ROAD SAFETY; HOW WELL - INFORMED ARE OUR RURAL POPULATION?

Abstract

A community based cross sectional study was carried out in a rural block of north Tamilnadu to assess the knowledge; attitude and practice of general population of age group 18 to 35 regarding road safety rules. A semi structured interviewed administered questionnaire was administered among a 115 participants. 82.1% drove vehicle without a license. 75.7% did not know the side of the road to be used by pedestrians for walking. Only 15.7% could recognize all 5 traffic signals properly. Nearly 95.7% agree that helmets prevent accident, but only 37.5% use helmet/seat belt regularly. To prevent casualties due to road traffic accidents (RTA) mass public awareness campaigns should be initiated so that both the driver and the pedestrian will be aware of all the traffic rules properly. The ignorance of one can become fatal for the other. INTRODUCTION: Road traffic accident (RTA) is a global disaster hampering the life of million. (1) India accounts for a RTA rate of 6%. (2) RTA fatality which is defined as any person dying immediately or within 30 days after a fatal accident (3) is 25.3 per 10,000 vehicles. (2) Nearly 10% to 30% of the hospital registrations in India are due to RTA and it is the 6 th leading cause of death in India. (4) Majority of the victims are from rural background belonging to the age group 15 to 44 years. (4-6) RTA primarily affects the poorer sections of the society. (4) The percentage of men affected by RTA are very high. (7) It is difficult to assess the economic loss due to RTA as the indirect costs of such events are difficult to measure. (8) It is shown that economic burden of the RTA are disproportionately borne by countries which are least equipped to handle it. Various studies which have looked into the knowledge of the public regarding traffic rules show poor knowledge and awareness regarding the same. (9,10) Study done among school children regarding road safety practices have shown knowledge regarding various rules ranging from 30% to 60%. (11,12) Very few studies have looked into the knowledge levels of rural public regarding road safety rules. The current study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice among the rural population regarding the road safety rules.