Two-wheeled motorized road accidents are becoming increasingly frequent and are responsible for high mortality among a young and active population in developing countries. The objective of this study was to determine the mortality rate related to motorcycle accidents and to identify socio-demographic factors and accidental mechanisms. Methodology: This was a retrospective descriptive and analytical study involving 16,655 patients, including 312 deaths due to motorcycle accidents. The study took place from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017. Not all patients who died as a result of accidents involving equipment other than two motorized wheels were included in our study. The data were entered and analyzed using the Epi.info version software. For the comparison of qualitative data, we used Pearson’s khi2. Results: We recorded 312 cases of death or 1.87% out of a total of 16,655 victims. Of the deceased victims, only 112 wore a protective helmet and 200 did not. The male predominance was clear ( p < 0.0001). Fatal accidents were more frequent among 4 pm and midnight ( p < 0.0001). Conclusion: This study shows that two-wheeled motor vehicle accident mortality is a public health problem. Gender, occupation and time of occurrence of the accidents were most common factors associated with mortality. The effective establishment of an emergency medical assistance service (SAMU) in Conakry could improve the pre-hospital care of these traumatised people.
Long considered as a public health problem in developed countries, road accidents are nowadays a real global scourge, due to the high number of victims due to the mechanization of all sectors of the economy, but also and especially because of the modernization of road traffic [
This was a retrospective descriptive and analytical study involving 16,655 patients, including 312 deaths due to accidents involving two-wheeled motorized vehicles. The study took place from January 01, 2013 to December 31, 2017 in the forensic medicine unit in collaboration with the emergency department of the Donka National Hospital in Conakry. The forensic medicine unit is responsible for medical-legal consultation and the management of the remains. All the bodies benefited from the forensic doctor’s expertise, some were received directly from the accident site, others via the emergency service (body depot). Not all patients who died as a result of accidents involving equipment other than two motorized wheels (personal vehicle, bus and truck) were included in our study. Our data were collected from medical records, death registers and individual survey sheets including questions on socio-demographic data (age, sex, socio-professional category) and accident characteristics (time, day of the week, month of occurrence and accident mechanism). The data were entered and analyzed using Epi.info software version. 6 For the comparison of qualitative data, we used Pearson’s khi2.
The data were entered and analyzed using Epi.info software version. 6 For the comparison of qualitative data, we used Pearson’s khi2.
The insufficiency of information on certain files constitutes the main limitation of this study.
We recorded 312 cases of death or 1.87% of a total of 16,655 victims of accidents involving two-wheeled motor vehicles. Of the 312 cases of death, only 112 wore a protective helmet and 200 did not. In the majority of cases, deaths occurred outside the hospital (either at the accident site or during transport to hospital) with 1.18% (n = 197/16,655). In 0.47% of cases (n = 79/16,655), death occurred in a hospital ward, in 0.22% of cases (n = 36/16,655) death occurred on arrival in the emergency room.
All ages were concerned with extremes of 1 year and 76 years. The majority of the deceased victims 1.48% (247/16,655) were between 15 and 44 years of age. The category of workers was the most concerned with 0.65% (108/16,655). The male predominance was clear with a sex ratio M/F of 4, 26.
Fatal accidents were more frequent among 4 pm and midnight with 1.03% (n = 171/16,655), the difference observed was very significant (p < 0.001). We did not find a relationship between days of the week and the occurrence of deaths (p = 0.227). Our results also show that the month was not associated with the occurrence of deaths due to two-wheeled vehicles (p = 0.213), the difference was statistically insignificant.
The most frequent accidental mechanism most frequently and most associated with death was motor-vehicle (p < 0.0001) the statistical difference was highly significant.
Among the deceased victims (
This study shows that of the 16,655 victims of accidents involving two-wheeled motorized vehicles recorded during the study period, 312 or 1.87% had died. This mortality has increased steadily over the 5 years of study with an average annual increase of 0.22% (
All ages were concerned with extremes of 1 year and 76 years. The majority of victims (67.6%) were between 15 and 44 years of age (
the female sex (p < 0. 0001), the difference observed was statistically significant. This could be explained by the advent of motorcycle taxis, generally driven by men, as a new means of travel in our country, as in most countries of the subregion, as reported by many authors [
In this study, we found that the time range from 4:00 pm to 00:00 am (
Parametes | Deceased | Not deceased | p-value | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nb | % | Nb | % | ||
Age group | |||||
≤14 ans | 32 | 0.19 | 1676 | 10.10 | |
15 - 29 ans | 129 | 0.77 | 6757 | 41.34 | |
30 - 44 ans | 86 | 0.52 | 4505 | 27.56 | |
45 - 59 ans | 36 | 0.22 | 1886 | 11.32 | p = 0.2202 |
60 - 74 ans | 22 | 0.13 | 1152 | 6.91 | |
≥74 ans | 7 | 0.04 | 367 | 2.20 | |
Sex | |||||
Male | 253 | 1.52 | 13,252 | 81 | |
Female | 59 | 0.35 | 3091 | 19 | p < 0.0001 |
Profession | |||||
Workers | 108 | 0.65 | 5658 | 34.62 | |
Students and students | 87 | 0.52 | 4556 | 27.88 | |
Trader/Merchands | 32 | 0.19 | 677 | 10.26 | |
Officials | 24 | 0.14 | 1256 | 7.69 | p = 0.0228 |
Military | 21 | 0.13 | 1099 | 6.73 | |
Housewives | 19 | 0.11 | 997 | 6.10 | |
Cultivators | 12 | 0.07 | 629 | 3.85 | |
Others | 9 | 0.05 | 480 | 2.88 |
Parameters | Deceased | Not deceased | p-value | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nb | % | Nb | % | |||
Hours | ||||||
16 h - 00 h | 171 | 1.03 | 8957 | 54.81 | p < 0.0001 | |
8 h - 16 h | 77 | 0.46 | 4033 | 24.68 | ||
00 h - 8 h | 64 | 0.38 | 3353 | 20.51 | ||
Days | ||||||
Monday | 40 | 0.24 | 2095 | 12.82 | ||
Tuesday | 37 | 0.22 | 1938 | 11.86 | ||
Wednesday | 32 | 0.19 | 1677 | 10.26 | p = 0.2270 | |
Thursday | 39 | 0.23 | 2043 | 12.50 | ||
Friday | 50 | 0.30 | 2619 | 16.03 | ||
Saturday | 66 | 0.40 | 3457 | 21.15 | ||
Sunday | 48 | 0.29 | 2514 | 15.38 | ||
Months | ||||||
June-September | 98 | 0.59 | 5133 | 31.41 | ||
October-December | 83 | 0.50 | 4348 | 26.60 | p = 0.2133 | |
April-June | 73 | 0.44 | 3824 | 23.39 | ||
January-March | 58 | 0.34 | 3038 | 18.60 | ||
Circumstances | Deceased | Not Deceased | p-value | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nb | % | Nb | % | ||
Motorcycle/Auto | 179 | 1.07 | 9376 | 56.30 | |
Motorcycle/Motorcycle | 72 | 0.43 | 3771 | 22.64 | |
Motorcycle/Pedestrian | 34 | 0.20 | 1781 | 10.70 | p < 0.0001 |
Motorcycle only | 16 | 0.09 | 838 | 5.03 | |
Motorcycle/Bicycle | 11 | 0.06 | 577 | 3.46 |
September were the most affected by deaths (0.52%), however, the difference observed was not statistically significant (p = 0.2133). This period corresponds to the summer school holidays with their procession of intense juvenile recreational activities on the one hand, and on the other hand the poor state of the cycle paths associated with heavy winter rainfall could explain it [
The accidental motor-vehicle mechanism (
Regarding helmet use, we found that motorcyclists who did not wear helmets were 1.5 times more likely to die than those who did (p < 0.0001); OR = 1.47 [1.16 - 1.85]. This low proportion of motorcycle users wearing helmets could be explained on the one hand by poor enforcement of road safety legislation in our country, and on the other hand with poor information about users on the importance of wearing helmets. They often think that they should wear a helmet to avoid police control and not for their own safety. In France, the ORSFC (Fr-CTE Regional Health Organization) in 2003 and ACEM (Association of European Motorcycle Manufacturers) in 2008 reported helmet use at around 100% and 90.4% respectively [
In the majority of cases (1.18%), deaths occurred outside the hospital (either at the accident site or during transport to the hospital). Most of the studies on road traffic accidents that have been carried out in low- and middle-income countries in the world have been carried out in a number of countries.
Two-wheeled motorized road accidents are becoming increasingly frequent and are responsible for high mortality among a young working population in developing countries. The regression of this phenomenon requires the implementation of a prevention policy through awareness campaigns on compliance with road traffic regulations, the wearing of protective helmets on the one hand, and on the other hand, through the effective implementation of an emergency medical assistance service (SAMU) in Conakry for the pre-hospital care of traumatised people.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Diallo, T.M.C., Diallo, S., Aboki, F. and Traore, N. (2020) Mortality Related to Accidents Involving Two-Wheeled Motorized Vehicles at Donka National Hospital. Health, 12, 63-70. https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2020.121005