636 Underage driving in the United Arab Emirates: crash, injury, and trauma severity

<h3>Background</h3> In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), road traffic collisions involving underage drivers remain a persistent problem despite several interventions aimed at reducing the incidence. <h3>Objective</h3> To examine the factors contributing to crash, trauma, and injury severities among underage drivers in the UAE by analyzing three different datasets of underage drivers. <h3>Methods</h3> The injury severity dataset was obtained from the UAE Ministry of Interior comprising 723 underage drivers (2012–2019). The crash severity dataset was obtained from the Abu Dhabi Police consisting of 576 cases of underage driving (2012–2017). The trauma dataset consists of the records of 132 underage drivers admitted to Al Ain Hospital from 2014 to 2020. Inferential statistical analysis was performed as appropriate including Pearson’s Chi-squared test, unpaired t-test, and logistic regression. The significance level was set at 5%. All the analysis was performed using IBM SPSS software version 28. <h3>Results</h3> The results revealed that boys (95%), teenagers (88%), and Emiratis (74%) accounted for majority of underage drivers in all the three datasets. Injury severity was significantly associated with road condition. Underage drivers on clear road conditions were 50% more likely to sustain injuries with higher severity than other road conditions (curved, narrow, pothole, obstacle) after adjusting for street type (AOR=0.56, 95%CI=0.380–0.825). Similarly, crash severity among underage drivers strongly correlated with road condition. Underage drivers driving on clear road conditions were 75% more likely to be involved in crashes with greater severity compared to other road conditions (obstacle, curved, pothole, narrow, traffic jam) after adjusting for age, day of crash, nationality, and object struck (AOR=0.245, 95%CI=0.124–0.484). Although the univariate analysis showed that the Revised Trauma Score and Glasgow Coma Score were significantly associated with trauma severity for underage drivers, the multivariable analysis showed no significant difference. <h3>Conclusions</h3> This study revealed the effects of several factors on the severity of injuries sustained by underage drivers in the UAE. This will help develop preventive measures for those injuries and provide insights to authorities involved in training young drivers that attain the licensing age regarding these important safety issues thereby ensuring better road safety outcomes.