Risk perception and practice towards road traffic safety among medical students

2016-11-29T04-51-50Z
Source: International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health
Syed Hasan Nawaz Zaidi, Pandab Chandra Paul, Pankaj Mishra, Ankur Srivastav.
Background: Road traffic injuries are a major but neglected epidemic. WHO has declared road traffic accidents (RTA) as the number one cause of death among those aged 15-29 years. India has witnessed 31.3% of the road traffic deaths among 15 to 29 years individuals in the year 2011 as reported by national crime records bureau. This study is aimed to learn and study risk perception and practice of road safety measures among medical students. Methods: A Cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students with an objective A 297 M.B.B.S. students were selected by convenient sampling technique. The study period was May-August, 2016. The information collected was analysed using SPSS version 16 & Microsoft excels 2007 software. Results: Majority of boys (82% and 98%) and girls (55% & 66%) had a satisfactory understanding of traffic rules and traffic signs & signals, respectively. While exploring on the helmet use, only 36% of girls were aware of its importance. About the factors responsible for the crash severity, participants showed a lesser concern to the seat-belts & child restraints (59% boys and 39% girls). Notably only 52% of male participants were in view that alcohol consumption sometimes increases the severity while driving. Conclusions: Abidance to road safety was not found satisfactory. Adequate interventions and reorientation training towards road safety need to be introduced among young drivers.


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