Journal of Surgery and Trauma 2019; 7(4):161-169. @ 2019Journal of Surgery and Trauma Tel: +985632381203 Fax: +985632440488 Po Bax 97175-379 Email: jsurgery@bums.ac.ir  Correspondence to: Shaker Salari Lak, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran; Telephone Number: +9141414260 Email Address: salari@iaut.ac.ir jsurgery.bums.ac.ir Effective factors in the occurrence of road accidents in west Azerbaijan, Iran (2010-2016) Omid Garkaz 1 , Mirsadegh Mohamadi 2 , Hamid Reza Mehryar 3 , Hamid Reza Khalkhali 4 , Shaker Salari Lak 5  1 MSc of Epidemiology, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahrood, Iran 2 Office of Applied Researches of the Police of West Azerbaijan, Urmia, Iran 3 Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran 4 Professor of Biostatistics, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran 5 Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran Received: August 13, 2019 Revised: November 12, 2019 Accepted: December 09, 2019 Abstract Introduction: Car accidents are the most common accidents and one of the major health problems endangering the health of society. In fact, they are predictable and preventable events that can cost lives and money. The identification of the factors that influence these events can help control and reduce them. The present study aimed to identify the effective factors in the occurrence of road accidents in West Azerbaijan, Iran, during 2010-2016. Methods: All the traffic accident data recorded by the traffic police of West Azerbaijan during 2010-2016 were used in this cross-sectional study. The data were analyzed descriptively by the Chi-square test and analytically using SPSS software (version 16) and time series using Minitab (version 17). Results: The data of 79,296 registered accidents were included in the study. Most accidents were reported among males (93.9%) and high school education holders (56%), during 12-18 p.m. (39%) and the day (62%), by light vehicle (65%), disregarding longitudinal and transverse distance (63%), and resulting in damage (53%). Conclusions: There was a higher frequency of traffic accidents among male drivers holding a diploma. Further investigations are required to determine the contribution of each of the risk factors and plan for the prevention of accidents. Key words: Accidents, Risk Factor, Trauma Introduction According to the reports of the World Health Organization (WHO) released in 2013, 1.24 million (18% of the total) people lose their lives in road accidents, and more than 50 million individuals are injured or disabled. Accordingly, if no effective measure is taken, this number will reach 1.9 million by 2020 (1). According to other reports of the WHO, 400.000 mortalities and more than 4,000,000 injuries occur in Asia, and more than 90% of these mortalities occur in low and middle- income countries, including Africa and the eastern part of the Middle East (2-4). In the United Arab Emirates, the rate of mortalities resulted from motor vehicle accidents