@article{ref1,
title="Exposure to traffic related hazards among high-school going learners in South Africa: findings from the 1st SA National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, 2002",
journal="African safety promotion",
year="2008",
author="Kambaran, Nilen and James, Sigrid and Sifunda, S and Reddy, PS and Omardien, RG",
volume="6",
number="1",
pages="22-29",
abstract="South Africa is faced with a double burden of road related injuries involving motor vehicle drivers and passengers as well as those involving pedestrians. More than half (56.4%) of child transport related deaths in the country are due to pedestrian injuries. Pedestrian deaths are ranked as the top external cause of death among children aged 5-14 years. Among older people the risk of traffic related hazards is much higher as over 70% of transport related deaths occur among pedestrians, of whom 60% have elevated alcohol concentration levels. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which young school-going learners engage in various behaviours that expose them to traffic related road hazards in South Africa. A cross-sectional study was conducted across the nine provinces of South Africa. A two-stage stratified cluster sampling was utilised to select a total of 23 schools in each of the provinces and two classes per school were randomly selected at the second stage. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 10 699 learners in 207 schools. The respondents consisted of 54% females and 46% males with an average age of 17 years. Preliminary findings demonstrated a low usage of seatbelts (21.4% [19.6-2 3.1]); 35% reported being in a car driven by an intoxicated driver and 8% had driven after drinking alcohol. More males than females reported being in a car driven by an intoxicated driver (35% vs 32%) and driving a car after drinking alcohol (7.8% vs 5.5%). Over 10% of learners reported walking alongside a road after drinking alcohol with the highest rate (19.6%) occurring in Western Cape. In conclusion, pedestrians and passengers make up the majority of road casualties in South Africa. Despite these data, road safety campaigns, such as &quot;Arrive Alive&quot;, focus almost exclusively on driver and occasionally passenger targeted initiatives. More collaborative multi-sectorial partnerships are required between research disciplines to explore road safety beyond surveillance data and start incorporating theoretically based behaviour change interventions for all road users.<p />  Language: en",
language="",
issn="",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}