Background: Traffic accident injuries are a major public health problem. They include sufferings in terms of physical, emotional, and financial losses of the individual, family, and country. This study aimed to investigate the traffic accidents leading to injuries or deaths and its related factors in Yazd city, the center of Iran during 2016-2018. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive study that examined the causes of all traffic accidents registered in traffic police accidents in Yazd city (during 2016-2018). The data were collected using recorded checklists (accident information is recorded by traffic experts attending at the scene). Independent sample t-test, chi-square, and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Result: The total number of people involved in these accidents were 1482, including 25 (1.2%) cyclists, 624 (30%) motorcyclists, 183 (8.8%) pedestrians, 321 (15.4%) passengers, and 929 (44.6%) vehicle drivers. Further, 1) Types of involved vehicles (light vehicles-58%), 2) occurrence time (4-8 p.m.-28.9%), 3) age of drivers (16 to 30 years old-41.1%), 4) educational status (diploma and high school-60.1%), and 5) gender (males-82.2%) were reported as contributing factors of accidents. Conclusion: Understanding the risk factors affecting the severity of accidents is required for the development of safety countermeasures. Control of unauthorized speed, and the serious warning for the use of helmets and seat belts could reduce the risk of injuries. Therefore, preventive measures and targeted interventions should be considered to reduce the risk of being involved in crashes.

Introduction: Traffic accidents are a major problem in the field of transportation in Iran. To address this problem, detailed studies are needed especially over the impact of human risk factors. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of identifying and recognizing the human characteristics associated with the occurrence of traffic accidents resulting in injury or death in the city of Yazd. Method: In this cross-sectional (descriptive-analytical) study, Yazd traffic accident data were collected using simple sampling method. The data were collected on the basis of COM form 114 by traffic experts present at the accident scenes. After data collection, the data were entered into SPSS software version 20 and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: A total of 2082 cases were studied in traffic accidents (pedestrians=8.8%, passengers=15.4%, and drivers=75.8%). The average age of injured and deceased persons in traffic accidents were 35.08±13.89 and 45.37±17.12 years, respectively. The most common human factors involved in traffic accidents were rush and acceleration (96.8%). Moreover, nonconformity of priority right was 98.9%. A statistically significant relationship was found between human factors and traffic accidents leading to death or injury (p-value=0.04). Conclusion:  According to the findings, controlling human risk factors can reduce the risk of death and injuries in traffic accidents. Officials, policymakers, and planners can also plan on the most influential factor by carefully analyzing human errors in the event of a traffic accident.