Abstract
Introduction—In many low income countries, commercial vehicles are the major source of motorized transport. Drivers of such vehicles may be an important focus for road safety efforts.
Aims—An estimation of the percentage of motor vehicle related injuries that involved commercial vehicles in Ghana was sought. The knowledge, attitude, and practices of commercial drivers with regards to road safety was then evaluated.
Methods—A community based survey was carried out, involving 21 105 persons. As well, focus group discussions were held with 30 commercial drivers.
Results—In the survey, 122 motor vehicle related injuries were reported for the preceding year. The majority (81%) of these involved commercial vehicles, principally buses (40%) and taxis (24%). The involvement of commercial vehicles was the same for both motor vehicle crashes (81%) and pedestrian injuries (82%). However, motor vehicle related injuries in children were especially likely to involve commercial vehicles (95%), in comparison with adults (79%). The focus groups indicated that commercial drivers had a good general attitude towards road safety. Most believed that actions could be taken that would lower the risk of crashes and injuries, including vision examinations, using seat belts, and avoiding alcohol. However, this knowledge was not fully implemented. For example, few drivers had ever had their vision checked and most used seat belts only for long journeys.
Conclusions—In Ghana, commercial drivers are an important group to target in road safety programs. They are also a potentially useful group to include in building coalitions to implement such road safety measures.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (72.5 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Abantanga F. A., Mock C. N. Childhood injuries in an urban area of Ghana a hospital-based study of 677 cases. Pediatr Surg Int. 1998 Sep;13(7):515–518. doi: 10.1007/s003830050387. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Arreola-Risa C., Mock C. N., Padilla D., Cavazos L., Maier R. V., Jurkovich G. J. Trauma care systems in urban Latin America: the priorities should be prehospital and emergency room management. J Trauma. 1995 Sep;39(3):457–462. doi: 10.1097/00005373-199509000-00011. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bennett S., Woods T., Liyanage W. M., Smith D. L. A simplified general method for cluster-sample surveys of health in developing countries. World Health Stat Q. 1991;44(3):98–106. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Coughlin S. S. Recall bias in epidemiologic studies. J Clin Epidemiol. 1990;43(1):87–91. doi: 10.1016/0895-4356(90)90060-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Elechi E. N., Etawo S. U. Pilot study of injured patients seen in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Injury. 1990 Jul;21(4):234–238. doi: 10.1016/0020-1383(90)90011-i. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Forjuoh S. N., Li G. A review of successful transport and home injury interventions to guide developing countries. Soc Sci Med. 1996 Dec;43(11):1551–1560. doi: 10.1016/s0277-9536(96)00051-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Henderson R. H., Sundaresan T. Cluster sampling to assess immunization coverage: a review of experience with a simplified sampling method. Bull World Health Organ. 1982;60(2):253–260. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lemeshow S., Robinson D. Surveys to measure programme coverage and impact: a review of the methodology used by the expanded programme on immunization. World Health Stat Q. 1985;38(1):65–75. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mock C. N., Forjuoh S. N., Rivara F. P. Epidemiology of transport-related injuries in Ghana. Accid Anal Prev. 1999 Jul;31(4):359–370. doi: 10.1016/s0001-4575(98)00064-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mock C. N., nii-Amon-Kotei D., Maier R. V. Low utilization of formal medical services by injured persons in a developing nation: health service data underestimate the importance of trauma. J Trauma. 1997 Mar;42(3):504–513. doi: 10.1097/00005373-199703000-00019. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Smith G. S., Barss P. Unintentional injuries in developing countries: the epidemiology of a neglected problem. Epidemiol Rev. 1991;13:228–266. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036070. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wu S. I., Malison M. D. Motor vehicle injuries in Taiwan. Asia Pac J Public Health. 1990;4(1):72–75. doi: 10.1177/101053959000400112. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]