A sociotechnical approach to accident analysis in a low-income setting: Using Accimaps to guide road safety recommendations in Bangladesh

Abstract

Road traffic collisions are increasing at an alarming rate in Bangladesh. Many have caught the attention of the public, and the administration and government. In this study, the Accimap methodology is used to analyse three high-profile road traffic collisions from a sociotechnical point of view. Sociotechnical approaches have gained popularity in high income countries for investigating such incidents, but it is still very new to practitioners in low-income countries. The integrated framework provides an insight into the interactions between different levels of a studied system, and supports the development of recommendations that could mitigate or prevent the outcomes of such incidents in the future. In this comparative analysis it was revealed that blaming the drivers cannot help mitigate accidents, rather reformations in the whole sociotechnical system need to be made that go beyond the traditional three E’s of engineering, enforcement, and education. By integrating the different levels of the system, from international committees to end users, a systematic approach can be developed to improve road traffic collision analysis and reporting in Bangladesh.