vehicles were road worthy. Thus, there is need to conduct annual vehicular checks and maintenance, including search for vehicular defects before departure. Enforce fitness to drive assessment especially before issuance of driver’s license and the Ministry of Transport (MOT) roadworthiness certificate should be issued only to vehicles that are road worthy and defect free.

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To determine the relationship between poor vision and occurrence of road traffic accidents (RTAs) and the barriers to uptake of refractive error services among commercial drivers in the Cape Coast Municipality of Ghana. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted involving commercial drivers in the municipality. Participants underwent an eye examination comprising visual acuity, colour vision test using Ishihara pseudo-isochromatic plates, confrontational visual fields, external and internal ocular eye health examinations. Structured questionnaire were also administered to the participants to collect demographic data, history of driving and RTAs and utilization of eye care services as well as identification of the colours of the traffic light. A total of 206 male drivers were interviewed and examined. Over 12% of the commercial drivers do not have the minimum visual acuity required for driving while 6.8% had visual impairment (VA < 6/18 in the better eye). There was no association between occurrence of RTAs and visual impairment (p = 0.050), visual field (p = 0.741) and colour vision defect (p = 0.343). A poor utilization of refractive error services was noted and the barriers to uptake of eye care services were largely due to unawareness of visual status. Refractive errors are the commonest ocular finding followed by cataracts. There are barriers to uptake of refractive error services among commercial drivers in the Cape Coast Municipality. These barriers could be addressed by health education targeting commercial vehicle drivers at their stations.
Article
Background: Injury and deaths due to road traffic crashes are a major public health problem in developing countries. More than 3000 people die on the world's roads every day. Tens of millions of people are injured or disabled every year. Children, pedestrians, cyclists and the elderly are among the most vulnerable of road users. More than 85% of all deaths and 90% of disability adjusted life years lost from road traffic injuries occur in developing countries. Road traffic injuries in developing countries particularly affect the productive (working) age group (15-44 years) and children. Among children aged 0-4 and 5-14 years, the number of fatalities per 100 000 population in low income countries was about six times greater than in high income countries in 1998. Police data for Rwanda has revealed a decline in the number of road traffic accidents. This reduction in number of RTA has been attributed to the vigilance of Traffic Police, This study was aimed at determining the pattern of road traffic injuries seen at Kigali. Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study done at Kigali Central University Teaching Hospital in the Department of Emergence and in the Trauma hospitalization wards. Records of all cases of road traffic injuries were retrieved and studied.Data collected was filled in a standard form in which data obtained was recorded. Parameters studied included the age, sex, place of residence, province of origin, means of transport used. Results: Of the 1101 road traffic accident victims, 558 (50.7%) were in the 16 to 30 age group. Only 7.2% of the cases were aged 46 years and above with only 21 (1.9%) being above 60 years. Table 3 shows the socio-demographic findings among patients with road traffic injuries seen at Kigali University Teaching Hospital (CHUK). There was a predominance of males accounting for 78.7% with a male to female ratio of 3.7: 1. Most patients (90.2% were residents of Kigali city. Most patients came to CHUK without going through the established referral systems (Table 4). The commonest injuries were wound and contusions (54.7%), lower limb injuries (41.9%) and head injury (29.4%). There were 103 deaths (9.4% mortality rate). Fifty eight (56.3%) of the deaths occurred before arrival to hospital
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