Assessing Road Safety Awareness and Behavior Among Students in Lahore, Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47489/szmc.v39i4.895Keywords:
Awareness, Knowledge, Behavior, Road safety, University studentsAbstract
Background: As traffic accidents continue to be a major global cause of injury and accidental death, road safety is a basic public health problem. In order to protect both drivers and pedestrians, strict respect to traffic laws, careful driving, and awareness of road conditions are essential. To lower accidents and make roads safer for everyone, it is crucial to promote road safety through enforcement and education.
Objective: To assess the level of awareness and behavior regarding road safety among university students.
Method: In partnership with the University of Lahore (UOL), the University College of Medicine and Dentistry (UCMD) carried out this cross-sectional analytical study during a 9-month period, from March 2023 to November 2023, which included two months of data gathering. 369 students, ages 17 to 24, who drive their own cars and are enrolled in medical and non-medical programs, including UCMD students and undergraduates from UOL's information technology, engineering, and law departments, were included in the study. The exclusion criteria include students who do not drive their own vehicles, are new drivers or who has recently any vehicle accident. The non-probability convenience sampling was used.
Results: The study depicts significant gap between awareness and safe driving behavior, with only 53.4% of university students wearing helmets and 67.5% wearing seatbelts, even though over 85% of them were aware of traffic rules, signs, and violations. Additionally, students who consistently practiced safe driving practices had significantly lower injury rates (p<0.05) than those who never followed traffic signals or skipped automobile maintenance.
Conclusion: This study revealed significant association between road safety practices and injury occurrence. Those who consistently followed traffic signals had notably fewer injuries highlighting the importance of compliance in reducing injury risk. Regular vehicle maintenance also showed a significant protective effect.
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