Public Road Transport Crashes in a Low Income Country

In order to meet the demand for mobility, the Sri Lanka government has deregulated the public transport industry, allowing the introduction of private buses and three-wheeler vehicles. This descriptive study assesses the safety of government versus non-government public road transportation in the Kandy municipal area of Sri Lanka. Data on all road traffic crashes reported to the Kandy Police from 1 October 1998 to 30 September 1999 in which a government bus, private bus, or a three-wheeler was involved were collected. Results showed that 132 government buses, 243 private buses, and 115 three wheelers were involved in 437 police reported road crashes during the study period. Of these crashes, eight (1.8%) were fatal and 132 (30.2%) were crashes resulting in injury requiring hospitalization. The majority of road crashes involved vehicle-vehicle interaction (63.4%) and vehicle-pedestrian interaction (17.8%), while the remainder consisted of vehicle-passenger and vehicle-road structure crashes. The research highlights an increased risk associated with travel on privately owned buses and three wheelers compared to travel on government buses. Since fewer safety requirements currently are being imposed on the deregulated public transportation system, the government needs to introduce preventive strategies that address this differential in crash rates between public and private transportation.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13538047
• Authors:
  • Dharmaratne, S D
  • Stevenson, M
• Publication Date: 2006-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 417-420
• Serial:
  • Injury Prevention
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue Number: 6
  • Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
  • ISSN: 1353-8047
  • EISSN: 1475-5785
  • Serial URL: http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Buses; Crash data; Crash rates; Crash reports; Crash severity; Crash types; Deregulation; Descriptive statistics; Developing countries; Governments; Private passenger vehicles; Public transit; Statistical analysis; Three wheeled vehicles; Traffic crashes; Vehicle safety
• Uncontrolled Terms: Private for hire vehicles
• Geographic Terms: Sri Lanka
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01044689
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 30 2007 6:59AM