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Abstract
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Background Road traffic injuries are the commonest and second leading cause of death in the 15-19 and 5-14 years age group, respectively.
Aim Road safety of school children is a poorly addressed issue in India. Safety features near schools and awareness among students were assessed in schools in Vellore.
Methodology A school transport safety checklist was prepared based on robust recommendations. A questionnaire was administered to 146 Year nine students, aged 13-17 years. Six schools were selected by convenience sampling.
Results None of the schools had speed breakers, traffic redistribution arrangements, pedestrian crossings or median islands. 66.67% had no school zone board or traffic lights at intersections near the school. Eighty-seven of 146 questionnaire respondents were boys. About 22-25% of students reported having either collided with, or been involved in a crash with a two-wheeler in the previous month. A total of 49% of the two-wheeler users rode motorised vehicles to school, despite being under-age for licence. None of the cyclists wore helmets. Only 16% students could not identify even one of four common road signs.
Significance Findings revealed near non-existent safety features near schools and inadequate awareness regarding road safety among students. A phased school safety plan should be planned in consultation with civil authorities. These findings could represent the situation in other parts of India.
This is an abstract of a presentation at Safety 2012, the 11th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, 1-4 October 2012, Michael Fowler Center, Wellington, New Zealand. Full text does not seem to be available for this abstract. |