International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 05 Issue: 12 | Dec 2018 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 © 2018, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 125 Cause and Remedial Measures of Road Traffic Accidents: A Case Study of Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia Mengistu Mena Kuleno 1 , Tarekegn Shirko Lachore 2 , Dr Raju Ramesh Reddy 3 1 Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia 2 Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Wachemo University, Ethiopia 3 Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Arba Minch University, Ethiopia ---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract - Transportation plays an advanced role in developing countries by facilitating social, economic and political activities, assuring the use of good governance and development, stiffening the agricultural and industrial services to reduce poverty and backwardness. Wolaita zone has been showing fast motorization and urbanization. But because of lack of road safety awareness, road safety action plan, road safety laws and enforcement, road infrastructure safety, vehicle safety standard inspection and lack of management of mixed traffic flow system there is enormous growth of road traffic accidents. The scale and the severity burdens of road traffic crashes are increasing adversely. This affects the economy of the country in general and the livelihood of individuals in particular. The current study is conducted to analyze the total rate of accident in wolaita zone, Ethiopia. The Accident data were collected from wolaita zone traffic police office. A Multiple Non Linear Regression equation is developed to estimate the influence of each contributing factors on the occurrence of accidents. From the analysis, it is observed that the influence of over speed and over takings are more leading in occurrence of accidents followed by failing to give priority and pedestrian factors. Motor cycle takes the highest share of accident occurrence followed by tracks in wolaita zone. The study provides alternative remedial measures to reduce various consequences involved in accidents. Key Words: wolaita zone, rate of accident, contributing factors, safety, multiple nonlinear regression. 1. INTRODUCTION Road Transportation is versatile and flexible in nature. For this matter a large number of commodities and passengers are transported by road. The road traffic in many developing African countries of the world including Ethiopia is heterogeneous in nature. Different classes of vehicles with widely varying characteristics occupy the available road space. The vehicles that share the same roadway space include Motorized vehicles such as cars, buses, trucks, light commercial vehicles, motorized two- wheelers, motorized three wheelers, etc. and Non- Motorized vehicles like pedal cycles, hand carts, donkey drawn carts and horse drawn vehicles. Pedestrians also on several roads share of the road space. As a result the pedestrians constitute a significant proportion of fatal accident victims in the country. People travels from one place to another place either to work or to do business or to study or to enjoy to shopping or for any social affairs using various transport options. But because of lack of road safety awareness, road safety action plan, road safety laws and enforcement, road infrastructure safety, vehicle safety standard inspection and lack of management of mixed traffic flow system there is enormous growth of road traffic accidents. Globally the burden of road traffic crash is increasing day to day. According to 2015 Global status report on road safety of the road traffic injuries indicates that Road traffic accident rates in low and middle-income countries are more than double those in high-income countries. About 49% of all road traffic crashes are among motorcyclists, pedestrians and cyclists. The road crash fatality rate in Ethiopia was 23837 deaths per 100,000 inhabitant per year. The estimated road traffic death rate per 100 000 population is 25.3% and recorded as the highest death rate. Out of all the accidents registered in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa accounts 60% on average and Wolaita zone accounts more on average [1] The burdens of the scale and the severity of road traffic crash are increasing adversely by affecting the economy of the country in general and the livelihood of individuals in particular. Therefore these paper tried to study the behavior of road traffic accident in wolaita zone and analyzed the model for the causes. 1.1 Objectives 1.1.1 Main Objective The main objective of this research is to identify the major cause of road traffic accident of wolaita zone and to forward possible remedial measures. 1.1.2 Specific Objectives The specific objectives of the study is