Abstract:
Although road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a major global public health problem, most of
it occurs in low-and middle-income countries including Ethiopia. Pedestrians, drivers and
passengers of vehicles are the most vulnerable in Ethiopia; whereas, in high-income countries,
crashes involve primarily privately owned vehicles with the driver being the main car occupant
injured or killed. One of the solutions to reduce the problem of traffic accident is finding the
causes through research, and data mining is one research tool in finding the causes of traffic
accidents. The objective of this study is to assess the cause and prevention methods of Road
Traffic Accident. A mixed research approach was used. Samples of the study were 403 of which
388 filled the questionnaires and 15 participated in focus group discussion. Data were collected
using questionnaires and focus group discussions and analyzed both quantitatively and
qualitatively. The quantitative data were analyzed using crosstabs, percentage, mean, standard
deviation, correlation and regression. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The grand
mean value of 3.49 generally indicated the prevalence of road traffic accidents. Moreover, the result
shows the grand mean value of 3.44 generally showed causes of road traffic accidents in Gondar
city were traced to the drivers, the pedestrians and the existing status of roads. The qualitative
results also showed drivers’ lack of due attention while driving and disrespecting traffic rules,
pedestrians lack of awareness of the road traffic rules and narrow nature of roads and old aged roads
were all causes of road traffic accidents. Generally, it is concluded in the study that there is a
need to give due consideration so as to improve the causes and reduce the problem
