Page 1 of 8
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 532
Association of Motorbike Accidents with Behavior related
Factors in Karachi, Pakistan
Syed Arif Ali
Lecturer, Department of Research Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi, Pakistan
Email: arif_ali79@hotmail.com
Muhammad Adnan Kanpurwala
Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology Muhammad Bin Qasim Medical & Dental College
Karachi, Pakistan
Email: drmuhammadadnan@hotmail.com
Mubashir Aslam
Research Associate School of Health and Related Research University of Sheffield, England.
Email: mubashir125@hotmail.com
Salman Siddiqui
Research officer Department of Radiology, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
Email: Siddiqui.Salman78@gmail.com
Shahzaib Khan
Student, Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi, Pakistan
Email: shahzebkhan@gmail.com
Sohaib Haider
Resident House Officer Jinnah Post graduate Medical Center Karachi, Pakistan
Email: Sohaib.Haider09@gmail.com
Muhammed Tahir
Resident House Officer, Civil Hospital Karachi, Pakistan
Email: doctortahirkhan2k7@gmail.com
Abstract:
Background: Road traffic accidents are one
of the major causes of mortality and
morbidity. A large proportion of accident
victims are young people and their
morbidity results in a major financial and
productivity loss to the society. Therefore
this case control study was used to assess
the behavior related factors associated with
motorbike accidents in Karachi, Pakistan.
Methods: This study was conducted in Civil
Hospital and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical
Center in Karachi, Pakistan, for a duration of
4 months. All the motorbike accident
victims presented to the emergency
department were included in this study as
Cases while the Controls were riders
without any history of motorbike accident
in the previous three years.
Results: A total of 254 participants were
included in the study with equal number of
cases (n=127) and controls. Most of the
accident cases (64%) were younger than 30
years. Smoking during motorbike riding was
found to increase the chances of accidents
by 3.8 times. (OR=3.8; 1.6, 9.0).
Furthermore, those participants who never
Page 2 of 8
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 533
used helmets were at 3.4 times higher risk
of motorbike accidents (CI=1.7,6.9).
Conclusion: Smoking and not wearing
helmet significantly increase the chances of
road traffic accidents and injuries.
Therefore measures should be taken to
spread knowledge regarding the association
of smoking with road traffic accidents.
Moreover awareness campaigns should
focus on the importance of wearing a
helmet especially in our region.
Keywords: Motorbike accident, Accidents in
Pakistan, Road Traffic accidents, Cigarette
Smoking
Introduction:
Road traffic accidents [RTA] are one of the
major causes of mortality and morbidity not
only in developing countries but also in the
developed world. However, the situation is
worse in developing countries. Around two
third of all the accidents occur in developing
countries and everyday hundreds of people
suffer preventable cause of death (Peden,
2004). A large proportion of accident
victims are young and their mortality or
morbidity results in a major financial and
productivity loss to the society while
inflicting tremendous personal burden on
the injured and their families1
. One of the
estimates revealed that as many as 3000
people die from accidents each day and in
addition 30000 people get serious injuries
(C. Murray & Lopez, 1996). The situation is
becoming worse with time as a result of
continuous increase in vehicles on road and
therefore it is projected that by 2020, road
traffic crashes will be the 3rd leading cause
of death and disability worldwide(C. J.
Murray & Lopez, 1997; Nantulya & Reich,
2002).
In Pakistan, death rate from RTA is 4 per
100,000 population and 15 per 10,000
vehicles. Moreover, the total numbers of
registered vehicles have increased 17 times
during 1956-1996 and simultaneously there
has been a 5 fold increase in vehicles on the
road and 14 fold increase in accidents while
deaths following RTA have increased by 16
times(Hyder, Ghaffar, & Masood, 2000).
The reasons of increasing trouble of RTA are
many including the increase in number of
motor vehicles, poor enforcement of traffic
safety regulation, poor quality of roads and
vehicles and inadequate public health
infrastructure. However we believe that
individuals own behavior and practices are
also the prime reasons for RTA. For
example, studies have prove that people in
Karachi, Pakistan, are very much likely to
jump off a moving bus , get on a moving bus
and run to catch a bus , all amidst heavy
urban traffic (Ghaffar, Hyder, & Masud,
2004)
Road traffic accidents are major neglected
global public health problem and, require
efforts for effective and sustainable
prevention of all the system that people
have to deal with on a daily basis. Little
work has done on RTA as a whole in our
part of world but especially there is dearth
of knowledge regarding burden due to
motor bike rider accidents and causes.
Moreover very few studies in our region
have focused on the driver’s practices and
behavior in association with RTA. Therefore
the objective of this study was to determine
Page 3 of 8
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 534
the behavioral risk factors, which are mostly
responsible for motorbike accidents in the
city of Karachi, Pakistan.
METHODOLOGY:
This case control study was carried out in
two public tertiary care hospitals of Karachi
after the approval from the IRB and ethical
committee of Dow University of Health
Sciences. The 2 hospitals included in the
study were Civil Hospital and Jinnah
Postgraduate Medical Center. These two
hospitals deal with a major bulk of accident
cases and are the largest tertiary care
hospitals in Karachi. The study population
consisted of motorbike riders. All the
motorbike accident victims presented to
the emergency department in the period of
4 months were included in this study as
cases. The Controls selected were
motorbike riders without any history of
motorbike accident in the previous three
years. Controls were selected from the
attendants presented with accident victims
and fulfilling our inclusion criteria.
Motorbike riders with age below 15 years
were excluded from this study.
The questionnaire consisted of socio- demographic, motorbike and bike accident
related questions for cases. Questionnaire
was also translated into local language
(URDU) considering that many motorbike
riders do not know English. Pre-testing was
done on 30 individuals (15 cases and 15
controls) to assess the applicability of the
questionnaire. Oral informed consent was
taken from each participant after explaining
the study details and rights of the
participants. Data collection team included
principal investigator and three trained data
collectors. Training of the data collectors
included explanation of study objectives,
methods, sampling and training regarding
the proper filling of questionnaire. They
were also trained about communication skills
as well as about the respect and
confidentiality of the study subjects.
Data were entered and checked for accuracy
and consistency with the Epi-Info software.
Data analysis w a s done by using software,
statistical package for social sciences (SPSS)
version 18.0. Binomial Logistic regression was
applied to find statistical difference. The level
of significance used was 0.05.
Results:
A total of 254 participants were included in
the study with equal number of cases
(n=127) and controls (n=127). Table 1
shows demographic variables and risk
factors for motorbike accidents among
cases and controls. Most of the accident
victims (64%) were younger than 30 years
while above half of them were riding
motorbike without official road license. Less
than 20% of the cases reported to use
regular helmet while riding motorbike.
Most (>69%) of the participants had been
riding motorcycles regularly for more than
five years among controls.
There was a strong and consistent
relationship between increasing driver age
and decreasing risk of motorbike accident
[Table.2]. Age group <18 years were shown
to be at a 2.7 times (C.I=1-7.4) higher risk of
motorbike accidents as compared to age
group > 34 years. However in multivariate
modeling the effect was not significant (CI=
