Assessment of Vehicle and Pedestrian Safety at Urban Road Intersections: Evidence from Assosa and Bambasi Towns, Ethiopia

Assessment of Vehicle and Pedestrian Safety at Urban Road Intersections: Evidence from Assosa and Bambasi Towns, Ethiopia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Assessment of Vehicle and Pedestrian Safety at Urban Road Intersections: Evidence from Assosa and Bambasi Towns, Ethiopia Dawit Negera, Tegegn Mota This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9357043/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Road traffic crashes remain a major public health and development challenge in low- and middle-income countries, particularly at urban intersections where vehicle–pedestrian conflicts are concentrated. This study assessed safety conditions at selected intersections in Assosa and Bambasi towns, Ethiopia, using police records from September 2019 to August 2022. A total of 175 crashes were recorded: 8.6% fatal, 21.1% serious injuries, 54.3% minor injuries, and 16% property damage only. Pedestrians (41.5%) and passengers (38.1%) were the most affected groups. Human factors were the primary contributors, with young male drivers aged 18–30 years (62%) and limited driving experience being most involved. Vehicle-related issues, particularly mechanical defects (56.6%), also played a significant role. Environmental and infrastructural conditions further increased risks, as most crashes occurred during daytime, on dry asphalt roads, and at complex four-leg intersections. Field observations highlighted critical deficiencies, including inadequate pedestrian facilities, poor visibility, narrow lanes, poor pavement conditions, and encroached sidewalks. The study recommends improving intersection design, pedestrian infrastructure, traffic calming, law enforcement, vehicle inspection, and road safety education. Road traffic crashes Intersection safety Pedestrian safety Urban transport Developing countries Ethiopia Traffic safety management Countermeasures Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9357043","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":629077359,"identity":"991ce4b2-1dc8-4466-8df2-499c14afbb3f","order_by":0,"name":"Dawit Negera","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Budapest University of Technology and Economics","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dawit","middleName":"","lastName":"Negera","suffix":""},{"id":629077360,"identity":"8f64742e-5381-4702-904a-442b1b42bae5","order_by":1,"name":"Tegegn Mota","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Asossa University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tegegn","middleName":"","lastName":"Mota","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-08 12:38:21","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9357043/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9357043/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107870750,"identity":"8dfb178f-abfc-4e80-8e80-742cdd1eb9ff","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-27 07:40:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":565389,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"anonymisedManuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9357043/v1_covered_6e34755f-9843-4d9b-bccd-3e5f2627593c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Assessment of Vehicle and Pedestrian Safety at Urban Road Intersections: Evidence from Assosa and Bambasi Towns, Ethiopia","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Road traffic crashes, Intersection safety, Pedestrian safety, Urban transport, Developing countries, Ethiopia, Traffic safety management, Countermeasures","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9357043/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9357043/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eRoad traffic crashes remain a major public health and development challenge in low- and middle-income countries, particularly at urban intersections where vehicle\u0026ndash;pedestrian conflicts are concentrated. 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