Educational level and age as contributing factors to road traffic accidents.

Objective: This research analyzes data on road traffic accidents (RTA) in Fars province, whose roads are among the highly dangerous ones in Iran. It investigates educational level and age involved in RTA in order to discover patterns that can prevent or decrease accidents.

Methods: This research made use of data visualization techniques to find hidden patterns. The data included mortality rate related to RTA in Fars province and were obtained from Fars Forensic Medicine Registry covering a period of 1 year from March 21, 2010 to March 21, 2011. All data were analyzed using SPSS 11.5. The results were reported as descriptive indices such as frequency (percentage). The Chi-square test was applied to the data concerning educational level and age. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: In the mentioned period, 1 831 people were killed, out of whom un/lowly educated people (69.6%) accounted for the highest mortality rate. The significant relationship between educational level and mortality rate was found (X2 equal to 275.98, P less than 0.0001).Also three was a significant association between age and mortality rate (X2 equal to 371.20, P less than 0.0001). Young people (age between 20 and 29 years) contribute to higher RTA mortality rate compared with other age groups.

Conclusion: The educational level and age are significantly correlated to mortality rate. The youth and un/lowly educated people suffer more fatal RTA.