An In-Depth Analysis of the Causes of Road Accidents in Developing Countries: Case Study of Douala-Dschang Highway in Cameroon

This paper is aimed at identifying the risk factors that mainly contribute to reckless driving and other related causes of road accidents along the Douala-Dschang highway of Cameroon. The research work started with the collection of accident reports for 2018 and 2019 from security officials in charge of road safety and the police stations of the different localities included in the sample of the study. Three hundred and eighty-two (382) road accidents reports were collected and analyzed using the 2020 version logit regression model of XLSTAT. From these analyses, it appears that, of the 382 accidents recorded during this period, six factors were identified and classified as follows: causes of accidents related to speed and carelessness, location of the accident, type of vehicle at fault, day the accident occurred, time of the accident and the age of drivers involved. These results could contribute to reduce the gravity of accidents along the Douala-Dschang highway and develop other policies in the program for road safety. In addition, this study can as much as possible equally contribute to reorienting road construction trends and development techniques in our environment.