Understanding the association between knowledge, attitudes and pedestrian road safety behaviours among pedestrians at Makerere University

Abstract

Road traffic accidents are a significant public health problem especially in low-income countries (LICs) such as Uganda. Walking on the roads in urban centers is associated with elevated risk of road traffic accidents to pedestrians. Although knowledge, attitudes, and sociodemographic characteristics of pedestrians are hypothesized to highly influence how they behave on the road, there is still limited research has been conducted to understand these relationships. To understand the association between knowledge, attitudes and pedestrian road safety behaviours among pedestrians at Makerere University and use this information to guide the development of effective and appropriate solutions to improve on pedestrian road safety and use in Kampala, Uganda. Methods: The study used a cross-sectional design to collect data among 428 pedestrians at Makerere University using quantitative methods. Systematic random sampling approach was used to select participants from different colleges who filled a semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to present the data while logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with safe road behaviours among pedestrians and prevalence ratios were reported. Most participants were students 378 (88.3%), had a mean age of 22.9 (SD=3.8) years, and resided outside the university, 306 (71.5%). Most, 254 (82.7%) were confident about their knowledge on traffic rules, and 395 (92.3%), identified zebra crossings as the safest spot to cross busy roads. Overall, most participants had low knowledge on road safety (58.9%), and 344 (80.4%) had satisfactory positive attitudes towards road safety rules. More than half, 245 (57.2%) typically crossed the road from zebra crossings while 231 (54%) of them reported to hardly use their phones while walking on the road. Only 57 (13.3%) exhibited safer behaviours and this was associated with increase in age (PR= 1.06, 95%CI = 1.02 – 1.10), high knowledge (PR = 1.71, 95% CI 1.05 – 2.77), residing outside university (PR =3.39, 95% CI 1.49 – 7.70) while participants who were students were less likely to observe road safety rules (PR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.28 – 0.87). Participants generally had low knowledge on road safety and unsafe pedestrian behaviours. Age, place of residence and higher knowledge on road safety rules were associated with safer pedestrian behaviours. The findings underscore the need for efforts to be strategically targeted at increasing awareness of the public on road safety to influence safer behaviours and minimize accidents on our roads.