Incidence and risk factors of agricultural vehicle road traffic accident

ObjectiveTo determine the incidence and risk factors of road traffic accidents involving agricultural vehicles and to provide scientific evidences for effective interventions.MethodsConvenience sampling method was used to select 905 agricultural vehicle drivers in the agriculture machinery station of Yixing city and a questionnaire survey on traffic accident injury among these drivers in the previous one year was conducted.ResultsThe incidence rate of road traffic accident in the agricultural vehicle drivers was 9.2%.The incidence rate in the drivers with traffic accident history was significantly higher than in those without traffic accident history(23.3% vs. 6.5%)(x²=41.644, P=0.000); the incidence rate was 7.5% for the drivers with best sleep quality,11.8% for the drivers with better quality,and 100% for those with common sleep quality,respectively,with statistically significant difference(P=0.001).The agricultural vehicle traffic accidents occurred more frequently in the autumn(43.4%),in daytime(96.4%),and in sunshine day(89.2%)and occurred more frequently on the road without traffic protection(60.2%),without traffic signal(59.0%),with cement pavement(65.1%),with dry condition(90.4%),with undamaged pavement(88.0%),and on the road belonging to common section(47.0%).The proportions of causative factors of the traffic accidents were 92.8% attributed to the drivers,3.6% to the vehicles,and 3.6% to the roads,with a significant difference(x²=63.186, P<0.001).ConclusionAgricultural vehicle accidents were mainly related with driver,road and environment factors.Most of the accidents were caused by drivers and the education and training in agricultural vehicle drivers should be emphasized.