Identification of factors associated with road crashes among functionally classified transport modes in Namibia

Namibia, like other low- and middle-income countries, is facing a public health crisis from deaths and injuries attributable to road crashes. The crash fatality rate in Namibia was recently estimated to be 23.9 per 100,000 population. Such a high rate of road deaths exacts serious social and economic stress on many countries, hence the need to critically examine and understand factors driving this trend. This paper seeks to enhance the understanding of some underlying factors that influence road safety in Namibia and, by extension, serve as an illustrative example for an analysis of similar data within the context of other developing countries. A latent class multinomial logit model was estimated to examine factors that are associated with crashes involving different categories of vehicles commonly used in Namibia. The findings from this study provide evidence of crash contributing factors such as driver age, visibility constraints, rainfall effects, and characteristics of crash locations associated with different transport modes. In highlighting additional contributing factors related to roadway features and vehicle categories, this work forms the foundation of a Safe Systems approach towards addressing road crashes in Namibia and, other countries with similar road safety challenges.