East African Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Empirical Research on Factors Contributing Road Accident Among Bajaj Drivers in Banadir Region, Mogadishu, Somalia

This study was aimed at investigating the effects of driver’s age on road accidents among Moto Bajaj drivers in Mogadishu. The study objectives include; identifying the proportion of driver exceeding the urban driving limit, determining the relationship between driver age and accidents, determining the relationship between speed of driving and road accident, and determining the proportion of drivers who meets the legal requirements for driving. Structured questionnaires were administered to Bajaj drivers and collected 385 records from the source population of Bajaj drivers. It was conducted through a field survey of 385 Bajaj drivers in the Banadir region. The source of the population was unknown to determine the sample size, Cochrane (1977) formula was used for larger sample size determination to calculate the ideal sample size. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from Jan to May 2022. The topic was the effects of Moto


INTRODUCTION
Globally, the most affected people by road traffic accidents are young people aged 15-29 years and it is expected that road accidents might become the fifth leading cause of death unless urgent action is taken (Tumwesigye et al., 2016).According to WHO (2018), the deaths caused by road accidents have increased from 1.24 million in 2013 to 1.35 million in 2018 (Boateng, 2021).Moreover, it is also estimated that annually 13 million deaths and 20-50 million disabilities globally occur due to road accidents (Tadesse et al., 2019).The African roads are the world's deadliest roads for many reasons.This includes human, mechanical, and environmental factors, which are the basic causes of road traffic accidents (Deme, 2019).
Studies showed that younger drivers are more prone to engaging in accidents compared to adult and experienced drivers (Aldridge et al., 1999).The low accident per driver rate in spite of the higher rate/kilometre is clarified by older drivers' leaning to limit driving speed.However, their very act of reducing their annual driving distances may contribute to the amplified risk of accidents per kilometre among older drivers.Accidents for all drivers per unit of distance moved are much higher in the dark hours than throughout the day.It is possible that the problem with young drivers being involved in crashes during evening hours (David D. Clarke, 2005).
Speed is an important safety factor for a number of reasons.On the one hand, it determines the time possible for a driver to take evasive action in a dangerous situation and also the severity of the consequences after an accident.Third, it can be argued that reducing the variation of driving speed can also reduce the number of accidents by reducing the number of possible conflicts.Much empirical evidence shows that the choice of driving speed is significantly related to the probability of accidents and their severity (Olemo, 2016)

Problem Statement
A road accident refers to a collision involving one or more vehicles on the road or a pedestrian and results in death, injury, or damage to property (Odhiambo et al., 2015).Road traffic injuries place a heavy burden on global and national economies and household finances.With more than 13 million deaths and 20 -50 million injuries being directly linked to road traffic accidents in the world, the social and economic burden presents a compromising scenario for Kenya as a nation.(Olemo, 2016) In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 64/2551, proclaiming a Decade of Action for Road Safety so as to stabilize and reduce the increasing trend in road traffic fatalities.Interestingly RTAs in high-income countries are expected to fall by 2020, and More than 85% of RTAs occur in developing countries (Olemo, 2016) In Somalia, in the period "between 2012 to 2021" the trade and importation of Moto Bajaj have increased.The number doubled in 2020.However, no one has ever researched about Moto Bajaj accidents in Mogadishu.On that, there is less information on the proportion of road traffic accidents attributed to Moto Baja in Mogadishu.For that reason, the study investigated the relationship between moto Bajaj driver age and road accidents in Mogadishu.

Research Objectives
• To identify the proportion of drivers exceeding the urban driving speed limit • To determine the relationship between driver age and accidents • To determine the relationship between driving speed and accidents • To determine the proportion of drivers who meet the legal requirements for driving

Research Questions
• What is the proportion of drivers exceeding the urban driving speed limit?
• What is the relationship between driver age and accidents?
• What is the relationship between driving speed and accidents?
• What is the proportion of drivers who meet the legal requirements for driving?

METHOD AND MATERIALS
This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in January 2022, with a case being the effects of Moto Bajaj driver's age on road accidents in Mogadishu.The study described the following variables age, sex, education level and marital status, preferred speed, having a license, and the number of accidents of the Bajaj drivers.

Sampling Size and Sampling Techniques
The present study was conducted through a field survey of 385 Moto Bajaj drivers in the Banadir region.The source of the population was unknown and to determine the sample size, we used Cochrane's (1977) formula for larger sample size determination to calculate an ideal sample size given a desired level of precision, desired confidence level, and the estimated proportion of the attribute present in the population.
To determine the sampling techniques and the sampling designs, the study used systematic random sampling with a sampling interval of 5000/385=13 in every 13 th of the Bajaj after, the starting point from any number' between' 1 to 99.So that the sampling techniques started from 5 th plus 13; the second will be 5+13, = 18, and so on till the 385sample size is reached.

Data Collection and Analysis
Ten scholar enumerators were hired for three days to collect the data and get the minimum requirement of 385 records from Bajaj moto drivers.The enumerators were trained on the ODK toolkit and how to use it prior to the data collection.As part of the quality assurance, the tool was pretested and checked for any misunderstandings for further correction and the questionnaires were revised based on the feedback received from the team.The analysis was done through SPSS Version 20.
Structured questionnaires were administered to Moto Bajaj drivers with the purpose of collecting 385 records from the source population (Bajaj drivers).The questionnaires were tested prior to deploying them and received after test-retest with an SPSS IMB Cronbach level greater than 0.80(80), which is the significant standardized value.The questionnaires consisted of a number of variables and the first section was the demographic factors including the age, sex, marital status, and education level of the drivers.
Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 26.Under the variables, a frequency distribution table was used mainly for the demographic characteristics of the participants.Further logistic regression analysis was conducted for the following variables (gender, marital status, Age group, years with license grouped, years of driving grouped, and preferred driving speed grouped) to show the predictability of the model regarding the outcome variables of whether they have an accident.Almost all drivers were male (99%), and the drivers' age group revealed that 47% were between 13-25 years, 43% were 26-35 years, and 10% were aged above 36 years.The range of age was 13 to 75, with an average of 27 years of age.Most of the Baja drivers were young.

Demographic
The marital status of the participants was asked during the survey and the results showed that 38% were single, 51% were married, 6% were divorced, and 4% were widows.This indicates that the majority are married, followed by married drivers.
The education level was asked, and the study revealed that 18% were illiterate, 39% had a secondary certificate, 13% had a diploma, 29% had a bachelor's degree, and 1 % showed to have a master's degree.This indicates that 82% of the Bajaj drivers are educated with the least education level showed secondary school certificate to master's degree.
The participants were asked to rate whether they had ever had an accident or not; 330 drivers had an accident and 54 did not, this means that about 85.9% of the drivers had at least one accident during the period.
Regarding the driving speed, the Bajaj drivers were asked to rate their speed considering the following The length of time the drivers had a license was asked; the study revealed that 41% of the drivers had a license for about 2 years, 35% had about 3 to 5 years, and 24% of the drivers had a license for a period greater than 5 years of total license owner Bajaj drivers where about 60.7% of the drivers did not have a license.

Binary Logistic Regression Analysis
In this section, the model summary was discussed to identify variables related to the outcome variables of whether the driver is likely to have an accident or not.It provides the goodness of fit to the model.In this regard from 49% to 56%, variation in the model involvement is accounted for by gender, marital status, age group, years with license, years of driving, and preferred driving speed.

CONCLUSION
In summary, the study found that there are drivers who do not meet the legal requirement for driving, it is either they are under age or have no licences; this could be explained why there is a high number of driving accidents in the Capital city.There are drivers who prefer speed driving irrespective of being in the capital city.The study revealed that drivers prefer high-speed driving as the drivers were not compliant with the driving limitation on the streets.Most drivers being very young adds the risk of extra burdens.The younger the driver, the more likely to have an accident.

Recommendations
The study recommends and provides advocacy to all concerned bodies, including the government institutions, organizations, private institutions, and decisions maker to impose and actively engage the road safety policy and procedures, including driving age and speed limiting on certain roads in Banadir Region.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, we would like to thank Almighty Allah, who made us possible to take this research.Also, we appreciate our advisor, Dr. Omar Abdulla Omar, and our classmates who have contributed conduct this research.Likewise, our thank goes to the numerators who supported the data collection, and we are grateful to thank our Administrator for his coordination support.

Table 1 : Demographic characteristics of the respondents
Characteristics