25Mar 2017

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices towards Road Traffic Safety Regulations among Health Science Students in Uttarakhand: A cross-sectional study

  • Prof. (Dr) Suresh K. Sharma, Prof cum Principal, AIIMS, College of Nursing, Rishikesh. Uttarakhand, India.
  • Ms. Parul Saini, Nursing Tutor, AIIMS, College of Nursing, Rishikesh. Uttarakhand, India.
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Background: Every year, more than 20 million people are injured and 1.17 million are killed due to road traffic accidents. According to the WHO, this is the second most important cause of death among 15 to 29 years old. The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare profession students in Uttarakhand regarding road traffic safety regulations. Materials and Methods:This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 150students of Medical (100) and Nursing Science (50) at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. Stratified random sampling technique was used and data was collected using a self-structured questionnaire. Results:Data reveals that majority of them drive two wheelers (84%) and only 3.3% of them had learned driving training from driving school. Furthermore, only 38.7% owe the driving license and 20% of them had history of Road Traffic accident. Moreover, even less than one fourth of the students (18.7%) had high level of knowledge about Road Traffic Safety and mean attitude score was 24.12±3.5 (Mean%, 75.4%). Fortunately, 78.7 % students use indicators while turning, 77.3% always blow horn before overtaking, 85.3% do not prefer driving after drinking alcohol, 66.7% always obey all traffic signals. However, 33% of them endangers their lives by not using helmets, (36%) not wears seatbelt while driving/seating in car (34%) and sometimes using mobile while driving (32.7%). Conclusion:This study reveals that only 18.7% of students has high level of knowledge regarding road traffic safety regulation and majority (81.3%) of them had moderate to low level of knowledge. However, they had good mean score of attitude but still they endanger their lives, probably this has contributed in their inappropriate practices of road traffic safety. Therefore, they require sanitizations program to improve the knowledge, attitude and practice of road traffic safety regulations to reduce the chances of road traffic accidents.

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[Suresh K. Sharma and Parul Saini. (2017); Knowledge, Attitude and Practices towards Road Traffic Safety Regulations among Health Science Students in Uttarakhand: A cross-sectional study Int. J. of Adv. Res. 5 (Mar). 608-614] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com

Parul Saini

DOI:

Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/3550      
DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/3550

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