Factors Associated with Human-Controlled Motor Vehicle Fatal Crashes in Urban Area Using Fatality Ratio
DOI: 10.53898/etej2025211
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified
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Summary
This study investigates the factors associated with fatal motor vehicle crashes in urban areas, specifically focusing on the Tema Metropolis in Ghana. Motivated by the escalating public health and economic burden of road traffic crashes in Ghana, where fatalities disproportionately affect the active working population, the research aims to identify specific risk factors contributing to crash severity in dense urban environments. While previous studies often focused on rural or national levels, this work addresses the unique complexities of urban traffic, employing a "fatality ratio" metric to assess the likelihood of fatal outcomes relative to total crashes. The researchers analyzed 925 road crash reports extracted from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) of Ghana, covering the period from 2017 to 2020. Data were filtered to include only reports with complete information regarding driver demographics, crash location, and primary cause. Statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS version 25, including descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and cross-tabulation with Chi-square tests. A key methodological component was the calculation of a fatality ratio, defined as the proportion of fatal crashes to the total number of crashes for specific variable items, to quantify the contribution of individual factors to fatality rates. The results indicate that age, wrong overtaking, speeding, failure to yield right of way, and crash location have statistically significant relationships with fatality. Specifically, drivers under 20 years old exhibited the highest fatality ratio (0.417), followed by those aged 20–30 (0.303), suggesting that teenagers and young adults are disproportionately involved in fatal crashes due to inexperience and risk-taking behaviors. Unlicensed drivers also showed a high fatality ratio (0.232). Among crash causes, wrong overtaking had the highest fatality ratio (0.360), followed by speeding (0.291). Regarding location, crashes occurring outside intersections (0.309) were more likely to be fatal than those at uncontrolled (0.103) or controlled (0.074) intersections. Additionally, male drivers were involved in fatal crashes at a higher rate (0.144) than females (0.098). The study concludes that specific demographic and behavioral factors significantly influence the severity of urban motor vehicle crashes. The findings highlight that young, unlicensed, and male drivers, along with aggressive behaviors like wrong overtaking and speeding, are critical risk factors. Furthermore, the lack of traffic control measures outside intersections contributes to higher fatality rates. These insights provide evidence for policymakers and urban planners to develop targeted interventions, such as stricter licensing enforcement, improved traffic control infrastructure, and public awareness campaigns focused on high-risk demographics and behaviors, to reduce urban road crash fatalities.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-19 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-19 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-20 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes